Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Maggie!

It has been a fast and furious few weeks since I sat down long enough to write a note or two. Allison and I headed home to Florida on December 15. Lauren, Maggie, and Ashley met us at the airport and we met Sean and Kristine at Texas Roadhouse for a great American meal before heading home.

My first order of business was to get together with 3 of my best buddies, Pam, Julie and Teri at Bluewater Bay. It was so great to see them and celebrate with our annual meal which over the years has become as important a part of the holidays as any tradition we have. No matter how crazy the time gets, we carve out a few precious hours to talk, eat, drink, open presents, catch up, and enjoy each other. After our 3 hour lunch, I had to get packages wrapped and to the post office. I was able to mail off 4 packages on Friday.

Julie, Teri, Pam, Betsy

I had to wait to do some shopping on Saturday, before mailing off 4 more packages. Sean, Lauren, Allison and I ate lunch at Ashley's, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Gainesville. It rained buckets all day Saturday while I was shopping and by the time the final four packages were mailed off, I was soaked to the bone and so tired I could hardly get through the grocery store before falling asleep on the way home from Gainesville. Lauren drove me since I was still quite jet lagged.

Sunday, the 18th, found us up and feeling energized enough to go find a Christmas Tree. We found a beautiful 9 foot Fraser fir tree which Sean hauled home for us in his truck. We spent Monday getting the lights on it and the angel on top. We did get the ornaments down from the attic along with one nativity scene which along with a few Santa pillows and windsocks made up our holiday decorations for the year.

We had trouble with our van and it had to be in the shop all day Monday and Tuesday, so I spent those days working on "plumping up the house" Giving it the TLC it needed to help us all feel at home and comfortable for the holiday. It was chilly and great "fire in the fireplace" weather. That along with candles, fresh flowers, chili on the stove, and plenty of "young ones" in and out of the house all day, made it feel like home again.

I spent Monday evening with my book club. It was great catching up with everyone and seeing Lori's great barn which is decorated to rival her beautiful home. I left with 3 new must read books on my list.

Wednesday, the 21st, was a very busy day. After picking up the van, I dashed to Gainesville to get a cashier's check to purchase a car for Lauren. We found her a 2001 white Malibu to match Maggie's. It was a great find and a relief to have that taken care of. After that I went to lunch with my friend and fellow 5th grade teacher, Elaine. We had a wonderful lunch at Sugar Tree on Kingsley Lake after I visited her beautifully decorated Southern Living home. We sat outside on the deck overlooking the lake. The sun was out and it sparkled on the gorgeous lake and I marveled at the wide open space of clean water and air and just appreciated all that I have been missing. It was a perfect time to catch up on fifth grade news and spend time with my dear friend and mentor. Thanks Elaine! Allison had a bonfire and it was fun to see many of her and Lauren's friends

Later that evening I picked Terry up at the airport and we met Sean, Kristine, Lauren, and Rodney for a Mexican meal at La Napolera's. Yum!

Thursday, the 22nd, was the day to get the ornaments on the tree. It took all day and we did it in shifts, but by evening it was decorated! We shared a soup supper with our family friends, the McLeod's, Bruey's and Frank Katora , and Teri Sapp. We watched the Gators beat Miami in basketball and once again it was great to be home! We had Kevin and Michael open their presents of mother of pearl and abalone hand inlaid pool cues. These came from Minduro, the island where Puerto Galera is located. They really liked them as did the rest of the guys who received them. Terry will now work on restocking our collection with these beautiful works of art.

Friday, the 23rd, found Terry, Allison, and I heading to St. Augustine to the outlet mall to stock up on a few things we need to bring back to Manila. Most clothing is impossible to purchase in our sizes in Manila so we took advantage of Eddie Bauer, the Gap and Maidenform to restock.
Maggie drove up after work and met us for lunch at Acapulco for another Mexican meal. Afterwards we went to visit our other best buddies, the Gibsons. Their home was beautifully decorated for Christmas and Marilyn and Cecil gave us the neatest gift of a Scottish clad Nutcracker. They have an extensive collection of every kind of nutcracker you can imagine so this gift is such a great reminder of them!

