One thing that I miss most and am anxious to have out of our ocean container is our kitchen table. We have a very large kitchen with a nice island and the boys do okay standing around it to eat but Ashley was too short. We have gotten a step stool that has helped some. Also I saved the box that our microwave came in and draped towels over it to be a tablecloth. They were all sitting around the box one morning this week eating breakfast and Ashley noticed that they guy we hired, Rox, to take care of our pool and yard was by the pool. Our den has 2 walls of huge arched windows with dark green wrought ironwork in them.
Rox was bending over the side of the pool down on his knee to get a water sample to test the chemicals. Ashley said "I hope Mr. Rox doesn't fall in the pool." She must think that her instructions apply to everyone else in the world. She is a great swimmer for a 3 year old with her swimmies on her arms, but we are being very careful about her being out in the backyard since there is no fence around the pool.
Thanksgiving 2017
Saturday, July 30, 2011
The Kitchen and Stove
We couldn't use the stove at first because of the gas tank issue. Then I had used the stovetop but was going to try the oven. I looked at the instruction manual to see where to light the oven-I've never had a gas stove before. It looked pretty easy but then I opened the door and my oven didn't look anything like the picture. I tried to light it one place but turned off the gas when it didn't light immediately. Well, my engineer husband looked at the oven and the instructions that night and told me that there was no place to light the gas on the oven because the oven part is electric-how crazy is that? electric oven and gas stovetop-oh well, at least I can cook now.
Things we have eaten since being in the house-this is a very boring list because none of us are very adventurous:
-spaghetti
-taco salad
-scrambled eggs
-many peanut butter and honey sandwiches
-ham sandwiches-Greg takes his lunch to work
-pancakes
-cereal-not nearly the selection we have in the US but we have found some familiar ones-Honey Nut Cheerios and Raisin Bran
-frozen waffles-which my children could live on
-grapes, strawberries (a rare treat-they are expensive here), apples
-yogurt
-brownies
-broccoli, peas, carrots, and corn
I found some canned fruit and found tuna and after some searching canned chicken breast meat-only to realize that I didn't have a can opener, so I had to buy one of those.
I cooked pancakes in a skillet (my trusty griddle is the wrong voltage and in storage) and flipped them with a slotted spoon-I had promised pancakes for breakfast because I had found Bisquick and had forgotten that I had no "flipper"
Milk and dairy products are more scarce here because it is an island and there aren't tons of cows. Skim milk is what we were used to and that is harder to find than other varieties here. We pay about 200 pesos (there are 43 pesos in $1) for a half gallon of milk-about $5 so it is about double the cost of a gallon of Mayfield milk in the US. I have bought a few different kinds of cheeses trying to find something that tastes "normal" to us and have found something good at S and R but is a little pricey. Sour cream tastes right mostly but is very runny. I bought something that I thought was butter that we ended up throwing away and have since found Blue Bonnet in spreadable and sticks.
There is a lot to choose from in American junk food-potato chips and cookies particularly. We bought some Oreos. My children are very sad that Goldfish crackers are very hard to find here and we haven't found their favorite Golden Grahams cereal. Maybe we'll get more adventurous the longer we are here.
Things we have eaten since being in the house-this is a very boring list because none of us are very adventurous:
-spaghetti
-taco salad
-scrambled eggs
-many peanut butter and honey sandwiches
-ham sandwiches-Greg takes his lunch to work
-pancakes
-cereal-not nearly the selection we have in the US but we have found some familiar ones-Honey Nut Cheerios and Raisin Bran
-frozen waffles-which my children could live on
-grapes, strawberries (a rare treat-they are expensive here), apples
-yogurt
-brownies
-broccoli, peas, carrots, and corn
I found some canned fruit and found tuna and after some searching canned chicken breast meat-only to realize that I didn't have a can opener, so I had to buy one of those.
I cooked pancakes in a skillet (my trusty griddle is the wrong voltage and in storage) and flipped them with a slotted spoon-I had promised pancakes for breakfast because I had found Bisquick and had forgotten that I had no "flipper"
Milk and dairy products are more scarce here because it is an island and there aren't tons of cows. Skim milk is what we were used to and that is harder to find than other varieties here. We pay about 200 pesos (there are 43 pesos in $1) for a half gallon of milk-about $5 so it is about double the cost of a gallon of Mayfield milk in the US. I have bought a few different kinds of cheeses trying to find something that tastes "normal" to us and have found something good at S and R but is a little pricey. Sour cream tastes right mostly but is very runny. I bought something that I thought was butter that we ended up throwing away and have since found Blue Bonnet in spreadable and sticks.
There is a lot to choose from in American junk food-potato chips and cookies particularly. We bought some Oreos. My children are very sad that Goldfish crackers are very hard to find here and we haven't found their favorite Golden Grahams cereal. Maybe we'll get more adventurous the longer we are here.
This past week-July 25-29
We have learned more about what the rainy season is like. Many people have asked us about weather-it hasn't been as hot here as in Greenville recently. Here in the 80s and 90s but most of the time there is some breeze. We have had sunny weather most days until this week. When a typhoon is nearby in the ocean it dumps rain-not necessarily continuous and the sky is gray. We do have thunder and lightning sometimes but not always (like in the south in the summertime).
On Tuesday the kids wanted to go swimming but it was raining-there was no thunder and lightning so we went anyway. They thought that was great fun.
We have been home a fair amount, just letting them play. School starts for the boys next week-Wednesday is Open House and Thursday is their first day. They are excited, which I am glad for. I love where they are going to be and am so glad that we have such a great place to send them while we are here. However I am always sad to see the unstructured, less scheduled time of summer come to an end-especially when this one has been so crazy.
Scott and Ryan have built a huge Lego city in the playroom. They have enjoyed the new dress up clothes that I brought along in our luggage. We finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and are looking forward to watching the movie when our ocean container arrives. We have also started reading The Magician's Nephew.
Wednesday we went to visit/meet the family of a guy that Greg works with. They have been in Manila since February and live in our neighborhood. They have a 2 year old and a 3 year old and a baby who is 2 weeks old. It was fun for the kids to have some other children to play with and Joanna and I had a nice visit.
Our neighbors came back this week-they had been home to the US to visit. They have an Ashley who is 6 and two boys ages 8 and 9-God has provided playmates right next door! They also go to school at Brent. We're hoping to have them over to swim next week before school starts. We were out swimming last night after dinner and laughed that they were looking over the wall between our houses to talk to us. This was really funny to me and Greg because Scott and Ryan did this to our neighbors in Greenville to the point that we wondered if they were bothered by it.
