adventures in shopping!

i was craving some plain old home comfort food.  here's how that went.

you see the chips, whose package looks really familiar, but tasted very papery and odd.

you see the tuna, which was fabulous.

you see the sandwich spread, (ladies choice, hello 1950!) which i was hoping tasted like miracle whip, and it was pretty darn close except it had some kind of green bits in it, which i'm pretending were pickles, heh.

and then there is the teeny-tiny little jar of sweet pickle relish, which i found in the 'international' aisle at the grocery store.  and it tasted fabulous.

so here is the final product, it looks humble, but it was a very wonderful tuna sandwich lunch - seriously, it was fantastic. with grape tang. yum!

i found myself with the luxury of a ride to and from the grocery, so i decided to buy some ground beef and make a meatloaf.  been hesitant to buy meat because it's very hot here and taking public transportation or 'public' as they say, can take a while and ends with a long hot walk to get up the hill and back home.

anyway, i got all excited at the prospect and decided to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  when i got everything out to start cooking, it dawned on me that i don't have an oven.  ha.  no microwave either.  we have a 2 burner propane cooktop and a little toaster oven.  hmmmm.  no pan that fits the toaster.  so, i decided to make meatloaf meatballs, because we do have a frying pan!  

these are our two pans.

i started peeling potatoes, and about halfway thru the first one, the peeler came off its handle.  no problem.  after i had them boiling away, i realized there is no masher. when they were done cooking, i tried smashing them with a wooden spoon. uhhh, nope.  i ended up mashing them with a fork, yeah, that took forever, but it did work just fine.  and they were terrific.  and meatloaf meatballs are pretty
terrific, too!

 here are some other random goofy grocery pics.

this next pic is to let anita wiltse know that she could survive living in the philippines.

isabell, who is german, had a friend from germany who came to visit. her name is lilly, she is fabulous.  she is living in tei pei taiwan, and needed to leave for a bit to meet visa requirements. she had a friend named christina, also from germany, also fabulous, who was visiting her and came with.

they wanted to do some fabric shopping, so we went to taytay.

one street was filled with fabric, zippers, threads, etc., with fabric sold by the kilo or some by the yard - all sold very cheaply.   isabell purchased fabric to make slipcovers for her sofa.  gorgeous vera bradley fabric, 45" wide, P55 per yard.  like $1.20.

anyway here are some random shots from that trip.

 i took this because of the cool little cross made from a couple of sticks.  but, when i looked at it, it is a good example of the general chaos of the shops.  and the philippines.

this guy was parked in front of the school as it let out, and was doing a booming business.

this is the market at tickling, which we walk to at the bottom of our hill.  we went down so christina could try some coconut water.  like the shop above, i'm taken by how much drearier it seems in these photos.  there is also a small, but modern drug store here (remember my popsicle) and a couple of fast food places.  isabell is really good about always taking one of the kids with us so they get used to the world, but then we are the only white people at the market, and we have a filipino baby or two.  we get some strange looks and some crazy questions.

so this lady hacks the coconut and puts in a straw.  then you take a piece of the shell and scoop out the meat.  you can also just buy a baggie of the juice, which you see here in the jugs on the table.

i have gotten veggies here and eggs, which you buy singly and also bread and lemonade and fried bananas on a stick, treats and such.

this is where we catch a trike, and here is one we saw the other day.

this is also where you catch a jeepny, and here we are in one, returning from the mall. the trip was maybe a couple miles and cost P18.50, about 42¢.  the jeepny is the most common form of transport here, and the bane of my existence.  they are small and crowded, my head touches the ceiling, and getting on and off i always step on everyone and generally sit on someone when i find a seat.  there is no personal space here, but on a jeepny i pretty much feel like i'm channeling fiona.  once, my shirt got caught on a screw on the ceiling and i had to be freed by a fellow passenger.  yeah, it was delightful.  plus, as you see, i have to hunch over to look out the window so i'm never sure where we are and when to get off.  sigh.  but, a girl's gotta get out, so jeepny here i come.

here are the girls at starbucks, heh, so you see there are a wide range of shopping choices!  which makes it a very odd existence, with the humble market, the mall and the fancy coffee shop all visited during a single shopping trip.

it's pretty great.

it's also pretty surprising to me, what you can get used to, and how quickly.

i was reading in bed the other night, and a big daddy long leg type spider walked across the mattress in front of me. i smashed him with the book, brushed him off the bed, and kept reading.  i was washing dishes (cold water - remember no water heaters) and a spider came by and similarly i just squished him with the dishrag and kept washing.  not that i enjoy it, or always do well, but i am getting somewhat used to the critters.

no trash cans and you throw your trash down because if you didn't, then what would the guy do who gets paid to pick up trash.  or the lady who walks the neighborhood and gathers up all the plastic straws and does who knows what with them.

we pulled out of a parking spot the other day and jorge gave a guy some money out the car window.  i asked him why.  he said, because the guy was helping me to back out into traffic. i said, but you didn't really need it.  he said, he helps people, we give him a little money, and he does a little job and isn't out robbing people to get by.

