Recovering from a frantic weekend! Started off with Marc having his eyes lasered at the American Eye Centre http://www.eyecenter.com.ph/humaneye/default.asp on Friday. As far as I'm concerned its a miracle! Very sci fi /futuristic all this laser stuff. They zap each eye with a laser for 30 seconds and your eyes are fixed! Marc went in at 5.30 on Friday and whilst he was a bit uncomfortable on Friday night, ( said it felt like grit in his eye) he woke to near perfect eye sight on Saturday morning. Went back in on Saturday lunchtime for an eye test and was told he now has 20:20 vision. I just can't get used to him without glasses. The best thing was it only cost the equivalent of 800 pounds to have both eyes done, whilst its over 1000 per eye in the UK. They gave us a DVD of the op! Haven't watched it yet and I'm not sure that I want to!
On Saturday night we went off to Malate to see our friend Jerry's band Pinikpikan. I've put a short video of the music on http://www.facebook.com/
We met Jerry at MayaMaya in Nsugbu back in April and have been promising to go along to a gig for ages but kept being out of Manila when he played. On Saturday we finally made it to a funky, hippy/arty hangout called Penguin Cafe where they were playing. Alternative sort of crowd and a really nice vibe. The band were GREAT - Lots of drumming and percussion and very dancy - the crowd were all on chairs by the end of the night! It was good to find an alternative scene, as up until now its been fancy clubs and bars in Makati. They play again in August so we'll be back there then....................
On Sunday I took Gianna to see the new Harry Potter film. I took the photos of the Sunday afternoon traffic on the way over to the Mall- It was the middle of the afternoon and the world and his wife all have the same idea to go to the Mall. I'm sure it could actually be conjugated as a verb - magmalling - a pinoy national pastime!....... Luckily we live inside our gated village where we are cut off from the madness - in our little oasis of calm.
There are 100s of cinemas in Manila (in the malls) and films are all shown in English. have to say I didn't really rate the film, but then I've never read a HP book so probably not the best judge.
Gianna seems to be settling into school better and we are getting used to the routine. Up at 5.30 every day. Shes been given the lofty position of vice president of the Theatre club and gets to choose what productions they will do. No surprise there then- I'll expect to see High School Musical at Xmas with Gianna playing Sarpay! Shes also learning all sorts of useful stuff like basket weaving and rug making! We can always send her out to work if things get tough! Her latest party trick is singing the Philippines national anthem in Tagalog!I'm sure it will stand her in good stead for icebreakers, in training sessions, when she grows up. last weekend I took her and her friend Amy to see the pinoy version of HSM which was really good. The cast were all very young but very talented. By the interval we were swooning over the male lead who won teen idol on TV here!
Last night we went off to a British Chamber of Commerce do at Murphys, an Irish bar, in Makati- free bar and food for 5 quid and the open Golf final on the TV. Unfortunately for me it was an exciting finale and went on forever -we didn't get home till 2am. Marc was happy as Larry - he could watch and talk Golf all night. Currently suffering from sleep deprivation - luckily the nanny was around to take Gianna off to school at 6am as I would not have made it!
Work going really well - had important meeting on Friday with Team about my KM strategy which involves reviewing VSO's meeting and event schedules and aligning it with their M&E cycle, to promote better learning opportunities. It was agreed in principle and we begin the review in August at the staff development week. A week in a hotel in Tagatay overlooking the Volcano and lake outside Manila. Marc and the kids will be able to come down at the weekend. Tomorrow I'm off to Cebu for a couple of days - the Philippines second city - smaller and nicer than Manila. The nanny will stay over and help Marc out and then we'll take off to the beach for the weekend when I get back. As for now I'm off home for an early lunch, get Angelica from nursery and a bit of a lie down - one of the advantages of living 5 minutes away from the office.
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