Micah holds her special woven fan, which she claimed almost immediately.
It suits her Eurasian eyes, doesn't it?
The best way to learn about other countries is to travel. The second best way is to learn from those who have lived there. We are lucky enough to visit the Philippines vicariously thanks to the Garcia family. As we flipped through the mysterious treasures in the envelope, Max read to us from the booklet which provided history and context for each item. Here's what we learned.
Max reads aloud from the accompanying booklet.
We know that the citizens of the Philippines are wise enough to have had female leaders in their history. As Americans, we are still working on developing that kind of wisdom.
We also know that there are cool beetles and special saints honored by many Filipinos.
Max holds up the flag of the Philippines.
A popular game is called "sapa". Much like foozeball or hackey-sack, you keep a "ball" in the air with your feet. Only this "ball" is not a ball at all.
The mango balls were a hit. Everyone loved them, including Milla who cried for more.
We haven't used our banana ketchup yet. We've decided to keep it until we get a family vote on the best way to use it.
Max read this book aloud to the girls, which took quite a bit of time because Micah kept asking questions and Max kept gettting distracted by the Filipino words on the other pages. It was awesome to see the language at work and to be able to compare it alongside English words.
Our package is going out next week, so all those families waiting to learn about Romania can learn one of the most common cultural facts about Romanians right away- people haven't mastered the art of the deadline or the rush. Please forgive us for being "tardy"- we promise we'll make up for it.
