 | 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 | |
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