Gonzaga Culture Shock Spring 2012

grabbed our passpor ts and were about to head out when the first aftershock hit. Once again we were braced in the door jam. After the shaking stopped, we ran down the hall and out of the building to join our band mates, the other scared guests, and the hotel employees. Running past the pool we saw waves cresting a foot above the edge, flooding the lobby.

Watching the news later that night we learned that the quake was 7.9 on the Richter scale. A city nor th of Manila was completely leveled due to liquefaction during the quake. Thousands were dead. Our concer ts quickly became ear thquake relief benefits.

The response of the Philippine people was a call to prayer and repentance. It was fascinating to see how quickly the dialogue after the quake turned to spiritual matters. I say “dialogue” but Philippinos speak a unique dialect. While tagolog is the official language, the way people speak is a mixture of tagolog, English, and Spanish, all at the same time. Imagine watching the evening news and suddenly, in mid sentence the anchor begins speaking in Spanish and some other language you don’t even recognize. It was fascinating, and more than a little confusing.

WEEK 3

By now the band members kept no secrets. “Bananas or papayas?” was the question our hosts greeted us with at meals. Half of the band would raise their hand and ask for bananas and half of the band would ask for papaya. Bowel function became everyone’s business. After 8 weeks of “bananas” it was no wonder I was so dehydrated in Hawaii.

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