Manila Maker Faire

A couple of weekends ago, the local science museum was having a Maker Faire, so we decided to walk down and check it out.

My favorite part was the booth where you could solder a circuit board to turn a kerosene lamp into a solar powered lamp. Seth spent 15 minutes with this man who patiently showed him how to do each step. He learned to use a soldering iron! The satisfied grin on his face when he saw his light actually turn on after all that work? Priceless.

This video showed him where his lamp will most likely go. There are remote areas of the Philippines that don't have access to an electrical grid, and kerosene is expensive.

Settling in...

It happened. Our household goods shipment arrived from the U.S. via Hong Kong. 

People have been telling me periodically, "Oh, it'll be better than Christmas when your stuff gets here!" I've heard that statement at least 3 times, and so I got a little geared up for that feeling. 

We spent yesterday unpacking boxes and setting up things, and most of it is done, minus some rearranging and buying of different kinds of containers to store things in. The books we brought are on shelves. I've but some decorative dishes in the china cabinet, and a few pictures are propped up. The kitchen is totally unpacked, though I'm moving things around based on how often I use them. 

But the feeling they said I would have? Nope. Not really. Maybe I brought most of what I really wanted to feel at home in my checked baggage and the unaccompanied baggage shipment? Maybe I'm not that much for a stuff person, or I got used to the bareness of the walls over the last 3 months? 

Or maybe it's that I have my stuff here, but the addition of the stuff doesn't make me look around and suddenly go, "Yep, now this is my home." It's not my home. It's a lovely condo filled with my stuff. My home is still in Raleigh where it's been for the last 9 years, and I don't know how long it'll take for me to feel like this is "home." But it ain't today, and getting my stuff didn't cure much homesickness.

I realized that my last post may have made my life look rosier than it is. "She has a driver?" "She has a helper that makes pancakes?" "Nope, no need to feel sorry for her. She's got it made!" You might think that, but I'll tell you the truth. I would give back the driver and the housekeeper in a heartbeat if I could find a way to live my American life here. I would rather drive my own car and ask my wonderful in-laws to babysit instead of my helper, and I would be fine with making pancakes for my little guy myself. 

I like my privacy, but in order to have any help at all with my boys, I have to hire someone to work for me all day at a set salary. (Swapping babysitting just isn't done here regularly, and you can't just hire a babysitter very easily.) And that person really needs the job that I give her, and though the salary she makes is top dollar for household help, she is still making $20 a day to work for me. Let that sink in for a second. She cleans and cooks for us, speaks good English, and plays with my little boys so I can go to the doctor or go out with one for a little while, and I swear that she never rests even though I try to get her to take a lunch break. And this is a really good job for here. She takes pride in her work, and she certainly keeps our home cleaner than I ever did. I'm thankful for her help with the boys and the house and for teaching us Tagalog, but having another person around all day 2 days a week is hard for me. 

Mostly ditto for the driver, plus or minus a few variables.

I post the good and the fun and the exciting to this blog because I'm pulling up my big girl panties and diving into the adventure. I'm a type A girl, and I've been working really hard to make this adventure feel like an adventure, even when it's been pretty challenging to get out and do and see.

But I've been here 3 months, and I'm feeling burned out. I'm more OK with holing up in our condo and watching Netflix and reading books and staying in my PJ's than I was when we first got here. When just going grocery shopping is overwhelming every time, sometimes you just hit overload.

I have been busy diving in and getting acclimated and learning the different colors of money and how to turn on the gas stove and pay for water delivery and meeting everyone I can at the pool and cornering them to ask for advice. All of that takes time, and some of it is exciting and novel, and there are times that I'm definitely glad I get to do it.

But I looked at David the other night and said for the first time to him (and to myself), "This isn't worth it to me. I gave up so much to come here. You have your job and the challenge of it. But I gave up a life I spent years building gradually, and a homeschooling network that was starting to feel more solid, and the choir that I finally got to begin singing in after the boys were finally old enough for me to have a hobby just for me. And I gave up close friends that I laughed and cried with and grandparents that loved the boys well and did great things with them so I could give up the guilt of not teaching all subjects. I don't have a job to dive into like you do. I have to build the scaffolding of my life and the boys' lives again from scratch." 

I don't think I'm resentful of that. I know that we're both here because we believe that God asked us to come, and though his fulfillment is higher than mine right now, I also know his stress levels in many areas are also higher. 

But I gave up a lot. And I'm beginning to really acknowledge the loss now. I was too busy before.

God is caring for me, and I feel His kindness. I'm grateful. But I'm glad that I didn't know how hard this was going to be ahead of time. I doubt I would've been strong enough to say "yes." Funny how that works, isn't it? He doesn't tell us the outcome before He asks for our obedience. 

I know this isn't the end of the story. I hope that one day I'll look back and say, "God was so faithful. He made a way in so many areas when I couldn't see how we were going to get what we needed. I'm so glad He asked us to come and live in the Philippines for 2 years." 

