Tuesday, 8/25

Today, i had a migraine. not much happened, cuz i was mostly resting. i also did some research on the computer for something i am doing this weekend and talked to a few friends online (hi Shua, Jen, and Christina!) Scott and i watched The Soup when he got home and then went to Coquina for dinner. He got Pasta Alfredo, which looked so good, and i got the Coquina Club Special, which was like no club sandwich i've ever had. it had the customary 3 pieces of toasted bread, but the bottom layer was tomato, cucumber and sTEAK and the top layer was EGG and cheese. it was nommy. then we came bach up here and watched TV till 10:30 when it was time to conk out. :-)

Monday, 8/24

Well, if you've been reading this blog, you know what i did all day monday.... i worked on this lovely blog! When i'd finished, i was exhausted from all the thinking and writing, so i just vegged out in front of the tv till Scott got home. When he did arrive he was bearing our first try at Filipino Chinese takeout. He brought dumplings, lemon chicken, and sweet and sour pork- all things we were very familiar with at home. these were very different- overall just much sweeter. Still very edible, but very different. we made short work of the food and settled in to watch tV and unplug for the evening. we watched Wipeout, some reality stuff, and then National Treasure:Book of Secrets, which we had seen before but is always worth watching! then, arounf 11, we went to bed.

Sunday 8/23

Today we went to Intramuros- the oldest part of Manila, encased in walls, and containing ruins from before WWII, and some stuff from the 16th century even!
















We Started the afternoon at Malcolm's Place, where we went before when it was raining. We will probably be eating there a lot this week- it;s close by and inexpensive!


















This is the Manila Cathedral. There was a wedding about to happen, so we didn;t take pictures inside.























This is the old Governor's Palace. Apparently you can get tours, but by the time we knew this we were on our horse and Buggy tour


















This is the memorial to all the innocent lives lost in WWII. i found it very moving.



















This is the garden area in the center of Fort Santiago. By this time we were on our Horse and Buggy Ride with Jerry, a very nice and friendly man, who gave us a very unique and exciting tour.


























This is us in the buggy. Jerry got a very nice shot there, with this old building behind us.


















Here is where the tour started to get insane. Jerry took us across the river and into Manila's Chinatown! it was so crowded and full of stalls and food and animals. wow. we got some video, and it should be forthcoming soon. :-)



















we even went through some heavy auto traffic in this buggy on our way back to Intramuros! i think Scott got video of that as well.
After Jerry dropped us off, we walked back over to the Manila Ocean Park to have our sunset date in the White Moon Bar. possibly the coolest place we have ever been. it overlooks the bay, and the DJ was great, the drinks were good... perfect. Here is a shot of the sunset.



















GORGEOUS! Oh, and i finally tried the San Mig. I concieved this shot, but scott made it work. Teamwork!


















And, here we are with a lovely backdrop!


















It was a perfect night, but the best part was the company. I LOVE YOU SCOTT!

Saturday, 8/22

Today was crazy fun! We slept in, had a late breakfast, then headed down to close to the Manila Bay to the Manila Ocean Park. We didn't quite know what we'd find, since it is a relatively new attraction and i couldn't tell from the website what parts were open. Before we even got there though was an adventure! You see, today was a huge Celebration for the 25th anniversary of a Church Movement called El Shaddai which you can read about here. We didn't know this when we set out, but as the traffic got thicker along the way, our Cabbie explained. We had to be dropped off a distance of 4 blocks or so from the Ocean Park because the celebration was happening in the park directly in front of it. So, we started walkin. we walked along a road that usually jsut leads to the parking lots for the park and Ocean Park, but had becoem a bit of a Jeepney campground, as people from all over the country had come. I heard an estimate of over 1 Million people being there. it doesnt seem a stretch, as metro Manila has a population of 20 Million, and like i said, people came from all over. We reached the Ocean Park and decided to start with the Oceanarium, whic his an aquarum, and is really neat! The building also houses (or will house when it's finished) two open Marine Habitats where you can snorkle or dive (i was bummed this isn;t finished yet!) A central food court, a mall, which is still pretty incomplete, an amazing restaurant that i will get to later with a beautiful view of the bay, a super cool outdoor bar- which you will hear about tomorrow, and a hotel, which is still under construction. So, yeas, the Oceanarium. Let's tell the story with pictures!
























