Mae in Manila

Thursday 9/17

2009-09-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today was blog catch up and sleep catch up day. i spent the late morning through early afternoon working on uploading pictures and writing posts, then had lunch with Scott and watched Mythbusters together. After he left to go back to work i took a looooong rest. When i woke up, it was about time for scott to come home. We had roast chicken for supper and shortly thereafter he went to the Comtech Staff house to spend some quality one on one time with Darwin before we have to go home. i had a nice quiet evening, and stayed up till Scott got in. another night up late means tomorrow will be a sleepy day as well! have to be rested for the volcano excursion on saturday!

Wednesday 9/16

2009-09-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Today i did something cool and (for me at least) brave! i went out on my own- further than ministop or even the drugstore. Well, let me back up. i woke up just in time to have my bible study discussion with Cindy, then made some plans with Scott for our trip to a volcano this weekend. Then, i started thinking that if i didn't get out on my own and do something while we were here i would probably feel pretty silly. i am nervous in unfamiliar situations and have a lot of fears- some rational, others not so much, but it is time to not be controlled by them. So. i got dressed, put on my new hat which is awesome, and walked up to Scott's office to surprise him. that was fun, and the furthest i have walked on my own (about 6-8 blocks), so it was an accomplishment. After i said hi to some ofthe guys in the office and talked with Scott a bit, it was time to start my real adventure for the day. Scott rode the elevator down with me and helped me get a cab. I got in and told the driver i wanted to go to Glorietta 3. It was my first ever taxi ride by myself (taxis alone are one of thsoe irrational fears...) and i did jsut fine, paid my fare and headed into the mall. i got money at an ATM, wandered up to the movie theater, bought tickets, and then had a Frosty at Wendy's as i decided what to do with the 2 hours till my movie started. i had a little bit of shopping to do, so i headed over to the Landmark- our favorite department store here- and got the few things i needed. one of these is a Barong- traditional men's shirt- for Scott. i founda really nice one for him. it's so nice. the Barong buttons about 2/3 of the way down instead of all the way, and the one i got for Scott is a light seafoam green with inlaid mother of pearl buttons. many Barongs have embroidery around the button placket, and Scott's does too. after my shopping i headed bakc up t othe theater and got seated for my movie- Sorority Row (it;s a dumb horror movie, but it was entertaining). this wasa different experience than i have ever had at home. at home, i am used to people gasping or cryhing out a little at a jump scene in a horror movie, but here- people openly SCREAMED at these- and sometimes preemptively- it was hilarious. so, the movie was fun, if nothing else, because of the screaming. after a little more shopping, i got in a cab to head back to the hotel. Just my luck, for the first time ever in our time here, the taxi driver knows nothing about hte area, and i had togive him turn by turn directions out of the mall complex and back to my hotel. Good thing i knew the way! After a bit longer Scott came home with McDonald's for supper and we just hung out and watched The Jackal on tv and then went to bed. a good day. :-)

Tuesday 9/15

2009-09-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

So, we slept in till noon or so and then Scott went in to work. he works so hard. i puttered around a bit, packed some stuff that we didn;t need access to, made some lists, just my normal planning type stuff. Scott came home with Pizza around 8 and we had dinner and relaxed, and were in bed around 10 or so. Long Tiring day for my hubby.

Monday 9/14

2009-09-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today i mostly finished recovering, and felt a good bit better. Scott brought home roast chicken for supper and it was soooo good! we relaxed together for a little bit but then Scott had to go back to the office and help sort out a problem of some sort. he went back in at 11 and came home shortly before 6 AM!! Just a little bit before he came back, i was awakened by gunshots. there were seven. i didn't see what happened but the street below our hotel got kinda suddenly crowded. i imagine it wasn't anything too big a deal. When Scott got back, we went back to sleep.