On Friday Greg was home and I did some errands by myself, took the boys to get haircuts and I got one myself. In the afternoon while Greg was making a business call with someone in Greenville, the kids and I went out and found 2 of the parks in our neighborhood. Each have some play equipment-one has the neighborhood pool nearby and some tennis courts. The other has a small grocery store, covered basketball courts, and a large field with soccer goals on it. The boys even met 2 other little boys to play hide and seek and tag with.
Today we spent the morning at home, went to the mall to do a couple of errands and rode the roller coaster again and a 2 story carousel-Greg was up on the next level of the mall waving to us riding in the upstairs part of the carousel. It has rained off and on but has been a nice weekend.
On Tuesday the kids wanted to go swimming but it was raining-there was no thunder and lightning so we went anyway. They thought that was great fun.
We have been home a fair amount, just letting them play. School starts for the boys next week-Wednesday is Open House and Thursday is their first day. They are excited, which I am glad for. I love where they are going to be and am so glad that we have such a great place to send them while we are here. However I am always sad to see the unstructured, less scheduled time of summer come to an end-especially when this one has been so crazy.
Scott and Ryan have built a huge Lego city in the playroom. They have enjoyed the new dress up clothes that I brought along in our luggage. We finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and are looking forward to watching the movie when our ocean container arrives. We have also started reading The Magician's Nephew.
Wednesday we went to visit/meet the family of a guy that Greg works with. They have been in Manila since February and live in our neighborhood. They have a 2 year old and a 3 year old and a baby who is 2 weeks old. It was fun for the kids to have some other children to play with and Joanna and I had a nice visit.
Our neighbors came back this week-they had been home to the US to visit. They have an Ashley who is 6 and two boys ages 8 and 9-God has provided playmates right next door! They also go to school at Brent. We're hoping to have them over to swim next week before school starts. We were out swimming last night after dinner and laughed that they were looking over the wall between our houses to talk to us. This was really funny to me and Greg because Scott and Ryan did this to our neighbors in Greenville to the point that we wondered if they were bothered by it.
On Friday Greg was home and I did some errands by myself, took the boys to get haircuts and I got one myself. In the afternoon while Greg was making a business call with someone in Greenville, the kids and I went out and found 2 of the parks in our neighborhood. Each have some play equipment-one has the neighborhood pool nearby and some tennis courts. The other has a small grocery store, covered basketball courts, and a large field with soccer goals on it. The boys even met 2 other little boys to play hide and seek and tag with.
Today we spent the morning at home, went to the mall to do a couple of errands and rode the roller coaster again and a 2 story carousel-Greg was up on the next level of the mall waving to us riding in the upstairs part of the carousel. It has rained off and on but has been a nice weekend.
Our 2nd weekend in the house
Greg got a haircut on Friday at a barbershop recommended by someone at his office and looked very normal when he came home.
Saturday morning we went up North of where we live to a market called Tiendisitas-open air but covered with clothes, pets for sale, furniture, and lots of other things. It was interesting but what the kids really enjoyed was the place across the street called Fun Ranch. They had a great time riding rides:
Space Quest where you ride in a car and shoot lasers at aliens and things
riding go carts-Ashley rode with Greg and wore a pink helmet
bumper boats
a carousel
tea cups-Ashley and I rode that one-a miniature version of the ride a Disney-we both loved it
airplanes that you went up and down in
and my favorite to watch-Scott inside an enormous beach ball that floated on the water of the bumper boat pool-he ran and fell down and tried to stand up and fell down-it would be a great way for kids to get out extra energy and he had fun too
After that we went to Eastwood-a very high end mall. We walked around a little inside, saw their beautiful fountains outside and ate an early dinner at a pirate themed Italian restaurant. It was a fun day.
On Sunday we went to church here for the first time at CCF-Christ's Commission Fellowship. They have small groups that meet during the week so we just went to the service. The preaching was very good. The kids all seemed to enjoy their classes and not even Ashley was upset about being left somewhere new. We have some others that we'd like to visit but this was a very good first church visit. We knew about them because I found a Bible Study Fellowship class (http://www.bsfinternational.org/) here in Manila that meets at that church. Ashley and I are planning to go to BSF when they start in August-it's a group that I was apart of a night class in Greenville when I was teaching school and at the daytime class they have a wonderful study, not just nursery, for preschoolers. Ashley will do a lesson right along with me each week-with homework and everything.
The Saga of the Dryer
New valves fixed the washing machine but then I went to dry my first load of clothes. I started on low heat because someone had warned me that dryers here were hotter and I didn't want to shrink all our clothes. So I didn't think too much of it when the clothes weren't dry. I just went back outside and started the dryer again-their is a canvas covering to the area where the dryer is. It ran another cycle on medium and still weren't dry. I still wasn't too worried but just turned it up to high and ran it again. I could feel the dryer was putting out heat but the clothes still weren't dry so I ran them 3 or 4 more times and then finally brought them in the house and stretched them out in various places to dry. We have a clothesline outside but of course don't have any clothespins. In the last 2 weeks we have had people out to look at the dryer 5 times (as of today 7-30). They have told me to dry half the load at a time-I had a fairly small load of clothes but tried what they said. It didn't make any difference. Then another tech came out, didn't really have anything new to tell me. Someone else came and said that they thought we need to just replace the unit.
The 2 guys who came on Thursday needed a wrench they didn't have with them to adjust something. They came back today, with the right wrench, and made the adjustment. They weren't sure that it would work but wanted us to try it before they replaced the unit. After we got home this afternoon, I put a load of clothes in to wash and went to start the washer, it wouldn't start-I couldn't help but laugh. I called Greg outside to help. He laughed too and then went to get his screwdrivers-the only tools we brought in our luggage. He took off the plate where the guys had been adjusting the dryer earlier and found another wire they had knocked loose in the process. Once he re-connected that the washer came on and we actually dried a load of clothes for the first time tonight! Yeah!
The 2 guys who came on Thursday needed a wrench they didn't have with them to adjust something. They came back today, with the right wrench, and made the adjustment. They weren't sure that it would work but wanted us to try it before they replaced the unit. After we got home this afternoon, I put a load of clothes in to wash and went to start the washer, it wouldn't start-I couldn't help but laugh. I called Greg outside to help. He laughed too and then went to get his screwdrivers-the only tools we brought in our luggage. He took off the plate where the guys had been adjusting the dryer earlier and found another wire they had knocked loose in the process. Once he re-connected that the washer came on and we actually dried a load of clothes for the first time tonight! Yeah!
