Hello! (Hoy!) Well, we are now finishing up our third week here in the Philippines. We have settled into a nice, 15th floor, 3 bedroom apartment. It is quite nice and we are all very comfortable. We have started taking advantage of the gym and pool which are wonderful to have so close at hand. This part of the greater Manila area is quite clean, green, and pretty quiet. We are still awakened some by honking traffic, but not often. The air pollution of downtown, where we were staying and breathing, is quite visible from our vantage point now. It sort of looks like LA or NYC. On the weekend it was much clearer and we could see the Bataan Peninsula and the waters of Manila Bay- very cool. We have beautiful sunsets, the dirtier the air the prettier the sunset, you know! One of our first movie outings was to see "The Great Raid" which is out in your theaters, too! It is a gripping story of World War II in the Philippines. It is historical and very interesting- A great part of American History and Filipino History. I highly suggest it and hope to hear what you thought of it. The movie theaters here have reserved seating. When you buy your ticket you buy specific seats. It is a great idea. The popcorn is awful so at least that is not too tempting. It costs 100-150 pesos to see a movie- that is less than $3.00 and we get to pick our seats! The food here is challenging at best. There are so many choices, but so few that are really appealing. We are across the street from Hard Rock Cafe (it was not good) Fridays (it was not bad, but not like home) and Outback Steakhouse (My personal favorite here, after all we are much closer to Australia now!) Even though almost every American fast food place can be found, they are just not the same and somehow fast food..... not as good as in America..... where it is not even good....... ugh! I have found the most comfort at the Outback.... We are trying to try the local and Asian varieties, but a little bit goes a long way. The flavors and smells are,well, just too different right now. The California Pizza Kitchen has great pizza, but I made the mistake of being complacent and eating a salad and ..........It took me a few days to feel better. We were warned not to eat any produce that we didn't wash ourselves with distilled water and I just slipped. Allison didn't get as sick as I did. We are really missing all of our favorite Mexican restaurants. The Filipinos don't 'do' Mexican very well which is interesting since it was a Spanish Colony. Terry has a favorite local pizzaria that we all like. We ate at a fabulous Brazilian restaurant called Brazil, Brazil. They cook many different choices of meat on small spits over an outdoor fire, then cut off what you want at your table. They told us the meat was from the US and it tasted great. Funny, we are in the Philippines eating American beef at a Brazilian restaurant! We all enjoyed that. It was expensive so we can't eat there every day..... so that leads me to the markets... Things really spoil quickly here so I have to shop almost daily for meat, milk, eggs, etc.. Today I found a store called Cost u Less which is a spin off of Costco. It has more choices than many local markets. I found chicken and pork that looked good. The beef here is a mystery. I know most of it comes from Australia and is probably good, but I am such a "corn fed USDA beef" girl that I am uncertain. We had a very good beef soup last night, so there is one thing at least! The vegetables are also different so we are trying new things all the time and hope to have found some good meals to feed Katie by the time she gets here in September. (Our niece from Austin will be here for four months working with Terry.) I almost finished without mentioning how crowded all the stores and markets are, I must be getting used to it. No way! Personal space and independence are truly prize commodities here. Two things I value dearly and am learning to live without. More on that later ..... I sooooo appreciate all of your emails with updates on what is going on in your lives. I miss home so badly and I miss my wonderful friends and family. Three weeks has gone by quickly, but now that I am settled I will need to find activities to be involved in. I will take a Tagalog (Ta-gaw'-lug) Language course at the International School which starts in September. I have joined the American's Women's Club and can be as involved in that as I want to be. Our landlord's sister teaches at ISM and she is trying to get me to substitute- I am resisting for now. Allison continues to sparkle- she is happy and fitting in. She went to a movie with friends on Friday and to the Mall and dinner on Saturday with a different group. She is happy everywhere she goes and is a delight to have sharing this experience. We really miss Maggie, Sean and Lauren and are happy to report that they are all moved in to their various homes and have started classes. Lauren got a job working at the after school care for an elementary school and just loves having first graders hang all over her............Sean will continue to work at Info Tech and the University concessions job and Maggie is happy with her Law Office. So life goes on.... Mabuhay! (live long!) love, BetsyOnce again, please forward this to anyone who you think might be interested and let me know if you want to be avoided. I won't take it personally

I am not on vacation yet! We have now been here for one week and
there has been a lot of work to do. We are still in Terry's bachelor pad
on the 10th floor in downtown Malate (Manila), It overlooks Manila
Bay and is quite beautiful if you only look out to the water- When you
look down you see garbage and pollution on the streets as well as in the
water. However, it is better than it was last summer, so I can tell they
are really working on cleaning the city. I even saw a trash truck- not
common here. They basically pile trash on the street corners and it gets
into high mounds before it is picked up. Imagine the smell, flies and
mess after it has set out on the corner for days. Not pleasant, there is an
underlying smell of decay, and pollution downtown. It is not too bad
when the breeze is blowing from the ocean. We can only smell the salty
ocean air from our balcony, Thank Goodness!.

