What ... Another Holiday?

...

We sometimes can’t get our work done because of all the holidays. Monday, August 25, was declared a city holiday by her excellency, the major of Quezon City. Because the PAO (our office) is in Quezon City, all the Filipino employees were entitled to the day off. The office was closed, The air conditioner was turned off. What should we do?

And another thing ... in Metro-Manila, there is a “color code” for cars. It is nothing to do with color, but that's what it's called. This is how it works: on Monday, cars with license plates that end in 0 or 1 cannot be on the streets; on Tuesday, those with 2 or 3; Wednesday 4 or 5, etc. through Friday. Our car ends in the number 171. Humph! Can’t go anywhere. But ... we knew this was coming and we made plans.

Some senior missionaries, four couples, and President and Sister Edwards took off on an adventure. We heard of the Pagsanjan (pahg-SAN-on) Falls. We headed there; off at 6:30. This place is about 60 miles south east of Quezon City. Took two hours to drive there. Two vans. (The top yellow punch pin on the map shows where we live; the one in the lower right shows where we went. Click on the map to make it larger.)

...

Can you believe it? Sister Roundy persuaded Elder Roundy (who is nearly 70 years old and can’t swim a stroke) to climb into one of these long, narrow canoes. He felt pretty safe, though, with his helmet on. (He didn't know that helmet had some sort of radio active brain penetrating diode in it that dulled his senses. Notice Sister Roundy is not wearing hers.) (The resort photographer took these next two pictures and then sold them to us when we returned down the river.)
...

Each canoe had two boatmen ... one in front and one in back. This is Ronald (we think). Donald was in the front. (Ronald said they were twins. They may have been, but it was obvisous they were not twins to one another.)

When everyone was load up, they linked us together in a long chain with a motor boat on the front hauling us upriver.
The river is wide and slow. Eventually the motor boats unhooked, and Ron and Don took over.

And the river took over, too. They told us there were 16 rapids on the river that we would have to cross.

The boat men had to get out and drag us over the rocks. (This isn't us, however.)

The Pagsanjan Gorge is long and deep.

Along the way there were lots of hanging vines. We could hear jungle sounds — birds and monkeys.

There were a lot of water falls tumbling down the sides of the canyon.

Some were short and loud. Others were long and lacy.

It took those two stripling Filipinos about an hour to take us up the river. Some of the time they could paddle along, but much of it was hard work, dodging rocks and dragging fat Americans over the rapids. Eventually we could see the Pagsanjan Falls up ahead. Notice how high the sides of the canyon are.

When we got closer it was loud. It had rained the night before, so there was a lot of water rushing through the rocks.

Part of the fun ... well, fun is not the right word ... say, part of the full experience when you arrived at the falls was then to exchange the canoe for a raft. This was one of the raft men.

So we climbed onto the raft and a couple of men pulled the raft hand over hand away from the comfort and certain safety of the slippery, jagged, moss-covered, wet, and slimy rocks into the chasm of the roaring waves.

Right across the river we went, directly to the falls.

There was no turning back. Elder Roundy said he was glad he had just recently renewed his life insurance so his family would have something to remember him by.

Under. Heavy water pounding on your head. A fierce updraft of wind blowing the water all around you.

Behind the falls, looking back. Loud, ringing, roaring din. But we're still alive. There's hope! But wait... Now we had to go right back through the dang thing to get out of there. We were wet from tip to toe, drenched.

Going back down the river was half of the journey, but was way less than half the experience. The boatmen easily paddled through the calms waters and expertly guided us across the rocks and rapids, gliding across the flowing river.

Luckily, our forward-looking plans had included some dry clothes to change into. This was way too much fun!

[We have to acknowledge that we did not take all these pictures. Some we borrowed from others, and some we found elsewhere.]

A Week Filled with Good ...

....

August 15 through 20 was a week of goodness. Good things happened. Mostly it was because Elder David A. Bednar of the Council of Twelve Apostles came to visit the Philippines. He was accompanied by his wife.

They came first to Cebu, where the new temple is being built. He presided at a stake conference there on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening he flew to Manila. And that’s where the whirlwind of good things began.

Sunday evening was a leadership meeting for the Church leaders in Manila and nearby. On Monday was a meeting with members from three stakes. (We really wanted to have all the members in Metro-Manila come, but we couldn't find a meeting place large enough.) Monday afternoon he held a meeting with missionaries from two missions, Manila and Angeles. (One of his friends from BYU-Idaho is the president of the Angeles Mission.)

