Last night we went to the Manila Polo Club - (ever so posh) to the biggest cheese and wine event I have ever seen. Marc was in 7th heaven. To put it in context, I should tell u, that all ex-pats here complain that they can't get good cheese easily. Mic, a friend of Derval's, invited us as his guests to his monthly cheese club meeting. There was mountains of it. There was 30 tables each with 3 or 4 different cheeses, pate and huge piles of french bread and biscuits. There are also 3 or 4 wine stations offering really lovely wines. Needless to say we got stuck into both the cheese and the wine. One just has to attend these sort of events to network here.
I was surprised to find we actually knew quite a few of the 70 or so people attending. We are becoming quite the Manila socialites, what with parties at the Ambassadors residence and the Polo Club!!!I've even joined the BWA ( bitches and witches) or British Woman's Association and been to my first event - a talk on diamonds and how to buy them - a skill I do so hope I get to use at some point in my life but not immediately relevant to my circumstances!! Part of the reason for joining the BWA is to get access to their mailing list which in turn gives access to all the important functions and balls one just has to attend!! Only joking the real reason is because its how to find out about household stuff people are selling off when they leave Manila. Also helpful for answering important questions like - where does one get highlights done? or is it possible to get slim line tonic? or today's questions (after being at the polo club last night) where can I ride in Manila? (couldn't afford the Polo club!!) I've been asked to speak at the business leaders forum on Knowledge management but going to try and postpone that until I actually work out what it is myself :) Trotting along to their wine tasting do next week though - well on my budget I have to take up all offers of free wine!
Its Mothers day here on Sunday so we'll pop along to NOMADS a sports club, which is another ex-pat haunt where there're hosting a do with the French Ambassador apparently there'll be lots of pastis and french nibbles as well as their regular Sunday roast! They have all the football on a big screen and theres a pool and playground for the kids. Monday is a holiday here as its election day. So can't think of a good reason not to spend the day eating and drinking by the pool!
Crazy elections 77 candidates have been shot dead so far and apparently its only just hotting up. needless to say politics is not an occupation I intend to get involved with. Anyway better get back to resolving the main issue at the moment for the Knowledge Management "specialist" at VSO - What on earth I'm going to talk about at my workshop in 3 weeks time!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Family Pics
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
NASUGBU (Batangas) - Mayamaya and friends
Had a great weekend at a place called Nasugbu which is about 100km outside manila so in theory only a couple of hours away, that is unless u leave on a Friday afternoon by public bus when it takes 5 hours. We went there 3 weeks ago and stayed at a lovely spa/resort called MayaMaya. http://www.mayamaya.com/gallery.htm There we met Mel and her Dad Brian who run the place. Brian is English by birth but grew up in NZ and Mel has 2 boys same age as Gianna and Angelica. Her ex partner Jerry was also there and he and Marc got on great - hes in a band based in Manila - they sat around talking football and concerts. Last weekend we deiced to go back and we had a wonderful time sitting by the pool lapping up the wonderful views and the sea breezes. (such a relief from Manila)The kids all had a great time playing together in the pool and the banana boat. I had a lovely massage in the Spa and Marc managed to watch football and boxing!!We cadged a lift back on Sunday night which was great and only took 2.5 hours door to door. I've posted a picture of Marc and girls doing their acrobatics in the pool. Maybe he's thinking of putting them in the circus as a sideline.
Mel and I are going to hook up in Manila - she has a group of girlfriends who hit the town about once a month.
There are a lot of day/overnight trips from Manila if u can time getting away at the right time of day or hire a care. I've posted a photo from Villa Escuerdo where Marc and Gianna went rafting. Its another resort with cultural shows etc. Angelica is with the caribou. Another place we plan to go soon is to see the volcano. On the way to Nasugbu about 70km from Manila is a volcano in the middle of a lake. The views from the road are spectacular and u can stay in hotels and lodgings with views fairly cheaply. There are supposed to be some very good restaurants which we plan to explore ...........Filipino food in restaurants thus far has not exactly been spectacular although the home cooked stuff is lovely..
