The Big Move!!

So I neglected to write a blog post about the fact that WE ALL FOUND HOUSES TO RENT during our last trip to Bataan!! Thanks to those of you who were praying for us! This is my little house:

During our house-hunting trips to Bataan, we were also able to check out the shops out there and determine what is available and what we would need to buy in Manila before we move. We have been busy shopping ever since!! 

Rental properties in the Philippines differ from those in Australia in that 1) there are usually repairs that need to be done prior to moving in, and 2) there is NOTHING in the house (which can make shopping a big job). For example, there is not a single cupboard in my house - not even in the kitchen...  

Miraculously, we were all able to find houses that we could move into without needing to repair first. That is not something you take for granted in this country... So thanks again for praying!! 

Tonight we packed all our stuff into the truck, ready for our big move bright and early tomorrow morning!! I think we're all looking forward to finally getting settled in our own houses and to escaping the pollution in Manila. We're hoping to start language study on Monday. :-)

On This Day...

On this day eight years ago, I embarked on an adventure that would change my life and change me forever. Today marks eight years since the day I left for (and, 5 flights and 36 hours later, arrived in) Paraguay. I had never flown anywhere before then and I had no idea how to navigate my way through an airport. I think I was more concerned about the logistics involved in actually reaching my destination than I was about what I would find once I arrived! Having never been out of Australia before, I didn’t really know what to expect from a foreign country, particularly an obscure little country like Paraguay.

It’s funny how much one’s idea of “normal” can change in just a few short years. When I arrived in Paraguay eight years ago, I mostly took photos of things that seemed abnormal or unusual to me. This picture of people drinking tereré together is one of the photos I took during my first couple of weeks in the country:

Tereré seemed a little strange at first, but it quickly became a normal part of my life.

When I returned to the Manila guest house last week after field conference, I moved into a different guest house apartment and was able to settle in and unpack my suitcase. I also made myself some tereré. It was then I realized that this thing that seems really weird to most of my friends (and that was once a bit weird to me too) now has the power to bring a touch of normality to my life during a time of transition.

This move to the Philippines is very different to that first move eight years ago because the Philippines is now the seventh, rather than the second, country I have spent time in. As my concept of “normal” expands, I find myself taking fewer pictures. An overloaded vehicle or a tangled mess of power lines no longer seem particularly noteworthy; instead, I photograph green vegetation and open spaces when I find them.

This is a picture I took out of the car window when I was in Bataan (a place a few hours out of Manila) earlier this week. I took this picture for two reasons: 1) it’s so different to the concrete jungle of Manila, and 2) it is where I and two other new couples will be moving to learn Tagalog once we find places to live. We are planning another trip out there on Sunday. Please pray that our house-hunting expedition will be successful.

The Philippines!!!

Well this is the second instalment of my blog catch-up posts. The first one took forever to upload because the internet here in the guest house is really slow, so I think I shall go easy on the photos this time…

I arrived in Manila on New Years’ Eve. The lines in the airport were surprisingly short and I got through immigrations and customs very quickly. Baggage claim was a different matter. I waited for almost an hour for my luggage to show up. Oh well, the important thing is that it did actually show up!

First impressions? After a couple of days in Hong Kong’s cold(er) weather, I was looking forward to some warmth. When I walked out of the airport terminal in Manila, I was greeted with weather that was neither as warm nor as humid as I expected… But at least it wasn't cold!

Living in South America, I became well acquainted with driving practices that differ greatly from those of the Western world; Manila driving, however, is in its own special category of “different”. The lanes are definitely “more like guidelines”. What is acceptable seems to be restricted only by what is physically possible. I have actually been very impressed with the skilfulness of most drivers here.

Manila seemed (on first impression, at least) to be a little cleaner than I expected. I found out that this is likely due to the fact that the Pope will be paying a visit to the Philippines next week. According to the front page of yesterday’s newspaper, police are being issued adult nappies/diapers so that they won’t have to desert their post and potentially wait in line for an hour in order to get to a toilet. I guess a visit from the Pope is a pretty big deal in a Catholic nation!!

A day and a half after I arrived in Manila, we travelled to a beautiful little place a couple of hours out of the city for field conference. This was a great opportunity to get to know many of the missionaries here in the Philippines. I think I have mostly figured out which children belong to which parents! I stayed in a dorm with one Faroese, two German and two American roommates. I am really enjoying the cultural diversity of this field!

Five nationalities are represented in this picture of the crazy hair & crazy shoe-themed fun night

Conference ended two days ago, but many missionaries have chosen to remain in Manila a little longer in order to take care of business and/or have a break, so the Manila guest house is still a very social place at the moment. I suspect next week will become a lot quieter as many people return home, but maybe then the internet will speed up a little and allow me to upload a few more pictures...

Hong Kong

Greetings from Manila! It seems as though a few blog posts will be necessary to catch up on the events of the past couple of weeks, so I guess I’d better get started!

I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with friends in Hong Kong on my way to the Philippines, so I thought I’d start by posting a few pictures from my brief stay in Hong Kong…

Airline Joins the Countdown

I received a rather superfluous email this morning. It was from the airline I’m flying with and the subject line said, “Reminder: Your flight is departing in 7 days’ time!” Thank you, airline. I was hardly likely to forget!! Although I still can’t believe that this time next week, I’ll be up in the air… :-)

The Countdown Continues...

In today’s countdown news: it’s 30 days (exactly one month) until I leave!! I’m starting to get just a little bit excited… And also a tad impatient!

After having been busy with practical preparations for several months, it feels strange to only have a short list of small jobs left to do. Sometimes I worry that I must be forgetting something important. Surely there is something that I ought to be doing! So, not knowing what else to do with myself, I have busied myself with Christmas preparations.

For the first time in my life, I have completed all of my Christmas shopping, wrapped every gift, made my Christmas cards and begun writing the cards before the beginning of December. (I’m usually the one complaining if I so much as see a Christmas decoration or hear a Christmas carol before December!) I must admit that I shall be glad to escape the pre-Christmas stupidity that seems to descend upon our shopping centres in a manner beyond all reason!

So I’m not sure how I’m going to occupy myself during the rest of this month until I leave, but I guess it won’t be in preparing for Christmas. Perhaps it will include more adventures such as the one my friend and I had today, during which the most frequently used phrase was, “What could possibly go wrong?”! 

Fun With Foreign Currencies

Somebody gave me my first Filipino pesos a couple of days ago! They kind of remind me of Paraguayan guaraníes in that 1) a handful of money is not necessarily worth very much, and 2) they are paper (unlike Aussie dollars), with each denomination having a unique colour scheme (unlike U.S. dollars). I don’t mind this similarity, but I do hope that the Filipino coins are not like Paraguayan coins!

During the time I was living in Paraguay, several denominations of coin had about four completely different (different size, different colour) versions in circulation. It can be hard enough to figure out the coins of a different currency without an added complication such as this! (I think I probably figured out U.S. coins just before I was about to leave, after having used them for 16 months. Trying to use 25 cent coins when I was used to 20 cent coins really messed with my head!)

Another special feature of Paraguayan coins was that they were worth so little that supermarkets often gave change in the form of a handful of lollies (candy, my American friends!), rather than messing around with the smaller coins. This practice always amused me.   

Anyway, it’s now 38 days until I leave, so it’s not long now until I’ll be spending the money pictured above and attempting to make sense of the Filipino coins that start filling my wallet!!