We just spent an easy Saturday going to the market and mall for a little while, then watching the movie "Flightplan"
Friday, Nov. 11
Happy Veteran's Day!
This holiday is not celebrated in the Philippines so the Americans working here for Filipino companies had to work (Katie and Terry) Those with the Embassy or with American companies, like banks, got the day off. Canadians celebrate Remembrance Day on Nov. 11. This whole holiday thing is so very interesting. The government here really likes to have holidays and often declares one for little known reasons, but even though their government offices are closed, Terry's company works. Then when we have an American holiday that is not celebrated here, like Thanksgiving, the Filipino government works so Terry's company also works. This logic is not working for me! The school follows the Filipino schedule and also does not recognize American Thanksgiving so Allison has school and basketball practice on Thanksgiving until 5 PM. THEN she has a game scheduled for the Friday after Thanksgiving! UUGGHH! I just want to come home! This missing Halloween and Thanksgiving, as well as decorating for Christmas is SSSOOO.... hard on me!
Allison went on an overnight basketball retreat this weekend. They played two games and won them both, she was very excited about scoring 6 points in one game and leading in rebounds. Their home games start next week.
Thursday, Nov. 10
Today we took a nice trip up to Marakina to visit the House of Refuge. This is a suburban home which has been modified to house up to 35 orphans. When we visited, most of the children were in school, but a few of the younger ones were there and they were so precious! Two brothers we met, Carlo (4) and Fernando (5), were found a year ago abandoned at a shopping mall wearing their pajamas. After an intense search for family, none have been found and they have been declared abandoned orphans and eligible for adoption. It would have been so easy to bring them home! Carlo was most interested in looking at everything and everyone through his binoculars, and Fernando wanted his hair to be just right so worked on getting it perfect using hair gel. A very promising program that the House of Refuge has implemented is a music tutorial. Korean volunteers spend time weekly teaching the children how to play the violin and piano. A dozen violins have been donated and it was so cool to hear the youngest of the children play "twinkle twinkle little star" on the violin!
Wednesday, Nov. 9
Today I went on field trip with my class to tour Intramuras, the oldest part of Spanish Manila. We saw Fort Santiago where Jose Rizal, the national hero, is memorialized. On to San Augustine Church, the only piece of architecture left standing here after World War II, because it was Red Cross Headquarters. The rest of the city was bombed to eradicate the Japanese (at least that is what we are led to believe) I have learned that everything was not quite like what we learned in American History classes. The devastation of this city included the loss of over 150,000 Filipinos that were considered to be collateral damage. We also visited the Tchinoy Museum which chronicles the contributions of the Chinese to the Philippines. SO interesting how history changes when looked at it from different points of view!
Friday-Sunday Nov. 4-6
We took off in the morning and drove down to Bantangus City and Lea Beach to board a large banca boat for an hour boat ride to Puerto Galera on the island province of Minduro. Puerta Galera Bay has been named as one of the most beautiful bays in the world recently. We spent the day on the beach sunning, reading, and snorkeling. For dinner we walked about 15 minutes around the island and met our friends, Diane, Joe, and Jasmine, their 9 year old daughter. Good food and a fun time eating outside on the waterfront.
These pictures were taken at the Gecko Bar, see all the little lizards on the La Laguna sign?
Saturday we rented a nice banca boat with driver for the entire day for 1800 pesos ($36)We picked up Diane, Joe, and Jasmine and went around the island to Coral Gardens for the most wonderful snorkeling we have seen so far. Huge Reef packed with so many kinds of beautiful coral and fish! Discovering this whole new world of underwater life is an amazing thing for me. I was always of fan of Jacques Cousteau but it is incredible to see it live! I am giving diving lessons more careful consideration.
We lunched at Lucas, then headed back to Coco Beach to do some shopping. This is a private island resort owned by Danish people and it cost us each 200 pesos ($4) just to get off of the boat! We wanted to see it all so we paid our fare. They gave us a coupon and we each got a "free" drink for stopping by! We snorkeled for a while and cooled off in the pool before heading back to our hotels.
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