So much has happened in the last 2 months there has been no time to blog ! We moved house about a month after my last post, in mid April. After much searching we opted for a lovely big bungalow in San Lorenzo in Makati . Its right at the top end of our budget but as the location is so perfect we decided to go for it. Marc can walk to work and the kids to school. I can walk to the MRT and get to work min 40 mins for 25 peso. So we decided to not get a car and go for the better house as would improve our quality if life so much more.
Think sort of Kensington / Chelsea type of neighbourhood with fancy big shops nearby - so convenient to have Prada at the end of the road darling!!! Its another gated village but green and has park and tennis courts although not as good as Philam and no pool ( lots of house have their own pools but not us)
Its a 3 bed house all en suite with dressing rooms/areas in each - Of course slightly over the top for a 5 year old to have an en suite .....We also have a guest room/den which has its own toilet shower and french doors onto the garden - we have put Sky in there so people who come to stay will have their own space ....(come on guys). There is a huge thru living/dining area that also leads onto the garden which was one of the selling points aside from the location. I think I said before that its very hard to find a garden in the Philippines and this is the perfect size, not too big to handle (meaning paying gardener for lots of days) ,but still big enough to play in and have barbies.
We're only 20 mins from the airport now and staggering distance home from the nightlife in Makati what more can a girl want! Car and driver? (only joking) Its yaking sime time getting used to seeing so many ex-pats after being a rarity in Quezon City where we lived b4. We have a belgium guy next door and Brit opposite......I still get a healthy dose of reality every day when I go to work which is back in poor Barangay in QC..nice office in big house but usual chaotic neighbourhood......
The move was a nightmare and I do not want to do it again for at least another 2 years - we had accumulated so much stuff and the bureaucracy of changing/cancelling utilities was mind bogglingly complicated. It took 2 tortuous trips in a van down EDSA to move our stuff. I just don't know how we accumulated so much. Even so our furniture looks a bit lost in the house as there is so much space. I will have to start scavenging around ex-pats as they leave, for cast-offs in next month or so....
The week after we moved in Erica arrived and it started raining even though it was supposed to be summer - Erica seemed to have attracted biblical downpours wherever she has been on her world trip so far ...luckily the weather did clear and we had a great weekend at the old favorite Mayamaya and we then went off for girlie weekend to Paradise Island (truly!) In Palawan and swam with turtles saw the most amazing fish.http://www.clubparadisepalawan.com/ - Thanks erica for the treat I LOVED IT!!
Erica and Gianna got on so well - Gianna played tour guide around Manila until she left for the UK. Of course lovely to have a good old friend to stay and hard to say goodbye. Till next time
Gianna flew to UK by herself and loved it not bad at 10 years old.......I think she has been a little homesick from time to time but overall seems to have enjoyed it - Her grand tour has taken in Scotland/Birkenhead/Cardiff /Amsterdam and London!
I have now started the new job proper although for 6 weeks I was juggling both the VSO Job and WGNRR which was exhausting. Almost as soon as I accepted the job it became clear I needed to get up to speed as quickly apossible. I have already been to Amsterdam twice in 2 months and will need to go again at least twice more this year - I am enjoying it so far but still a little nervous of the unknown! I have my first full board meeting this weekend here in Manila. Apparently my predecessor left her first meeting in tears - I mean they can't be that bad can they?
I am very excited by the new challenge and the opportunity to gain expertise in a completely new field - Reproductive and sexual health rights. Put simply we campaign alongside our members (2000) and partners to get governments and UN to adopt a rights and social justice approach to population. The theory being that population control does not work and is flawed in its approach, evidence shows that population drops when women have better access to health and basic rights such as education/security and food, not just because contraception is available. We of course also campaign for access to contraception and abortion but that alone will not work. Our work falls under the Millennium Development Goals, another new area to develop expertise for me ! I am hoping this will make my next career move much easier as I will have gained a specialism within Development alongside my management experience, the lack of which made job hunting more difficult this year. I may even sign up for a masters at UP next year = My new Chair is the head of Woman's studies at University of the Philippines and it would help no end to have a masters under my belt to compliment my new field. This is all of course getting a little ahead of myself have to wait and see how the first 6 months go first :)
We went away at Easter to Pagudpud in Northern Luzon, flying to Loaog - I liked Pagudpug which is a beautiful long white beach right at the to of Luzon island - the accommodation is disappointing as all concrete and no nipa style huts.We stayed at http://juncarolbeachresort.com/ which was ok for P2000 and had a TV a requisite for Marc who had to get up at 2 am to watch football!
2 days we travelled over to Blue lagoon (which is really blue), by trike which I really enjoyed but was hell for Marc crouched inside
We ate lunch a fab resort http://www.tjhawaii.com/kvr/about.asp which is where we would stay if we went again - the food was excellent - they had their own garden for herbs and veggies. There is surfing there later in the year
On the way back we stopped in Vigan which I really liked - we took a ride in the horse drawn cart which was great and ended up at a surprisingly nice zoo owned by the local (ex-film star) ex senatorhttp://www.chavitsingson.net/baluarte/ . That night we got the overnight bus back to Manila 12 hours which was not too bad except as usual did not have enough warm clothes - Mental Note: next time take pillow, woolly hat and blanket like everyone else!
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