Sunday 9/13

2009-09-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Last night i had what may have been the worst fever of my life. i was so cold but yet was burning up. scott couldn't even come near my side of the bed. i wondered briefly if iwas actually dying. i am not being melodramatic. really. my fever broke around 6 AM with some sort of insane vengeance and my side of the bed became soaked with sweat. i slept till about 2PM and then got up and started moving slowly. Around 4 i was ready to get out of the partment as long as we moved sloooowly. Scott got us a cab to Glorietta and we had dinner at TGIFridays and then we shopped a little- didn;t buy anything, but i think the getting out was good for me. When we got back, i took some of our newly acquired tylenol like substance and got in bed pretty soon therafter.

Saturday, 9/12

2009-09-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, we slept in VERY late today. i think we left the hotel at about 2 PM to head to SM Mall of Asia, the 3rd largest mall in the WORLD! it was pretty cool to see as we drove up, though the rain was pretty heavy so we couldn't get a picture. Scott and i agreed that this was the most impressive of the 5 malls we have visited (that sounds insanely like a lot but really, that's not many of the malls they have here- i can think of probably 10 we didn't visit and i'm sure there are many more!) and they had lots of stuff going on as far as performances and entertainment for hte kids and this:
An Olympic Sized Ice Rink!

We were So Hungry since we hadn't eaten since the party, so we got food in the food court- 2 orders of super nommy Pancit, 2 Lumpia for me, and an order of Sissig for Scott.
As we were eating lunch overlooking the ice rink, we noticed it had started snowing!
And the kids were crowding in the middle of the ice to be snowed on!
After lunch, we was a movie and wandered around a bit and shopped a little. we were still pretty wiped out from the night before though, so we headed back to the hotel and ordered McDonald's. shortly after dinner i realized i had a fever and got into bed. that;s right, i'm sick AGAIN! i guess when your immune system is weakened, it can get hit over and over!

Pictures from 9/11

2009-09-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, So here are pictures from Scott's Birthday!
Here are a couple Shots outside at Greenhills Shopping Center:
Here is part of that crazy market like area:
When we got home from shopping and had rested a bit, we were surprised by a visit from the hotel staff bringing this!

A Birthday cake! Awwwww!
Here we are all dressed up to go out!

And... Videoke time! Darwin has a beautiful voice!!!
Here are the guys!

And, The girls!
The Food!Here Begins Scott's adventure with- THE PRAWN!

Smiling before the first bite!Staring it down...

About to take off its head...
CHOMP!
WOW! Chrunchy!
Hmmm...YAY! you ate its head! the rest will be easy!
David and Marco (the quietest guys in the group!) Sang Endless Love in a duet! was awesome!

We could tell the night was winding down when sleepy cuddling started... A great night! Thanks Y'all!

Friday, 9/11

2009-09-13T18:59:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!!!!! Today was Scott's 27th birthday! we slept in a little, then left the hotel around 11:30 to go to Greenhills Shopping Center, because we heard they had lots of cool native souvenirs and stuff. When we got there, i knew it was gonna be a a great birthday for Scott, because when we'd been getting ready to go, he;d said "Y'know what'd be the BEST birthday meal? Shoney's breakfast buffet!" and, while there are no Shoney's here, we did immediately encounter a restaurant called Flapjacks that serves giant breakfast platters with all our favorites, so that made for a very happy birthday boy! After that incredible meal we found the movie theaters and bought tickets for a movie i have really been looking forward to called Gamer- i knew it;d be something Scott would really enjoy since it was about video games and reality combined and so i was beyond excited to be able to see it on his birthday- especially since i didn't think it was coming out for a while yet. we went into the theater and immediately sensed something was wrong. the movie seemed to have started already. hmmm... after a few minutes we realized we were an hour early and the previous showing hadn't ended yet. OOPS! We spent the next hour exploring the shopping center a bit, and discovered that large chunks of it were a lot like D*Talipapa in the sense of there being tons of booths with similar products and people yelling for you to come buy from them. it was cool but kinda overwhelming! i did, however get a really cool Cell Phone case for P200 (about $4) before we headed back to the theater. The movie was awesome and these theater seats were the best we have had here, comfort wise! Afterwards, we explored the mall some more, shopped for souvenirs, Scott got to bargain some :-) and then, exhausted, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest up for the evening ahead. We got all dolled up and left the hotel at about 8:30 PM. it was raining pretty heavily, and there was traffic, but we had a really good and knowledgeable cab driver, and so our trip was about 20 minutes down to Seaside- the area home to a huge fresh seafood market and tons of restaurants where you take your freshly caught freshly purchased seafood and they cook it for you. immediately upon exiting the cab we were mobbed by people trying to get us to come to their restaurants- it was insane and overwhelming for me, but as usual, Scott was a cool customer. since it was raining, and we'd heard that the rest of our group was running late, we decided to duck in to one of the restaurants and grab a beer. i was feeling a little weak, so i ordered a couple crabs to hold me over till the group arrived- lunch had been 9 hours ago, after all! our group arrived at 10- it had taken them over an hour to get there, not having had a taxi as good as ours, i guess. They came bearing a cake! we had a cool experience watching them order all the fish for our meal at the market, and then it was taken to the restaurant/karaoke bar where we all filled a booth and the party really began! everyone was hemming and hawing about who was gonna sing first, so i did it. :-) i sang a lot actually... almost everyone sang, and the food was great, and we stayed till 3:30 AM, shutting the place down! We got home at 4:30 or so- after having to wait a bit to find a cab, and got into bed around 5:30. WHEW! what a day! Pictures in the next post.

