Funny things people have asked/said to me...

So being a white person in the Philippines is pretty rare...but...being a young, pale, freckled, blonde female causes lots of pointing, staring, giggling, and random "Hi's."

It's been an interesting experience living in a culture where you are the minority.

In America, if a dark skinned/haired person walked into a room, we wouldn't give them a second glance.

Here, if I walk ANYWHERE, I am stared at like I'm Lady Gaga.

So, needless to say, people are fascinated by us.

This has led to some interesting conversations.

Here are just some of the funny/random things people have asked or said to us...

-"Americans just like to eat bread, tomato soup, and potato chips."
I'm not sure where the tomato soup came from...

-"You're so white and beautiful."
At least paleness is considered pretty somewhere!

-Man: "You are American, so I know you have four or five cars!" Me: "Actually, I just have one car." Man: "No, no. You have four." Me: "Umm..."
I am American, therefore I am automatically a millionaire.

-*When visiting a high school, we asked if any of the students had any questions for us. Everyone was too shy to ask anything until one little girl finally got the courage to stand up and ask... "Is the world really going to end in 2012?"
I am American, therefore I am automatically all-knowing.

-Man: "Where are you from?" David: "The U.S." Man: "Where at in the U.S.?" David: "Oklahoma" Man: "Oooh, tornados!"
Thanks, Hollywood.

-*After seeing the mass amounts of freckles on my shoulder, a little girl gets a horrified look on her face and asks "What happened!?!"
Haha, that one's my favorite.

That's just a few for now...I'm sure there will be plenty more to come!

Week 1

Arapal

We have spent the last three days in the city of Arapal, which is where the main Give a Goat farm is located and it is the home of our most successful goat raisers.

I was overwhelmed by the kind and generous spirits of the people living there.

We were served some of the best home cooked meals.

We stayed in a wonderful guest house with a GORGEOUS view.

We hiked through the mountains to visit farms.

We spent time interviewing and taking pictures of the raisers.

We got to meet people living in poverty who had the most joyous attitudes.

We made new friends.

We gave a man his first goats.

We fellowshipped together and sang karaoke.

Overall, it was a joyously humbling trip and a great first week here.

Our Humble Abode

We are on our third full day in Cebu so I thought I would film a little video to show you guys where we are staying!

House Tour from Meagan Martin on Vimeo.

We love it here and we are feeling more and more at home everyday!
Now it's off to our first church service in Mactan!

Leaving on a jet plane

We are officially in the Philippines!

Wednesday we awoke at a whopping 4:30 AM, finished packing up last minute items, took our cars to our houses, and headed up to the airport with our family.

It was a sad and tearful goodbye, but it's nice to know that we will still be able to see and communicate with our families via the internet. Technology is outstanding.

We left OKC at 8:30 AM and then landed in Dallas, TX at 9:30. After a three hour layover we boarded our 14 HOUR long flight to Seoul, Korea.

I will say that the thing I was dreading the most about this trip was sitting still on a plane for half a day, but it was actually not that bad. Yes, I said it. It was somewhat bearable.

There was a big selection of newly released movies to watch, games to play, and music to listen to. But, being the movie lover I am, I had already seen most of them (which was a bummer) but I did get to watch a few I hadn't seen. I watched Soul Surfer (and yes I teared up a few times on a plane to Korea despite the utter cheesiness of the movie), Rio (precious), Hanna (intense and violent), and about 30 min. of Beastly because that's all I could stand.

We also got to eat two meals which were surprisingly tasty!

The only downside...I only slept for two hours of the trip.
That means I was awake for 12 hours of the flight. Ugh.

But, nevertheless, we survived and landed at the Incheon airport in Seoul, Korea at about 4 PM (Korean time) which is 2AM our time.
I was pretty much a sore, walking zombie. Not cute.

We walked around the Incheon airport and ate some food during our four hour layover before we finally boarded our final flight to Cebu.

After our last four hour flight, we landed in Cebu at 12 AM (Philippine time).

A group of Give a Goat workers greeted us outside the airport with a sign and then we loaded up all our suitcases (which thankfully made it) and headed to our little house.

They showed us around our new home and then we said our goodbyes until tomorrow so we could get some sleep!

So, thank God we made it safely and we have a nice place to stay!

Next up, unpacking and settling in....pictures of our house to come!

My first DIY project.

I completed my first DIY project and it wasn't a complete disaster.

It only took me three days weeks to finish, but I'm pretty proud of it.

Here is the before:
I saw this little gem in the corner of Goodwill for $15 and I just couldn't pass it up.
I mean, look at it! It was pretty dang precious before I took a whack at it.



Then...I finally got around to sanding and priming.
Yes, I did it inside our apartment because it was five million degrees outside. I felt like Dexter with all that plastic.



Now...the final result!

I painted it a light grey and spray painted the original handles white.



I even decoupaged the insides of the drawers with scrapbook paper. I know, I know, you can go ahead and "oooh" and "ahhh."



The finished product in my entry way.
I eventually want to put it in our bedroom since that is what I painted it to match, but our tiny lil apt. doesn't allow that. So, until then, here is where it will lie.