Monday early evening there was a meeting at the Manila Temple for all temple workers. This was followed by a dinner at the Edwards’ apartment. Because Elder and Sister Edwards were accompanying Elder and Sister Bednar at the temple, Sister Roundy and Sister Millett (wife of the Philippines Area Director of Temporal Affairs) and their lazy husbands went to the Edwards’ apartment to prepare the dinner. Sister Edwards had it all planned out and laid out. The women cooked the food that she had ready. Sister Roundy had prepared and brought a salad (one requested by Sister Edwards). Sister Millet brought vegetables. Sister Teh was bringing the deserts. About 6:30, the Edwards and Bednars came. So did the Kos. They brought their daughter. The Tehs brought their four children. So we had a large group at the table. Elder Roundy had been instructed to carefully study the etiquette for serving food (serve with the right hand over the diner’s right shoulder; remove from the left). It was a splendid, easy, and special dinner.

..

Elder and Sister Bednar are easy to talk to, chatty and friendly. They told us some of the experiences they had as they traveled across the world. One particularly interesting report was about Slovakia. Elder Bednar’s grandparents came from there, and they met some of their relatives. He told us considerable and special information about this country, but he carefully asked us not to email it out (because, he said, most people who read it would think it should be spread out to their friends and family, and overnight it would be altogether a different version of the truth). So ... ask us when we come home.

...

The Group. Back row left: Elder Teh, Elder Ko, Elder Edwards, Elder Bednar, Brother Millett, Elder Roundy, Adam Teh. Second row left: Sister Kim (Ko), Sister Edwards, Sister Bednar, Sister Millett, Sister Roundy. Front row left: Hy Wong Ko, Colisa Teh, Alysium Teh, Sister Teh.

On Tuesday we held another missionary meeting with the missionaries in the Quezon City Mission (where we are assigned). Elder Ko and Sister Kim (husband and wife) took them on a tour of some historical places in Manila. Then a meeting at the Missionary Training Center where all the new missionaries were being taught.

On Wednesday there was a meeting with all the employees at the Philippines Area Office. The Bednars then came up to our office and wished us all good-bye. Off they went to Korea.

What’s next? Wait until November ..., just you wait.

You Probably Won't Believe It ... But You Should ...

...
We know you probably think we should be attending to more important duties, and we probably should, but ... We do spend a good deal of time at the office each day (often 9 or 10 hours). So sometimes we take a break and enjoy our friends here. The senior couples (we call ourselves the "Expatriates") frequently get together on Family Home Evening events, firesides, to watch the 24th of July Tab Choir show, and other fun things. Well ...

On Friday, August 1, Sister Roundy dragged Elder Roundy off to a stage show with the Expatriates. He was kickin' and screamin' all the way, moanin' and groanin'. First we stopped at an "American" steakhouse and had a swell dinner (she salmon, he prime rib -- he liked that). The restaurant is in the Asian Mall (said to be the world's largest) and near the Philippines Cultural Center (see below). After getting lost in the world's largest mall and ending up in the "north" parking lot rather than the "south," we finally caught up with our friends and rode in a van with them down to the Manila ocean front to the Philippines Cultural Center.

This place is a huge complex of theaters and pavilions. (We've been there a several times -- to an opera, to a symphony concert, to The Osmonds.) On Friday we went to a stage production of "Cinderella." We had balcony seats, which we decided suited us just fine because we could sort of look down on the whole stage and see perfectly.

The show was stunning! The staging was superb. The scenery was magnificent! The orchestra was ... slightly out of tune. The sound system was brilliant. The singing was fantastic.

The Fairy Godmother appeared out of a puff of smoke. The little rats (about the size of a pup) pranced and danced, and even sang a couple of songs.

The Ugly Stepsisters and the Wicked Stepmother stole the show. The costumes were topnotch.

The technical scenery was famous. Right before your eyes a pumpkin became this ornate gold coach. No lie ... a pumpkin morphed into a gold coach and Cinderella was driven to the ball by her pet mice (who became prancing steeds) with the rats as the coachman and driver.

The prince fell in love and they all lived happy ever after.

Then we drove home up the EDSA (a virtual parking lot), humming and singing all the way.

