Terri and I had a great time over the holiday. Terri was on call, as usual, but did not receive many calls. On Christmas eve we were asked to come to a party at Dr. Toledo's home, with Ernie Hoffshneider, the Hospital director.
Mrs. Toledo had cooked wonderful food--I especially liked the spring rolls--and Dr. Toledo had barbecued some chicken and beef. After everyone 'loosened up' a little bit, they brought out the karaoke machine (everyone in the east and in Asia just loves Karaoke!). It was quite a system: using the microphone as a remote control, you enter the number of the song you want to sing (there are hundreds, including Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, and other languages besides English) and the TV screen displays the words of the song as the music plays.
Wallflowers that we are, it took some coaxing to get us to try it, but to our eventual embarrassment, Terri and I tried our hand at it!
On Christmas day we slept in late, then went to our first cock-fight. Neither Terri nor I were very impressed. A long razor-sharp blade is attached to one leg of the rooster, then, after getting the roosters excited, they set them down to fight. All one can see is a flurry of feathers, and a few seconds later, one lies dead. I was surprised at how quickly the fight was over--there was not enough time to make the excitement and effort worthwhile. I have been to bull fights in Mexico City, and found them to be interesting, and even entertaining (although it is a cultural expression that is going out of style, and may soon be gone, simply because of lack of interest). However, the cock fighting was disappointing, and both Terri and I had had enough after one fight. I found it hard to believe that there was any money in the sport--the time and care that are given to these beautiful birds are lost in, not minutes, but seconds. There were several families, perhaps 20 people, in attendance (including small children). We understand that it is a cultural thing--and have no problem with the people of Tinian continuing to enjoy--but for Terri and I, it seemed to be a waste of time and money. Besides, we enjoy looking at the beautiful birds too much to see them destroyed.
After we lost interest in the cock fights, we went to the beach for a swim. We found much more enjoyment at the beach! That night we had invited our church congregation (all four of us) to dinner--shipped in from Saipan that morning. Then we watched 'Its a Wonderful Life' to end the day.
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