My dear sweet Aunt Todd
She worked in the lunchroom at Summerour Middle School and loved all the kids there as if they were her own. She was recognized not too many years ago for 50 years of service with bed babies in the Norcross First Baptist Church nursery. She loved to crochet-my children all have their "Aunt Todd blankets" that she made especially for them, as do untold numbers of other family babies and Norcross babies. She loved my boys and Ashley just as though they were her own grandchildren and wrote to them faithfully even when that became a hard thing for her to do with her failing eyesight. She loved to walk and rake leaves and be outside. She would rake leaves for hours, letting me and her granddaughter Rachel jump in the over and over and over and over. She was a wonderful cook-making my daddy's favorite ambrosia and one of her specialties "fried apple pies" that were better than the Varsity's. Every year when all her brothers and sisters would get together for the Thanksgiving reunion she made tons of fried pies (people would even sneak them off the dessert table before we started eating lunch) and she would make sausage biscuits for us to snack on before the real lunch was ready. She would do anything in this world she could to help anyone.
She never came out of her room in the morning before having her time with God and I always knew-no matter what stage of my life-that Aunt Todd was praying for me. What a treasure you are, Aunt Todd and you will be missed by so many!
This is Aunt Todd's daughter Becki with my kids just before we left.
Our first week in the house
This week was mostly spent doing these few things:
-continuing to unpack and decide where to put away things
-having workmen come and do things-the owner's daughter was here one day-a lot got done while she was here
-swimming more in the pool
-more grocery shopping
-calling and texting and interviewing house helpers
Some of the week's highlights were
-going to S and R-our version of Sam's here-we've been trying various brands of milk and cheese to see what tastes "right" to us. Things are sold in very small quantities/sizes in the grocery stores here so this was a great find
-I have been reading the boys The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe since we've been here from my Kindle and they are really enjoying it
-getting working blinds on our bedroom windows-it starts getting light here very early in the morning (around 5:30am)
-using our Ooma device (an internet phone thing that lets us have an Atlanta telephone number) to call a friend in Greenville while Greg stayed late at working making an international call to another office-it's been great fun to get to talk to Grammy and several others from home.
-continuing to unpack and decide where to put away things
-having workmen come and do things-the owner's daughter was here one day-a lot got done while she was here
-swimming more in the pool
-more grocery shopping
-calling and texting and interviewing house helpers
Some of the week's highlights were
-going to S and R-our version of Sam's here-we've been trying various brands of milk and cheese to see what tastes "right" to us. Things are sold in very small quantities/sizes in the grocery stores here so this was a great find
-I have been reading the boys The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe since we've been here from my Kindle and they are really enjoying it
-getting working blinds on our bedroom windows-it starts getting light here very early in the morning (around 5:30am)
-using our Ooma device (an internet phone thing that lets us have an Atlanta telephone number) to call a friend in Greenville while Greg stayed late at working making an international call to another office-it's been great fun to get to talk to Grammy and several others from home.
The first weekend in our house-July 15th-17th
I was happy to be in our house and needed to do laundry in a bad way. We assumed that a washer/dryer stackable unit that is outside was connected and would run because it was there. That was a faulty assumption on our part. When we turned it on water sprayed everywhere-not so bad with the cold water but Greg nearly got burned turning off the hot. That afternoon Greg came home early and the cable/internet people came and so we were very happy to have an internet connection at the house and will be able to watch tv when ours arrives.
When went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse that night-still no gas tank for the stove yet. It was delicious! As Greg posted on facebook, we were pleasantly surprised to walk in around 6 on Friday night and be able to immediately sit down with no wait for a table-just let us know any Friday night you'd like to come and join us.
On Saturday Greg went out and bought some coat hangers (something else we didn't think about bringing) a laundry basket, and a regulator to attach the gas tank to the stove-Yeah! Some other guys also came and replaced the valves on the washing machine so it would run without spraying water everywhere. Yeah again! A house feels so much more functional when you can cook and wash clothes. We all went swimming together that afternoon, ate warmed up leftovers for dinner, played Mille Bornes-we had found another game in the unpacking and ate ice cream before bed. Greg's favorite is mint chocolate chip ice cream (which I think is just gross). It is a genetic thing in his family-mom, sisters, aunts, uncles, everyone loves this ice cream. We had been told that dairy products are hard to find and expensive here so I didn't know if we'd be able to find his mint chocolate chip ice cream here. However I did and even in the first grocery store I tried at about the price I would have paid at a grocery store at home not on sale. He was very excited and my children just love ice cream of any and all kinds so they were happy too.
Sunday we just spent the day around the house, hanging up clothes, settling in, and the kids enjoying playing with toys they hadn't seen in 2 weeks.
When went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse that night-still no gas tank for the stove yet. It was delicious! As Greg posted on facebook, we were pleasantly surprised to walk in around 6 on Friday night and be able to immediately sit down with no wait for a table-just let us know any Friday night you'd like to come and join us.
On Saturday Greg went out and bought some coat hangers (something else we didn't think about bringing) a laundry basket, and a regulator to attach the gas tank to the stove-Yeah! Some other guys also came and replaced the valves on the washing machine so it would run without spraying water everywhere. Yeah again! A house feels so much more functional when you can cook and wash clothes. We all went swimming together that afternoon, ate warmed up leftovers for dinner, played Mille Bornes-we had found another game in the unpacking and ate ice cream before bed. Greg's favorite is mint chocolate chip ice cream (which I think is just gross). It is a genetic thing in his family-mom, sisters, aunts, uncles, everyone loves this ice cream. We had been told that dairy products are hard to find and expensive here so I didn't know if we'd be able to find his mint chocolate chip ice cream here. However I did and even in the first grocery store I tried at about the price I would have paid at a grocery store at home not on sale. He was very excited and my children just love ice cream of any and all kinds so they were happy too.
Sunday we just spent the day around the house, hanging up clothes, settling in, and the kids enjoying playing with toys they hadn't seen in 2 weeks.
First Day in the New House
We ate lunch-I had to find the jars of peanut butter and honey that I had packed in one of my bags-here at the house. The kids all had rest time in their new beds. I spent that time unpacking and beginning to find homes for all of the things we had brought with us on the plane. The kids were very excited to see the toys we had brought. We went for our first swim in the backyard pool which was very fun. We ate a cold dinner that night because when I took the microwave that we had bought out of the box and went to plug it in I discovered that in spite of the fact that we bought it here, it had a 3 prong plug like we would have expected to find in the US and all of our outlets have only 2 slots. We ate cold leftovers because of in spite of having a stove, we knew that it would be gas but discovered that it needed a gas tank (like the grill on your deck) to work and there wasn't one here yet.
I was very excited to play their night night story for the kids-I had been saving for our first night in the house a Hallmark store recordable storybook that Greg's mom (Grammy) had recorded herself reading to/talking to the kids while we were at the beach. The kids LOVE it. Ashley started calling it "The Grammy book" and requests to hear it often-a great thing to check into if you have loved ones far away from your children.