This Philippine Crocodile was just napping un the sun... :-)


















These are eggs sacs from Bamboo Sharks. they had 4 different stages of development to view- it was really neat!


















These are spotted garden eels. they were about 1/3 inch thick and would jsut stick partway out of the rocks- sometimes burrowing back down in.


















This is me watching the sharks. i did this for a long time, because two of them were trying to sleep on ledges, and anotehr was trying to wake them-it was hilarious!



















This might be my favorite shot of the day. Scott timed it jsut right. As you can see, i was THRILLED when that Ray swam right over me!







































Then, after finishing the Oceanarium Tour, we went to the super elegant Restaurant attached to it. oh man it was good- a buffet of Japanese, Chinese and Mongolian foods. i ate lots of Salmon sashimi. Nom! The highlight of the meal was when the three piece band came and sang 4-5 songs for us, including some Elton John, James Taylor, and by my request, Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl. :-)


















After that giant meal, we went to see the Mermaids show, which was really cute and fun. They have 4 girls dress up as mermaids and swim around in a tank with the fish as the audience watches from a connected room.

After that, we considered staying to watch the sunset, but we were jsut too pooped, so we decided to give it a try tomorrow night and made the trek through Jeepney town (which was even more crowded by now and was beginning to smell a but because of the fact that people were creating makeshift potties below their jeepneys at best.) and out to the main road and fortunately we were able to find a taxi quickly and we jsut took it easy when we got back to the hotel, snuggling on the couch and watching TV.

Friday 8/21

Today we went to the second biggest mall in the WORLD! It was an awesome day! We woke around 9, went down to breakfast, came back up, got all cleaned up for the day ,and then fell beck into bed and napped till about noon. Yes, we are lazy lazy bums, but Scott had worked a 13 hour day the day before, so we were entitled. We grabbed a cab and thus began the adventure! it was a car that Scott termed a "death trap" and we were not entirely sure it was gonna hold together for the half hour ride down the highway! We were dropped at the main entrance and just dove right in and began our exploration of SM City North EDSA Mall. i didn't get any pictures that captured the scope of the place but did find this one. Almost immediately, we found a Seiko store and Scott and i each found watches we really liked. Scott was sure this was the one and bought his, while i wanted to keep looking. I found one at the second store we went to, but it was out of our price range, so we kept on looking. The main building of the mall is about the size of the average mall i have been to all by itself- and has 6 floors. we got through 2 of them before moving on to the Annex- the latest building, which is about the same size and has six floors. The first place we went in this building was a boutique called Tea, and it may have been the best shopping experience of my life- i felt like a princess. I chose a dress to try on, and while i was, the entire staff of the store- 4-5 girls and the owner rushed around trying to find more dresses to flatter my figure. it was really fun and i did purchase 2 dresses and a pair of shoes. :-) we continued looking around and scouring watch stores, and exploring all 6 floors of the Annex and i found i am a very picky gal! eventually, after 4 hours of shopping we collapsed at a table in Pizza Hut and shared a nice meal of salad, pizza and iced tea, and i decided that i'd go back to the Seiko store and purchase both the watches i tired on there instead of one watch for more than the two combined. I still came in under budget! Then, we grabbed some gifts for family and friends back home and ventured outside to explore the rooftop garden area which houses a bit of a food court. because of the huge population of Manila metro these malls are full to bursting and have tons of restaurants so that everyone can eatr without having to wait much. We made our way along this walkway of eateries to The Block- the third building of the mall, which is 5 floors also. we only made it throught 3 of these floors before we were jsut pooped. We found a cab and enjoyed our sunset ride back to Makati.

