New Experiences
I'm sorry for not updating this sooner. I've been emailing different people, when I have time, and thought I would go back and pull informative emails and post them. This will jump around a bit, but I hope it fills you in on what's been happening in our lives since we left Kentucky.
We have been running ever since we arrived in Utah. Brian has been here for a week helping finalize shots, and packing our luggage. We found out the night of July 17th, that our departure plans changed. They wanted Brian over there the next week, so we ended up leaving on the 21st which was Monday morning at8:00 am. Aaaahhh. We still have no idea how we're shipping our stuff over so it will be in storage in UT for a few more weeks. I am just now starting to get a bit anxious and I think it's because everything is happening faster than planned. It's a good thing that we are going sooner. It's been hard to live out of a suitcase when you have two kids and don't have your husband around.
Our flight from LA to Tokyo was pretty rough, 10-11 hours. Gavin decided to be up for most of it. The poor man sitting next to me didn't get long sleeping periods since Gavin and I were in and out of our seats through most of the flight. Olivia, on the other hand, was a gem. She slept through most of it and was pleasant for the waking hours. Arriving in Manila, we collected all our belongings and managed to have only lost a burp rag.
We stayed in the Mandarin Hotel in Manila for about a week. Everyone was friendly. Gavin and Olivia made immediate friends with everyone. We got out only once to walk around the mall, but we enjoyed going swimming several times at the hotel. They had a kiddie pool that was perfect for Gavin. He would hold his breath while under water, and was actually doing pretty well at swimming for the first time on his own.
We made it to Baguio in a huge rain storm on the 27th of July. Luckily, we made it alive! Gavin threw up twice in the car. Once on himself and his car-seat and once on me. It is definitely a trip we won't forget. There are a few possibilities as to why, 1) He's had a fever we think due to last 2 yr molars coming in, 2) we had put insect repel ant on him and we think he licked his arm, causing him to vomit, 3) he had eaten a bunch of junk food, 4) the ride was very bumpy and curvy so for all we know, he was car sick.
There are no real road laws so I thought we were going to die about 5 minutes into the ride, but somehow we made it. We couldn't see any of Baguio on the drive up due to a thick cloud. We are really up in the mountains, 7,000 ft. My ears popped 3or 4 times during the final ascent.
We have been in the Philippines for 3 weeks now but in our new place for only a week. The rainy season started about the time we arrived, so it's been colder than we expected. Homes out here don't have air conditioning or heat so whatever the weather is outside it follows you inside too. The humidity makes it interesting, everything inside ends up being damp. Olivia and Gavin have had coughs and runny noses, and the past few days I've had a sore throat. Brian has been working at night for training, 10pm - 6am, which has been a bit hard since he sleeps until 2 in the afternoon. But it's alright, it's only temporary until all trainings are done. We all sleep in the same room at night to keep warmer. We have a fire every night and that helps take the moisture out of the air.
We have been to our ward twice. It's in Tagalog/English 70/30 so we don't understand everything that is going on but enough. We'll definitely need to learn the language. Ward conference was yesterday so we were able to see what the ward is really like. The first Sunday we had a Relief Society lesson on Priesthood and were asking me questions about it. Yesterday we learned that they are really struggling with Home and Visiting Teaching. We were also asked if we would hold callings by the Stake President. We are the only white family in the stake and everyone stares at us, but everyone is very friendly.
Speaking of being white, it's pretty common for random strangers to take pictures of white people. We've had our picture taken several times. They really love blond hair blue eyed babies so when we go out shopping it's pretty common for 1-15 people to sit there and stare at our kids. Everyone wants to touch Gavin and Olivia's faces and talk to them. There is no such thing as "personal space" here. Gavin has had a hard time with it but I think he'll warm up to it eventually.
Olivia is getting really big. She stands up holding onto our fingers. She makes a ton of baby sounds. She might be teething. She chews on everything and gets really vocal at everything she holds. It's cute.
We have ordered 2 space heaters for the bedrooms at night but won't receive them for up to 2 weeks. They had to special order them from Manila which is pretty common.
We do not have a car and don't think we'll ever buy one here. It's not common to own a car, most people take a taxi where ever they go. It's not too bad. A taxi ride down to the mall (where everything is, grocery, drug store, department store, bakery, etc.) is 40 pesos, about a dollar. We brought a booster seat for Gavin and a car seat for Olivia and have used them only a hand full of times. The cars over here typically don't have seat belts. Needless to say, a booster seat is useless without a seat belt. The car seat for Olivia has come in handy when we put her in the stroller but other than that, pretty useless and bulky. We have resorted to carrying Olivia in the Baby Bejorn. It's going to be a hard change for Gavin to come back to the states and have to use a booster seat.
Going to the grocery store is a trip. We have found that it's better for one person to go with a list and as soon as they open on a Monday. Otherwise you get pushed through the tiny isles not getting anything you need, feeling frustrated. I know this from experience. My first trip to the grocery store alone was very upsetting to me. I didn't even have a chance to look at what they had on the shelves. I was able to go back another time and really look at the produce and on some of the shelves. The meat is a whole other issue. They have tons of meat just sitting out to be picked through and bought. We have not ventured into buying raw meat yet, but I don't know how we're going to get around it. I bought everything to make chicken soup, got home and realized I hadn't bought any chicken.