The boys had a hard time settling down and going to sleep that night in a new place. However we have been amazed at Ashley. She is the only one who sleeps upstairs and has never once seemed upset about it. She loves her new white bed and her specially chosen Disney princess sheets and has slept wonderfully in her new room-guess she was making up for being a pain several nights in the hotel.
Greg and I laughed when we saw the actual size of the air mattress we had bought originally for camping and brought with us, still in the box, to sleep in until our bed comes (in 6 or 8 weeks). I had sent Greg a text a work that he needed to stop and buy batteries for the pump to inflate the thing to begin with and then it was still very short and small. So I slept on the air mattress and Greg slept of the futon sofa. Neither of us slept great that night.
Okay, this is really the end of the time in the hotel
Monday, July 11th we went to the boys' school, Brent School Manila (http://www.brent.edu.ph/) or their interview and admissions tests. I got to meet the lady who is the admissions director that Greg met when he visited the school in May. We walked around a little bit, got to meet the swimming coach and see the pool which is covered due to rain and heat and found out that both boys are old enough to participate in the swim team program if they want to. We bought their uniforms for regular school days and PE days-twice a week and their "house" shirts. The school is divided into 3 houses (like in Harry Potter) but this is a British school thing-not just from the movie. The boys will be in the gold house for as long as they are at Brent and through the school year the houses compete against each other in various activities, and points are totalled and the winner is announced at the end of the year.
Then we went to our house to wait for some of our furniture to be delivered. All the kids were happy to see their beds delivered and put together and Scott got a desk for his room and a red swivel chair that is great fun on our hardwood floors. Ryan's bunk bed has a desk that is part of it and we found him a blue swivel chair for it.
Tuesday, July12th-We went to the mall today and the kids and I had pictures made for our neighborhood id cards and had another house key made (there is a True Value hardware store in the mall-I felt right at home-my first job as a teenager was working at the hardware store owned by a family at our church in Norcross) and then we went to the house to wait for the rest of the furniture to be delivered and for the water bottles to go on our water dispenser. We were at the house until about 7pm but it was all delivered eventually. We saved the big boxes that the sofas came in and the kids are having great fun with their "box fort".
Wednesday, July 13th-All 5 of us ate breakfast at the hotel and then brought a load of our bags over to the house. Greg stayed at the house with the kids and our driver, Chris, took me to the grocery store so that we would actually have something to eat here. Then we took Greg to work and went back to the hotel to get the rest of the bags. We got our neighborhood id cards made, had to exchange one of our clocks that didn't work and then the kids and I got a Dippin' Dots ice cream to share. Then we spent our last night at the Bellevue Hotel.
Thurs, July 14th-We enjoyed a last great breakfast buffet at the hotel and brought the last of our things to our new home for the next 3 years.
Then we went to our house to wait for some of our furniture to be delivered. All the kids were happy to see their beds delivered and put together and Scott got a desk for his room and a red swivel chair that is great fun on our hardwood floors. Ryan's bunk bed has a desk that is part of it and we found him a blue swivel chair for it.
Tuesday, July12th-We went to the mall today and the kids and I had pictures made for our neighborhood id cards and had another house key made (there is a True Value hardware store in the mall-I felt right at home-my first job as a teenager was working at the hardware store owned by a family at our church in Norcross) and then we went to the house to wait for the rest of the furniture to be delivered and for the water bottles to go on our water dispenser. We were at the house until about 7pm but it was all delivered eventually. We saved the big boxes that the sofas came in and the kids are having great fun with their "box fort".
Wednesday, July 13th-All 5 of us ate breakfast at the hotel and then brought a load of our bags over to the house. Greg stayed at the house with the kids and our driver, Chris, took me to the grocery store so that we would actually have something to eat here. Then we took Greg to work and went back to the hotel to get the rest of the bags. We got our neighborhood id cards made, had to exchange one of our clocks that didn't work and then the kids and I got a Dippin' Dots ice cream to share. Then we spent our last night at the Bellevue Hotel.
Thurs, July 14th-We enjoyed a last great breakfast buffet at the hotel and brought the last of our things to our new home for the next 3 years.
The rest of the time in the hotel-Military Cemetery & Children's Museum
Tues, July 5th, we hid in our room all day-playing games, coloring and playing with stickers (thanks to our friend Miss Amy) and playing card games and doing things to get out energy like jumping jacks and hoping on one foot, mother may I, etc.
Wed, July 6th, we went to Starbucks (no I didn't have any coffee) to the American Women's Club newcomer meeting. The ladies were really nice and I got hooked up with their website to find house helpers and furniture. By the way, Grammy (Greg's mom) is going to have a great time when she comes to visit us because there are Starbucks everywhere. We also went to see an American military cemetery that was near the Starbucks and was a really neat place-rather quiet and solemn-reminded me of Arlington with all the white crosses and lists of names of soldiers and their hometowns.
Thurs, July 7th, we went to the Manila Children's Museum that is a drive from our house but near the American Embassy. It was a neat place-had some exhibits about the history of Manila-a pirate ship that the boys really liked and a castle with a little door that Ashley liked. There was also a room about the human body that the entrance looked like you were walking into a person's mouth. A room about energy conservation. A room with a few tanks of fish in it. and apparently popular with children worldwide, a place like a city street with a firetruck to climb on, boots, hats, and coats to wear and stores-sold bread, fish, and fruit, a little native house, and a barbershop. It was a fun way to spend a morning-not as large as the Greenville one but also not nearly as pricey. Our driver brought us back to the hotel and we decided to walk next door to a little shopping area that had a McDonalds and eat our lunch there. The food we ordered tastes just like what we would have had from McDonalds in the US but there are also side orders of rice available and hamburgers with fish sauce. I had noticed a 7 Eleven store in the shopping area and thought we would check it out, looking for more familiar food. Scott asked me "why don't they just call the store 4?" We didn't find apple juice but found something called white grape juice with aloe-tasted a little weird.
Friday, July 8th-we braved the pool again-no one laughed at us to our faces and we were very careful and no one fell this time
Saturday, July 9th-Our 17th anniversary!
We spent the day out furniture buying after deciding what we wanted. We got Ashley her first big girl bed, got bunk beds for Scott's room that he and Ryan are both sleeping on until our container comes, we bought 2 sofas and a chair for the den, a sofa/futon for the lobby (room that we can't think of anything else to call it) that's outside all of our downstairs bedrooms. We went to a place sort of like Home Depot and it was funny to discover that they want to prove to you everything you are buying works before you actually purchase it-ie someone went to get a cup of water to put in the microwave we were buying before running it. So actually making a purchase takes quite a while and even longer if there is something to arrange delivery for.
