Hello October!

Hello my dear family and friends.  Here it is October already! It is hard to believe that it has been almost two months since I left my Canadian home, and that I have been in Tabuk for over a month.

Today I am writing from Davidson's Hotel, we have heard that this is a very nice place to come for a good cup of coffee and good food, we are told it also has a swimming pool for those unbearable hot days.  It is quite cool today however, so it is just enjoying the coffee shop environment today (which is fantastic!!!!) after Deborah (a soon to be midwife) and I did some grocery shopping.

What I have been doing 
First off I must apologize for the lack of photos, I have been terrible at taking pictures and remembering to carry my camera with me, I do promise to get some to you all soon though.  We are half way through our language class now.  I would like to say that I have been having conversations in Ilocano left, right and centre, but alas not yet, at least not out side of class, Ellora and I have been practicing a little in the market, saying things like "Mano ditoy?" (how much is this) and Agyamanak (thank you) In fact we think it has spread in the market place that two of the white girls are trying to learn Ilocano.
I think I have seen 10 births now since being here.  The last birth i was taking out the garbage and got pulled into the birth room to help support the laboring woman for while as she temporally pushed on a birth stool.  It was pretty neat to be able to be that close to the action.  

I have been busy with doing lots of reading, we are required to read 25 books and do reviews for each by the end of of the two and a half years.  So far I have read eight, (one I had read last year and two and a quarter prier to coming).  The fact that we do not have assignments untill December provides us a chance to get a head start on the reading.  I did not know that I was capable of reading a non novel in a weeks duration.

I am continuing to enjoy the wonderful people here and am getting to know the Filapina staff, they are all wonderful and great teachers.

Some personal improvements:  I feel like I am doing better at taking blood pressure and feeling less awkward when I am observing in the birth room, we are also learning about charting during the births which is something that has to be done for every delivery.

New things
I tried a chicken foot for the first time, and you know what.....it tasted like chicken!  I know...who would've thought, not so sure is my favorite Philippine cuisine however.
I have discovered sticky rice! Oh my goodness it is soooo good!!! it is like...well....I don't how to discribe it, but they prepare it a bunch of different ways and they make into a desert dish, it is sweet and it can have fruit in it and coconut milk and it is just sooo good, probably my favorite foods thing here, they often have it for Merienda, which are snacks they often have between meals, I really like Meriendas.......

I start my first shift tomorrow morning (Sunday) Not that I will be doing anything very medical mainly just observing, but it will be exciting to have an official shift.

Prayer requests update 
If you remember I asked you to pray for a baby that had been transferred to the hospital, the update is, they were able to keep the baby alive for a day or two but the end result is that the baby is no longer on this earth with us, there seemed to be some things wrong with the little thing that no one could do anything about.  Please keep the mother and her family in your prayers.

I think the church search has found it's end.  Ellora and I went to a church with one of the Filapina midwives and I really liked it; the worship was good, the people were friendly and although the sermon was all on Ilocano it is good for me to practice.

We're just so Fascinating!
So i am going to keep trying to include a story each time, this one isn't really in depth but it is cute.  Because of being the only white people around we get a LOT of attention which makes sense, after all if we white people see another white person we will stare at them. I mentioned before that staring is not considered rude so we get a lot eyes on us.  This one evening Deborah ad I walked down to the river, to sit and enjoy  As we visited, a young boy, probably about 8 carrying what I assume to be maybe a younger sister about 2 or 3 approached us, stopped and stared, they were so beautiful and so cute.  This wasn't really uncommon so Deborah and I just kept talking while he slowing came closer and closer, and both of them continued to stare.  A few times we stared back and he would grin with this gorgeous smile.  Soon he and his little companion sat down about a stones throw from us.  As Deborah and I kept talking they would slowly shuffle about 2-4 feet closer to us and then stop and keep staring.  They kept doing this until they were only about 4 feet from us. It was as if we were the most fascinating things they had ever seen.
 It was so cute, and the were such gorgeous children.

Prayer requests
Language: Boldness in practicing it with others, it is often too easy to speak English out of fear they will not understand my Ilocano.
I will be able to keep reading at a good rate
I will continue to adjust and feel at home
finding the balance of how much money I should spend on food - (we do get a budget for food, but I tend to exceed it due to things like yogurt, grapes and goya - a cheaper version of Nutella-)

if any of you have a question about something or any suggestions as to what I should include in future blog posts, feel free to post them in the comments.