October 25, 1970
Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, Philippines
Tomorrow to Davao - This is the house of our regional representative. We are going to be in the Santa Anna district of Davao City. Davao is the largest city in the world ( in area) but the central part is where we’ll be. First we were supposed to go to Leyte but at our school there in Pastrana there were 2 principals - one acting and one on leave. When the one on leave was supposed to return - the acting principal didn’t want to leave. There was another school but he is diabetic and needed to be near his wife’s cooking - so anyway - they got into a fight and one kicked the other while he was down - now it’s going to court and the supervisor said that it wasn’t a good idea to have new volunteers there.
Dumaguete was a beautiful place. We stayed in a guest house on the campus of Siliman University. We taught at least one class in the mornings and maybe observed one. In the afternoons we had informant work for 3 hours ( at P1.5/hr.) then lesson plans etc. Nan and I got identical sore throats but she got hers 2 days earlier. Anyway I missed teaching 3 days (one day would have been observing a seminar) I still don’t feel up to par. We’ve had 2 typhoons. The 1st did extensive damage in Luzon (Bikol region - E. Luzon) the 2nd formed in Davao Bay and crossed Mindanao. Both hit Dumaguete with good rain storms (like when the hurricane was in Louisiana) so it was pretty cool. The lights went out in Dumaguete for the 2nd. That was last Monday - I went to the seminar but it was canceled because of the flooding and no lights. We went to dinner the night before at the home of David’s informant. While we were there the rain came and their path flooded so we waited till the rain stopped and decided to wade out to the street. That was when the electricity was out so we had candles. It was really funny especially when one of the sons took a picture. Mr. Limpyado is a freelance photographer so we have prints from the occasion. My school was Looc elementary - 6th grade section 1. Looc is a barrio near the wharf - the slums - most people are squatters because the land belongs to the government because it used to be swamp. The children are beautiful - The last day we had a school wide U.N. day program 1 1/2 hours - then recess (mirienda for teachers) then my class had a 1 hour program for me. Some of the girls had safety pins holding their dresses together but they bought me a present - a purse fro Bohol. My teacher bought me a 4 meter piece of material - imitation Batik - black on orange - enough for a pants suit. The teachers haven’t been paid for a month because of a PAL (Philippine Air Lines) strike but she bought me a piece of material!
We bought a guitar in Cebu yesterday for P 58 (the current rate is P6.50/$1. It’s really pretty. We didn’t get the lens in Tokyo so we have $100 in the safe in Manila for a trip to Hong Kong. We did buy a short wave radio - 4 tracks.
October 29 No longer St. Anna district in Davao. We are now in our little house in Toril to be described in the next letter. It’s still part of Davao. We are fine except for my cold. You can write us in Toril, Davao City, Philippines.
Love, Arlene and Dave
In Service Training Oct. 7, 1970
October 7, 1970
Tanjay, Negros Oriental, Philippines
Dear Folks,
We’re in Tanjay, Negros Oriental - above Dumaguete city - This is what is called a pre-assignment visit. Our hosts are a married couple who have just extended for another year. Jerry and Donna met here and have been married a year. They and a third volunteer, whom we haven’t met, live in a pair of Nipa huts - they don’t know of any others who live in them. They are built on stilts of bamboo with split bamboo floors and walls of nipa palm, the house is sewn together with rattan. The furniture is rattan except for a desk. The roof looks like thatching but the walls are like mats. The bed is split bamboo, the kitchen has a gas stove and an oven that is set on top of the stove for baking. The kitchen has a place for washing dishes and a rack for storing or drying. this is like a platform out the window but with bamboo bars. The other windows have sliding shutters like the walls. There is a small porch in front and in back there is a lean-to with a water seal toilet. A bath is taken there by pouring water over oneself.
Tanjay, Negros Oriental, Philippines
Dear Folks,
We’re in Tanjay, Negros Oriental - above Dumaguete city - This is what is called a pre-assignment visit. Our hosts are a married couple who have just extended for another year. Jerry and Donna met here and have been married a year. They and a third volunteer, whom we haven’t met, live in a pair of Nipa huts - they don’t know of any others who live in them. They are built on stilts of bamboo with split bamboo floors and walls of nipa palm, the house is sewn together with rattan. The furniture is rattan except for a desk. The roof looks like thatching but the walls are like mats. The bed is split bamboo, the kitchen has a gas stove and an oven that is set on top of the stove for baking. The kitchen has a place for washing dishes and a rack for storing or drying. this is like a platform out the window but with bamboo bars. The other windows have sliding shutters like the walls. There is a small porch in front and in back there is a lean-to with a water seal toilet. A bath is taken there by pouring water over oneself.
Baking without an oven
We had a two-burner propane stove in our houses when we were volunteers. Our stove was cool in that one of the burners turned to the side making the space below it work as a toaster or broiler. We put it on the counter top that was covered with a layer of dirt so that you could build a small charcoal fire there to cook with. They called this a "dirty kitchen". Some people also had a dirty kitchen outside. Our neighbor had a modern oven and I think that this is where we made the cookies one Christmas when we were give some "Care" flour. We made 7 batches of sugar cookies and threw a party for all the neighborhood kids with them.
We bought a box oven. It was a tin box with a door (glass in the door even). You set the box on top of the burner and it functioned as an oven. We baked bread and roasted a chicken in it. We just put the chicken into a bread pan to roast. There was a thermometer on the door. It worked really well for making bread.
Nang Tita (our Filipino mama) made bibingka (sticky rice cake) in her outside dirty kitchen. She spread the sweet rice cake into a cake pan. Then she put a piece of metal on top of the pan and put some charcoal on that, creating a sort of "Dutch oven". It worked pretty well.
Most of the time we just made meals that we cooked on top of the stove.
We bought a box oven. It was a tin box with a door (glass in the door even). You set the box on top of the burner and it functioned as an oven. We baked bread and roasted a chicken in it. We just put the chicken into a bread pan to roast. There was a thermometer on the door. It worked really well for making bread.
Nang Tita (our Filipino mama) made bibingka (sticky rice cake) in her outside dirty kitchen. She spread the sweet rice cake into a cake pan. Then she put a piece of metal on top of the pan and put some charcoal on that, creating a sort of "Dutch oven". It worked pretty well.
Most of the time we just made meals that we cooked on top of the stove.
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