We also went to the mall looking for cd players and clocks for the kids rooms-we didn't bring many of our small things with plugs because of the voltage being different here. Greg found them-had to buy 2 separate devices and all 6 had to be plugged in to prove they work before he could pay for them. I told him when he finally came out of the store that any other time I would have been very upset having to wait for him with the kids outside an electronics store when he was shopping that long. It was funny-this store also sold tvs and had a loop of animated short films running so all 3 kids were sitting flat on the floor in the mall (while I was trying not to thing about the germs they were touching) watching tv for what seemed like the hours Greg was in the store. We ate lunch at Burger King today in the mall and then the kids rode the carousel and played air hockey.
This mall had a grocery store attached (which is common over here) so we went for our first walk through a grocery store. None of the meat is pre-wrapped so I told Greg that I was REALLY glad that I wouldn't be pregnant while we were over here-even the kids commented on the smells. We bought some basic things for the house like soap, paper towels and toilet paper and were VERY excited to see peanut butter and raisins. I also bought some plastic cups and earlier today had bought a skillet and a pot and a small set of cheap silverware because it dawned on me that I had sent ALL the kitchen stuff on the ocean container and would have NOTHING to cook with when I got to the house with the kitchen in it. It was nice to see several familiar things in the grocery store.
That night after dinner and putting some very tired kids to bed, Greg gave me my anniversary present-a trip to the hotel's spa for a massage and body scrub-it was wonderful! So glad that we've been married 17 years!
Sunday, July 10th-we spent the day relaxing in the hotel room-we decided to teach the boys how to play hearts because we were getting tired of "Go Fish". Playing cards with a 3 year old around who wants to be part of the action is quite humorous. She always wants to hold some of the cards and is very bad about blabbing to others about what cards you have.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Best/Worst Hotel Story
I only shared this with a very small group when it happened but have decided to post it here in spite of the embarassing nature of this story. I said that I felt like we stuck out like a sore thumb at this hotel before this happened and then it got much worse! I decided to take the kids swimming so we got ready and went to the pool. There were no other children there so we were loud and attracted attention from the beginning. There was tile all around the pool and these little tile floor sitting areas. The walkways around the pool had floor mats to keep people from slipping and guys who sole job seemed to be mopping up where people dripped water. My kids kept them busy mopping. I was trying to keep everyone coralled in the pool since they had all slipped and fallen at least once on the pool deck. It started to sprinkle and Ryan was worried and didn't like getting rained on. I let him get out and then the rain started coming down harder so Scott, Ashley and I went over to one of the tile sitting areas where Ryan was wrapped up in his towel.
They had fish ponds on either side of the walkway into the pool area and a little teak "bridge" that you walked over and the fish swam under. All the kids were fascinated with watching the fish. Some of the pool guys had shown Scott how to wiggle your fingers and get the fish to move back and forth between the 2 pools. Then Scott decided that if wiggling your fingers was good, sticking your mask in the fish pond would be even better. I had asked him to stop so that we didn't have to reach in to rescue his mask. Ashley started copying him and was dipping her goggles in the pond. I told her to stop this 2 or 3 times and she didn't. So I got up out of my chair and started to walk towards her to take the goggles away.
Then, in spite of trying to walk very carefully,I slipped and fell. I think (didn't know for sure because it was such a blur) that my feet going out from under me knocked Ashley into the fish pond. A fully clothed (long pants and shoes) pool guy jumped into the fish pond and got her out. I was not hurt except for a bruise on the hand and seriously bruised pride. Ashley wasn't hurt either-just scared by ending up in the pond with the fish. They offered to call us a doctor. Shortly after it all happened a man in a suit came to the pool and was trying not to stare at us while the wet pool guy was whispering to him about what had happened. We sat by the fish pond, Ashley in my lap, for a little while, swam a little more, and then went back to our room to hide. We did NOT go back to the pool the next day. I had heard there was a pool in the other hotel tower and we tried to go visit it, but it was under renovation so we did go back eventually. However I told the kids before we left that no one would be sticking anything in the fish pond and no one would be walking on any tile.
For the next several days after this, the hotel staff people asked Greg about us any time he went by the desk and one even mentioned hearing that something had happened at the pool. The staff were all so kind to us and talked to the kids anytime we went through the lobby but I felt sure that our stories about the crazy American family entertained all of their families at dinner time while we were there.
They had fish ponds on either side of the walkway into the pool area and a little teak "bridge" that you walked over and the fish swam under. All the kids were fascinated with watching the fish. Some of the pool guys had shown Scott how to wiggle your fingers and get the fish to move back and forth between the 2 pools. Then Scott decided that if wiggling your fingers was good, sticking your mask in the fish pond would be even better. I had asked him to stop so that we didn't have to reach in to rescue his mask. Ashley started copying him and was dipping her goggles in the pond. I told her to stop this 2 or 3 times and she didn't. So I got up out of my chair and started to walk towards her to take the goggles away.
Then, in spite of trying to walk very carefully,I slipped and fell. I think (didn't know for sure because it was such a blur) that my feet going out from under me knocked Ashley into the fish pond. A fully clothed (long pants and shoes) pool guy jumped into the fish pond and got her out. I was not hurt except for a bruise on the hand and seriously bruised pride. Ashley wasn't hurt either-just scared by ending up in the pond with the fish. They offered to call us a doctor. Shortly after it all happened a man in a suit came to the pool and was trying not to stare at us while the wet pool guy was whispering to him about what had happened. We sat by the fish pond, Ashley in my lap, for a little while, swam a little more, and then went back to our room to hide. We did NOT go back to the pool the next day. I had heard there was a pool in the other hotel tower and we tried to go visit it, but it was under renovation so we did go back eventually. However I told the kids before we left that no one would be sticking anything in the fish pond and no one would be walking on any tile.
For the next several days after this, the hotel staff people asked Greg about us any time he went by the desk and one even mentioned hearing that something had happened at the pool. The staff were all so kind to us and talked to the kids anytime we went through the lobby but I felt sure that our stories about the crazy American family entertained all of their families at dinner time while we were there.
Things I've never seen/done before
-delivery of food from McDonald's and Wendy's-many restaurants deliver here, often on bicycles or moped things
-during one of our first grocery shopping trips, Greg saw on an aisle header-Bottled fish. He went to investigate it and said that it was exactly what the sign said it was. I told him I would skip out on that aisle.
-After my trip to another grocery store I told Greg that I could top the bottled fish-with squid balls and fish bacon-doesn't that make you hungry?