:o)

xo   jo

okay, another little post which is pretty much about nothing, heh.

this morning, i was getting my laundry rounded up for ate jo.  there was a dress hanging in the closet, which i had worn briefly a couple of times.  it was not clean, but was still probably cleaner than i would be sometime when looking for something to wear, so i hung it back up.  anyway, i reached in the closet and took it from the hanger and stuffed it in the laundry bag.  

somewhere during that exchange, a big fat cockroach ended up walking down my arm. eeewwwwww, right!  it was disgusting!  one of us thought she was going to die, and one of us did.  blech!

this is our driver, jorge - he went with me to the mall to help me not get ripped off when i was buying a phone and the kid selling the phone took our pic to show the camera.  

he is really great, whenever we are with a group of people who are speaking tagalog, and they get laughing, he always translates so that we know they aren't laughing at us. although, he laughs at us all of the time.

we were running errands and katherine, who is a college student from the u.s., was sent to a place that sells used newspapers (what a place, i was literally scared to take a photo) which they use for births at the birthing home, you don't want to know . . .  and she asked him how much it should cost and jorge said, maybe i'll do it.  he keeps us all out of trouble.

and this is a pic of the dining area at the baby home, i just thought the school uniforms and the big kids laundry was kind of adorable.

this is a little video of the clothesline outside the front door of our apartment.  i went out to hang a wet towel to dry, until i saw the parade of little critters on the line.

this is a funny pic that isabell took of me in the nursery.  joy is in the sling and ezra is getting his lunch.  they are all getting older, with ezra and nicole who were just a week old when i got here, now both one month old and still sharing a crib, joy is 2 months, plus justin who is five months old which is two weeks older than mackinac, louie who is 10 months and aya who is the same age as maddie nadolsky, 10 1/2 months.

this is a terrible picture of me, uh, somewhat because my hair is the same color as the ceiling (yikes) but i will include it because i think it is hilarious.

this is the baby home, by candlelight, when the typhoon came thru and we lost power.

for the past few nights, a charming fellow has been spending the night in my bedroom.  he was, however, sleeping in a drawer on the floor.  one of the babies needed a little extra personal time, so i took him home with me for a few days and nights. got up every three hours to feed him and just held him a lot, awake or asleep. 

is he not adorable??  am i not too old to get up all night with a baby?  yes on both counts!!  but he is doing really well, so it's all good.

i will share with you a text i got the other night at about 8pm, from deborah, who runs the baby home portion of the ministry here.  we commonly refer to the little children's home, as tlc. "Thank you for your help at tlc snuggling the babies.  Your love is a tremendous blessing."

is that sweet, or what.

:o)

please keep all of us in your prayers!

xoxo jo

wow, we have had some weather as typhoon kalmaegi passed thru the country.  yesterday it pretty much rained all day, it was raining when i got up at 6 this morning to head downtown into makati (manila) for church.

this was katherine as we walked up the hill coming back from church.

in the evening, i went over to the baby home to get on line and after a short while, the power went out. katherine texted me earlier to keep my electronics plugged in just in case we lost power, so i had also tossed a flashlight in my bag.  there was an emergency light in the nursery, but it didn't come on.  i walked over and saw that it just wasn't turned on, so flipped the switch and we were good.  they lit candles all over to light the walkways and stairs, not osha approved, ha!  i hung out for a while

holding baby joy, then headed home.  

i got in to the apartment and opened a kitchen cupboard where there are matches and candles and a big pillar in a glass jar fell onto the counter and broke into a million pieces.

yeah, great.  

i swept it up as best i could by laying a flashlight on the floor. when i went in the back room to get the broom, i saw there was water coming out of one of the bedrooms doors.  

yeah, great.

there was a big cockroach in the bathroom, everyone together now . . . 

yeah, great.

i wasn't up to chasing him around in the dark, so i just sprayed the heck out of him at close range with bug killer and dealt with him later.

