A weekend in paradise...

Children's Camp: Thursday-Friday

Thursday morning started out early when we meet all the grade 5 and 6 students at the school at 6:00am. We then walked down the block to the big charter bus that was waiting for us. After everyone arrived we had about a 2 hour bus ride on the crazy streets here in the Philippines. For many students it was their first long trip on a bus, unfortunately some of them didn't feel very good because of it.

We then arrived at Rizal Re-creation center. A Christian owned camp in Laguna. We stepped off the bus and were greeted with wide open spaces, green grass, blue skies, and hundreds of coconut trees.

We got organized and brought our stuff to the cabins before meeting for a time of praise and worship. We went over the rules and schedule for the camp and then took a break for lunch. After lunch we had a presentation from Precy entitled, "What God Wants us to be". Following the presentation students got into their groups and came up with a musical way to retell the message from the presentation complete with dance steps. We were the judges for the competition, and it was a very hard choice!

When our judging was over it was time for our part of the camp: GAMES! It turned out to be a more difficult experience than we had imagined- the students were not familiar with our games, so we had to explain them in a way that made sense. Needless to say, as soon as we were done explaining in English one of the teachers would repeat everything in Tagalog. We played Sharks and Minnows, a modified version of socialist Frisbee, and link tag.

Wide open spaces are unheard of here in the city, so this was the first time for many of the students to run around like this. Although they needed some breaks from all the running, they really enjoyed it.

After the games we had dinner. After dinner was more praise and worship and another presentation- about setting a good example- and an art project to represent the presentation that we again had to judge, and one more short game.

Next was a short bonfire followed by sleep for the tired teachers and a lot of talking and giggling from the excited students.

The following morning began very early, before 6, with some morning exercises. After we exercised we had breakfast and then came the time that the students had been waiting for- swimming! They had a lot of fun in the pools and on the water slide. For many of them swimming is something that they do not get to do often and many of them do not know how to swim.

There was some rain later in the morning which canceled our games of tug of war and sack races, but didn't get in the way of our award ceremony. We had to choose the best male and female campers- this was not an easy decision!

After lunch we packed up, sent the kids off on the bus with a few of the teachers, and the rest of us teachers headed for the beach!

This was the first time that GCCS has ever done a camp like this. Their theme was "Dare to be Different". After grade 6, students have to head off to high school, many of them to a public high school. This camp was not only a time to enjoy the community that has been created in the classes over the last 7-9 years, but also to prepare them to live for God in the coming years when they will no longer be at GCCS. It was a huge blessing to be able to be a part of this new experience.

The very green, spacious, and coconut tree filled camp that we stayed at.

Some of the students meeting under the tree house

Lea, Kimberly, Levilyn, and Christine on the swing

Some of the boys waiting for the next session

Some students by the GCCS banner at camp.

Heinz and Patrick swimming.

All of the teachers: Madie, Precy, Carmela, Maria, Heather, Pastor Nestor

Raul, Yoy

The grade 5 and 6 students and teachers at the end of camp.

Puerto Galera: Friday-Sunday

Pastor Leo, Principals Elma and Precy, teachers Madie and Carmela, us, and a Pastor from the states left camp to go to Puerto Galera, a beach on the island of Mindoro for a relaxing weekend on the beach. After about an hour and a half ride in a van we arrived at the port in Batangas. Things were very crazy at the port people taking our bags for us, other people trying to sell things to us, and us just wanted to get on our boat. After getting the tickets and getting our luggage on the boat we climbed aboard the boat and enjoyed an hour and a half boat ride to our beach. The weather was nice and the ocean was smooth.

We got to our beach and even had our own little cottage. We arrived at about 5:00 pm, so after getting settled in, we enjoyed the sunset from the beach. We then had a nice long dinner and went to bed early to finally catch up on some much needed sleep.

We woke up on Saturday morning to rain, but we didn't let that ruin our plans. We had breakfast and played a game of scrabble (luckily in English and not Tagalog). Then we played our volleyball tournament with the ladies- 3 on 3. Heather's team walked away the winners and Maria walked away with very red arms from attempts to return the ball. Then it was time to swim! The ocean was nice and warm and very nice to swim in.

We dried up for lunch and then got ready to snorkel. We took a small boat from our beach over to a cove a little way away. From there we got in the water, and held on to a rope that was tied between a smaller boat and the outrigger of the boat. The man started the motor and start moving along as we held on and floated at the surface of the water. Without any work we were moving along over top of beautiful coral with fish of all sizes, shapes, and colors.
This was the highlight of the day and a great display of God's creativity. The rest of the day was spent doing what we planned to do: relaxing!

Sunday we woke up and there was no rain! Just as we were finishing up breakfast and ready to go for a walk it began to drizzle, once again we did not let this stop us. We walked along the shore to White Beach to do some shopping. We got a couple of things that we were looking for and then made it back for some Mango shakes on the beach (the prize for the winning volleyball team) and another swim in the ocean.

Soon after lunch we got back on the boat and had a very rough ride back to the port. From there we rode back to Manila and are now back safely at the school. We had lesson plans to write for tomorrow which are now completed and we are ready for another great week here at GCCS.

Where we stayed: Tamaraw Beach Resort

Watching the sunset.

The sunset on Friday evening soon after we arrived.

Getting all set to snorkel. We had to hold onto the rope and then we were pulled around the cove.

Snorkeling.

Walking through the boulders to get to White Beach.

Standing on White Beach, where we did some shopping

Enjoying Mango shakes on the beach

Swimming in the ocean in our window of sunshine

Maria and Madie on the wavy boat ride back home.