Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan

On our way to my dad's hometown, we drove by tangled up electrical wires, wires saturated in puddles, bent utility poles, and uprooted coconut trees. There were houses that probably had a square type of structure at one point, but now they looked like rhombuses. There were tin roof pieces that were no longer on roofs. There were houses that were just abandoned and uninhabitable. 

This wasn't even in the hardest hit area of the Philippines. 

My heart still goes out to all of those affected by Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan. And even though I'm actually here, I can't fathom the extent of all the damage.

My mom said that one of the phrases she remembers from when she was growing up was that: Filipinos are like bamboo. They're strong, they bend, but they don't break. They are a resilient people. Despite all of the destruction that occurred, you still see them smiling. 

For a country that is predominately Catholic/Christian, I found this song to be quite fitting:

Continued prayers for the Philippines. <3

Peace. Love. Happiness.

--TR