Steph's Adventures

A bit different to any of my other paintings, this is an attempt to capture yesterday's poem in illustrated, if rather abstract, form. ...

Usually even if I was inspired to write another Christmas poem on Christmas eve it would be a little late for the Christmas cards. This year...

Last Sunday we were invited to join Fr Mac at the Christmas party he organises for the children from his feeding programme in the city stree...

We haven't sent any Christmas cards this year ... so please don't take it personally that you haven't received one! Instead, th...

When we arrived at DBTC back at the beginning of October, the Christmas tree was already up in the community room, so I guess you could say ...

I apologise now that this post is longer than many I have written. I won't be offended if you don't read to the end (apart from anyt...

So far, I have been very impressed by what I have experienced at TVED. Admittedly there are minor  frustrations: like the time keeping bein...

While we are here we are working at TVED (or the Technical Vocational Education Department), designing and teaching the English and Maths co...

Teaching English, I am spending a lot of time thinking about words at the moment. This, however, has very little to do with that, but it see...

We have reached the end of our second week of teaching at TVED, and between teaching, planning and marking there has been less time for blog...

A week ago, for the first time in my life, I sat through a boxing match from start to finish. As a general rule, watching people beating ea...

The sign of the cross is a simple prayer. Here it is very visible: all prayers invariably begin and end with it; and it is not uncommon to ...

One of our reasons for applying to the Salesians, and one of our hopes in coming here, was to have the opportunity to experience life in com...

It mentions in the guide book that at all times and on every occasion, Filipinos need little excuse to utter the words "Let's eat!...

With the students all on holiday this week, it has left plenty of time for reflection: here are some of the results; in painting and poetry...

In the UK, All Saints day, November 1st, will probably have passed many people by; in France, it is a bank holiday, an excuse for a day off,...

Last Thursday and Friday, at the end of three weeks induction for the applicants, and after two months of heats for the others, TVED celebra...

There have been a huge number of things that have struck me here, too many to count, and certainly too many to write about without boring p...

Yesterday, invited by Father Mac, we took a break from curriculum planning, and went out into some of the very poorest parts of Cebu City to...