Had a bit of a scare at the weekend as Mum had a fall getting on the bus and ended up with stitches. She is being looked after by some old friends. Skyped her on Saturday night and she was able to show me the bandage via the web cam - she seemed in good spirits and not too shaken. Thank goodness for new technology - it really helps to see someone when you are far away- must get the web cam our end set up soon. If anyone has skype let me know so I can add u to my contacts. My one at work camperbelleinmanila is a good one for weekdays if u are up late. I get in work about 7 which is 12 midnight UK time :)
Monday, May 7, 2007
Farewell Debbie (letter read at her funeral)
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Sorry I’m not there today – we knew it would be like this of course but all the same it’s hard not to be there, with all the other people that love you, to make sure you get the send off you deserve. We talked about how this day would be - what might be there when you reached the end. Hopefully champagne and oysters if nothing else!
What we didn’t talk about was how much duller life will be without you. How much I will miss you, how much we would all miss you. If people only live on in other people’s memories, you will be living it up for many years to come, as you have left us with so many rich and colorful ones.
I remember when you first turned up in London – straight from Amsterdam where u had teamed up with John. I can’t remember whether u still had the black eye from your tramline incident when u arrived or whether, like so many Big Belly stories, that has now passed into folklore. You took to Northfield House like a duck to water – the unpredictability of the place suited your personality so well. There was always someone’s door you could hammer on at 5 in the morning when you still wanted to put the world to rights and the rest of us longed for bed!
You tried your hand at pop stardom but being typically adventurous, it was part of a Welsh speaking rap band with John that you made your first video. North Wales and your friends there always had a special place in your heart. I’m hoping that u got back there one more time before u left us for the big Bodega in the sky.
Do u remember the fun we had when I visited you in Barcelona, your other all time favorite place? I’m not sure Barcelona was ready for you, but they sure knew once you and Haggis had arrived. He of course helping the country prepare for the Olympics whilst you spent your time developing your love of good Spanish food and wine. You were, as always, an excellent host with a full itinerary of exciting and colorful places to visit, perfect stages for a full night of Debbie entertainment. There were of course many such stages in many other places over the years, each person will have their own story to retell.
My defining memory of you is one from the birthday do in Chester about 12 years ago. After the party on the boat we all retired back to the hotel for a nightcap (or 6). All the usual suspects were there and of course you held court in one corner. At some point in the proceedings you stood up and sang a wonderful rendition of Jerusalem with a waste paper bin as your shield.
It was a typical Debbie moment unprompted, wonderfully irreverent – and totally baffling! The next morning you were the last downstairs (the last to bed no doubt) and everyone broke spontaneously into Debera by Pulp
You were OUR Debera – the one and only totally irreplaceable Debbie Bell.
You have left us with the memories but you have also left us with your pottery. I suspect everyone at the main event today will have something that you created -you were first and foremost an artist – a very good one at that.
Can it be really true that I’ll not hear you shout “Hey Mulville” ever again? I can hear you shouting it now as u arrive at a party or pub – demanding an account of what is happening, why and when! I hear you were yourself to the end!!! Fabulously stroppy!!! Margie is a saint (thank you) and did a wonderful job along with your family helping you through your last 2 months. You must have been an awful patient at times but I’m so glad your greatest fear did not materialize, of loosing yourself, becoming someone else. We all loved u just the way you were!
I had assumed wrongly that we would grow old disgracefully together but that’s not to be. The experience of loosing you reinforces the fact that none of us know what is just around the corner and we must all live our lives to the full.
I hope you can feel the love we are sending you wherever u are, the gratitude we feel for the love you shared with us. You gave us so much. Thanks for everything; it’s a privilege to have been able to call you my friend. You will always be with me in my heart.
I’ll be raising my glass to you Belly somewhere in the Philippines - I hope that Bodega upstairs has a dam good red so u can do the same
Salute!!
