Moving

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=120 BGCOLOR="#FFCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0443f781egdyul.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#009900" FACE="Arial" ><B>Proclaim His Praise in the Islands - the Hallowells</B></FONT> <B> </B><B>|    </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Proclaim His Praise in the Islands the "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=360 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Moving</div> <bR> <div> Here is a copy of an e-mail Jay sent to some family and friends.  It is a bit long but several mentioned how much they enjoyed it.  Maybe you will too...</div> <bR> <div> Monday morning, July 8, 2002</div> <bR> <div> Quack, Quack, Quack!  I now have webbed feet...</div> <bR> <div> The last days have been almost nonstop rain, some very heavy, some lighter.  (The weather service reported 28 inches from July 6-9.)  Two typhoons have brushed the Manila area pulling in monsoon rains, but, fortunately, not too much wind here.  </div> <bR> <div> So, did I get to stay home?  No, I had to be out in it.  Saturday was a real adventure.  It rained ALL day.  It was furniture moving day.  Our OMF furniture was finally available.  If it had just been us we would have tried to reschedule and hoped for a drier day.  But, the other OMF family involved, from the UK (Scotland) insisted it had to be done.  They had arranged a truck, people to help, etc.  It was a complicated move because a lot of their OMF furniture needed to go to OMF and only part to us.</div> <bR> <div> So, I set out in the rain.  And almost came home right away.  I was  dressed for bad weather in shorts, T-shirt, old tennis shoes.  And right at the end of my first jeepney ride, where I needed to transfer to a bus, it was flooded.  Not too deep, so I joined dozens of other people and waded through.  Because of the rains and floods, not too many buses were running.  The ones running were standing room only.  Finally, after a 15 minute wait in the rain (well, under my umbrella, which did help a lot!) I squeezed onto a bus.  It was slow due to various low-lying areas being flooded.  But it wasn't too deep for the bus to make it through very slowly.</div> <bR> <div> So, after a bus ride, a short walk, a jeepney ride, a short walk, another jeepney ride, and another walk, the normally 1 hour trip was 2 hours.  I arrived late, at 10:30 rather than 10 when the truck was supposed to arrive.  Of course, it was nearly 12:00 before the truck arrived, so actually I was quite early.  Which was good, since the family had only begun to pack and were very unorganized.  So, we helped them get ready.</div> <bR> <div> Then the truck arrived.  It turned out to be a flatbed.  It was big and would easily hold all the furniture.  But it was open and the rain was pouring down.  It would have ruined much of the furniture, not to mention the TV, stereo, etc., to have it completely soaked being moved on that truck.</div> <bR> <div> But, the truck people had brought along a big tarp.  And, with typical Filipino ingenuity and some rope, they rigged up the tarp from the edge of the garage, used a single bed as a "post" in the middle of the flat bed and tied it off to the cab of the truck.  The tarp only had a few small holes, so it worked pretty well.  So, after nearly an hour rigging the tarp (well, there was also a palm tree a rope went to and a wall), we were ready to load.  The actual loading was uneventful.</div> <bR> <div> After loading and a late lunch, I climbed into the cab of the truck and directed it to OMF (we had loaded the furniture coming to us in the front and what was going to OMF in the back, so we were prepared).  And then came the real highlight of the day.  OMF is located about 100 yards up a steep, narrow lane.  The truck was simply too big to make it.  So the truck parked along the street at the bottom.  And the rain poured!  The heavens really opened up.</div> <bR> <div> So we waited for the heaviest part of the rain to diminish.  Fortunately, OMF has an Asian Utility Vehicle (they really do call them AUVs here, usually using the initials).  It is sort of like a medium sized pick up with a topper.  It has benches along the sides that fold up.  The roof is high enough to sit in but not high enough to stand.  </div> <bR> <div> Except that the battery was flat.  So when the rain lessened some we pushed it to start it.  With the hill it seemed it should be easy.  Except that the rain made the driveway slippery so that the tires just skidded instead of turning the engine over.  Fortunately we figured that out before we got to the bottom.  We piled a bunch of people into the back for traction and then the diesel engine on the OMF AUV started.</div> <bR> <div> So along a busy street in the rain we transferred the OMF furniture from the truck into the AUV and ferried it up the driveway into storage shed.  Things got a little wet, but not enough to damage them.  Except, some things were too big to go inside the AUV.  So, we got to carry them by hand up the hill.  We were all completely soaked!  But we got it done.  In fact, we got too much done.  A bed that is supposed to go into our guest room ended up being unloaded at OMF, we discovered yesterday.  We had a couple of small things from OMF we loaded on the truck.  And I climbed back into the cab and we headed across town, a long slow trip.  Fortunately, most people had enough sense to stay out of the rain that day, so traffic wasn't too much of a problem.  It was just slow because of all the flooded areas.  </div> <bR> <div> So, we had arranged some of the workers (janitors, repairmen) of BSOP to help move the furniture when it arrived.  Our apartment is on the second floor.  