www.Betsy and Terry.fun

View from our balcony El Galleon, Puerto Galera

Terry, instructor Allison, Katie

This weekend Terry and Katie had more diving lessons so I went to Puerto Galera with them. They will come back next weekend and should leave with their SCUBA certification. While they were in class and in the water, I spent the entire 2 days reading, sleeping, and catching up on my picture posting and online journal writing. Saturday was sunny and Sunday was cloudy, but this is a beautiful place that demands relaxation. I am now ready for our trip home, so let the crazy Christmas rush begin! Allison and I will be arriving in Jacksonville on Thursday, December 15. Terry will be coming in on the 21st, then we all fly back to Manila on the 29th.

December 5-8

AWCP Christmas Luncheon Committee
B, Holly, Elizabeth, Sarah, Christy, Betsy, Celia

I call this my AWCP (American Women's Club Philippines) week. First of all I had my final class of the semester and a fun Holiday lunch, Then B, Michelle and I spent Monday afternoon stuffing stockings for our AWCP Christmas luncheon. Tuesday was the final Bazaar before the Christmas break, Wednesday was the 3 hour AWCP luncheon, and Thursday we went on a wonderful tour to Batangus to visit the local school which AWCP is sponsoring. The school has recently been remodeled with new toilets, a new classroom building, and other improvements including paint. In partnership with TeleTech (a call center support company) we went there to give every child in the school (440) a new backpack, a package full of school supplies, and a new pair of flip flops to wear when they aren't in school. The top 5 students in every class also received a certificate good for 2 school uniforms, socks, and shoes. The cost of this was about 150,000 pesos which would be about $3000 US dollars. The kids were so excited. There were 40 plus in most classrooms grades 1-6. Kindergarten ONLY had 33! No teacher's aides at this school. They were all so polite, well behaved, and very grateful. They entertained us with songs and dancing and called us their "fairy godmothers." The teachers and administrators (all women) wore lavender plaid uniforms.

47 third graders in one class

Teachers in uniforms

December 2-4, 2005

Chang Ki Chek International Airport

Beautiful Temple in Taipei

Nine boys, 4 coaches, and eight girls from Allison's basketball team boarded a plane for Taipei, Taiwan and I went along to cheer and help with stats. The first game on Friday was against a local Chinese team which ran fast, made long passes and layups every time they went down the court. After about 20 points our girls were able to stop these fast breaks and played them evenly, but were unable to get those 20 points back. Allison had 9 points and 8 rebounds. On Saturday morning they played another private school and lost by only 4 points. Allison had 8 points and 8 rebounds. Saturday evening's game was against Taipei American School which was hosting the tournament. We lost by one heartbreaking point to a home team which had a deep bench. By now our 8 girls were pretty tired and this team kept Allison and Kim, another high scorer, to 2 and 4 points respectively. The boys won 1 and lost 2, their final was also a one basket loss to the home team. It was a good experience and they all played their hearts out.

I was able to see a little bit of Taipei between games. As we rode into town from the airport we were able to see the 101 Building which is the tallest building in the world right now. Its architecture is inspired by bamboo. Taipei isn't a tall building city so this and one other building, probably about as tall as the Empire State Building, are all that rise above a few stories.
The players were all housed with local families and Allison's host mom and I became fast friends for the weekend. She took me to explore the famous Night Market there which was all lit up like Time's Square. On Saturday I shopped during the break while the girls saw a movie, then it was back to basketball and home on Sunday.

Taipei Night Market

Motorcycles are a main mode or transportation in Taipei

While we were in Taipei, Terry and Katie began their SCUBA course in Puerto Galera.