A poem chosen by Debbie
Late Fragment
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
What we didn’t talk about was how much duller life will be without you. How much I will miss you, how much we would all miss you. If people only live on in other people’s memories, you will be living it up for many years to come, as you have left us with so many rich and colorful ones.
I remember when you first turned up in London – straight from Amsterdam where u had teamed up with John. I can’t remember whether u still had the black eye from your tramline incident when u arrived or whether, like so many Big Belly stories, that has now passed into folklore. You took to Northfield House like a duck to water – the unpredictability of the place suited your personality so well. There was always someone’s door you could hammer on at 5 in the morning when you still wanted to put the world to rights and the rest of us longed for bed!
You tried your hand at pop stardom but being typically adventurous, it was part of a Welsh speaking rap band with John that you made your first video. North Wales and your friends there always had a special place in your heart. I’m hoping that u got back there one more time before u left us for the big Bodega in the sky.
Do u remember the fun we had when I visited you in Barcelona, your other all time favorite place? I’m not sure Barcelona was ready for you, but they sure knew once you and Haggis had arrived. He of course helping the country prepare for the Olympics whilst you spent your time developing your love of good Spanish food and wine. You were, as always, an excellent host with a full itinerary of exciting and colorful places to visit, perfect stages for a full night of Debbie entertainment. There were of course many such stages in many other places over the years, each person will have their own story to retell.
My defining memory of you is one from the birthday do in Chester about 12 years ago. After the party on the boat we all retired back to the hotel for a nightcap (or 6). All the usual suspects were there and of course you held court in one corner. At some point in the proceedings you stood up and sang a wonderful rendition of Jerusalem with a waste paper bin as your shield.
It was a typical Debbie moment unprompted, wonderfully irreverent – and totally baffling! The next morning you were the last downstairs (the last to bed no doubt) and everyone broke spontaneously into Debera by Pulp
You were OUR Debera – the one and only totally irreplaceable Debbie Bell.
You have left us with the memories but you have also left us with your pottery. I suspect everyone at the main event today will have something that you created -you were first and foremost an artist – a very good one at that.
Can it be really true that I’ll not hear you shout “Hey Mulville” ever again? I can hear you shouting it now as u arrive at a party or pub – demanding an account of what is happening, why and when! I hear you were yourself to the end!!! Fabulously stroppy!!! Margie is a saint (thank you) and did a wonderful job along with your family helping you through your last 2 months. You must have been an awful patient at times but I’m so glad your greatest fear did not materialize, of loosing yourself, becoming someone else. We all loved u just the way you were!
I had assumed wrongly that we would grow old disgracefully together but that’s not to be. The experience of loosing you reinforces the fact that none of us know what is just around the corner and we must all live our lives to the full.
I hope you can feel the love we are sending you wherever u are, the gratitude we feel for the love you shared with us. You gave us so much. Thanks for everything; it’s a privilege to have been able to call you my friend. You will always be with me in my heart.
I’ll be raising my glass to you Belly somewhere in the Philippines - I hope that Bodega upstairs has a dam good red so u can do the same
Salute!!
A poem chosen by Debbie
Late Fragment
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
QUEZON CITY (Manila) - Home sweet home
After scouring the length and breadth of Manila , we finally moved into a 3 bed house just over a week ago. It's in Philam, the gated community were my office is located. A 5 min walk to work for me! We did consider a number of other options all over Manila but in the end decided to start off near to the office until we get Gianna's school sorted and if necessary relocate in 6 months time.
The bedrooms are all large double rooms, we have 4 bathrooms and thru living/dining area. No garden - its actually really hard to find houses with gardens, as the Filipinos hate the sun and do everything to limit the sunlight around their houses. We have a huge mango tree that shades the whole house. The net u can see above the house is to catch the fruit and leaves. There is a large outside area where we can put chairs / the kids can play and we are opposite the tennis courts, pool and kids playground so the kids aren't exactly couped up. the photo os front outside our house across to playground courts etc. Its really nice as its one of the older communities and whilst the newer developments are devoid of character, Philam has a church and some local shops at its centre along with the sports facilities and therefore has a natural focal point where people congregate. Everyone seems to know us whilst we are still getting to know people. Angelica is everyones darling and has her own little posse of friends calling her name wherever she goes.