Thursday 8/20

this was a long long day and i didn't really do anything, i just read my book mostly and worked on ideas for my podcast. Scott worked really late and didn't get home till 10:30! He brought with him food from Jollibee which is apparently like the Filipino McDonalds (even though they do also have McDonalds) and is very popular. the fries were good, and i guess the burger was too, but it was diminished greatly by the amount of mayo on it and the fact that it was this disgusting sweet mayo. i don't mean to say the food was bad, just that i didn't like the mayo.the fried chicken wasn't too bad. i totally jsut dove into bed after eating, and scott came soon after.

Wednesday 8/19

Today i did laundry. it doesn't sound all that exciting, and it wasn't, but it did consume my morning. i went down to the second floor, got someone from the housekeeping office to let me in, and spent the next 3 hours reading in the laundry room while my clothes washed. Then, i returned to the room and worked on the project Scott and i started cooking up last night- a weekend getaway to Boracay- one of the most beautiful beach destinations in the world. We have 2 three day weekends in a row, so we are using the second to escape and experience this amazing place. we booked flights last night, and this afternoon i booked us a Regency Escapade Weekend here. The afternoon was filled with more reading, and then when Scott got home we went to a fancy Italian restaurant called Bravo. it was good, but not stellar. Scott's ravioli was actually pretty awesome, but i ordered the Osso Buco, and it was... meh. So excited about having a 3 day weekend after tomorrow!

Fluorescent Purple Ice Cream?

here is some video of me trying something new... Zach Ricks told me to... so i'm blaming him. :-D

OHHHHHH The Barbie Story!

I had forgotten to tell you the Barbie story. Ok. So some of you know i collect Barbies, but not in a traditional collector kinda way- i like to take them out of the box and get to know them a bit, and i only buy Barbies that mean something specific to me- not neccesarily ones that are gonna be worth money. So far i have Dolls that have cost me between 5 and 15 dollars each. Well, i saw a toy store and decided i wanted one to commemorate this trip, so we went in and i started looking. They had a Barbie selection like no US store i have seen in years. i was in HEAVEN! After a few moments, Scott lost interest and went in search of... something. The salesboys took this opportunity to descend upon me. At first there was one, but as soon as i mad ethe huge mistagke of admitting i collect the dolls, there were suddenly 4. i am not good at saying no under any circumstances, so i found myself trying to "choose" between a $50 2009 Holiday Barbie and a $80 Anniversary barbie of some sort. Really, i had no interest in either, and had settled on A Chinese New Year 2009 Barbie (cuz, y'know it's an Asian themed doll, so i'd remember where i got her), but i was so overwhelmed i was like, "Oh, let me go ask my husband..." and ran off to find Scott. I did find him, and before i'd even gotten to explain the situation the salesboys appeared with the same 2 dolls. Scott glanced at the prices and was like "Oh, Baby... Come on..." and it took me a couple minutes to communicate to him that i didn't actually want either doll, i just needed him to say no for me bacause i was overwhemmed and beginning to panic. He did, telling them it was too much money, and i was sooo relieved. Then, the inital salesboy returned, with my much less expensive chinese new year doll. Scott made sure that i actually wanted this one, and we got our butts outta there. it was kinda hilarious. or... maybe you had to be there... i'm happy to tell you that since that first day at the mall i've become much more assertive and am saying no left and right. :-P

Here is my Doll:

Tuesday, 8/18

Today i emerged from the hotel on my own for the first time! that sounds so lame, but it took me awhile to feel comfortable enough to do this. we were not sure initially about safety and all that. I didn't go far- just a block, but it was still kinda cool. I was out of snacks here in the room, so i needed to go to the Mini-Stop to buy more. i went over there, and started picking stuff out, before i realized i didn't have any money! so, feeling a little sheepish as the Security guard watched me put stuff back i went to the closest ATM and got some money. I'm finally getting the hang of the pesos/dollars conversion in my head to be able to know what i am paying. That's pretty cool too. So, i went back and got some snacks, some decaf coffee (YAY!), and some ice cream- youll see that in my next post. Other than the ice cream adventure, i didn't do much else today. i read some of my book (Dexter in the Dark) and took a nap. Then, when Scott came home, we were starving, and so we went to a pizza place around the corner. we got 2 small pizzas- Quattro Formaggio and Lotsa Meat. They were yummy. i still haven't tried the local beer, San Miguel, but Scott seems to like it. :-)

Monday 8/17

I don't like Mondays much, even at home, because i have gotten to spend the whole weekend with Scott. This Monday was similar, but even a little tougher because, well, y'know... he;s my only friend here! I attempted a trip to the gym to get my run on, but the AC in there was broken, or off, or somethin, because i could not even breathe in there for the humidity or heat. this made me cranky, and lightheaded from trying to run... BUT! this day turned around when Scott got home! We went to a spanish restaurant and Tapas bar and got the best service we have ever had at a restaurant- and probably the best food too. We were the only people in the restaurant so it was like having our own personal staff catering to every need, clearing dishes as soon as we'd finished, etc. Every bite of everything we got was incredible. I wish i had taken pictures. i will be sure to when we go back! We started with bottled water and then ordered Adobo Spring Rolls- which were spring rolls with marinated chicken and cheese. oh wows! thne a Spinach Quesadilla like nothing i'd ever tasted. so much flavor! Then came our entrees. We each had ordered kebabs- Scott Chicken and me beef (of course!). These were incredible as well, and we decided we HAD to have dessert to finish this experience. we each ordered a slice of triple chocolate silk pie- this was phenominal and we went home and to bed with full and happy tummies!

Sunday, 8/16

Today we went to the Greenbelt Mall, having been told it was where to get good electronics. hmmm. we found ourselves in a very upscale mall, with all the designers you can imagine me drooling over- Prada, Gucci, Guess, etc. it was- again- huge. most buildings in the mall (there were 5) had 3-5 floors. There wasn't much in the way of electronics, and definitely nothing we could afford. we were also continuing our search for nice watches- neither of us has had a really good watch before, and because of the size of these malls, we could really afford to be picky. And we sure were. We returned by ay of a connecting walkway to Glorietta Mall and i purchased the matching purses I'd been eyeballing for my sister Melissa and I. We then went by the movie theater and purchase tickets for a later showing of the Hangover (YAY for PHP150 Movie tickets!) and went to TGI Fridays for lunch. I wish i;d gotten pictures of the waitstaff. there were at least 3 waiters dressed as characters from GI Joe. there was a Snake Eyes, a Duke, and a Stormshadow. i will admit giggling and whispering to Scott "Stormshadow jsut cleared our plates!" We then went to hunt for watches some more- no luck... and then to the movie, which was funny, and since i had seen it previously, i was able to spot the parts that were edited for content for this more conservative culture. i'll admit i liked this version better. After the movie, we were both just exhausted, so we came back to the hotel ,and by 6pm we had conked out for a nap- thing is, we didn't wake up for more than a few minutes until 6AM Monday!

Here are the purses!

A day at Glorietta

Today we went to Glorietta Mall. it was an absolutely humongous place, easily the size of 5 of our normal shopping malls at home, and 4 stories tall. i found this great little boutique called Mondi that had really cute but inexpensive clothes, and i got a minidress and some tshirts for myself and my sisters. we wandered a lot, and found some great sales. i'm too tired to get into it now, but before we leave the hotel tomorrow i will blog about the Barbie assault of 2009. let us jsut say i was weak and scared and i am glad hubby was there to help me escape.we had pissa (made to order) and cokes for lunch, and then shopped some more. then, in need of a sit down, we bought tickets to GI Joe, and spent the hour we had before it began eating Frosties from wendy's and checking out fancy schmancy Nokia Cell phones. The movie was awesome, but re realized when we were finished watching it that we were done for the day. soooo fun but so tired. also, cant spend all our fun money in once place.- 5 more weeks of travelling and shopping to do! i continure to be amazed and impressed with the Filipino people on the whole. Such friendly and cheerful people i have never seen nor met. anotehr cool and unexpected thing we saw was a Catholic Mass (5pm Saturday Mass) going on on the lower level of the mall! how smart to make that available in a place where so many people are all the time!

