Philippines – Day 2 (or is it 3?)

Well, I made it to the Philippines – hooray!  I’m still getting my feet under me with regard to the time change, hence the title of this post.  It’s Monday morning at 8:40 as I write this.  I’m actually doing okay with the time change.  I’ve been forcing myself to stay up to 10:00 at night (with reasonable success) and then to not get up until 6:00.  I’m happy to report that, althought I woke up at 2:00 a.m. the past 2 days, I was able to get back to sleep.

The drive from the Manila airport to Tagaytay, where the conference is, was amazing.  Driving through Manila we saw tiny little cobbled together shacks juxtaposed with fancier hotels and homes.  On the way to Tagaytay we even passed McMansion subdivisions!  The Philippines reminds me a lot of what I saw in the Dominican Republic – tropical environment, big disparencies between the rich and the poor, and people everywhere.  I definitely got the sense of being in a very vibrant, alive place.  We’re in a fancy hotel/resort overlooking the Taal volcano and its surrounding lake.  It’s an amazing place. I’ll try to post photos after I get back.  I lucked out and got a suite with a sitting room, a bed room, and 1.5 bathrooms.  Man, I haven’t lived in this kind of luxury, um, ever!    Of course, having seen some of the poorer areas coming in here I totally have guilt about being in such a fancy place.

Well, someone else needs to use the computer (I’m in the hotel’s business center) so I’m going to get off now.  Talk to you soon!

Philippines (almost) – day 1

Well, I’m happy to report that I made it safely to Asia, although I didn’t quite make it to the Philippines.  The flight from Philly to Chicago was delayed so that cut into my (not-too-long) layover in Chicago.  Turns out that didn’t cause any problems because the Chicago – Tokyo was delayed due to plane maintenance.  We got to Tokyo about an hour late - too close to be able to catch the flight to Manila.  We arrived just before 6:00 p.m. Saturday night, which is 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning at home.  To give you an idea of how long the travel has been thus far, I got on the plane in Philly at 9:40 a.m. on Friday.

Anyway, I was starting to make plans about sprinting through the airport, begging to be put on the plane, etc.  However, United made it much easier.  They had already arranged a hotel for the night and rebooked me on a flight for tomorrow.  Guess I’m glad I padded an extra day into the beginning of my trip!  I briefly considered going out and poking around Tokyo a little but decided that a shower and sleep sounded better.  The shower was phenomenal but I’m holding off on the sleeping for as long as I can.  Trying to get into the time zone over here…

Other than delays and stuff, the trip has been uneventful thus far.  I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip, though!  (For those of you I didn’t talk with before I met, I’m attending a conference hosted by the Intercountry Adoption Board in the Philippines.)

Happy Birthday to me! Or “How my 30th year was good to me”

Today is my 31st birthday – Happy Birthday to me!!  I’ve been pestering Pete in the lead-up to my birthday.  You know, saying things like “The Scottish Irish Festival is this weekend.  We could go on Sunday for my birthday!” and “We really do need to keep some of our finances separate so I can get you surprises for Christmas and you can get me surprises for my birthday!”  Subtle as a Mack truck, I know.    I was really looking forward to my birthday this year… and not because I was angling for gifts.  I realized that I wanted to talk about it so much because it really felt like cause for celebration.

My 30th year on this earth was really pretty good all around!  Over this year I learned a LOT about supervising staff, I learned about taking care of myself (balancing work & life and all that), I learned how to be less fearful, I learned how to set boundaries for myself and others, I learned how to communicate more directly and honestly (without being aggressive or pesty about it), and – let’s not forget the biggie here – I got engaged to the most amazing man I’ve ever met.  In addition, we finally got our debt and spending under control, I paid off my car, I currently owe $0 in credit card debt, and we’re seriously considering home buying.  We went on a very nice vacation to Pine Creek in May and are looking forward to some fun traveling this fall/winter.  Man – it was pretty much a banner year!

I have a couple of friends who are going through some difficult things right now.  I remember after my divorce feeling like things would never, ever get better.  And then they did… and then they stalled again for a while.  They didn’t backslide; they just didn’t continue the dramatic upward trend either.  And now here I am at 31 feeling like things are on an upward swing again (abrupt realization that, if we want to have kids in the not-too-distant future, we can’t afford the amazing house down the street aside).  It’s kind of nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel and to be reasonably confident that it’s not a train! 

Here’s hoping that 31 keeps going down the path that 30 has started!

A passing

I learned today that the child I sponsor in Vietnam died today.  He had severe Cerebral Palsy with little motor ability.  Luong had no way of communicating that his tummy hurt.  Today he died of appendicitis.  I haven’t sponsored him that long but did feel a bit of a connection to the little guy.  He was a kiddo with a difficult medical condition born in a difficult time in a difficult place.  Had he been born in the US he would have lived longer and had more.  But in Vietnam he had loving caregivers who were doing the best with what they could.  They held him, played with him, and noticed that he liked things like new clothes.  And all on $11.30 per month on USD from the Vietnamese government and $9 per month from other private charities within Vietnam.  He will be remembered – here and in Vietnam.