Gianna has just finished 4 weeks tennis course. She was asked to be a model by the course sponsor MILO and interviewed for TV- probably a good thing as shes more likely to have a future in modelling than tennis ( as her father says she has all the required model characteristics - photogenic, loves the attention as well as being wilful and lazy)
The house is a bit sparse at the moment as we have to buy everything from scratch. Feels like I have been all over manila viewing at garage sales picking up odds and ends. We bought some fantastic new bamboo furniture - Marc bargained hard and we got large double bed, table with 6 chair and single bed all for £80!!! We are actually doing some research as we think there may be a business opportunity importing the stuff to the Bahamas!U can see the dinning table in the photos of the first Filipino meal we cooked with our language teacher. We even made our own coconut milk. Its chicken adobo in case your wondering what it is!! There are some fabulous food markets near here where the variety of fish, fruit and vegetables is amazing - We have had some great meals since we moved in, 6 weeks of eating out in restaurants had us craving for home cooked food!
U can see the kingsize bed sitting in the covered area below our bedroomin the photo! It was too big to fit up the stairs so we are waiting fo the guys to come and take the window out and haul it into the house that way. Not as difficult as it sounds because labour is so cheap here and we have borrowed the landladys handyman to help us out. We had the whole hosue painted and scrubbed inside and out before we moved in.
Now the house is sorted we are focusing on schools for the girls. Angelica will only go a couple of hours a day to a lovely little nursery between my house and work (ie 3 mins away). Gianna will start at around 7.30 and finish at 2.30 each day over in Makati. She is sitting a test this week for a posh Filipino school where all the rich kids go. We decided the British school was just going to cost too much especially when there are so many good Filipino schools about,This school has one class each year which is just for foreigners - mostly Korean and Filipino kids who have been brought up in the states although there are other nationalities. She will get to learn Tagalog. Its in the poshest part of town where many ex pats live and therefore a lot of the kids from the British school, so she can go and play with her friends or do after school stuff quite easily. It will be a 40 min commute each day for her on the train . They do get busy but unlike the tube in London they have aircon and have a woman's/family carriage she can travel in. I've also contacted an English woman that does home tutoring and though might get her to come and do a couple of hours of English geog/history so she keeps up with that side of things.
I have started work proper today after 7 weeks induction with VSO which included 5 weeks language training. We had a wonderful teacher who has become our friend. We plan to go out to some nightclubs together soon! He lived in the states for a while and is great at interpreting Filipino/UK,US culture clashes!!!!Not exactly sure yet what I'm actually supposed to be doing at work yet but have 6 months to find out so not too worried.
Off to join the super new gym today in the mall next to where we live. They are busy constructing the biggest Mall in Asia and have already completd this flashy new gym. Its just too hot to run and will soon be too wet to do much else so will spend my spare time in the gym and being pampered in the spa.................Missing friends, family and camping but not much else about UK ...oh yes English mustard!!!
The bedrooms are all large double rooms, we have 4 bathrooms and thru living/dining area. No garden - its actually really hard to find houses with gardens, as the Filipinos hate the sun and do everything to limit the sunlight around their houses. We have a huge mango tree that shades the whole house. The net u can see above the house is to catch the fruit and leaves. There is a large outside area where we can put chairs / the kids can play and we are opposite the tennis courts, pool and kids playground so the kids aren't exactly couped up. the photo os front outside our house across to playground courts etc. Its really nice as its one of the older communities and whilst the newer developments are devoid of character, Philam has a church and some local shops at its centre along with the sports facilities and therefore has a natural focal point where people congregate. Everyone seems to know us whilst we are still getting to know people. Angelica is everyones darling and has her own little posse of friends calling her name wherever she goes.