Christmas Eve found us all finishing the last minute details of shopping and wrapping. We all went to Christmas Eve Mass together at 5 then enjoyed a Christmas Eve Mexican meal together at Laredo's!

Merry Christmas! We slept in until about 8:30 which is quite late for our family since we are used to having our young cousins wake up really early on Christmas morning. Terry fixed a cheese grits scramble and we opened presents before heading to Jacksonville to spend the day with Terry's family. It was great to see everyone and catch up on everything the Sullivan clan has been up to since our reunion in July.

Traditional stairway picture Christmas Morning.

Monday and Tuesday were spent in Orlando, seeing Lauren's apartment and Maggie's house and helping them stock up on needed items. We shopped and went to eat, YES, another Mexican meal! This time at Maria Bonita's. Maggie friend Nate joined us for an enjoyable yummy evening! That makes my fifth great Mexican meal in two weeks! We celebrated Maggie's 22nd birthday a few days early.


We met Sean in Gainesville on Tuesday afternoon to see his condo and get him stocked up on needed items. Terry went to work for a couple of hours and then met us at Calico Jack's for some seafood.

Wednesday, the 28th, found us at home taking the tree down and getting packed to return to Manila. It was a busy and difficult day because none of us were ready to leave. It is probably good that we had a short trip because I was quite ready to stay HOME! Allsion had her second bonfire, but it started to rain so the party moved indoors.

Sean and Lauren took us to the airport early on the 29th and we flew into Manila at 10:30 PM on the 30th. Terry and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary as we slept in the plane crossing the international date line. By the time we landed and left the airport our day had passed us by- It is a good thing that we celebrate each other every day! We were greeted by our driver Fred who informed us that firework competitions were clogging traffic all over the city and we didn't get to our condo until 1:30 AM. Welcome to the Philippines!

Happy New Year!

We tried to sleep some on Saturday, but needed to shop and get ready for our New Year's Eve party. I was beginning to think it was crazy to host a gathering the night of our return, but it was the perfect way to get back into the swing of things. We celebrated with about 20 of our new friends here in Manila. It was great fun and the fireworks flashed all around us just outside of our windows.

watching fireworks

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.

Friday-Monday November 25-28

Leaving the polluted city behind!

We left early on Friday for our flight to Boracay, a wonderful island with beautiful white beaches. Our goal was to rest, relax, and breath fresh air. We did all those things in addition to going on a wild sailing, snorkeling adventure and a great Jet ski race on the ocean which none of us had done before. Both of our excursions were completely wet and we were unable to record anything with our cameras so hopefully my memory will serve me well here!

We landed in Catlican at about 9 AM Friday morning and promptly boarded a van that took us to a banca boat which ferried us about 30 minutes across the sea to Boracay. We checked into Fridays our island paradise resort. Terry and I stayed here last summer, but this time we were able to get newer rooms which were high on a hill and very large, comfortable, and posh! The architecture and design are very much Frank Lloyd Wright meets South East Asia which is totally delightful for me! Lots of beautiful stone, sleek wood floors and beams in circular rooms with paned windows. Bamboo is used as background wall covering and shells hung from the doorway to the bathroom. I did get pictures of this!

Clean air and the island of Boracay! The difference an hour makes!

We spent Friday settling in and enjoying the beach. Then we had a nice buffet dinner.

On Saturday, we tried to get a boat to go snorkeling in the morning, but the water was too rough so we walked into town for some shopping. When we returned it had calmed down enough for our snorkeling trip. We boarded a small Paraw, which is a banca sail boat which has no seats, only some netting stretched between the cross arms. This was not exactly what we were expecting, but we went for it. We soon found out that the water hadn't really calmed down enough and soon we were all being lashed with huge waves which had us hanging on to the netting. We lost our drinking cups and Katie's sunglasses to a really big wave that had us all gasping for breath! Good thing our cameras had been stashed away in the small compartment of the boat.