Thursday, 9/10

2009-09-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

today i rested a good part of the day, so that i could hopefully be well in time for Scott's awesome birthday weekend. by the time he got home around 7, i was feeling perked up and had showered and put on a dress so we could go out to the tapas restaurant. it was incredible again. i think Scott took some pics of our food but they are on his phone. i'm going to have to get him to copy all the pics from his phone onto the computer... we were totally stufed when we got back and just vegged out the rest of the evening.

Wed 9/9

2009-09-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a sick day. in bed. all day. we got McD's Delivered for lunch, and then later, when Scott was feeling better he went and go roast chicken for dinner and we watched Blues Brothers. he is ready to get back to work tomorrow, and i am gonna rest up, because i don;t want to slow down his birthday weekend with being sick. We are doing Karaoke with his workmates to celebrate. not sure what else is up for this weekend.

Tuesday 9/8

2009-09-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today Scott is still sick but went in to work around 11. Guess what. i am sick now too, with whatever he has. wheee! i made myself get up and do laundry though, and once that was done i went to sleep for the afternoon. ZZZZZZZZZ. Scott brought roast chicken home for dinner, and after some TV watching we read in bed till we both drifted off. ZZZZZZZZ

Monday, 9/7

2009-09-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

Today Scott was still sick, and my throat was starting to hurt... so we slept in and he went into work around 1PM- i went with him! Today was Labor Day back home, and was declared a holiday here, but Scott's team was in the office working anyway- GO TEAM GO! Anyhoo, so i didn't wanna be away from Scott today, so i went with him to the office and took a book. about halfway through the afternoon we went out and bought everyone ice cream, cuz it;s an IBS tradition to do that from time to time, and that went over really well. We stayed late, because Scott and Darwin had many meetings :-) i spent probably the last hour or so talking to Donna- who i absolutely adore- while Scott and Darwin had meetings. then, around 9PM we headed back toward the hotel. Now, when it;s a holiday here, all the restaurants are either closed all day, or close really early, so our one and only option was McDonald's- no, not going into McDonalds- having it DELIVERED! So, that;s what we did- and it was still cheaper than McD's at home... even with the delivery charge.

Sunday 9/6

2009-09-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

Scott haz a sick, so we just hung out and rested most of today, but we did have some excitement this evening. the Jabbawockeez were at Glorietta, and i love them, so Scott took me to see them perform. i have never ever seen so many people!!! 4 of the guys are Filipino, so that may be part of why there was such a huge crowd, but i'd be confident chalking it up to how awesome they are. i have bee na fan of these guys since they were first on ABDC!

