Holy Sewage, Batman!

Backed up sewers…apparently that’s a thing here in the Philippines. I was introduced to this delight just two weeks into my move.

I met one of my neighbors today just as Tony was headed back to work from lunch. I asked her to come in and sit on one of our two chairs (our furniture still hasn’t arrived). As we sat and chatted, I noticed water running onto the floor in the room just off the den. Tony was oh-so-close to escaping before I yelled, “Hey, Tony, before you go…” He went in first to assess the damage. I crept in behind him only to be knocked off my feet by the wall of stench that greeted me. Y’all, the poop had come up from the drains in the shower floor, seeped over the ledge, and was running into the connecting room. Poop…Everywhere. I ran for towels and as I passed them off to Tony, MY NEWLY MET NEIGHBOR JOINED HIM IN THE CLEANING EFFORT! She was on her hands and knees on the poopy floor. Gag.

Unfortunately, until the sewer drain became unclogged, there wasn’t much that could be done. Tony went to work. My neighbor went to her house. I cried. Despite today being a holiday, Tony was able to call for help. About an hour after discovering the mess, someone came to the rescue and did the necessary unclogging. Next thing I knew, my driver was attempting to clean the bathroom. As much as I wanted him to finish, I couldn’t let him do it. So, I buckled down my gagging reflex and cleaned up the poop…oh so much poop.

Just the other day, I sat down to write a new post on my blog titled “To maid or not to maid…seriously that IS the question.” Well, folks, no need to post that blog. Bring on the yaya!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

One of these days I will learn that the only thing worrying does is age me. This week I am guessing I have aged about 5 years in 5 days. Parenting is hard, though, and sometimes I can’t help but worry.

The children started school this week at Brent International School. It can facilitate up to 1500 students, I believe. The Elementary, Middle School, and High School (known here as lower, middle, and upper schools) are all housed on one campus. The facilities seem fabulous and I am just grateful the kids can be at one school.

Tuesday/Our second day in the Philippines/ Registration Day:

The children and I arrived at Brent at 9:15 and were told we would be there until about 1:00 (yeah, right).  Hannah Grace and Ellis both had to undergo some testing that started at 9:30.  Because they had Ellis’s MAP scores from the states, he only had to answer a short essay. A mere two hours later, Hannah Grace finished her testing. Eventually Tony joined us for the interviews. Between both children, we had five interviews. The questioning started one on one with each child, and then we would join in. Once the interviews were complete, we moved on to transportation to get the children set up with the shuttle service in our neighborhood. Just to give you an idea of the size of our neighborhood, or “village”, there are 13 buses that service us. So, we leave the transportation office and our first set of tears came from Hannah Grace. Off to the uniform shop, where our second set of tears was shed by Ellis. He looked up at me and said, “I just want to go home.” And there it was… all three of us crying.  Luckily, Tony kept it together. Boy, would that have been a sight!  At 3:00 (a few hours off), we loaded in the car back to the house.

Much to Ellis's delight they had a few extra options to go along with the regular school cafeteria selections. He may actually eat school lunch!

Pastries or latte, anyone?

 

Grabbing some lunch with the traditional cafeteria setting in the background. I am sure Michelle Obama wouldn't like the soda station, but Ellis was thrilled!

 

Brent has a 25 meter swimming pool, two gyms, 400 meter track, two soccer fields, tennis courts, and a baseball field.

Looking out to the Upper School Building

Tony and  Ellis checking out last years yearbook

 

Another view of the campus

Wednesday/First Day of School:

After getting the kids off to school, I spent the day in worry and tears. I worried about what I had done to them by moving them overseas. Were they happy at school? Would it be too hard? Would they make friends? Would they eat by themselves? Would they make it on the bus after school? If they made it on the bus, would they know where to get off? If they didn’t, how would they contact me? Then I worried about how the guidance counselor had mentioned that, by sending Hannah Grace back to the states for her senior year, her transcript for college would be a mess. Hey, buddy, I have enough on my plate for now. Thanks, anyway.

And then, the children came home…on the correct bus…at the correct time…with smiles on their faces. Good thing I worried.

Okay, so the bus missed our house by a few, but they made it! Hannah Grace did have to go back on the bus to grab Ellis. Apparently he was chatting it up with a new friend.

All smiles!

 

Bribery?

So, this not-so-great photo is a screen shot from a video that I took as Hannah Grace got off the bus on the second day of school (YES, I AM that mom). She stayed late on Thursday to practice with the varsity basketball team. MAN, was she excited! Because it is late in the season, she may only get to practice with them. She isn't sure if she will be able to travel with them for their game in Vietnam. Wait. WHAT?!!!

 

 

 

 

Houston, We Have a Problem

As I write this, I fully realize that I may fall under much criticism and seem like a spoiled brat.  The critics may not be too far off. I decided to share my thoughts anyway. After all, this blog is supposed to capture my true feelings so that I may look back on it and recall our life experiences. While I realize my issues below are not real world problems, when you move with your family to the other side of the world, I feel it is okay to complain just a bit. So “here we go”! (Jason Arnold, do you get it?)

We have made the move to Alabang (the Philippines) and are struggling with a bit of jet lag. We flew in on Sunday night and arrived at the house around 10 PM. Much to my dismay, Tony left bright and early Monday morning to start a full week of work. The cupboard was quite empty, so for breakfast we feasted on snacks that we had thrown in our carryon. Thankfully, Tony came home for a long lunch and grocery shopping. I have found that grocery shopping is one of my biggest struggles when I move away. I miss all things familiar. Luckily, the grocery store just around the corner has a section devoted to the USA. This delighted the children and me! Finding the right cheese and milk was a different story. I settled on boxed milk. Gag. Who knew I would long for the Publix brand organic milk?! I gave up on the cheese and don’t get me started on the meat.

Day 2 has begun and I am still knocked out with jetlag. My emotions are in a whirl, which is where my spoiled-like attitude comes in…here we go! After eating cereal and boxed milk out of a cup (our items from the states have yet to arrive), I rinsed my cup out in the sick to the sadness of seeing no disposal. After standing there for a few moments, I realized that I was breaking out into a sweat. There is no air con in the kitchen. Which brings me to my next rant; there isn’t central air in the house, only individual units in certain rooms. So you sweat, turn the air on, freeze, turn the air off, sweat and repeat the process. So, after weeping over no disposal and no air con in the kitchen, I decided to wash clothes. I knew we had a washer and dryer, but couldn’t recall where. Oh, that would be outside in the maid service area (which I am sure will be a future blog). Boxed milk, no disposal, no central air, and my washer and dryer outside, I decided to call it a morning and start my blog.

Not to worry, I am embracing these little hiccups. They have taken me back to my days at the beach house on Albatross where Memama would sweat in the kitchen and the cousins and I would stand in front of the window unit, holding our shirts over the unit to cool us down. I don’t even think we had a washer and dryer. But, we were together… and at the beach. Here, we have a lovely house with a pool…AND WE ARE TOGETHER.

What is a blog without a few photos:

Ellis sacked out about an hour before landing.

Hannah Grace checks out the sushi on our layover in Tokyo.

A little wine and a movie for me!

Just a few bags!

 

Our driver, Cesar, high fives Ellis.

It only took two vans to carry us and our luggage.

Our first meal out

Milk in a box

 

Australia and the USA covered!