Camp Mabuhay!

Enjoying his pancuit

Weekends go by so fast! This weekend went by super fast but we had a great time. We left after work on Friday and headed toward Kokomo, Indiana. We got there about 9 pm and enjoyed swimming. The water was warm the way I like it and they had a nice hot tub, too! It was relaxing before bed. We were up bright and early on Saturday morning. We met several people attending camp at our hotel before we even left for camp. This in and of itself was exciting for us because we don't know anyone locally who has adopted from the Philippines. We followed the caravan of cars to the church out in the country where camp was to be held. After registration and family photos, camp started. The theme was "Manila." They had chairs set up and the leaders were dressed like airplane pilots. They had a computer screen that simulated a plane taking off, and we were on our way to Manila. The kids were divided by age and the parents had their own sessions. The sessions were on dance, a walking museum with many picture displays the older kids had made on the Philippines, language/song, a sari sari store, and a craft for the kids and cooking session for the parents. We learned the subli dance which is a dance that men and women do usually to honor someone. The kids did a neat jeepney craft. Kory and I learned how to make fried bananas...they were good. You can't use table bananas-you need the plantation type and they get rolled in sugar-they used the Sugar in the Raw variety of sugar since it isn't as processed. That was my job-rolling the bananas in the sugar. We also learned a rice planting song that we sang in Tagalog while we "planted" rice. The sari sari store allowed the children to barter for Filipino items with play pesos. The big kids went first and bought out the store...next year the little ones will get to go first. The adults were able to purchase Filipino items with US dollars...all proceeds help with camp costs. The lunch was awesome-we had pancuit, madauno (spelling???), chop suey vegetables, chicken adobo, fruit, and cake. We were able to network and meet other families so that was great. This camp is also designed for Filipino families residing in the US who want to expose their children to their heritage. It was a great experience and we are planning to attend next year. So many Filipino people volunteered their time and talents and they were so nice and willing to share about their culture. If anyone is interested, Camp Mahubay is being held Saturday, June 12, 2010 in Kokomo, Indiana. We ended our day with pizza by the river. Jay-R tried the pizza and claims he liked it. We'll see next time.