And for things like the sofa, a large bookcase, a china cabinet, a refrigerator, a small oven, and so on, we need help.  I couldn't get them up the stairs by myself.  We had arranged the workers for about 1 or 2 pm.  Of course, it was 5:30 when I arrived with the furniture.  The workers went home at 5.  And who can blame them--it was Saturday afternoon after all and they have families.</div> <bR> <div> So you would think that some students might help.  And they would, if they were here.  But they are assigned to churches for an internship on the weekends so the dorm was empty Saturday evening.  Fortunately, both security guards were here, so one volunteered to help.  And a couple of guys helping do a construction job on the parking area were still around.  And they volunteered to help without us asking (we did give them a snack and a tip).  It was still raining so things got a little wet going from the truck up to our apartment.  Fortunately there is a wide hallway going to our apartment so we put the stuff there for cleaning and drying.  Everything seemed to survive the rain and the trip; there is no obvious damage, thankfully.</div> <bR> <div> We had arranged for the teenage daughter of a neighbor to help with the cleaning of the furniture.  Fortunately she agreed to stay a bit later on Saturday evening to help clean and dry the stuff (everybody's' idea of a hot Saturday night, right?)  I had changed into a dry shirt in the truck coming from OMF to BSOP.  I was completely soaked AGAIN from the rain and from sweat.  I mean drenched.  I mean that the paper money in my wallet in the pocket of my shorts had to be laid out to dry.  Soaked!  I wrung water out of my socks.  Soaked!  (And, with the humidity at 99% and the rain continuing, my wet clothes are still wet!  We would have to put them in front of the fan to make progress.)</div> <bR> <div> So, it was a good day.  I showered and put on dry clothes.  We went to bed with things in the hallway.  </div> <bR> <div> Then yesterday I woke up at 5:00 am because I was preaching at the early service of a Chinese Church.  The rains continued all night, but did let up awhile Sunday morning.  Amor picked up stomach trouble somehow so stayed home.  I left at 7:15 to go to church across town.  Sermon went well, too well I think--they threatened to invite me back over and over and I think that they are serious but we'll see.  Seriously, God answered prayer and was moving so it went well; it wasn't from my preparation on Saturday, obviously, though I had prepared earlier in the week.  While I was preaching the heavens opened again and it poured.  The church's second service is in Chinese (in Fukienese if you want know exactly which Chinese language -- we are still trying to learn these things).  I was tired, wanted to see how Amor was, and just didn't feel that a Fukienese service was the best way I could spend my time.  I was going to go home by public transportation, bus and jeepney.  But, a member of the church had a van and a driver.  They insisted that I use that.  So, I had a wonderful trip home.  But, there was one flooded area that the van only just made it through.  Any deeper and we wouldn't have made it.  So, I got home without getting my leather dress shoes wet!  Friends coming back later really had trouble with the floods; it was so deep they had to make long detours to find a way back.</div> <bR> <div> Fortunately, Amor was better.  Whatever caused the stomach problem had worked its way through so she felt better.  So, we spent all day yesterday finishing cleaning (the oven, for example, was awful) and moving things in, and moving out the stuff BSOP had loaned us to survive with.  Fortunately, the neighbor girl was available to help so we hired her after checking what she and her parents felt about working on Sunday. It feels good to have the bookcases we need, a place to put our dishes and food, etc.  It is already feeling much more like home!  </div> <bR> <div> Just for fun, we had two false fire alarms last evening, one about 8 and one about 8:45.  They say that they short circuit and go off if it rains too much...  We were just glad it wasn't at 1 am or 3 am or the such.</div> <bR> <div> So, it is now Monday morning.  I am in the office working through things.  I will prepare a quiz for a class tomorrow and finish preparation for my classes this week.  It has rained some this morning but not too much.  It is still cloudy, but the clouds are somewhat lighter.  Wish we could send some of the rain to Colorado!  It would settle the forest fires there in no time!  But it is so humid today and it is warming up.</div> <bR> <div> You know, we had prayed for dry weather in which to move things.  </div> <bR> <div> And this was the answer...  </div> <bR> <div> But, as reflected on it a bit, we realized that God answered the real prayer--that our things would be moved safely.  And, He, with the rain provided cool weather.  It was about 80, instead of the normal 95, a really BIG difference.  The cooler temperature really gave us energy, or at least preserved our energy, to get the job done.  We are excited to have things so that we feel more comfortable having guests.</div> <bR> <div> We were expecting to get our car tomorrow, a '91 Toyota Corolla.  But it is now looking like the paperwork, etc. will take a little longer so it might be up to a week longer before we can get it.</div> <bR> <div> Oops, it is starting to rain again.  And the weathermen are saying it will keep on raining, on and off but mostly on for another 2-3 days.  And, it is time for chapel, so I will sign off.  Hope you are all fine.</div> <bR> <div> With a smile thinking warmly and wetly of you,</div> <div> Jay</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> by Jay Hallowell</div> <div> Last updated: July 21, 2002</div> </td> </tr></table></body>