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.