Gianna has just finished 4 weeks tennis course. She was asked to be a model by the course sponsor MILO and interviewed for TV- probably a good thing as shes more likely to have a future in modelling than tennis ( as her father says she has all the required model characteristics - photogenic, loves the attention as well as being wilful and lazy)
The house is a bit sparse at the moment as we have to buy everything from scratch. Feels like I have been all over manila viewing at garage sales picking up odds and ends. We bought some fantastic new bamboo furniture - Marc bargained hard and we got large double bed, table with 6 chair and single bed all for £80!!! We are actually doing some research as we think there may be a business opportunity importing the stuff to the Bahamas!U can see the dinning table in the photos of the first Filipino meal we cooked with our language teacher. We even made our own coconut milk. Its chicken adobo in case your wondering what it is!! There are some fabulous food markets near here where the variety of fish, fruit and vegetables is amazing - We have had some great meals since we moved in, 6 weeks of eating out in restaurants had us craving for home cooked food!
U can see the kingsize bed sitting in the covered area below our bedroomin the photo! It was too big to fit up the stairs so we are waiting fo the guys to come and take the window out and haul it into the house that way. Not as difficult as it sounds because labour is so cheap here and we have borrowed the landladys handyman to help us out. We had the whole hosue painted and scrubbed inside and out before we moved in.
Now the house is sorted we are focusing on schools for the girls. Angelica will only go a couple of hours a day to a lovely little nursery between my house and work (ie 3 mins away). Gianna will start at around 7.30 and finish at 2.30 each day over in Makati. She is sitting a test this week for a posh Filipino school where all the rich kids go. We decided the British school was just going to cost too much especially when there are so many good Filipino schools about,This school has one class each year which is just for foreigners - mostly Korean and Filipino kids who have been brought up in the states although there are other nationalities. She will get to learn Tagalog. Its in the poshest part of town where many ex pats live and therefore a lot of the kids from the British school, so she can go and play with her friends or do after school stuff quite easily. It will be a 40 min commute each day for her on the train . They do get busy but unlike the tube in London they have aircon and have a woman's/family carriage she can travel in. I've also contacted an English woman that does home tutoring and though might get her to come and do a couple of hours of English geog/history so she keeps up with that side of things.
I have started work proper today after 7 weeks induction with VSO which included 5 weeks language training. We had a wonderful teacher who has become our friend. We plan to go out to some nightclubs together soon! He lived in the states for a while and is great at interpreting Filipino/UK,US culture clashes!!!!Not exactly sure yet what I'm actually supposed to be doing at work yet but have 6 months to find out so not too worried.
Off to join the super new gym today in the mall next to where we live. They are busy constructing the biggest Mall in Asia and have already completd this flashy new gym. Its just too hot to run and will soon be too wet to do much else so will spend my spare time in the gym and being pampered in the spa.................Missing friends, family and camping but not much else about UK ...oh yes English mustard!!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
SAN FERNANDO PAMPANGA - whips, crosses and ice cream
As promised pictures of one of the most bizarre events I have ever witnessed and that includes all the usual festival carry on! Set off at 6.30am to Pampagna which is about 100km north of Manila. Went with our language teacher Ferdie for what he termed as cultural immersion - little did I realise how literally he meant it. He explained we were going to see devote acts of penitence where penitents self flagellated and were actually crucified on Good Friday. We arrived just outside the town at about 7.30 to see find the young male flagellants warming up for their big day. They had started beating themselves with the whips of bamboo to get their back "ready" for the first cuts. The cuts were made by someone who wouldn't look out of place at a traditional gallows - big, fat with a bald head chain smoking as he did his work. He was paid 10 peso (10p) for each penitent and sliced their backs and covered in water to get the blood flowing. Given the large numbers of people using his services it was clearly a very profitable day.
The lads had their faces covered with rather pretty leaf garlands around their heads. It is traditional for the penitents to cover their faces so people didn't know who they were and traditionally they wore black sacks. Those in the black sacks would have seemed rather menacing swaying side to side in rhythm slapping their backs if it wasn't for the carnival atmosphere all around. U can see the crowds gathered in the photos - the ice cream seller got to business early selling the kids ice cream - whole families followed the "whippers" perched on top of tricycles videoing the whole show.