The first stop had us all saying NO WAY can we snorkel here! The waves were tossing the boat around and we told the crew to move on to calmer waters! They found us a spot with some neat coral and fish, nothing as pretty as we saw in Coral Gardens, Puerto Galera, but it was nice. So much of the reef had been damaged by dynamite or cyanide fishing, but it is now protected and we could see the reef coming back to life and that is exciting to see.

See the small netting between the side cross bars with square end? That is where we sat, 2 on each side of the boat. You see the crew poised on top of the small center section which is about a foot wide at the center of the boat tapering out to the points.

We were quite tired after our great adventure on the water so we had a calm dinner at the hotel and turned in early.

They really do comb the sand here!

We awoke to rain on Sunday morning which quickly cleared up, so after breakfast we went to the beach and waited for a speed boat to pick us up and take us to a floating barge where the Jet skis are floating. We all got our own Jet ski and raced each other around the ocean for about 30 minutes. The waves definitely helped us get some air and the experience was very different from the lakes we are used to. Katie had never been on a Jet ski so this was really a new experience for her. Great Fun! We decided to try a different restaurant for dinner and got directions to the highly recommended Bamboo Lounge. We gave the directions to our tricycle driver who had no clue where it was and dropped us at the far end of the island. We walked a few miles back down the beach and kept asking people for directions. Finally we found a nice guy who literally walked with us to the restaurant. We weren't too far from where we started when we finally sat down to eat! The food was delicious and worth waiting and walking for, but again we were too tired to go out for the night life and all went back to turn in early.

Major rain storms raged all night long, but once again by about 9 AM all was clear and beautiful. We opted for shopping over the beach, because we were all a little sun kissed by this time. No bad burns thank goodness. When we finished our shopping, it was time to pack and head back to our banca boat and our trip to the airport and home again. We had a great weekend adventure filled with fresh air, blue sky, and beautiful sunsets!




November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated with a group of 16 people in our little apartment. We ate a feast of turkey, dressing, ham, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, green beans, fried corn, artichoke-crab dip, apple cake, and pumpkin pie. It was a delicious comfort to all of us who are so far away from home. We really missed hosting our family gathering this year, but our dear friends helped us not to feel so lonely! Here are a few of us before the turkey was carved, we forgot to take any more pictures once everyone arrived, sorry!

Mark, Ryan, Jules, Allison, Diane, Katie, B, Betsy, Terry. Not pictured Dave, Efren, Judy, Patrick, Alan, Jett, Julianne.

Today, I was up at 5 and on my way to Angono for the Higantes Festival of San Clemente. I went with friends B, Michelle, Celia, Corinne, and Christy. (Corinne is 8 months pregnant! We must have walked 3 or 4 miles and she was a real trooper!)

It is a parade of 10-foot paper mache puppets in honor of the saint of fishing that ends at the river by putting the puppets on fishing boats.

Feast of San Clemente (Higantes Festival) (Angono, Rizal)Angono's joyous fiesta in honor of San Clemente whose image, resplendent in papal vestment, is borne by male devotees during a procession accompanied by parehadoras(devotees dressed in local costumes, wooden shoes, and carrying boat paddles) and higantes, (giant wooden figures made from paper mache and bamboo). The street event culminates in a fluvial procession on the shores of Laguna de Bay, amidst revelry that continues until the image is brought back to the parish church.

Oh yea! Another custom is to drench the participants and observers with water from Laguna Bay! They used buckets, bottles, hoses, and squirt guns. We were soaked to the bone in a short while and it made for an uncomfortable ride home. It was a great adventure and one all of us will remember fondly!

The three tall "pretty girls" are actually boys!

Two of the larger than life sized puppets.

A beautiful, flower encrusted barge.

More big puppets and the wet ones B, Celia, Corinne, Betsy, Michelle. Christy is taking the picture, but you will see her on the back of a tricycle next!















Notice the street signs below. New York, here we come!
















