Service with a Smile

I am not sure you can find happier people than the Filipinos.  Every where I go I see smiling, happy people and most of the time I am wondering what about their situation is making them so happy? I saw a man riding on the top of a garbage truck (literally hanging on to bags of garbage with a big smile.) I see sweet little "nakey buns" (naked kids) with bare feet, no shoes, no clothes playing near busy streets with smiles. I see dirty, tired faces that seem happy and content with life. Sometimes when I hate my non-air conditioned kitchen, I remember these faces and I get over my kitchen pity pretty quick. It is a constant  reminder every time I leave my house, to be grateful for what I have. It does not matter where I go, I am sure to get a smile.
I went to get a pedicure and before I could sit down I had a whole pit crew working on me. I was not sure if it was because it has been a while since I have given my feet some proper attention or if they have never seen a 91/2 foot size? Regardless of why so much help, they were all swarming around me, smiling away. Sometimes I start laughing to myself like "is this creepy or cool?" Mostly just unbelievable.

This next one is of me and my gals okay, not gals....... pals!

After that last hair cut I decided I could not mess around. I needed the real deal. This is me trying to be serious....I can never pull that off. I think I spent all 3 hours laughing. When you get your hair or nails- actually whatever done here, you really have a few people working on you all at once. I kind of felt like the lion in The Wizard of Ozz, preparing to meet the wizard or maybe Loyd Christmas on Dumb and Dumber?

Life is Tough

Maybe I need to quit with the sarcastic blog titles...They sound more like brag titles, what do you want me to put? "My life is so rough in the Philippines?" Or "I hate all these great weekend get a ways?" What about "Yuck... sun, sand and sea?" or "Life is miserable with a full time helper?" I know, I sound a bit sassy in the moment but I hope you all know we just want to give you a taste of what our life is like here. It's not always rose colored, I am hot and sticky most of my life, I dream about Diet Mountain Dew, and if you do not count Trent, I have 0 friends....well, that speak English.

We managed to get away this weekend to a place called Eagle Point in Batangas. The trip was a blast, minus that one of my cameras bit the dust and my other one was completely out of batteries. It left us with Trents Blackberry. Excuse the few and not great photos. This place is suppose to be big time for divers, we did not exactly fit the mold with our slew of toddlers but we managed to have fun and we  pretty much owned the resort. The food was maybe the worst I have ever had to endure, we tried EVERY THING possible on the menu, hopeful that we could find some thing to get us through the weekend.  It was a bust, lucky for us we had our back up toddler snacks.

This is Arnie our car driver, he looks so happy doesn't he?  He is getting the boot here pretty quick, will save that for another post or not. Anyways, he has never been on a boat, if that is what you want to call this beauty. It is more like bamboo sticks with a motor tied to it.  We took this Sea faring gazelle to a little Island called Seapoc to spend the morning. The picture does not do it any justice for how pretty it really is. The water is crystal clear, the mountains surround you and their is plenty of snorkeling to be had.

My favorite part of the weekend was the boat ride. I am so glad I have Trent to look at and say

"Is this for real?" It is a great adventure and it keeps us both laughing!

Sharing a hammock swing

The swim pool has the coolest slide going from the upper pool to the lower pool. I am sure it has maimed plenty of kids in its day. We came home sunburned and tired so I guess we can chalk it up for another HORRIBLE week in the Philippines. Thanks for the fun weekend Daddy Doo!

And The Winner is.....

The English Branch

Which is only a short 40 minute drive from where we live (that is on a good day).  After struggling for a month on where we should attend church, I think we both feel like it would be the most helpful if we could all understand what was being said. Attending the local ward has really made me appreciate that we have an English speaking branch as an option.  Most of the members are expats, so it has a great melting pot feel to it.

Sundays are kind of our all day adventure! Picnic in the car, Trent driving us (he loves the Filipino style of driving a little too much) and a nice nappy time on our way home. I know that our "Sunday" situation could be a lot worse so we will learn to be grateful!

Makati Ward building

What a Nice Joan

This is our Joan

She is a big part of the reason our transition has gone so smooth.  Trent interviewed her before the kids and I got here so I was a little nervous to not be able to pick out my sister wife....Don't be scared I am only kidding.  Joan is like The Good Fairy that does all of the jobs that most of us hard working house Mommies dislike bathrooms, laundry, putting away laundry, preparing/sometimes making dinner, mopping, dusting, changing bed sheets, etc. She is also good for things like "Hey Joan would you mind killing that roach the size of Texas that is creeping around" or "Hey Joan we have a poo-pee on child #3". Okay, so she does not  clean up all of Emmy's treasures but she is really good at seeing what needs to be done and going for it. She is our built in baby sitter and we have been faithful in taking full advantage of that bonus. Joan speaks great English and often times she is who I turn to when I need some one to translate. She works six days a week from 5:30 am to some time after I have gone to bed (because I have such hard days:) She usually leaves Saturday afternoons and comes home Sunday night. Just typing this makes me tired for her.

