www.Betsy and Terry.fun

Today in my History class we had a very interesting lecture on the trading routes and how they affected the growth of the Philippines. An interesting thing I learned is that beeswax was traded to the Chinese for porcelain. I knew about Chinese porcelain, but beeswax was new to me. Pearls of course were and still are another major export. The speaker brought beautiful fabrics which are hand woven and not for export or even for sale, but for tribal ceremonial costumes. They are just breathtaking and apparently hard to find and afford unless you are in a tribe and need a costume!

He also brought instruments and demonstrated some music and dance for us. We concluded by all going to a nearby Asian restaurant for a yummy lunch of local dishes. I am getting much better about trying and finding things to eat in Asian restaurants. Today I had shrimp and mango stir fry which was delicious!

I played tennis today! The courts are on of the top of the Glorietta Mall across the street. A new friend, Melissa, lives in the condominiums there and we are going to try to play every Monday. It felt great to get out on the court again, but it was strange to be up so high. The wind factor was interesting- great on one side and brutal on the other! I happened to have won, 6-3, 6-2, but she is only 30ish and I could tell she is going to be getting a lot better. She has only played for four months and is taking lessons twice a week.

Katie tells me that I need to record at least one critical incident per day so here is mine for today: Tennis was great, BUT there was this annoying ball boy who kept running through our court, yelling"fault", "inside", "outside", "love-love", "40-30" whatever the score was every single serve. Well I sort of like chasing my own balls (called exercise!) and keeping my own score (called keeping my thinking and remembering skills sharp!) I have not talked much about domestic issues, but I need to. Bottom line: this is his job, for which he gets paid very little. I kept my mouth shut, and am now getting it out of my system.