went to bed at 7:30, sort of regretting the nap i took this afternoon.  i was laying there sweating and reading with my super stylish and overly elegant for the philippines vera bradley booklight from beth :o) when the power came back on and my fan began working its beautiful magic.

yay!!

here is a little video i took for you when i got home from church, about 1pm.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=rTJOz5IVEps

i'm going to go ahead and post this, but i,m not sure how it's working for you.

it's 10 pm now, still raining . . . 

well, today i cried.

i was down in the nursery and deborah came in and said she had a request from a group of people at faith academy, which is a christian school for missionaries kids.  they were wondering if they could do something at the children's home for christmas.  most of the foreign staff goes home and the local staff are mostly off, so this would be really great for the kids.

she asked me what i was going to be doing, would i want to be involved, etc.  then she asked about christmas for my family, is it a big deal or just another holiday, and i got a big old boo-hoo going and the more we talked the more tears fell.

once i got started, there was no going back.  completely took me by surprise.

even though, christmas is the biggest bestest holiday at our house. and we do make a big deal of being together.  beth and grace and i were apart one year, and we agreed that none of us liked it, not one bit.  

evidently i better plan on staying pretty busy that day!

sigh.

on a somewhat brighter note, i had to get an extension on my visa.  wow, do that in a developing nation, sheesh!   thank goodness jorge drove and isabell went with me, as she has been here since may, and was renewing again as well. 

when an american citizen enters the the philippines, you must have an ongoing plane ticket within one year.  guess they don't want you hangin' around.  but, you only have to leave and can come right back. most people get a cheap ticket to shanghai and fly out and back.  duh.  anyway, when you enter the philippines, you automatically get a 30 day visa stamp in your passport when you go thru customs.

before the 30 days expire, you have to take your passport, a 2x2" photo, and P3030/$70, to the immigration office.  i went to the one here in taytay.  think, 1940.

these were from the car, hopefully i will visit downtown taytay and do some walking around very soon.  you see the tricycles that we use for public transportation, just a motorcycle with a covered sidecar.  we saw one with a pig in it the other day.

first stop, i took my passport to an office and waited in line for a lady to made a photocopy of the info page and a copy of the current visa page. that cost P20 for each copy, about 45¢.

then i got a big legal size 2 sided form.  think, a copy of a copy of a copy for a few years.  we actually went outside on the sidewalk to this table and chairs to sit and fill out the form.

it included a reference from a local person, listing their name, address and phone.  then we went from tiny crowded office to tiny crowded office getting all the stuff stamped recorded and whatever they were doing, but it took about an hour and a half.  however, a man did come by with a big tray of snacks, and he gave isabell and i along with the office staff, a treat.  he had fried sweet potatoes coated in some kind of gooey deliciousness, and deep fried sticky rice balls on a stick, and banana's wrapped in like won ton wraps and fried, then coated with some sweet yumminess.  uh, yes please.

everyone was pleasant even though the work conditions were cramped and it was a tedious process. we actually signed for the passport at the end, in a paper notebook like kids use in school. no computer.  they did use a computer (alledgedly) to check and make sure i'm not on the  "blacklist, watchlist, hold or intelligence derogatory records list".  whew!

i have to renew again in 30 days, but will get a 59 day visa next time.  59 days makes sense because, uhhhhhh?

tonight, i switched rooms at the midwife student apartment where i am currently staying.  kim returned to germany, so i moved my things into the room she was using. everything here is very moldy, due to the high humidity.  more about that later.   this room has two windows, so more light and a better breeze.  i hope.  

you know how we joke, it's not the heat, it's the humidity.  well, they weren't talking about michigan, heh, but here, it is really true.  check out the "feels like temp".

wish me luck!

here is a picture of one of my filipino babies . . .

and here is my sweet michigan baby!

thank goodness for her mommy, who sends me gobs of photos and videos every day.  and i love each and every one!  and i show them off to everyone here.

please stay in touch, i love to hear from you all!

xoxo     jo

hello friends!!

today i have really good news and sort of temporary bad news.

the good news is that i got a really great smartphone today, so i will always have a camera with me and i will start taking some awesome photos for you.

the bad news is, i have absolutely no clue how to work it!!

i will do my best to figure it out asap.  sigh.

in the mean time, i will post a few pictures that others have taken of me. sorry, this will be mostly old news for you facebookers.

i will also warn you, the only baby sling that is long enough for me here makes quite a statement!

:o)

don't you just want to smooch that face!!

let's practice our tagalog.  goodbye - paalam!

xo jo