Time is now passing so quickly it is frightening...Marcs birthday was here before we knew it. We have a "surprise" party at Mayamaya - although by the time it came around he knew all about it ..... We went over night with a group of friends. Melanie did us proud with a lovely dinner and decorations woven from local materials - the weather was kind to us so we swam and sunbathed- last year it poured!
I had to dash away with Angelica the next morning early with Angelica as she had a photo shoot! It was a socks advert and we came away with 10 pairs of sicks and 160 quid. The socks not so useful in this climate the money definitely is!
I felt so guilty dragging Angelica away from the pool I took her straight to the barbie shop on the way home and let her blow 20 quid in a barbie frenzy...she was so happy. That was her first shoot her second was for an online catalogue. This time it was on location at a theme park which was much more fun. The studio shoot was much harder work. Angelica was the star partially because she is a little imp and always climbing up things. the photographer just followed her around on a rampage clicking away! We all got free passes for the park later - I must be getting old as I find the rides too scary....the weirdest one was the snow world! You payed 100p to go inside a big freezer with snow and ice slides in!! They handed out big coats to wear but we didn't last longer than 5 minutes inside. Angelica was quite impressed - I suppose she hasn't really seen snow before...
I was really quite ill after I got back from UK firstly with a bad cough which turned into asthma and then an ear infection! I think I just got too run down with the trip and then conference immediately afterwards...lessons to be learnt for next year if we are still away. Consequenlty took it fairly easy in the early part of October.
Work has been busy post conference turning the content into videos and other easily shared formats. I've also been making some short fundraising videos about our work in mindanao.Take a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXOaMPW7u-c and see the effects of the recent fighting on kids in Mindanao...if anyone would like a copy of our book Rise Mindanao drop me a line and will send back to UK with Mum who gets here in a couple of weeks time. It works about about 12 quid and every penny goes towards funding our PEACE work in Mindanao. I suppose postage would be around £3.00.
I have been busy working on CV and job hunting, well we both have. The nearer the time comes to leave the more unattractive returning to the UK seems. On the other hand I see lots of jobs I could apply for in the UK and not so many overseas. I have this week been through the whole applying for schools process for Gianna. The options arn't fabulous and although I have tried to make a case for being given special consideration...(off saving the world etc etc) we may be offered whatevers left for kids at home. Now we juts wait and see what happens in March.
Today we are off to a Halloween party for the kids hence the photos...we are way next week to www.pandan.com and then back to the fab house we had in March for my birthday where we will hook up with other friends.
I am looking forward to spending time as a family before Marc takes off to the Bahamas for 3 weeks to see his family. Its a long time since we had anything other than 3 days away and even longer since it was just us as we have tended to travel with visitors. The only challenge will be the 3am start for the ferry port to catch the only boat that will connect with the only jeepney that will get us to the island before nightfall..... travel Filipno style - I will never complain about London to Cornwall ever again....
The latest entertainment on the Filipino political front is the senior police officer caught carrying 100,000 euros out of Russia on his pay back from an Interpol conference. There was about 6 of them with their wives on a jolly . The money they were caught with at customs (it was above what u are allowed to carry out of the country) was what was left over, apparently they had P9.2 million in their "travel" fund. The lot thickens because although the Philippine National Police Force claim if was a contingency/expense fund...no-one can produce any evidence of this coming from any bank account. Therefore the suspicion of the investigating committee at the Senate is that the money has come from mafia type criminals that run an illegal gambling game called Jueteng. Its unlikely that anything will come out of the investigation - at the moment they can't even get the senior police to turn up...
Anyways off now for trick or treating and pumpkin chasing...............