-helping Greg catch lizards in our bedroom before going to bed at night
-an entire aisle of the grocery store devoted to rice
-gone to eat at Outback Steakhouse and been served calamari that were the whole squid fried as an appetizer
-had a driver-am always dropped at the door and never have to remember where I parked the car
-had to turn off air conditioners in separate rooms
-had a shower door that latches on the inside and another one that looks suspiciously like a sliding patio door
-had need for a water cooler before-for drinking water safety issues
-have never lived in a country where people don't have voicemail
-have never lived somewhere you can text a business and they prefer you to communicate that way
-Greg says that I should add that I've never been apart from all my teapots-they are all in storage with Ashley's dead ladybugs.
-LIVE fish swimming in a tank at a store (S and R-our version of Sam's) for you to purchase
-during one of our first grocery shopping trips, Greg saw on an aisle header-Bottled fish. He went to investigate it and said that it was exactly what the sign said it was. I told him I would skip out on that aisle.
-After my trip to another grocery store I told Greg that I could top the bottled fish-with squid balls and fish bacon-doesn't that make you hungry?
-helping Greg catch lizards in our bedroom before going to bed at night
-an entire aisle of the grocery store devoted to rice
-gone to eat at Outback Steakhouse and been served calamari that were the whole squid fried as an appetizer
-had a driver-am always dropped at the door and never have to remember where I parked the car
-had to turn off air conditioners in separate rooms
-had a shower door that latches on the inside and another one that looks suspiciously like a sliding patio door
-had need for a water cooler before-for drinking water safety issues
-have never lived in a country where people don't have voicemail
-have never lived somewhere you can text a business and they prefer you to communicate that way
-Greg says that I should add that I've never been apart from all my teapots-they are all in storage with Ashley's dead ladybugs.
-LIVE fish swimming in a tank at a store (S and R-our version of Sam's) for you to purchase
Things I didn't appreciate enough when I had them
-Wal-Mart and Target
-toilet paper in public restrooms
-toilet seats-who knew?
-paper towels that didn't shred when they got wet, like toilet paper
-paper napkins that were actually large enough and thick enough to be useful
-drinks that were actually large at restaurants-like McDonalds
-American money
-making phone calls in America-here you use one number if calling from cell and another if calling from a land line-I have too many new things to have to put that much thought into making a phone call
-goldfish crackers-for my kids-they could live on these and I found 1 small bag in 1 grocery store and haven't been able to find them since
-canned Cokes sold in a box, not individually-if I am shopping at S and R-our equivalent of Sam's I can buy a flat, but at the 3 other grocery stores I have been to, they are all individual sitting on the shelf
-dairy products-the ones that taste best come from California-ie milk and cheese
-strawberries-these also come from California and are very expensive-I told the kids that they would be a real treat here-when my knives come we'll be buying fresh pineapples-I can't wait, really have enjoyed having it fresh in the hotel restaurant
I'm sure there will be more to add to this list the longer we are here :) but thought some of these would make you laugh
-toilet paper in public restrooms
-toilet seats-who knew?
-paper towels that didn't shred when they got wet, like toilet paper
-paper napkins that were actually large enough and thick enough to be useful
-drinks that were actually large at restaurants-like McDonalds
-American money
-making phone calls in America-here you use one number if calling from cell and another if calling from a land line-I have too many new things to have to put that much thought into making a phone call
-goldfish crackers-for my kids-they could live on these and I found 1 small bag in 1 grocery store and haven't been able to find them since
-canned Cokes sold in a box, not individually-if I am shopping at S and R-our equivalent of Sam's I can buy a flat, but at the 3 other grocery stores I have been to, they are all individual sitting on the shelf
-dairy products-the ones that taste best come from California-ie milk and cheese
-strawberries-these also come from California and are very expensive-I told the kids that they would be a real treat here-when my knives come we'll be buying fresh pineapples-I can't wait, really have enjoyed having it fresh in the hotel restaurant
I'm sure there will be more to add to this list the longer we are here :) but thought some of these would make you laugh
The Bellevue Hotel
Our rooms were really nice-the boys had their own bedroom. Ashley slept in the sitting room and Greg and I used the adjoining bedroom. They had very nice king sized beds, huge showers, and pretty views from the windows. We were all still tired and went to bed not long after getting to the hotel and piling all of our bags in the sitting room. We woke up pretty early the next morning and went to the hotel's breakfast buffet to see what awaited us. It was amazing! They had fresh pineapple and lots of other fruit, pancakes, bread for toast, an omelet station, yogurt, donuts, rolls, bacon, sausage, eggs, quiche, and a lot of other stuff that we would never imagine eating for breakfast-fish, rice, and many other traditional filipino breakfast things. Needless to say we all enjoyed our terrific breakfasts the whole time we stayed at the hotel.
It was Sunday in Manila-12 hours earlier, so Saturday night in the US. The hotel is very close to Greg's office building and a couple of malls. So we spent the rest of the day exploring. The hotel shuttle drove us by the office and took us to Festival Mall. Greg had been here when he was on his previous trip to Manila. He wanted to show us the indoor roller coaster. Greg, Scott, and Ryan rode that and the bumper cars. They also have a train that goes through the mall and all 5 of us rode that. Then we had lunch at McDonald's.
We were supposed to get to visit our house that day also-Greg had sent numerous emails to arrange it. We came when we were told to-workmen were going to be there so no one else would have to meet us and let us in. We got to the house and found no one. We poked around outside, saw the pool, peeked in the windows, and after a phone call found out that the workmen had finished the day before and the owners were out of town for the day. That was just the beginning of finding out how things work here. At least we got to see more than just pictures but Greg had really wanted us to get to see inside.
We went back to the hotel and had naps and went to the hotel restaurant again for dinner. The dinner buffet is a mix of Filipino, asian, and western, but an emphasis on the former. The kids menu consists of a few items that we came to know well: mac and cheese with shrimp, spicy chicken, or anchovies mixed in (we order it "plain"), spaghetti which has hungarian sausages and chunks of tomato in it (again, "plain"), a hamburger steak which is basically a patty without a bun with a mushroom sauce and rice (the kids instead order the adult burger which comes with a bun and of course decline all of the stuff that comes on it except ketchup - again "plain"), I guess every chef in a 5-star hotel wants to be a Food Network star, and they cook items that don't seem very simple or plain. Not kid friendly, which makes sense given their typical audience, but makes for a nightly and loud-echo-thru-the-restaurant "I don't want to eat that, it's weird!" discussions which has the waiters and waitresses snickering at us. Ashley is dangerous with a water goblet (no plastic glasses with tops here), and I've had to explain to Ryan and Scott why they give us so many forks and spoons ("this is the salad fork, this is the dinner fork, this is the dessert fork, no we can't have dessert again tonight just because they left the dessert fork on the table..."). I'm sure we're a sight to behold from afar, but the staff have been kind to us and sneak the kids candies from the dessert bar even though we didn't order any.