Tuesday, Nov, 22

Today was the AWCP monthly bazaar. Lots of good shopping! I attended a lecture on pearls in the evening which was very informative about how and where they are cultivated and what kind of shells form which colors and kinds of pearls. Very interesting with the main fact being that the really good pearls are really expensive. We saw a short string of large golden colored pearls that retail for $7800!

Sunday, November 20

We were up early today for our trip to Corregidor. Allison opted out and spent the day resting and shopping. The boat left on time and it took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to the island. It was a beautiful, cool, breezy, overcast day and we really never got too hot as we toured the island. Highlights for me included the ruins of the barracks where soldiers lived during WWI and WWII, the wonderful memorial museum and monuments for Peace in the Pacific, and the great lighthouse with mile markers.














These barracks were left as they were after WWII, completely in shambles from bombs.

This altar is aligned with a hole in the ceiling which allows the sun to shine directly on it on May 6, every year, the anniversary of the day Corregidor was surrendered.

The eternal flame on the highest point of the island.

The sign in front of the light house tells how many kilometers it is to 8 different major cities in the world. See Terry and Katie on the walkway near the top?

We got home in time to go to Bubba Gump's for a quick dinner, then to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Saturday, November 19

We tried to see Harry Potter on Saturday, but all shows were sold out until Midnight, I stood in line for 30 minutes to buy tickets for Sunday evening. We just stayed in and ordered pizza and tried to watch "Lost in Translation" which makes a little more sense to me after this experience, but I still fell asleep before it was over.

Ok, I have some catching up to do!

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.

Today, Thursday, I went to visit the Women's Correctional Facility again. They performed for us. They sang and danced and were so happy to have us there as an audience. It is so humbling to see these women's faces light up when they recognize us. Just by showing up we have made their day. The girls from Allison's basketball team are getting together to practice today. I am packing and getting ready for our weekend trip to Puerta Galera, recently named one of the most beautiful bays in the world. It is known for its wonderful reefs for diving and snorkeling.

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Allison is on Fall Break from school this week so Katie took a break from work and we went on a marathon shopping excursion to Green Hills which is a HUGE shopping mall filled with small booths of many different kinds of things to buy. We spent the majority of our time in the pearl market which is the size of a gymnasium filled with booths of different pearl vendors. These booths have thousands of fresh and salt water pearls from many different parts of the Philippines. They also sell other jewelry made of leather, shells, crystals, stones etc... It is overwhelming because all of the vendors try to get you to look at their booths so you are constantly bombarded by people calling out ,"DVD Ma'am" "yes ma'am", "pearls ma'am", "you buy ma'am." Everyone calls you ma'am and sometimes it sounds like "mum." The thing is that it is constant and coming at you from many directions. When you do pause to look at something the vendor is literally all over you. It is very much like this everywhere we go to shop in this country. Yesterday I stopped to look at some purses and the sales girl was smashed up against me saying "you buy bag ma'am". Well my personal space is quite important to me so I turned and put out my hand and said "please give me some space." She thought I wanted to give her a high five and her face lit up because I gave her attention. One more time that I have failed at communicating with the locals. They are very nice and happy but make very little money and even though I know this, I can't get over the feeling of being stalked and suffocated at times.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Allison spent Halloween with her friends in a neighborhood near our condo. They didn't trick or treat because the neighborhood had trick or treating only from 1-4 in the afternoon. Everyone is out of school this week for Fall Break so before dark all the little goblins were off the streets. They went to their local hang out place while Terry, Katie, and I took off for the streets of Malate, downtown where all the action is supposed to be. We had a great dinner at Portico and then walked around town. It was actually pretty calm. We saw some costumes, but not as many as we thought we would. We saw a few transvestites, but they were very obvious, and not very pretty. We had the most fun in a little club called the "Hobbit House" All of the waiters and waitresses were dwarfs. They were all so cute and friendly and there was live folk music. By 1 AM we were pretty tired and headed home. I guess the area is open all night long so we may have missed the real action! Oh Well!
This was the busiest club on the street, filled with transvestites inside. They were having quite a show inside- music and dancing.... I walked in, but had to leave because there were no available seats. There were a few very badly disguised men on the sidewalk.