BTW, scott and i are on the hunt for really nice watches for us both and a pair of sunglasses for me. we got some great ideas today... i even saw 2 in the same store that had Pink roses and pink butterflies respectively! WOWS! will keep you updated. in the morning... the Barbie story. right now, i am hydrating and waitin on
Scott to return with some burgers for a late late supper.

First night out!

Tonight was our first night really going out since we got here, and WOW was it a great time! We went to dinner at a HUGE Buffet called Dad's at the Glorietta Mall with Scott's coworkers. What an incredibly fun group of people! I instantly felt like i fit in, and they were sooo funny! i hope we get to spend more time with them! The food was amazing and only required slight adventurousness. here are a few pics...


First, we have me all ready to go out, hair and makeup done and feelin pretty.
















Next, here are Scott and I at the Restaurant





These gals are awesome: Donna, Debbie, and Jocelyn


And, Finally here is the whole group minus Donna, who took the picture:

and, finally, as a bit of a PS, it turned out that a member of the Cabinet here in the Philippines known commonly as JDV was dining at the table right next to ours. the house band serenaded him with Ques Sera, My Way, and several other songs. it was pretty cool and i guess a bit of brush with celebrity. here is a picture we sneakily got of him...

Tomorrow we plan on visiting the second biggest mall in the world! Shopping!!!

Happy to Serve- No! Really!

The people I've encountered in the Philippines so far are all very polite, if reserved. The people here in the service industry continue to amaze me though. Never have I been greeted by every member of the staff of a restaurant (or convenience store!) as i entered, sent off as i left cheerfully, or been treated as though everything i need is a joy to fulfill before. I am always called "Ma'am", and the cheerfulness seem totally genuine. Service with a smile isn't just an idea here, it's a way of life. I am trying to be very thankful to everyone who serves me in any way, and while Scott and i have tried to tip them at different times, it;s clearly not expected, and often they have disappeared before we get the chance to! So, from this i am trying to cultivate more of this attitude in myself in how i deal with others. i want to be cheerful and kind too. After all, these folks do it all day with tons of people, can;t i with the few i come in contact with at home?

Recap of the first few days here...