It soon became apparent that in this modern age black sacks were rather passe and that all manner of colourful scarves were substituted including ones with cannabis leaves on! There was rather more machismo than penitence as gangs swaggered up with cigarettes in mouths taking whips put of back pockets , limboing up for the start!!! The other thing that was noticeable was that the trousers around the bum style, popular in south London, was favoured with brand named underpants on show - white was most popular and it soon became apparent why once the blood really got going.................
The immersion didn't take long to begin as we realised the blood was being splattered all over the place from the whips and took refuge behind and then in the car!
We followed the processions to the church were the whippers lay on the floor while they were beaten some more by their friends - those without bamboo poles merely used their flip flops. Clearly the "assistants" relished their roles and also got some kudos by association - rather similar to carry the record box into a nightclub I suppose.
Then it was off to the main event! It was easy to find as we simply followed helpfully erected street signs saying "this way to Crucifixion" Now that's not a street sign u'ed find at home!
When we arrived at the site it was like arriving at cream fields except security had machine guns. If u were on the guest list u got to sit on a raised platform with a better view of the stage - press got its own raised platform - we hadn't got any eflyers or advance tickets so had to muscle down to the front for a good view of the first act.
It was a long wait in the blazing sun - luckily u could buy almost anything there from the hawkers and stalls that had set up all about - hot dogs, whips, cutters, binoculars and cycle gloves???? Surprisingly no t-shirts . Marc thinks this could be an opening for him next year! However there were very cute little Jesus effigies on sale with their own wardrobes so they can have a change of outfit each day. Surprisingly no Crucifixion accessories though -(see picture)
The whole experience was getting bizarrer by the minute when I realised I could hear REM loosing my religion in Gregorian chant being played over the loud speaker. As u can imagine what with the sun , lack of sleep and noise and mayhem from the crowd I did actually wonder whether I was hallucinating at first - the music then moved onto I can feel it (Phil Collins) and Stairway to Heaven and much worse !!!
Just before it all became too much the main act arrived and Jesus and his pals turned up. The crowd were clearly very excited. Despite being warned that there should be silence when they arrived the crowd let out loud oohhhs when the nails went in. I half expected a round of applause! We only saw the first 4 cruifixtions - well once u've seen one they're all pretty much the same! We resisted the souvenirs and decided to make an early exit and avoid the crowds. All it really needed was house music and I would have thought I was at some alternative theatre show at Glastonbury.
Whilst the whole thing was very irreligious those being crucified seemed to be taking it seriously as U suppose one would. On reflection the whole spectacle was probably much closer to how a real crufixtion was in roman times than I first suspected, with the crowds all out for the day to see the Christians strung up as oppose to being in a ,ore sombre mood. I suspect then as now those facing the hammer and nails were the only ones not in the holiday mood!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
PUERTA GALERA (Batangas) - Birthday treat
After the birthday cake on Friday -made our first escape from manila (see the local traffic jam outside our gated community) for my birthday on Saturday morning. Pcitures of the cake cutting and gooey cake!! the woman in the picture is teh girls nanny lyn.
Got 8am bus from manila to the port of batangas which took just over 2 hours (but then held up for an hour in a traffic jam at port where they are building new link road) then caught a ferry over to Mindoro which took about 1 hour. We arrived on the beach at 1pm just in time for lunch. It was great to get to a beach and clear clear water. We chose a relatively expensive resort at 20 quid per night for room with air com and TV etc. http://www.coral-cove.com/ It was English run by an ex British solder who had worked with Gurkha's - for my birthday dinner we were treated to an Indian banquet which David (the Brit) puts on each Saturday night. Marc was able to watch the Man U match afterwards so was just like blighty but a little warmer - Only joking. Poor Marc is suffering terrible sports withdrawals at the moment.
On Sunday we charted a small boat (banca) to take us off to a little cove to play castaway (complete with picnic of fried chicken and chips). A guy came into shore on another boat selling shells etc and very helpfully hired us some snorkel equipment for the day. The fish and corals were amazing and Gianna did really well snorkeling. Marc went on a rather short jungle trek but dressed the part to scare off any snakes as u can see in the picture above.
