Wow, friends, nine days since I last wrote! Well, here's the latest story:
Nate's cell phone went missing a few days ago (that's how the Asians say things so that blame is not placed--ex. it is not: "Nate lost his phone"). He texted me at school and when he got home had no cell phone. It must be somewhere, but after a few days we were starting to think it was lost for good.
Last night at 10 p.m. a random co-worker called us and said, "A Filipino guy just called me on your phone! We talked for like 15 minutes and I'm not sure exactly what he said."
We were thinking "someone has the phone!" So we called Nate's number from my phone and a Filipino answered (yes we did try this before but it said the phone was disconnected).
Nate then had a very strange conversation with the man who basically spoke Tagalog, and Nate was trying to communicate with him in Cebuano. There were guys laughing in the background and it sounded strange. We think they were in "high spirits." However, Nate thought the guy agreed to meet him at the "lechon manok" stand near our house.
Nate went out at 10:30p.m in the dark (and soon the rain), to wait on the corner for this stranger to come with his cell phone. Nate made friends with the guys on the corner, but never did a guy show up with his phone.
Even more strange was that today Nate got another call at school from our worship pastor at church. The story began to unfold (I hope you can bear with these details!). It turns out two guys found the phone in the road. (You have to realize cell phones get stolen all the time here so they can sell them for money).
The two guys disagreed about the phone--one thought they should sell it and the other had a bad conscience. So the guy with the conscience took the SIM card out of the phone and put it in another phone, thus they were able to call Nate.
Why did the guy at church know this story? Because the two guys told their aunt what happened, and she happened to go to our church! It is quite a circle of people.
We are learning about the culture more and more. People can't go directly to someone to tell them they are returning the phone, but must go through a chain of people making contacts until at last the situation is resolved.
We're waiting to see if our pastor can meet with the lady at church who can then meet the two guys and then can find a way to get the phone back to us without us finding out who they were. We'll keep you updated!
My last comment is that as we told this story to our friend, Ryan, at lunch he told us he once lost his cell phone, the same thing happened with the in-direct confrontation, and of all places, the guys in his case wanted to meet at the "lechon manok" stand! There must be something about that corner--it is the happening place for returning (or not returning) cell phones!
Until next time, this is mystery news from the Philippines...signing off.
5 comments:
When I was in Davao, I was often frustrated by the round-about way of communicating with others. But sometimes thinking about it makes me homesick! I hope Nate gets the phone back!
Crazy people! What a funny story. Also, makes me strap my phone in a little extra tight. Lotsa luff and laffs, Mums
Update: Cell phone was returned and reward was paid. You never know what is going to happen next!
Is this seriously the 1st time that Natie has lost his phone? If so, I can't believe it! You're getting so responsible in your old age, Nate! Love ya, Jess
Yes, the in-direct communication to avoid confrontation is very Filipino. It is also not uncommon to have several messengers in the process. I'm glad you were able to get your phone back.
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