Ok. I've had my recovery time. Now it's time to chronicle our first few days here. The flight from AMS to MNL was long (12 hours) but uneventful. I managed to take an empty seat next to Scott rather than being across the aisle, which really helped, since it was such a long flight. The Dutch flight attendants spoke German mostly, then repeated in English, which was interesting. the food was good, if a little strange. (Rhubarb yogurt? Lime Mousse?) i didnt sleep much, but managed to watch Doubt, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, Knowing, and some FOTC. We landed, disembarked, and made ti through immigration without a hitch. Then came the baggage claim. It was so chaotic, and i was so overwhelmed from being so tired... As i watched the luggage rotate, i became more and more sure that ours had not made it onto that plane. I kept watching, though just in case. After all the luggage had been loaded onto the belt and most had been claimed, we made our way over to get in line to make a claim report. the KLM staff were super friendly and helpful, and promised to get us our luggage back very soon. I'm not sure if i believed them at the time. Then it was tiem to find our car and get to the hotel. We found the Hotel Car Lounge very easily and our car arrived in under ten minutes. The ride from the airport to the hotel was fascinating. I just kept being struck by the thought that everything was so extreme- either really bright, shiny, and modern, or really run down. i feel guilty jsut writing that, but it is how it seems. The transition form the part of town called EDSA to Makati City was very sharp. Instead of warehouses and swarms of people weaving in and through the traffic, there are lots of office buildings, hi rise hotels, skyscrapers, restaurants and basically what resembles any other business district in a big city, but with things that are very distinctive, like palm trees. We arrived at the hotel and were checked in by a very nice young man named Jude. A porter came and carried our carry on luggage to the elevator and into our apartment here on the 21st floor, and then quietly left us to collapse. Which, we didn;t quite do immediately. We settled in as much as we could, unpacking our carry ons, which, in my infinite wisdom contained electronics but not voltage converters and no toiletries or clothes but deodorant. Yay me. We then ordered a huge room service meal (steak, rice, veggies, soup, sausages, cake and iced tea)which was our first taste of the inexpensivity of food in the Philippines- this meal cost less than $25 USD. *Then* we climbed in that king sized bed and crashed. Scott woke before i did and watched some TV. I wandered out after 7h of sleep and he suggested i take some benadryl and go back to sleep. This sounded like a good plan to me, so i did jsut that, and slept soundly till about 5 when i woke and discovered the sun was up and so was my husband! We dozed a bit more and went down to breakfast at about 7:30AM. Breakfast here is somethin else! We have this wide spread of fresh fruit- usually tropical- pastries, breads, cereals, cheeses, cold cuts, yogurt, etc, and then a set of hot entree type dishes. For example, Wednesday offered beef burgundy, rice, and a creamy tomato soup. (which i wanted to steal all of to bring to the room!) There is also a lady who makes omelettes to order. She already knows that i like mine with everyhting but mushrooms! There is also a choice of coffee, cappucino, tea, orange juice (ok, it's actually Tang), milk or fresh fruit juice, like pineapple or mango. Then, after breakfast, we came back up to the room and Scott got ready for work. I pretty much did nothing that first day because... OH! Before Scott went to work, he did some leg work on tracking down our luggage, and shortly after that, we recieved a call letting us know our luggage had arrived and would be delivered that afternoon. So, i just hung out and watched TV, then ate lunch at the hotel restaurant, Coquina, and discovered watermelon juice, which is incredible. it's jsut what it sounds like- juice from watermelon- nothing added. really refreshing stuff. Then, i came back and watched more TV until the luggage was delivered. I spent an hour unpacking and then took a long hot shower and got all the travel grime off of me. i'd washed my face, brushed my teeth, and all wit the stuff the hotel had provided, but it felt so good to get scrubbed down and clean and refreshed with *my* stuff. Then, i got dressed in clean clothes (finally) and zonked out on the couch till Scott arrived with takeout for dinner. i was half asleep when i ate the spicy shrimp stuff he;d gotten me, wich was very very nommy. Scott also let me eat some of his fish before i wandered off to bed at about 8PM. Scott came in not long after and it wasn't too surprising that we woke around 2 again and were awake for a couple hours. now, honestly, because i've not been keeping up with this journal, the middle of this week runs together in my mind, other than these highlights:

Tuesday (8/11)

• went to the gym. i wanted to run 35 min, but made it about 20 before nausea took over and i didnt really feel well the rest of the day.
  

• we had sushi for dinner. it was ok, not great, and if you know me and sushi, that's not a good thing. i really didn't like the sea urchin sushi. was waaay too slimy.

Wed (8/12)

• i spent the ENTIRE day working on and uploading the apartment tour video i made to YouTube. internet connectivity issues made me have to restart the upload a number of times.
  

• we had dinner at Malcolm's Place, a really sweet little bistro a block over. it started raining for the first time since we arrived on the way there, and it hink being soaked made the super comfy booth with pillows even more inviting. The creamed spinach soup was amazing and the tuna pasta with lemon, garlic and tomato was very satifying and flavorful too. I'd enjoy going back there.

Both of these nights we were in bed at about 9PM. Still woke up from about 2-4AM and getting up around 8.