This production was excellent. We've seen a couple of Broadway shows and this was ever bit as well done. Elder Roundy is still moanin' and grumblin', but now it's about wondering when the next show will be in town.

Dr. C Owen Roundy Elementary's School Song

Hello! This is Carolyn - Elder and Sister Roundy's "favorite" daughter. Dad told me I could put this in their blog.

With Dad's elementary school just being dedicated, we thought it would be fun to post the lyrics and music of the school's song. Dad wrote and composed it all.

Travis (Elder Roundy's son) and Elder Roundy at the school dedication in June.

Here are the words and there is a link at the bottom of this post to open a media file of the music. You might like to open that up in a new window so you can read the words and listen to the music all at the same time.

We’re Roundy Racers

At C. Owen Roundy School.

We’re Roundy Racers, we use the Golden Rule.

We learn our lessons ‘cause we study hard;

Always fair when we are playing in the yard.

Roundy Racers, we’ll keep our standards high.

Work will always win the racer.

We are the C. Owen Roundy School.

.....

We’re Roundy Racers

Just watch our bright banners wave.

The Roundy Racers will win with time to save.

We have fine teachers and a principal.

All the Roundy Racers are invincible.

All you Racers, come join us in our song.

We’re a happy winning team.

We are the C. Owen Roundy School

Link for music

A View from the Window

On Sunday afternoon we looked out our terrace window. The sun was shining and the air was relatively clear. It seemed like a good time to show the scenes we see everyday.

We are situated on a hill that overlooks the surrounding valley. All of this habitation is called "Metro-Manila." The actual city of Manila is probably 15 kilometers away from where we live, but the entire area is one big place, so it's called Metro-Manila. We live in Quezon City, right by the Temple (as you probably all know). When we look out our south terrance, we see part of Pasig City and Makati City, as well as some of Quezon City. We have a panoramic view from Pasig City to the left clear across to Makati on the right. These show what we see from our terrace. What you see here stretches way down to Makati.
This is the central section of our view, panning from right to left.

This is essentially the same view as above.

To the left of our view is Pasig City. In the far distance (lost in the haze) are some mountains that rise on the east side of the valley. We have a gazeebo in our back yard (you see the roof here). Actually, we rarely go there.

This is a coconut tree in our back yard. Look closely in the center of the leaves. You'll see the green coconuts. About a month ago we had a typhoon and it tried to blow the nuts off the tree, but they held on.

This is another look at Makati. Notice the building cranes in the far distance. Wherever you look there is construction going on. Some of the buildings are never completed because, as we understand it, the property is not taxed until the construction is completed. Hence ... what's the rush?


Now this is from the end of the front walkway. This is Pasig City. See the cranes on the buildings. We go down in this section of town to get our groceries. We try to avoid going downtown very much anywhere else. It's a big place, this Metro-Manila.

Below is a front yard scene. The white wall you can barely see is along the stairs we climb as we go from our apartment to the Temple grounds. It is always kept green. Some months there is a lot of rain (May, June, July). Other times the grounds are watered with sprinklers.

Here you can see the walkways in the front of the apartment building. (Our actual room is on the top floor here, a couple of doors to the right, not shown in this shot.) The apartment building is three, three-storied rectangular structures, set next to each other like dominos placed half way down the side of the other piece, sort of a stair step arrangment. We live in the center building. It is from the far end of this walkway that the picture above of Pasig City was taken.

Flying into the Morning . . .

At five in the morning Ferdie came to get us at our apartment on the Temple grounds in Quezon City to take us to the International Airport. After shuffling through lines and lines to check through the security inspections, we eventually left Manila on a 747 at 8:00 a.m. It was Thursday, May 29. This was an unusual trip. Missionaries are generally not allowed to leave their assigned work location. But we had special permission, permission granted more than a year ago before we entered the field.

We flew to Tokyo, a four hour jaunt. After a couple hours there, we boarded another big Boeing 747 flown by Northwest Airline. Flying into the morning sun, we crossed the International Date Line somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and slipped unperceptively back into Thursday, May 29 when we landed in Los Angeles. We were met in Las Vegas about 11:30 Thursday morning by Cathy and Taj Owen who were at the airport to pick us up.

The purpose of our trip was to participate in the dedication of the Dr. C. Owen Roundy Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event had been planned a year ago before we were assigned to the Philippines. We were given permission to attend at the time of our call.