It always seemed to be a discussion of how many rolls each was allowed to eat while waiting on their dinner to arrive, could we have dessert, massive games of "I spy" to pass the time and by that time of day trying to keep Ashley awake. On more than one night she fell asleep at the restaurant. One night Greg came home from work, found us all asleep still from our afternoon naps. I sent him to dinner by himself and me and the kids just slept on all night. I thought that might snap the kids out of their jet lag but not really. They were awake around 3am and we were all sitting on the boys bed playing "go fish" at 4am. Can't say I've ever done that before.
After that we wouldn't let them have a nap in the afternoon no matter how they complained of being tired and after about a week they improved greatly. Ashley also fell asleep leaning against my arm in the van riding home after a long day of furniture shopping. She thinks that she's just as big as the boys but sometimes has to give in to her younger body's needs.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The LONG Plane Ride
Greg's company paid for us to fly in business class because it was such a long trip-Detroit to Tokyo, Japan. We were also on the only kind of plane that Delta has with the business class section in the upstairs part of the plane. The kids thought that was super cool. On this flight the seats were also in groups of two. This time Scott and Greg sat up in the very front seat just outside the cockpit of the plane-Scott actually got to go inside it. He said that it was really neat seeing all the dials on their dashboard and getting to look out the very front window. Ryan got to go to the doorway and see all that he wanted to also. Ashley and I were sitting in a seat near the stairs and Ryan sat in the seat just in front of me. He was so nice and quiet that the teenage girl he was sitting with told us how sweet and nice he was. Ryan put at least 5,000 miles on his seat moving it around in the first 30 minutes we were on the plane. We watched movies, though not many kid friendly ones, played games on our individual tv screens, and got out favorite stuffed animals and toys that they had brought in their backpacks.
Eating was an interesting affair in business class. We got to choose from a menu and chose the plainest sounding things for the kids. They mainly ate bread, fruit, and dessert and the number of bites of meat and vegetables we said they had to eat. They were most excited about dessert after dinner when they heard someone mention ice cream. Only on the last flight did a stewardess tell us we could have requested kid's meals before the flight - cheese burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, or chicken fingers. Thanks Delta for noting the kids ages for passport purposes and not bothering to offer kids meals in advance of the flight with the full knowledge of their ages.
Sleeping, for the kids, was better than I imagined it would be. The seats recline a lot but you are still sloped down towards the floor so they kept sliding down. Scott wore the sleeping mask that the airline gives you in your comfort pack. Just give Ryan his favorite stuffed animal Doggy and I think he could sleep most anywhere. Ashley had her pink bear and slept well in spite of the many times that I had to pull her back up nearly out of the floor.
These pics of them sleeping were too funny not to put here for those of you not on facebook
We laughed that Scott actually fell asleep with his sleep mask on.
Ryan
Ashley-before she slid downWe got off the plane in Tokyo, had to take all of our things with us, and then got back on the very same plane a little while later with a lot fewer people. It was still another 5 hour flight from Tokyo to Manila-we read, watched some more movies, played some more, ate again, and finally arrived late in the evening local Manila time. Boy was I glad to get off that airplane!
My dad was both a professional (mostly corporate jets) and recreational pilot and I flew with him for the first time when I was only 4 years old and many times after that. I wish that he could have seen how much my kids all enjoyed their first flying experience. They may not think it's so much fun when we fly home next summer on our dime-not in business class.
Last time in Greenville
The kids and I went back to Greenville on Thursday afternoon, picked up our 15 giant bags at our empty house, and met up with Greg at the hotel where we were going to stay for our last night in the states. We realized that this was our kids first time ever to stay in a hotel, since when we have travelled we always stay with friends, family, or at the beach-a house. I think all 3 kids would have been happy to have ridden the elevators up and down all night long-but we didn't let them. We were all very excited to see Greg again and had a relaxing swim in the hotel pool before dinner. We also got to see and say goodbye one last time to our dear friends the Finches-Scott and Parker were in preschool together and K-5 and 1st grade at the same school. They are some of the many friends we will miss terribly!
Amy and Susan
Scott, Parker, Ryan, Natalie, and Ashley in the hotel lobby
Our luggage piled in the hotel room
Ryan sleeping Scott and Ashley
We enjoyed a great breakfast buffet at the hotel and were off to the delightfully small Greenville Spartanburg airport-where waiting in line for security takes 2 minutes instead of hours. As we were finishing checking in our luggage and 3 carseats-after some arguing about recently changed luggage requirements-our dear family friends, the Finks, arrived. Dale and Theta have known Susan's parents since the guys were in the Navy together. Theta is my mom's dear friend who hosted their Navy wife get together at her house about 2 weeks before Mom passed away. They have 2 kids-Steve and his wife Tracy and Kam and her husband John. We have never had a life milestone without the other ones family there-I don't think we've ever moved without helping each other, Dale and Theta were at the hospital when 2 of our kids were born and on the phone many times with the last one, not to mention weddings, graduations, baby dedications and many other things. So it really meant a lot to me that they came to see us off and the children say thanks for the plane snacks!
Ashley giving Aunt Theta one more hug
My friend Katie is in the pink shirt
Then we went up the escalator and saw some other of Susan's parents Navy friends-the Harleys. Their daughter, Katie, and her 3 daughters had been in town visiting and were flying home on the same day we were flying to Manila. When they were in town for their summer visit 2 years ago, we all met-the Harleys, the Finks, and Mom and I and our three kids-downtown Greenville by the Reedy River to play in the fountains and have a picnic lunch. Ashley had decided that she was going to walk that morning so we had to stop and buy her a pair of shoes with real soles on the way to meet them. It was funny to all our moms when they realized that they were much younger than me, Katie, and Kam when they had first gotten to know each other. I was thankful that God provided yet another time with sweet friends before we were leaving.
Scott and Ryan love studying the GSP airport map that shows where approaching planes are coming from.
Our luggage piled in the hotel room
Ryan sleeping Scott and Ashley
We enjoyed a great breakfast buffet at the hotel and were off to the delightfully small Greenville Spartanburg airport-where waiting in line for security takes 2 minutes instead of hours. As we were finishing checking in our luggage and 3 carseats-after some arguing about recently changed luggage requirements-our dear family friends, the Finks, arrived. Dale and Theta have known Susan's parents since the guys were in the Navy together. Theta is my mom's dear friend who hosted their Navy wife get together at her house about 2 weeks before Mom passed away. They have 2 kids-Steve and his wife Tracy and Kam and her husband John. We have never had a life milestone without the other ones family there-I don't think we've ever moved without helping each other, Dale and Theta were at the hospital when 2 of our kids were born and on the phone many times with the last one, not to mention weddings, graduations, baby dedications and many other things. So it really meant a lot to me that they came to see us off and the children say thanks for the plane snacks!