But right now I'm at the beginning of this, and I can't say that yet. 

A Saturday in the life...

Just a taste of my Saturday in Manila.... David gets home late Friday from a week away teaching a conference to Filipino academics and law students. We wake up this morning to discover that David's huge bathroom mirror behind his vanity has come unglued in the night, but it lands on a plastic cup sitting there, so it doesn't fall completely off. There are large chunks of glass on the bathroom floor.

It's 7:30, and our household helper had arrived since this is one of the 2 days a week she comes in. I tell Ben to ask her to get him breakfast. He requests pancakes, and she makes them for him and his brothers.

David meets with the driver we are negotiating a contract with at 8 a.m.. We keep in mind that he's reading a contract in a foreign language to him, so it makes sense that he has questions. They work it out, and he agrees to sign it. This is good, because our van has arrived from Hong Kong, and it should be out of customs soon. This is also good because I am tired of taking Uber after almost 3 months of depending on that to get around.

After a morning of much needed time with Daddy, David and I head out for a lunch date and to go shopping for exciting things like drinking glasses and a mop, since our shipment of household goods in arriving on Wednesday. Our helper, M., puts out lunch for the boys, and we say goodbye. We call an Uber in front of our condo building, and the driver drops us off in front of a mall. There are a lot of malls here, but this one is where more Filipinos than expats shop, so it's a little cheaper. :)

David wants a fountain drink, so we go to Wendy's. Yes, Wendy's. I'm able to get a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger that tastes almost completely like the U.S. version. The fries are good, too, but they usually don't give you nearly enough of them. Fast food restaurants also have rice here. It comes in a small paper packet and costs the equivalent of $.30. I try the pork spring rolls on the menu. They're OK. I eat just one.

We finish lunch and walk into the department store. I pass displays of women's shoes, and I pick up a couple of them and put them to my feet. Regrettably, none of them fit me. The largest size here is a women's 9. I wear a 9 1/2. We spend a little time looking for the type of mop that M. described, and we have no luck finding it. We buy drinking glasses. I ask where to find rain ponchos for all of us because it's rainy season, and we got poured on during soccer on Wednesday. As often happens here, I get told to try two different floors by multiple salespeople. I leave with no ponchos.

Hailing an Uber is harder on the way back, and I'm grumpy standing out on the curb with a dish drainer, a box of dishes, and other assorted household goods. We've stayed out longer than I had planned, and I worry that we won't get back before M. needs to get home. I wish our van was already here so we could use the parking deck. It takes half an hour to get an Uber, and then we have the drive home in the usual dreadful Manila traffic. I remember that we're getting a driver because of how stressful it is to drive here and find parking. I wouldn't leave our little area because of fear of having an accident with the boys, and that would be a waste of the opportunity to be here.

We get home. M. has made chicken afritata (chicken stew made with tomatoes and vegetables) and rice, and David and the boys will have it for dinner. We play pick up sticks with the boys, and she laughs and wants to know who won.

I leave to meet another new foreign service mom to go to dinner. We walk through downtown, and we decided to eat at a place that advertises USDA beef. (Good beef is hard to come by here, and it's also usually expensive.) This is the kind of hip, expensive looking restaurant that would be super pricey in Raleigh's downtown, and there are expensive items on the menu, but there are also several entrees listed for about $7 U.S. We get a few and split them. The waitresses laugh at the way we're cutting up, kind of giddy to be out of the house. We exchange "how we got here" stories.

After dinner, we wander over to the closest mall, and we have Baskin Robbins. It's the only way I can have mint chocolate chip here. It's imported direct from the U.S.! She needs to buy a present for a birthday party, and we walk into the local British toy store. Once inside, I realize that all the employees are wearing costumes. I tell them I like their costumes, and I ask if I can take a picture. My new friend, not yet remembering that we're in a culture that adores picture taking, murmurs that maybe I shouldn't ask. But when the employee I asked calls everyone else over and they strike a pose and then ask me to take a selfie with them, I think she remembers we're not in the U.S. anymore. :)

A great end to a normal Saturday for me in the Philippines. Peace out. :)

First snorkeling trip...

On our last full day at the Sunset, we arranged to hire a private boat to take us snorkeling. It pulled up right in front of the resort, and we loaded up ourselves and snacks and plenty of sunscreen, and then we were off to an area with a beautiful coral reef. A smaller boat was following us, and after we arrived, the smaller boat took us over the reef. We got into the water and held onto a rope and were just gently dragged over while we put our faces in the water to look at the living aquarium beneath us.

After that, the boat took us to a beach off of another small island where we could play in the beautiful, clear water and do some snorkeling over another coral reef there. Seth really learned to use the snorkeling mask, and he excitedly followed fish that he saw. We had to watch that he didn't get too far away from us because he was so intent on what he could see. :) After we got home, I was going through a book of Filipino fish with him, and he said, "Mom, I saw all of those. Even the moray eel!"

