Home again and over the jet lag

I’m glad to report that the rest of the trip in the Philippines went well and that I made it home safe and sound last Saturday night.  As the conference in Tagaytay went along, I found that I was exhausted by the end of the day, which is why I pooped out on writing in this blog.  I was very pleased to meet adoption professionals from all over the US, as well as adoption officials and orphanage officials from throughout the Philippines.  I got very excited about adoption from the Philippines the more I learned about it and the need there.  I also learned a lot about the Filipino culture, which was really cool.

The trip home was uneventful and l…o…n…g.  Interestingly, every flight I had that originated in a US city was late and every flight I had that originated overseas was on time.  Hmm, guess those reports of all the late flights over the summer weren’t wrong!  I’m home now and was happy to see P. and the cats.  It took a while to get over the jet lag and I’m still not caught up at work but that’s not surprising.

Well, no exciting updates… just wanted to say I’m home.  I’ll post some photos when I can.

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.)