Tuesday was the day for the big event. Around 5:00 in the evening we gathered at the Dr. C. Owen Roundy School for a family tour. Mr. Knowles, the principal, escorted us around the school to see what the students and teachers had done to memorialize Dr. Roundy’s life. The school has four “pods” (and a kindergarten wing). In each of the four pods segments of his life were depicted – his childhood, his high school years, the colleges and universities, and his professional career. In this view, Dr. Roundy and his brother Nolen and Nolen's wife, Beth, are observing one of the displays.

Each student made a hand-print tile and the staff and family members made a tile (in the center section). This are permanently mounted on the wall of the interior courtyard. If you look carefully, you'll notice a diagonal pattern -- each grade had a different color. These are the students during the first year at the Dr. C. Owen Roundy Elementary School.

With Dr. Roundy are (to his right) his sister Zelda, brother Nolen, sister-in-law Beth, and Cathy, one of his favorite daughters. There were too many others to show, but on Tuesday we learned that some of Elder Roundy’s brothers were coming down from Salt Lake City, something he had not expected. Nolen and Beth came in the early afternoon and brought with them Quim and Zelda (another brother and his sister). We had a nice, but short visit with them. They said Shane, the youngest brother, was on his way. (Shane and Zelda live in New Mexico.) We had also learned that Gail’s oldest brother, Ronald, was coming up from California. And then Mary and Bob, Pete and Dee (and Wayne and Lisa), and Dorothy (from Texas). Surprise, surprise.

These are the Roundy boys: Nolen (oldest), Don (next to youngest), Shane (the youngest), Owen (most handsome, but younger than Nolen and older than Quim), and Quim (third to the youngest). Robert (age between Quim and Don) was not able to get off from work, so we had to do without him.
The student choir performed. The students and teachers sang the school song that Dr. Roundy had written for the school.

Dr. Roundy has enjoyed a long professional association with Dr. Marjorie Conner (ABD). He was pleased to have her speak at the dedication.

Federick Watson is one of the favorite principals with whom Dr. Roundy worked. He was a speaker at the dedication. This is Travis, Rick, and Dr. Roundy.

Some of the guests gathering. In this shot you can see several of the grand kids (Kenna Martin, Taylor Simmons, Drake Martin, Chase Simmons) and Dr. Aaron Waite, a son-in-law. The room was full of friends, family, colleagues. On the front row beyond are Aunt Dee and Uncle Pete. Behind him are Mary Sue and Bob Bishop and Uncle Ron. If you know whom to look for you can see behind them Uncle Nolen talking with a cousin, Glenna Anderson. Dan and Aleen McGuire. Jenifer and Wayne Horlacher are on the far left. Jenifer is telling her dad a secret . . . and he'll never tell.

Travis, Dr. Roundy, Rick Watson, and Marjorie Conner on stage. Marjorie Conner and Rick Watson, gave short tributes. The governor’s representative presented a proclamation designating June 3 as “Dr. C. Owen Roundy Day” in Nevada. The student presented Dr. Roundy with gifts: two books of student writing about why they liked the school, a yearbooks with all their pictures, a large poster with every child’s picture on it, a jacket from NASCAR (which has essentially adopted the school because of its Roundy Racer mascot, an idea, by the way, which Travis came up with). The students and teachers sang the school song (which Dr. Roundy had written for the school). Travis, representing the family, gave a nice tribute to his mom and dad.

Senator Reid had a short recorded video. The other congressmen presented flags, proclamations, pictures and other memorials.

Here are all of us Roundys: (f row) Cathy, Jenifer, Gail, Carolyn; (b row) Travis, Owen, Jill. These kids are the best in the world, so the rest of you will have to struggle along with your own lot in life; we got the cream of the crop.

Mr. Knowles, the principal, has cleverly used the Roundy Racer theme and has hooked up with NASCAR and others for a mascot theme. This model race car is on display in the library. It's about four or five feet long.

Here is another clever use of the checkered flags and the sports car tires. You can see evidence of this theme throughout the school.

The Las Vegas Speedway donated a lot of used tires. These have been displayed here and there in the school to good effect.

If you want a Roundy Racers T-shirt, here's the place (the one and only place) to get it.

All in all, it was a glorious day.

Lots of good things have happened in our lives. This was one of them.