It's weird to buy milk in containers that are packaged like the boxed broth. Eggs are not refrigerated and they sell just as many duck eggs as chicken eggs. I bought some spaghetti sauce in a tear open package, it tasted wose than canned Spaghetti-O's. In fact Spaghetti-O's would have been several steps up from it. Another night we decided to have black beans and rice. We looked at the store for canned black beans and only found salted balck beans. I thought I might be able to rinse them off and make them work...HA was I wrong. I tasted it, and that's all I could do. It was the saltiest thing I've ever had in my life. We now keep a big stock of peanut butter, jam and bread. Worst case senario, we butcher dinner and have PB&J's instead.
Gavin, Olivia and I went outside for a little walk and Gavin and I both got drenched, we had an umbrella but one is not big enough for 3 people. During the rainy season, everyone has an umbrella, man, woman and child. We brought one with us but feel we'll need to buy a few more. If you don't have one, you get soaked.
Food is very different here. You order something that looks familiar to you, but it's completely different when it comes out. Let me give you an example, they have one McDonalds here, yes, only one. Brian ordered a cheese burger, I ordered a hamburger. The cheeseburger was actually better than any I've had in the States, but the hamburger was some weird sausage with a unique sauce on it. They have Pizza Hut here and we think it tastes better than in the States, less greasy, but you can't special order. If it's not on the menu, it doesn't exist. For instance, one of the the trainers with Brian's company wanted a personal pan pizza with pepperoni on it. It wasn't on the menu so she ordered a cheese pizza then tried to get pepperoni on the side, they told her if she wanted pepperoni she had to order a medium pizza. We're not sure if they come pre-made or what.
One of the frustrating things here is the process to check out of someplace takes a minimum of 3 people. One to ring up, one to bag, one to check off the receipt, and from time to time one to stand behind and make sure it's all being done right. At one time during one of our check outs at a department store, there were 6 people who had helped in some fashion by the time we left. It's a bit rediculous.
When you walk anywhere, people are not polite. It is "walk or be walked on". If you stop and let someone pass in front of you, you end up getting stuck because everyone walks around you, no one waits for you to move. So you have to push your way through the crowd. You learn this quickly.
As I was sitting here I had one of the helpers in the building, who I've met before, come to my door. She asked if I had hired help already. I told her no. She then proceeded to start sobbing. "Please call me if you need help. My mother has no work, I'm the only one who has work in my family. Please call me." She felt very bad for crying in front of me and appologized profusely. I got her phone number and told her I would call when we were ready to hire some help.
We have been running ever since we arrived in Utah. Brian has been here for a week helping finalize shots, and packing our luggage. We found out the night of July 17th, that our departure plans changed. They wanted Brian over there the next week, so we ended up leaving on the 21st which was Monday morning at8:00 am. Aaaahhh. We still have no idea how we're shipping our stuff over so it will be in storage in UT for a few more weeks. I am just now starting to get a bit anxious and I think it's because everything is happening faster than planned. It's a good thing that we are going sooner. It's been hard to live out of a suitcase when you have two kids and don't have your husband around.
Our flight from LA to Tokyo was pretty rough, 10-11 hours. Gavin decided to be up for most of it. The poor man sitting next to me didn't get long sleeping periods since Gavin and I were in and out of our seats through most of the flight. Olivia, on the other hand, was a gem. She slept through most of it and was pleasant for the waking hours. Arriving in Manila, we collected all our belongings and managed to have only lost a burp rag.
We stayed in the Mandarin Hotel in Manila for about a week. Everyone was friendly. Gavin and Olivia made immediate friends with everyone. We got out only once to walk around the mall, but we enjoyed going swimming several times at the hotel. They had a kiddie pool that was perfect for Gavin. He would hold his breath while under water, and was actually doing pretty well at swimming for the first time on his own.
We made it to Baguio in a huge rain storm on the 27th of July. Luckily, we made it alive! Gavin threw up twice in the car. Once on himself and his car-seat and once on me. It is definitely a trip we won't forget. There are a few possibilities as to why, 1) He's had a fever we think due to last 2 yr molars coming in, 2) we had put insect repel ant on him and we think he licked his arm, causing him to vomit, 3) he had eaten a bunch of junk food, 4) the ride was very bumpy and curvy so for all we know, he was car sick.
There are no real road laws so I thought we were going to die about 5 minutes into the ride, but somehow we made it. We couldn't see any of Baguio on the drive up due to a thick cloud. We are really up in the mountains, 7,000 ft. My ears popped 3or 4 times during the final ascent.
We have been in the Philippines for 3 weeks now but in our new place for only a week. The rainy season started about the time we arrived, so it's been colder than we expected. Homes out here don't have air conditioning or heat so whatever the weather is outside it follows you inside too. The humidity makes it interesting, everything inside ends up being damp. Olivia and Gavin have had coughs and runny noses, and the past few days I've had a sore throat. Brian has been working at night for training, 10pm - 6am, which has been a bit hard since he sleeps until 2 in the afternoon. But it's alright, it's only temporary until all trainings are done. We all sleep in the same room at night to keep warmer. We have a fire every night and that helps take the moisture out of the air.