There were people a-pushin and a-shovin and just insanity... but we still managed to have a great time!
oh, and i LOVE this pic! Scott is very happy to have Brunette Mae back too!
DJ Rashida (from America's Best Dance Crew- the competition the Jabbawockeez won) took the stage first, and then introduced Pop Sensation Billy Crawford- whose performance i enjoyed, but i was hot, cranky, and wanted to see the Wockeez!!!!

Then, after Billy did a few songs, FINALLY the Jabbawockeez came out!! no, you can;t see them in this vid. but they are there. we tried to get a good spot, but there were like 15,000 people there- no exaggeration. my favorite moments were the Michale Jackson Tribute and when the Wockeez did their version of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" (which you can see them doing at another show here

And, finally, here is a pic where you can actually see the Wockeez- well half of them!
it was a super fun show, and i managed to see most of it by watching the screens on the video cameras of people in front of me. ;-) After being outside in the heat and sweat and people for 2 hours, we found a nice quiet table at TGIFridays and had dinner. MMMMMM Fajitas! then it was back to the hotel and relaxing till bedtime.

Saturday, 9/5

2009-09-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

today we wanted a low key day, and Scott felt like he might be coming down with something, so we slept in late- like noon, and left the hotel around 1:00PM to go to Glorietta and see some movies and just kinda wander around. we started with lunch at Shakey's pizza, which was yummy and fun. we got the manager's special pizza and a combo platter of fries, wings, and calimari. Then, we wandered over to the movie theater and got tickets for a movie at 3, and another at 5:50. After the fisrt movie, we hada little time, so we went and got Caramel Frappucinos and then found this little boutique that sells clothes that celebrate the Philippines in a unique way. imagine high quality polo shirts, but with a map of the Philippines embroidered on them. or... here! see pictures!
After that purchase, we went to see the 5:50 movie, and then made a pit stop at the grocery store for fruit and hair color before heading home to chill out for the evening...

Friday, 9/4

2009-09-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Today i blogged a good part of the day. the internet here is rather slow, so it took a long time to get all those pictures uploaded! After that, i started watching a movie, but it made me miss Scott, since it was a movie i really liked during the early days of our relationship, so i turned it off and returned to reading Breaking Dawn. i took a nap, and then waited for Scott to come home from work. He brought some roast chicken for supper, and it was really yummy! i kept him company while he worked late into the night, and then we went to bed. not the most exciting day, but, hey- we have the whole weekend ahead to do exciting stuff! :-D

Tuesday, 9/1-Thursday, 9/3

2009-09-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

I have been sick. Feverish. Delirious. all i've done the past 3 days is eat the food Scott brings me and sleep basically. it;s probably the result of all the activity and excitement of last weekend wearing on my body and me not staying hydrated, and all the unusual takeout we got wednesday...

Monday 8/31

2009-09-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

First, let me say HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY!!! Today my awesome and sweet sister in law Kelly turns 13!
we slept in a little this morning, by which i mean, like 8:30. We got up, had breakfast, and did a little last minute style photography, since we were leaving the Island at 2 PM.
here are some of the shots Scott took:
The walkway toward the pool that our room faced:

A shot of said pool from the Ground:

Walking past Christina's Restaurant out to the beach path, and entry to the beach itself:

The beach Path near our hotel:

The Sea Breeze Cafe

The path heading south:

The exit from the beach path to d*talipapa

We made another short trip to d*talipapa to finish some souvenier shopping (more bargaining!) and then took a couple pictures on the beach before heading back to the room to finish packing.

Here I am at the steps to the Kai Regency Spa:

We finished packing and vacated our room right on time at noon, then had a margarita in the hotel lobby bar before heading to the Sea Breeze Cafe for one last meal. We walked on the beach a little one last time, then headed to the lobby to meet our transport and do the whole travel process in reverse. it was uneventful, in a very good way, up until 6:30 when it was time to board our flight in Kalibo and it wasn't there. seemed like many other flights were boarding, some from the same airline going to the same destination, but not ours. eventually though (i guess it was really only about a half hour late, but i was already cranky about having to leave the island at 2 PM for a 7PM flight. We got back to Manila Safe and sound, as did our luggage, and after a quick shower upon arrival back at the hotel, i was out like a light!

