Thoughts and Observations

As I am sitting here in a quaint hotel in Mabolo, Cebu, eating a chicken hot dog and scrambled egg breakfast, the calmness is interrupted by an angry American. I would guess he is around 70. He is complaining to another American.

"I told the taxi driver before I got in that I wanted to go to the airport. As soon as I got in, he asked, 'international airport?' How does he not know where he is going when I just told him? I got right back out of that taxi! I just told him, and he's asking me again!"

The other guy responds. "You have the domestic terminal and the international terminal. He just wanted to make sure he brought you to the right place."

Subdued grumbling followed.

It seems like some people are looking for reasons to be angry at others. I think they get irritated that many of these people do not speak as good English as he does, but he does not speak their language AT ALL! Every time I have asked a Filipino what languages he speaks, I get a list of at least three languages. Four is common, and I once had someone list 8 different languages. Have patience for people who know more than you, angry guy!

As I sit here on my flight to Cebu, contemplating the idea of having no expectations of anyone or any circumstance, I find the excitement for this trip has faded. For the next 23 hours, my entire experience will be sitting in these tiny seats, with a belief I will be unable to get comfortable enough to sleep well. I look forward to sleeping in Cebu, when I'm sure my excitement will grow back to normal again!

On my previous trip to Davao in April of 2018, I had been exposed to a little bit of the culture in that region, which seemed to pique my interest, though I had no idea in what. A couple months after my April adventure, I saw a video about the T'nalak Festival, which is an annual celebration of a traditional material made by the T'boli tribe from natural resources including plants, tree parts, and dyes derived from plants. The "wall hangings" are a sacred item made by these peoples, and has been for unknown years. I came across a video On Youtube regarding this craft and the people, and thought to myself, "interesting."

Some months later, I realized I was being called to meet them. Another video I watched touched a part of my soul that brought forth such beautiful emotion, there was no way I could not make this part of my life. I contacted people in the Philippines and began discussing the strength of the pulling with a few of the T'boli tribe. This is when I found out Melissa, from the Great Clarification, was one of them! I was elated. This was all falling together without any effort on my part, and I felt myself finally answering a calling for the first time in my life, as I will explain in a bit more detail in the following.



As time goes on, and the results of the Great Clarification continue to manifest, I have been opening up to possibilities. I have been paying more attention to my intuition, excessive coincidences, and anything else that might help me find that peace again.

In early December, I was at a remote job site in Valdez, Alaska. After work one night, in my hotel room, wandering around Facebook, I happened upon a video from the Philippines. I clicked on it, and was presented with the singing of Rosie Sula, whose video is linked below. The video was of Miss Philippines, Catriona Gray, sitting in a canoe on Lake Sebu. Before I even got to that part of the video, the sound of Rosie's singing struck me more deeply than I ever imagined someone singing could. Yes, I was crying. Why was I crying? 3 months later and I still don't know the answer to that! I asked myself in a mildly hysterical voice, while I was crying, "What is happening to me?" Of course, I answered myself! "I don't know!" Catriona says, in a loud voice, "Welcome to the land of the Dream Weavers!" That phrase struck me even harder than the beginning music! And, yes, I still don't know why. As Kyle Cease might appreciate, I am good with not knowing.



I found the video on Youtube, and looked at other videos of the T'boli tribe, and continued to cry off and on while I was learning about these people. They are known as the Dream Weavers because the patterns they weave into their T'nalak are inspired by their dreams. Now I understand the importance of the T'nalak Festival. This was a Calling! I had to meet these people!

I decided I would contact the only person I know who could help me figure this out. When Melissa finally answered my messages, I asked her about the T'boli tribe. "Would you believe I'm one of them?" Wow! I would have been a bit shocked if not for all the other things that seem to be connected in all this. My response was, "Well that makes a lot of sense!"

Our conversation was cut short, and I lost contact with her. My next step was to search on Facebook. I felt that I had to continue searching. I wasn't sure what for, just to continue. I found a page for another festival, the Ses'long Festival. This one was in March. I was not interested in the festival, though. I wanted to meet these people without being a tourist. I sent a message to the page with a short description of what I was experiencing and the person who answered suggested that I be there on March 15 to at least see the Miss T'boli pageant. The festival would end shortly afterward, and I could meet people without all the tourists. I was pretty darn excited when he responded! I think I ended up not getting to sleep that night until around 2 or 3 in the morning.

It amazes me how writing one email, contacting a complete stranger, can change so much in a persons life. This contact, through the Ses'Long festival page set me up to get tickets to the pageant! I was stoked! I might even get to be a photographer with VIP passes! I made a few more contacts in the T'boli tribe, and have been learning a lot about the culture as well as a little bit of the language. Everyone who I have contacted thus far has been very kind, open and willing to help. I am learning the language is quite different from Tagalog or Bisaya. Hearing the words spoken once again brought up a very strong emotional reaction from me. I had a strange thought pop into my head that seemed to come from someone else, but it was mine. "These are my People." Yeah, I don't understand that, either. Somebody told me that these feelings are the feelings you get when you want to go home. I responded that I had never actually been there. "It doesn't matter. Home."

I have connected with Rosie Sula, who was the singer in the video with Miss Philippines, and will be meeting her when I am there. This is going to be wonderful! This is what happens when I follow my heart instead of my head!

So, there you have it, a quick synopsis of why I absolutely must go meet the T'boli people. I'll be there soon!