Ashley giving Aunt Theta one more hug
My friend Katie is in the pink shirt
Scott and Ryan love studying the GSP airport map that shows where approaching planes are coming from.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Last visit to Atlanta
After some frustration with car problems, after everything had been packed up in our house, the kids and I went to Atlanta. We had a great few days spending time with both of Greg's sisters and their kids and seeing lots of friends and family and doing fun Atlanta things.
After a trip to the water park and picnic lunch-Abby Jane in polka dots, Ashley, Ryan, Susan, Emily holding Joy, Grammy holding Blythe, and Scott. Joy was absolutely hilarious that day at the picnic-she was in heaven sitting between a bag of goldfish and a bowl of watermelon-what more could a girl want after a morning of playing in the water?
Playing in the Norcross Fountains
We saw Greg's grandparents-flew paper airplanes off their deck, played in the creek and on the swings, and ate Granny Joan's yummy snacks. We spent a day playing with Susan's cousins triplet girls, riding the tractor with Uncle Alvie and seeing Aunt Lynda, visiting Aunt Todd, playing at the train park and seeing Stan, having dinner with Uncle Brent and Aunt BJ at the Varsity, and getting to say goodbye to Uncle Jack and Aunt Connie.
With Joy, Katie, and Sally on their Princess Playground-They are the daughters of my cousin that I grew up across the street from, Steven.
This is Steven's dad, riding the girls and my kids around in the wagon pulled by his tractor. I wish I knew how many miles he had put on the tractor doing this! They all love it and we finally got Ashley to ride this time!
The kids with my dear Aunt Lynda and Uncle Alvie-they are my second parents. It was great to get such a sweet visit with you on our last time in Norcross.
A last Atlanta story with Grammy before she left for work on our last day at her house.
We squeezed as much fun as we could manage into those few days. Meanwhile Greg was in our mostly empty house doing lots of touch up painting and little repair projects-which are a trick with no tools but he got our house looking good and ready for the renters who were moving in the day we were flying out. We were amazed at God's timing and provision through these renters-they are a family from Germany-coming to work for BMW and were the first people to look at our house. They seem very nice and have a 4 year old little boy.
The Funniest Storage Story
The last day that the storage packers were at our house, we were looking for the ladybug larvae and couldn't find them. I thought maybe one of the kids had put them somewhere but no one had. We looked through the whole house and couldn't find the ladybug habitat. I even looked in the last boxes that the packers had loaded from the kitchen-one had packed the clean dishes straight from my dishwasher that morning and I couldn't find the ladybug larvae anywhere.
I had great plans to take the ladybugs to Grammy's house with us for our last few days in the country and show them to all of our cousins and let them go in Grammy's yard. Sadly we will find a nice habitat with dead ladybugs when we get our things back out of storage-oh well I guess not the worst thing that we could lose. Another funny thing about the ladybugs is that Ashley couldn't ever remember the word larvae and called them her "ladybug llamas."
The Packing
You don't realize how much stuff you have until you have to decide about every single item-does this go with us? or into long term storage to stay somewhere in Greenville that we won't see again for 3 years? or should this have really been thrown away a long time ago? We really worked our garbage men hard over those couple of weeks. One week the ocean container men were at our house for a few days. Then the next week the storage packers and loaders came and worked. By this point we were eating off paper plates and mostly sitting on the floor.
We found out that we could each take 3 pieces of checked luggage on the plane with us and bought the largest bags allowed and a luggage scale to weigh them. So we had been packing clothes, toys, etc in these bags so that we would have things that we needed right away with us and the kids would have some familiar things. Each of them has a backpack that we let them pack with the understanding that they had to carry it on the plane. All 3 brought their favorite blankets and stuffed animals and some fun things to play with. I was trying to think of all the things that we might want/need that we wouldn't be able to get in Manila. We had talked to one couple who has been here with Fluor for a few months and they gave us some good tips. I even packed a jar of peanut butter for sandwiches but have since found that in all the grocery stores here.
Our big Move
Well, we have been in Manila for a little over 2 weeks now but I'll back up a little and try to get you caught up on our adventure so far.
Earlier this spring, for several weeks Greg and I had been talking and praying about the possibility of an international job assignment. There were several we had talked about and decided against for one reason or another. We decided definitely that we were going to be moving to the Philippines while the kids were out of school for Spring Break. We were enjoying a week at Uncle Wayne and Aunt Boo's cabin in North Ga and told the children while we were there.
Their responses were very reflective of their personalities. Scott (our 8 year old who will talk to ANYONE) said "how will we talk to people?" when I told him that we were moving to a foreign country. Ryan (our 6 year old who does not like change of any kind) said "I don't want to go" and Ashley (our 3 year old who is game for just about anything and tries with all her might to keep up with her brothers) said "I love it!" when I asked her what she thought about moving to Manila.
We tried to answer the kids questions about what things would be like in our new home, talked about the fact that they would get to fly on an airplane to get there, and remind them that they had started at a brand new school this school year and had loved it. Greg knew then that he would be making a trip to Manila in late May and would be looking at houses for us to rent and visiting schools for the boys and promised to take lots of pictures for us to see of the new place we'd be going. Speaking of pictures-it may take me a while to get some on the blog but I promise that I will when I can.
Earlier this spring, for several weeks Greg and I had been talking and praying about the possibility of an international job assignment. There were several we had talked about and decided against for one reason or another. We decided definitely that we were going to be moving to the Philippines while the kids were out of school for Spring Break. We were enjoying a week at Uncle Wayne and Aunt Boo's cabin in North Ga and told the children while we were there.
Their responses were very reflective of their personalities. Scott (our 8 year old who will talk to ANYONE) said "how will we talk to people?" when I told him that we were moving to a foreign country. Ryan (our 6 year old who does not like change of any kind) said "I don't want to go" and Ashley (our 3 year old who is game for just about anything and tries with all her might to keep up with her brothers) said "I love it!" when I asked her what she thought about moving to Manila.
We tried to answer the kids questions about what things would be like in our new home, talked about the fact that they would get to fly on an airplane to get there, and remind them that they had started at a brand new school this school year and had loved it. Greg knew then that he would be making a trip to Manila in late May and would be looking at houses for us to rent and visiting schools for the boys and promised to take lots of pictures for us to see of the new place we'd be going. Speaking of pictures-it may take me a while to get some on the blog but I promise that I will when I can.
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