Sunday, 8/30

2009-09-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

Despite being up late, we woke bright and early today and went for a walk on the beach. It was even more beautiful in the bright sunlight.
I mean, Seriously. These pictures don't begin to do it all justice.

After our walk, we went and had a lovely breakfast, and followed it with some time on the beach and in the water before the sun started to get too hot. notice that may of these pics were taken in the shade? the sun was so intense that i was wearing SPF 45 and tanned right through it even wilt multiple applications. After playing on the beach awhile, we decided to do some shopping and exploring at d*Talipapa, an open air market. Here is a terribly unflattering shot of me on the way up to d*talipapa- you can see the sign in the distance.
Here's a shot of a little corner of the market:
Here i am trying to not google too much over all the beautiful seashell jewelry. There was so much of it! The shopping in d*talipapa relied heavily on bargaining and negotiation, and Scott had a really good time with that! BTW- i am not super sweaty, i just thought putting my top on over a wet swimsuit would help me stay cool longer. :-)
After we shopped awhile, we headed back to the hotel for lunch, a short nap, and then more time in the water and on the beach. the sun was really intense, and so we didnt stay out on the beach for long at this point. we headed back to the pool where we could set Scott up safely under an umbrella and ordered a couple drinks while we lounged- this hotel has awesome Mango Shakes!
Here's a view of the pool from our balcony:

After pool time, we went down to the beach to enjoy the sunset, which was a really quiet and peaceful time. Then, we headed up to the room and showered and got prettied up for dinner. i don't have pictures, sadly, but i wore my new white halter maxidress with coral colored flowers, and scott wore a teal cabana shirt with tan linen pants. we looked awesome. Dinner was super yummy. :-) Later, we returned to MO2 and enjoyed the live music and fire dancers again. We went up to bed around 11:30 since it'd been a long day, but the party seemed to go on and on down at the beach! we could hear the music till 2AM!