The evening was rounded off in the local village were Marc had made friends with an Aussie who had set up a small bar/restaurant for philipinos. He had 6 kids all brought up in Australia and although half philipino only spoke English. The youngest was 3 and therefore adopted by Angelica as her friend. As per usual there was loud karaoke blasting from the jungle and general good natured mayhem that seems to exist everywhere, as the local fishermen celebrated someones birthday. Once again avoided actually singing but sooner or later......................
Got up early the next day and got the 7am boat back to Batangas and was back in manila by 11.30 in good time for our first Tagalog lesson at 1pm. The trip only cost a tenner for the buses and boats for all of us so we will be using this bolthole again!
The teacher Ferdie seems great and is taking us off to see the real Crucifixions on Friday as part of our lesson plan. Rather more exciting than a trip to the local catholic church - we'll be leaving the kids at home as I'm not sure they'll be that taken with the self flagellation. Bet your looking forward to the pictures next week!!!!!! Marc says hes the best language teacher he has ever had. Four hours per day is very intensive - hopefully some of it is sinking in! Although everyone speaks some English speakign Tagalog would avoid all the little misunderstandings that happen when ordering stuff asking directions etc and would hopefully mean we could avoid tourist prices!
As for house hunting saw a house yesterday which has 3 large bedrooms, living room kitchen 4 bathrooms, maids and drivers rooms all for under 300 quid per month. Very roomy but although has big outside area its concreted and shaded over by huge tree. Philipinos hate the sun and build their houses to avoid it. I would really like a garden with SUN but we may just have to go for the space and comfort for now and leave the garden till next year. the tennis courts and childrens playground are opposite so places to play for kids. (Gianna starting tennis lessons 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks)
On Sunday we charted a small boat (banca) to take us off to a little cove to play castaway (complete with picnic of fried chicken and chips). A guy came into shore on another boat selling shells etc and very helpfully hired us some snorkel equipment for the day. The fish and corals were amazing and Gianna did really well snorkeling. Marc went on a rather short jungle trek but dressed the part to scare off any snakes as u can see in the picture above.
The evening was rounded off in the local village were Marc had made friends with an Aussie who had set up a small bar/restaurant for philipinos. He had 6 kids all brought up in Australia and although half philipino only spoke English. The youngest was 3 and therefore adopted by Angelica as her friend. As per usual there was loud karaoke blasting from the jungle and general good natured mayhem that seems to exist everywhere, as the local fishermen celebrated someones birthday. Once again avoided actually singing but sooner or later......................
Got up early the next day and got the 7am boat back to Batangas and was back in manila by 11.30 in good time for our first Tagalog lesson at 1pm. The trip only cost a tenner for the buses and boats for all of us so we will be using this bolthole again!
The teacher Ferdie seems great and is taking us off to see the real Crucifixions on Friday as part of our lesson plan. Rather more exciting than a trip to the local catholic church - we'll be leaving the kids at home as I'm not sure they'll be that taken with the self flagellation. Bet your looking forward to the pictures next week!!!!!! Marc says hes the best language teacher he has ever had. Four hours per day is very intensive - hopefully some of it is sinking in! Although everyone speaks some English speakign Tagalog would avoid all the little misunderstandings that happen when ordering stuff asking directions etc and would hopefully mean we could avoid tourist prices!
As for house hunting saw a house yesterday which has 3 large bedrooms, living room kitchen 4 bathrooms, maids and drivers rooms all for under 300 quid per month. Very roomy but although has big outside area its concreted and shaded over by huge tree. Philipinos hate the sun and build their houses to avoid it. I would really like a garden with SUN but we may just have to go for the space and comfort for now and leave the garden till next year. the tennis courts and childrens playground are opposite so places to play for kids. (Gianna starting tennis lessons 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks)
Anyway must dash as off to meet with owner for some haggling.
More soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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