Traffic noise is like the bullfrog and cricket noises back home- constant
beeping- you have to honk your horn just to get through the streets! It
never stops, as I am writing this at 3:30 AM here I can hear the honking.
Traffic (Trapik) is just unreal- probably the hardest thing for me to adjust
to. Allison and I will NEVER drive here. 5-6 cars, buses, or jeepneys
(vehicles from WWII that have been turned into their mass transit system)
driving across in a 4 lane road. No one stays in lanes, pays attention to red
lights, or turns from the correct lane. You just beep your horn and go and
you can always touch the vehicle next to you because they are all crammed
together. There are hardly any accidents here because everyone is super
alert and aggressive while driving. Also the speed stays below 30 mph.
Police (Pulis) are around but usually just standing in the medians next to
their motorcycles talking to each other. Every now and then you hear a
siren, but hardly ever. Vendors and children are constantly walking
between the cars looking in your windows and begging for handouts. Our
windows are darkly tinted so when we are stopped they walk really close
to the car and look in saying "Please Ma'am" It is heartbreaking, but you
don't dare roll your window down to give them anything or you would have
a swarm around your car in seconds. It is just unreal. It is taking 30-40
minutes now to get to Allison's school- International School Manila. (ISM)
which is in Fort Bonafacio a new very pretty suburb. The rent was too
expensive there and they wanted a whole year's rent in advance so we
have found an apartment in an older, nice, westernized part of town which
overlooks a huge 4 story Mall Complex which is on a pretty street. We will
be on the 15th floor of a 45 story building. We looked at an apartment on
the 40th floor and it was too high up- our ears popped on the elevator!
Our view there will be of the far away tall buildings in downtown Manila.
There are plants and folliage on most rooftops and spilling out of balconies
so everything even in the center of the city is green and lush and beautiful.
There the traffic will still be quite bad, (makes Orange Park look like the
Blue Ridge Parkway) but we couldn't hear it due to the insulation in the
building and being higher up. This area is called Makati. In Makati and Fort
Bonafacio there is no pollution, garbage in the streets, or bad smells. Thanks
Goodness! Allison's school will only be15 minutes away once we move there,
hopefully in a few days. We will have a nice pool and gym in the building so
we will have no excuses for not exercising! Then maybe it will feel more like a
vacation!

Allison's school is beautiful and she is adjusting well. Elementary, Middle
and High School are all on the same campus, but in separate areas. As far as
I can tell they are mostly upper socio-economic kids- parents who work for
the World Bank or Asian Bank or some other foreign interest helping in the
development of the Philippines. It took me two full days just to get her
enrolled, registered for classes, uniforms, books, picture ID badges for all
of us as well as our drivers, registering the car so it can even drive onto
campus. The entire school is surrounded by a pretty iron security fence and
officers check each car in and out- checking every trunk every time! Crazy.
The security at this school is unbelievable. Now that we have a sticker on the
car and name badges we can come and go pretty quickly. It has been
interesting and nerve wracking as all of the secretaries, security guards,
cafeteria workers, drivers, maids, etc.. are Filipino and even though they
speak English, it is quite broken, and often hard to understand due to dialect.
Then they talk to each other in Tagalog which I have no clue about yet- I am
learning some words but not quickly enough. This picky English teacher is
speaking in short phrases with very poor grammar just to be understood.
If you say a whole sentence they don't understand you, so you just say
"CR?" instead of "Where is the closest rest room?" (CR is comfort room.)
Speaking of rest rooms.... When you are out in a Mall, you never know if or
where there will be one, most are very clean and well attended but don't
have toilet seats, toilet paper, or soap. Sometimes they don't flush,
due to poor sanitation equipment. We carry TP and Antibacterial wash
everywhere we go. The school has very nice, clean rest rooms
with seats, TP, and soap so we know we can always stop there!

The schedule at this school is a 10 day modified block of some sort. (You
think you have scheduling problems?) Allison is taking 8 classes and has
each one about three times a week for an hour and every other week on
Wednesdays for 1.5 hours. In two weeks she never has the same class on
the same day of week and time. Then it starts over again every ten days.
It is unbelievable and difficult to understand, but seems to work for them.
60% of their students who are there for four years will receive an IB diploma.
Allison is taking some IB and AP classes. She seems to like her teachers and
the kids have been great in accepting her. There is a high turnover here so
there are many new kids in thesame situation. Classes are very small 8-15
students with about 150 per grade level.

The administrators at the school are mostly American, European, or
Australian. Everyone is so friendly and they really have no "School Rules"
Very much like a University- The students all sign an Honor Code and that
is it. No detention, no tardy rules, etc... They are very strict about drug use
and have random drug testing. Suspension for a first offense and expulsion
for a second. The school is patrolled by security officers, but they are really
in the background- not like "gestapo."

All around us the people are short, dark skinned, beautiful, and skinny.
Americans really stick out here and it is so funny when you see another
American. You always talk to them, like instant friends for a minute, since
you can actually talk to each other and understand everything each of you
says.

We are happy to be here, a little overwhelmed, and really miss everyone. I
was especially emotional when I walked onto the elementary school campus.
Who'd have thought? I hope things are getting better at KHES- I know it has
been a difficult start with construction and AC problems. Somehow, no matter
what, the faculty and staff there are always able to keep a positive attitude
and make the best of bad situations. I am sure this year will be the same. I
know many of our friends have moved across the street to the HS. Please
forward this to anyone who might be interested.

Sorry this is so long- I can't sleep and want to get all of these things down
before I forget anything.

The time change has been another challenge for me. I wake up at 2:30 or 3
every morning. I can't concentrate on reading a novel right now, but hope to
read a lot while I am here. Send me book ideas, they have no public libraries
here, but they have great bookstores. The school has a great library and
they've told me I can check out books there. Guess it is time to reread the
classics!

That is quite enough for now, I hope I haven't put you to sleep. I'd love to
hear from everyone. What is happening back home? How are the lakes doing? It
rains every day here- sometimes quite heavily.

Most of the parking is indoors or the driver can just drop us off at the door
before parking so we don't get wet