Saturday 8/29

2009-09-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today we travelled to PARADISE! No. Seriously. But i should start at the beginning. i didn't fall asleep till about 2:30 AM, but i woke up around 8. so, i got up and started packing. i was about done packing by the time Scott got up, and then we went to breakfast before it was time to leave for the airport. We got to the airport smoothly, and checked in, went through security, and everything was great. We boarded the plane only a few minutes late, and took off about a half hour behind schedule, which i tried not to be cranky about. The flight was gorgeous, with amazing views, which Scott got video of. (all these vids i mention will be on youtube at some point, it's just that the internet here is super slow for uploading video so it might be when we get home.) Then, we landed in Kalibo, which was a nice intro to the tropical paradise we were headed for. After claiming our baggage, a nice porter helped us get to our bus to go to Cataclan, where we would catch our boat to Boracay. The bus wasa air conditioned, cushy, and a nice ride. there was a movie playing too. it was about a 2 hour bus ride to Caticlan, where we then were filtered out by hotel to vans to ride to the dock to get on a boat. The boat ride was beautiful and short, and i really couldn't believe we were somewhere so ideal. Getting on and off of the boat was a little scary, however. there was a ramp about 10 inches wide that was balanced at the ends on the dock and on the boat and it had a rail on one side and on the other, the boat crew helped you on and off. it wasnt so bad getting on in Caticlan, but when we got to boracay it was at this crazy steep angle and was kinda moving. Scary. I made it though, and Scott of course made it with no trouble at all. Then, with another porter carrying our baggage, we walked down a dirt road a little ways to meet more vans from the hotel. These vans took us to the hotel where we checked in quickly and smoothly and were taken to our very elegant Premier room that overlooked one of the resort's three swimming pools. i wish i had taken pictures of the room. it was perfect. After settling in for a few minutes, we put on swimsuits and headed down to the beach. this was the first time we met Mario, who is basically the evening entertainment Director for the resort, and became our Buddy. more about that later. We were also introduced to the slew of men selling pearls, sunglasses, and activities: parasailing, ATV, Snorkeling, Island hopping... a few of which we would have done if we were going to be on island more than 48 hours. there is sort of a boardwalk area/path along the beachfront of little shops. it is sooo cool. we didnt really venture into that right now, beyond walking past all the restaurants (seven, i believe) in our resort complex. We went down to the beach itself, and were blown away by the beauty. it was like being in a travel commercial. i sit here struggling to find words. it was breathtaking- quite literally. Scott looked over at me, i looked up at him, jaw about to hit the sand, and he said "Seriously?" neither of us could believe this place. we set our stuff down and got in the water, which was exactly the perfect temperature. we swam out into the waves awhile and then, when we were starting to get worn out, headed back up to play in the pool. After showering off, we got in the pool- heatred to exactly the right temp- and swam around will we were about ready to eat dinner. We dressed and headed down for our first meal at the Sea Breeze Cafe, where our weekend package included all of our meals. It was an amazing and huge buffet with mostly Asian foods, and lots of variety. it was a very good meal. there was much Nom. Then, we went back to the room to let the giant and awesome meal settle, and then around 9, we went back down to MO2, the beachfront hotel bar, where the entertainment for the evening was getting into full swing. this was Mario's domain, and he found us seats at the bar to have a few drinks and enjoy the show. There was a local band playing that was jsut great- almost every song they played was one we liked ,and a great many were Black Eyed Peas! W00t! The band took a break after a bit and the fire dancers came out! there were about 4-5 of them and they were all amazing. a couple of them came into the bar area at different times and did tricks among the patrons. one cam and stood between us, banding over backwards into scott;s lap while twirling his fireballs. it was crazy awesome. after the fire dancers finished, the band played some more, until about 11PM. When they were finished, Scott and i started walking north on the beach path to see what other entertainment was going on, as Boracay is known for its nightlife. There were many clubs with Dj's and live music, and cafes with live music, and it was just incredible. at one point, we saw a break in the palm trees that separate the beachfront path from the beach itself and saw the moon. it was bright and perfect, and wouldn't you know, right there was a driftwood log to sit on, so we did just that. Scott and i sat and looked up at the moon and the ocean and just enjoyed being together for awhile. it was a really special moment. *swooon* We walked the path some more before turning back and walking back to our hotel. We went back to the room and finally went to sleep around 1:30 AM.

Friday, 8/28

2009-09-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Most of today i just hung out and read Twilight books. Yeah, i know, they are "not well written." Whatever. i love them.
When Scott got home, though, we headed out to Glorietta for dinner and a little light shopping. We ate at this little buffet with all sorts of hard to distinguish foods, that mostly tasted pretty good. i ate deep fried leaf of some sort, and i really liked it. so much of the food is fried or super salty here, which does nothing for my girlish figure, let me tell you. if we lived here i'd have to make the gym a full time job. After we ate, we walked around the mall a little, got exta links taken out of our watch bands- now they fit perfectly!- and did our little shopping. THEN we needed to get a cab back to the hotel, and boy was it an adventure! we initially thought we were in line for a cab and got in when a driver signaled us, but then discovered he was part of some high cost outfit and we weren't gonna pay that, so we got out and moved to the back of the line at the actual taxi stand. we got in line at 9:45 PM and got in our Taxi at 11:15. it was insane, and soooo hot. we were really glad to be back in the AC when we got to the hotel! Tomorrow, Boracay!

Wed 8/26 and Thurs, 8/27

2009-09-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

so, i've waited too long to get caught up on my blog,and i don't remember anything about these two days to write about. i'm fairly certain i didn't do or eat anything exciting though. i think iwas just reading Twilight books most of the time. :-)

Tuesday, 8/25

2009-08-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T02:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T23:47:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-08-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

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

OHHHHHH The Barbie Story!

2009-08-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-14T01:11:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-13T23:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-08-13T23:23:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-08-13T22:42:00.001-07:00

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)

2009-08-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

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.