On a more personal note, Joan is 47 years old. She is a single parent to a twenty year old son whom she has raised alone. She is currently putting him through college and like most mothers I can tell she is very proud of her son.

Every one wants to know if I like her, is she good with the kids, do the kids like her, does she like living with you? How can I NOT love someone that serves my family from morning till night? Having Joan makes it so I can enjoy all the best parts of being a Mom. I spend a lot more time with the kids with out the guilt of "all the things" I should be doing to keep a house up. I feel like I laugh more, am tired less, and have so much more quality time to enjoy my family. Yes, Joan is lovely.

She is more quiet by nature but I love making her laugh and I can see that she really is starting to love our little pack of punks. I would Say, Syd is more indifferent and it would not matter who was living with us she would go on with her happy little self. Tate...calls her all of the same naughty words that he calls me (I tell her to embrace those words) deep down he loves us. And Emmy loves Joan...She wakes up in the morning and marches down stairs and yells "Joan's....cereal...hungry!" Joan reads her books, rocks her to sleep and is pretty good at answering her early onset of two year old demands.

This is what I come down to in the morning. Do you believe it? I don't.

Now you know why I call her the Good Fairy. Trent is going to have some hard times adjusting when we go back to the states....so am I.

Pork Adobo

Tinola

I asked Joan to make us an authentic Filipino meal one evening. It actually tasted better than it looks. I was a little nervous when she had the guard pick some leafs to add to the tinola. I told Trent "Enjoy dinner, we are eating weeds from next door."

To make you rest a easy, our eating has not changed a whole lot. We just pay a little bit more than normal to eat our good American food. Joan has been great and I am so thankful that she has become apart of our family. It has been much easier than I thought it would be to have someone live with us. She works so hard and we appreciate all she does for our family.

Weekend Overload

I know...."We have seen enough all ready!" These are all scenery shots so if you are not in to that, then I think your weird...just kidding! Take a look, they make me happy.

And this one.... because it made me laugh!

 

This is a Real Place!

Punta Fuego had the most amazing swimming pools. It looks like you could just keep swimming right out in to the ocean. Trent and Tate loved the pools because they did not have to deal with their sand issues...of course!

Tate: "Can I sleep in the swimming pool?"

Clearly we need to consider swim lessons.

 Above is the beach house we stayed in and a few beautiful surrounding shots. Below is one of the club houses that the resort has to offer. Rough life!

 

Perks and her husband Edwin, were so great. They really showed us how and what it means to be gracious hosts.

Edwin shared his cool sand art with us, he also had the kids convinced their are real pirates!

We had such a terrific weekend, it is definitely a place we will come back and relax again. I feel like I had per-ma grin the whole weekend, minus those brief moments that I wanted to put tape over Emmy's mouth and give Sydney and Tate a little pinch for not remembering their always perfect manners. But I think those things go with out saying:) Thanks Domingos!

One Month.......Really?

We made it to the one month mark....and

I LOVE THIS PLACE!

Punta Fuego, our first weekend get away and our kids first real beach experience.  These pictures say it all, Syd loved it, Emmy could not get enough of it and Tate hated it.

The drive down you kind of see it all. Beautiful mountains, pineapple fields, fruit stands, meat Oh My- I can not believe people eat that stands, furniture stands and things that can not be mentioned stands.

All because of you Babe! I think I tell Trent every night "Please lets stay forever." I am sure that will wear off, I mean... eventually I need  to see my family, hook up with my girl friends and dive into a bag of red vines. While Trent has a lot to do to figure out work, I feel like I am living the high life......Thanks Honey, this has been one of the best months of my life.

A friend from Trent's work invited us to their beach house for the long weekend. I kept asking Trent, "Do they know we have three, most of the time, crazy kids?" Filipino hospitality is unbelievable! They made a huge effort to make us feel at home and then some. Perks (the wife) is a super amazing cook. She wanted the kids to feel comfortable so she made them an all day buffet of American food, of course our kids used their best manners the whole time. If you believe that then you might not know them or me very well.

Neil, our super cool temporary driver took us down. Any one that can hang in the car for a couple of hours with our kids has to be cool. He was such a great help and we decided to call him Yayo for the weekend!

Because I like sandy bums.

I have a few more great pics of our weekend, I will post soon!