Thursday, all i did was bum around. it was cloudy and i was tired from having bad dreams the night before and in a little bit of a funk. We did manage to stay up till 10PM though and sleep pretty solidly despite totally skipping dinner.

It's Friday afternoon now, and i've been working on this journal and blog pretty much all day. After one more post about the people we;ve encountered so far i'm going to start making myself pretty for dinner out with Scott's Dev team tonight. It'll be our first real outing away from the hotel and the first time i've met the people Scott is working with. i'll be sure to blog about it later!

This is a typical breakfast here at the Somerset Salcedo. I had Pineapple juice, Fish, tomato compote, cheese, fresh pineapple, and though it isn't pictured here, my omelette with everyhting but mushrooms.



This is me Thursday night trying to keep myself awake by playing with my hair. i liked the pigtails with my jammies.









This is the water bottle i bought at the Mini-stop to reuse for my workouts. it's HUGE. i LOVE it.











These are Philippine Pesos (Php) that add up to under $2 USD. i want to use them up. i don't want to take them home.











This is me Friday morning (today) feeling rested and happy that it's gonna be a sunny day.

Apartment Tour Video

Amsterdam: 9:27 AM (3:27 AM at home) 8/8/09

Yeah. It's been a long 15 hours. No. Longer than that. 18 hours. We got to RIC and to our gate smoothly, That was great. Then we found out our flight was delayed 2.5h. Not Good. We got our DTW connection changed to a 7:10PM to AMS/2:10PM (Saturday) to MNL instead of the original 3:45 to MNL via NGO(Nagao, Japan), now arriving at our destiantion at 8:30 Sunday morning instead of the original 10:30PM Saturday night. We were also given meal vouchers for mthe airline in Richmond and ued them to grab lunch. LONG story short, the flight from RIC to DTW didn't end up taking off till 5PM (it was originally scheduled for 12:35 PM!) and we were pretty nervous about making our new 7:10PM connection. (fortunately there was a 9PM flight had we missed the 7:10)Our flight arrived at 6:30and we jsut made the 7:10 flight, as the gate was as close to the arriving gate as it could have been depite being in a different part of the terminal. YAY! The 8 Hour flight from DTW to here (AMS) was lovely and without incident. I was seated next to a very nice Romanian gentleman and we got along really well, which was good in the cramped quarters. i was across the aisle from Scott though, so had to get his attention biy poking his arm when I could. I think i slept a couple hours, and i got to watch Wolverine (scott and i synced our video screens for this) and I Love You MAn (i did fall asleep during this) and the food was good. Also, wine and beer were free, so i had two litle bottles of white wine and soctt had one bottle of red and one Heineken with dinner. So, here we are in Amsterdam, and I am eagerly awaiting our flight to Manila, which boards in... 3.5 hours. The descent into AMS was so cool. I got kinda teary realizing i was seeing a new country for the first time. OOH! Scott jsut brought me a Coke Zero!

Visas! (8/05/09)

We did manage to get our visas today. We had a little scare, however, because of an impromptu national holiday being declared, and we were afraid the embassy would be closed. We got even more worried when Scott called and tried every extension and still couldn't get anyone. Fortunately, they were just all at lunch, because when Scott called back a bit later, someone answered and told us to come on up. So, YAY we got to go pick up our visas and have a nice Sushi Dinner with Jason and Kevin! :-)

Passports (8/04/09)