We have been to our ward twice. It's in Tagalog/English 70/30 so we don't understand everything that is going on but enough. We'll definitely need to learn the language. Ward conference was yesterday so we were able to see what the ward is really like. The first Sunday we had a Relief Society lesson on Priesthood and were asking me questions about it. Yesterday we learned that they are really struggling with Home and Visiting Teaching. We were also asked if we would hold callings by the Stake President. We are the only white family in the stake and everyone stares at us, but everyone is very friendly.
Speaking of being white, it's pretty common for random strangers to take pictures of white people. We've had our picture taken several times. They really love blond hair blue eyed babies so when we go out shopping it's pretty common for 1-15 people to sit there and stare at our kids. Everyone wants to touch Gavin and Olivia's faces and talk to them. There is no such thing as "personal space" here. Gavin has had a hard time with it but I think he'll warm up to it eventually.
Olivia is getting really big. She stands up holding onto our fingers. She makes a ton of baby sounds. She might be teething. She chews on everything and gets really vocal at everything she holds. It's cute.
We have ordered 2 space heaters for the bedrooms at night but won't receive them for up to 2 weeks. They had to special order them from Manila which is pretty common.
We do not have a car and don't think we'll ever buy one here. It's not common to own a car, most people take a taxi where ever they go. It's not too bad. A taxi ride down to the mall (where everything is, grocery, drug store, department store, bakery, etc.) is 40 pesos, about a dollar. We brought a booster seat for Gavin and a car seat for Olivia and have used them only a hand full of times. The cars over here typically don't have seat belts. Needless to say, a booster seat is useless without a seat belt. The car seat for Olivia has come in handy when we put her in the stroller but other than that, pretty useless and bulky. We have resorted to carrying Olivia in the Baby Bejorn. It's going to be a hard change for Gavin to come back to the states and have to use a booster seat.
Going to the grocery store is a trip. We have found that it's better for one person to go with a list and as soon as they open on a Monday. Otherwise you get pushed through the tiny isles not getting anything you need, feeling frustrated. I know this from experience. My first trip to the grocery store alone was very upsetting to me. I didn't even have a chance to look at what they had on the shelves. I was able to go back another time and really look at the produce and on some of the shelves. The meat is a whole other issue. They have tons of meat just sitting out to be picked through and bought. We have not ventured into buying raw meat yet, but I don't know how we're going to get around it. I bought everything to make chicken soup, got home and realized I hadn't bought any chicken.
It's weird to buy milk in containers that are packaged like the boxed broth. Eggs are not refrigerated and they sell just as many duck eggs as chicken eggs. I bought some spaghetti sauce in a tear open package, it tasted wose than canned Spaghetti-O's. In fact Spaghetti-O's would have been several steps up from it. Another night we decided to have black beans and rice. We looked at the store for canned black beans and only found salted balck beans. I thought I might be able to rinse them off and make them work...HA was I wrong. I tasted it, and that's all I could do. It was the saltiest thing I've ever had in my life. We now keep a big stock of peanut butter, jam and bread. Worst case senario, we butcher dinner and have PB&J's instead.
Gavin, Olivia and I went outside for a little walk and Gavin and I both got drenched, we had an umbrella but one is not big enough for 3 people. During the rainy season, everyone has an umbrella, man, woman and child. We brought one with us but feel we'll need to buy a few more. If you don't have one, you get soaked.
Food is very different here. You order something that looks familiar to you, but it's completely different when it comes out. Let me give you an example, they have one McDonalds here, yes, only one. Brian ordered a cheese burger, I ordered a hamburger. The cheeseburger was actually better than any I've had in the States, but the hamburger was some weird sausage with a unique sauce on it. They have Pizza Hut here and we think it tastes better than in the States, less greasy, but you can't special order. If it's not on the menu, it doesn't exist. For instance, one of the the trainers with Brian's company wanted a personal pan pizza with pepperoni on it. It wasn't on the menu so she ordered a cheese pizza then tried to get pepperoni on the side, they told her if she wanted pepperoni she had to order a medium pizza. We're not sure if they come pre-made or what.
One of the frustrating things here is the process to check out of someplace takes a minimum of 3 people. One to ring up, one to bag, one to check off the receipt, and from time to time one to stand behind and make sure it's all being done right. At one time during one of our check outs at a department store, there were 6 people who had helped in some fashion by the time we left. It's a bit rediculous.
When you walk anywhere, people are not polite. It is "walk or be walked on". If you stop and let someone pass in front of you, you end up getting stuck because everyone walks around you, no one waits for you to move. So you have to push your way through the crowd. You learn this quickly.
As I was sitting here I had one of the helpers in the building, who I've met before, come to my door. She asked if I had hired help already. I told her no. She then proceeded to start sobbing. "Please call me if you need help. My mother has no work, I'm the only one who has work in my family. Please call me." She felt very bad for crying in front of me and appologized profusely. I got her phone number and told her I would call when we were ready to hire some help.
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