Evan has the best birthdays because he was born over Memorial Day weekend. We took along presents for him to open and some homemade chocolate chip cookies. The waiter noticed him opening his presents at breakfast, and he came back with balloons for him and his brothers and a birthday pancake, complete with candle. :)

All of this looks pricey, I know, and it wasn't cheap, but it also was not the most expensive vacation that we've taken. The boat that we hired for the morning? That cost us $50 U.S., and we got the boat for all day if we wanted it, snorkel masks, and life jackets. The resort called him for us, but we paid him directly, and his little son that went out with us that day will get the benefit of that.

I'm realizing that one important way we can seek the good of this place is by spending our money to vacation here. This country is in need of good jobs for its people, and I have decided that I'm going to be more willing to buy ice cream from the guy walking down the beach with a cooler than I would usually be. The boys don't mind. :)

Sunset at Aninuan...

We got off the ferry and into the back of a small, enclosed van for a mildly whiplash inducing ride up and down hills and around curves until we abruptly stopped in front of the resort. I was disoriented, and it was hard to tell what kind of place this was where we'd landed. I couldn't see the sea at first, but then we stepped through onto the balcony and.... ahhhh. Paradise.

They thought of everything. There was a beach volleyball net, and they even had a basket of sand toys. You want a beach towel? Just ask one of the numerous guys in pink polo shirts. You want to go kayaking? They can get you a kayak, too.

Why, yes, yes we do want to kayak.

In the morning, our complimentary breakfast was served right on the beach, complete with lovely breeze and carefully tilted umbrellas to give us enough shade. Homemade bread with pineapple or watermelon, scrambled eggs, and tea or coffee. Yum.

By the time we finally took this vacation, I was feeling so stifled and homesick in our neighborhood of skyscrapers. Getting out and finding this safe and comfortable place to just enjoy and relax with my family meant the world. It was so rejuvenating and such a blessing. I wish we could've stayed an extra day... Sigh.

Vacation to Puerto Galera, take 1

About a month ago, we booked a few days at a resort at an island near here called Puerto Galera. In order to get there, you drive 2 hours from Manila to a port, and then you take a ferry or private boat for another hour ride to the island.

We asked the resort to send a driver to pick us up. (This was actually cheaper than renting a car we could drive there ourselves. Yes, this is backwards world.) He got us to the port, and it was crowded and confusing, and a bunch of guys showed up and started picking up our bags and then disappeared with them. (I was a wee bit stressed until they reappeared.) We were motioned onto a boat, and the picture below shows where they put our suitcases. Yes, on the prow of the boat. No ropes. Those are for sissies, clearly.

Just Seth and David and another happy ferry passenger. :)

Once the ferry was full of us and about 150 of our closest friends, we headed out. Notice our boat captain. About halfway through our trip, he dropped his water bottle cap. David and I noticed each other noticing him drop his bottle cap. What would he do? He's driving a boat. Would he pick it up? Why, yes, yes he would. Just left the wheel for a second, bent down, felt around for it, and got it back. Then he went back to driving.

I started laughing. I couldn't help it. Then David started laughing. The boys were asking us what we were laughing about, and we told them later, but I think I was really laughing as much about the weirdness of all the things we'd done that day as anything else, and that was the last straw. :)

Mom and Dad, don't worry. We'll take the private boat when you come to visit. :)

Relationships...

One of the best things about living where we do is the ease of spending time with others and building relationships. City living and high rise living has been a good fit for us.

One thing I didn't realize about not having a car for so long was that it would mean we would be doing a lot more things within walking distance. We end up at the McDonalds around the corner more than I thought we would. (I blame the heat and the $.20 ice cream cones.) We did the McDonald's camp, not just one, but two times. (I couldn't get them into the science camp around the corner. Oh well.)

It wasn't intentional, but I swear that we are now known as "that American family that loves McDonalds." I can't go in there, with or without the kids, without getting a lot of smiles and "Hi, Ma'am"s from most of the employees, from the counter staff to the guy who cleans the tables upstairs. Every time they see the kids, they greet them by name, rumple their hair, and give them hugs.

This is Seth's best friend in our building so far. He lives a few floors down, and his family arrived right around the time that ours did. I can send all the boys down there to play, and when Seth had a rough day recently, I was able to pick him up and take both of them to you guessed it, McDonalds, to play Uno and eat fries. I loved listening to them talk about Pokemon and talk trash to each other over draw 2's. 

Sometimes crazy things happen, like the time that we invited another new boy up to play, and his yaya and handicapped sister got locked out of their unit after bringing him here because the teenage sister inside was listening to headphones and didn't hear anyone knock. So then they all end up here, and we all play, and I text their mom to tell her what's going on as she's heading back home. And that gives me a chance to find out about the long day the mom has had, and I bring them some good leftovers for dinner.

Though David is traveling more than he did in the U.S., I know that if I need help, I can get it from my friends and neighbors, and I'm grateful for that. I hope I can be a blessing to them occasionally, too.