Wow! Yesterday was a crazy and totally exhausting day! I started out SO nervous and jsut got increasingly more relaxed (and also tired) as the day went on. We got up at about 8:45 and still managed somehow to get out the door by 9:30. After a quick stop at WaWa for breakfast and gas, we were on the road. The drive up was pleasantly uneventful, and the directions Scott found were perfect. (i have no *idea* that the Google directions woulda been like, but i do know they were much more involved.) We managed to find a parking garage just directly across from the Passport Office. Let me interrupt myself here to say that I iabsolutely LOVE Washington DC. I love the architecture, the beauty of the buildings, the way it jsut feels so clean and positive. Every time I go there I jsut feel so happy, excited, and proud to live in this country. It definitely improves my outlook. Now- back to the story! There was a fairly rigorous security process upon entry to the passport office. We had to show photo ID, empty pockets, get bags x-rayed and go through a metal detector (YAY for my PTFE navel ring!) and then be sorted into the correct line. We then checked in for our appt at a window by giving all of our documents to a lady to assemble into packets for more efficient processing and were given a number before being seated in teh waiting area. We were first seated next to a mother and son who were travelling to St Martens the very next day (today). they were from near us in Chesterfield County, and the little boy was sooooo cute! They'd been there on Friday and had to come back, so it was great to see the relief on the mother's face when they left with their passports. After and hour of waiting, (we'd gotten there early, so really it was right on time) we were called up to process our paperwork. When the nice man at the window asked when we were going, i replied in a strained voice "Friday..." which Scott followed with "Which is why we'd really like to get this all done today, since we haveto go apply for visas at the Philippine embassy as well." Not wanting to make a promis he couldnt keep, the manwent to talk with his supervisor, and when he returned it was with good news that they'd be processed and available for pickup that same day! We were instructed to be back in the building no later than 3PM, which is when they close the doors for the day. Everyone already inside gets to stay until their stuff is ready, but otherwise you have to come back the next business day, i guess. we had about 90 minutes, so we decided to walk over to the Philppines Embassy to see what we could find out. It was a quick and fun little walk (about 5 blocks) and when we got there we were informed that the visa processing would take overnight. So, at this point, with no real idea of when the passports would be ready, and knowing we needed them to apply for our visas, it looked like we would be in DC up to another 2 days to get the visas taken care of. This was not pleasing to either of us, but especially not to Scott who wanted to wrap some things up at work and really didn't want to do all that driving. We headed back in the direction of the passport office, Stopping for lunch ad a busy but good place called Jack's Fresh. i had a turkey club, and Scott had a california chicken sandwich. We got back to the passport office before 3 and dropped off our pickup slip, then returned to the waiting area. I passed the time by talking to a young couple who was leaving in less than 24h to go to Cancun. They were really nice, and the time passed very quickly. We ere called up and given our passports at 3:45, and in hopes of being able to apply for the visas, stay the night in town, (on the company's dime of course) and have everything finished in time to go home Tuesday night, we took off running (almost) for the Embassy. Unfortunately, upon submission of our applications we found out that they wouldnt be ready till Wednedsay after 4 PM. So, we stopped for coffee on the way back to the car and made the drive home in surprisingly light rush hour traffic. A mostly successful but exhausting day.

Bon Voyage! (8/1/09)

So. Yeah. We leave in 5 days and a wakeup! i'm really excited, but also really nervous. We don't have passports yet. That's the main stress, I suppose. We have an appt. in DC on Monday to (hopefully) get our passports and visas. I'm prayin hard, and asking everyone we know to also pray. Getting all the shopping and other errands done was fun and a bit of a relief, but i guess it paved the was for the stress of passports to become mroe real. On a positive note, we had a really nice going away party with the fam today. Kell even made a cake that said "Bon Voyage!" on it! We had a nice, relaxing afternoon, and got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa without everyone else around and i really enjoyed that. Tomorrow the plan is laundry and show production. Hopefully we will both rest better tonight than las night and wake a little perkier. it;s been a long week for Scott, which has kept us both from resting well. I think the trip will feel much more real and settled once we have the passports and visas in hand. At that point i'll feel like it;s all settled and taken care of.

Welcome!

Hi, and thanks so much for joining me on this journey! This blog is going to be a direct copy of my trip journal, but with the added benefit of pictures and videos added. I'm starting with a few backdated entries, since it took me a few days to get settled enough to do this. Hope I can be entertaining, and that you'll enjoy my adventures and misadventures- hopefully few of the latter- as we experience the Philippines for the next weeks.