Chinatown

 

 

One thing is for sure, there isn’t much down time here in the Philippines. I am not sure if my calendar has ever been so full! Don’t get me wrong, it is all fun stuff! My thought, though, of moving here and working on my photo albums or reading book after book have been thrown out the window. My latest adventure? CHINATOWN!

A get together was planned by one of the ladies in a group that I have joined here in the village. This particular tour came in sections: 1. A Food Wok tour (a sampling of food in various restaurants in Chinatown) 2. Chinese Cemetery tour or 3. Both

After reading Joanna’s blurb on Facebook, I will just be completely honest and tell you I had no intentions of joining the Food Wok tour. Let me take that honesty to another level and just mention that I had been bit by the Filipino tummy (like Mexico’s Montezuma's revenge).  No way, Jose, was I going on any food excursion! All it took was my friend, Jane, tapping the seat saying, “Sit down, honey, let’s talk. You will love it. Come along.”  No, I won’t love it, but okay. I never was really good with peer pressure, so I signed up for both tours. On the morning of the tour, I told my helper I was heading out on a Chinese food tour and then to the cemetery. She giggled and asked, “Why ma’am?” My response, “Honestly, Marites, I don’t know.” And off I went…with about 25 of my newest friends.

The Big Binondo Food Wok

The group gathers at the Ramada Inn in Chinatown.

It was the week of Chinese New Year, so the area was quite decorated.

 

Our first stop lead us down this alleyway. I wasn't so sure I wanted to turn.

 

Dish one: Freshly wrapped spring roll with carrots, cabbage, peanuts, tofu, shrimp stock, seaweed, pork. (Also known as Lumpia.) Not bad.

 

The second restaurant was located in the market area.

It was in this market area that I became aware that I may need to work on my facial expressions. In a normal situation, my "relaxed face" isn't all smiles. When I can FEEL myself frowning and my eyebrows raised, I know my look isn't pleasant!

Okay, but who would smile at this?! I don't even think they were on ice!

 

Our tour guide is giving us the history on the restaurant. It was opened in 1968 by a 60 year old woman!

Dish two: A tofu dish that is deep fried and sits on sweetened soy sauce. The guide said, "Put a slice on your plate with a little bit of black sauce, little bit of chili sauce and watch it explode in your mouth." I was just hoping it wouldn't explode OUT of my mouth!

At this restaurant, we also had egg noodles (with satay sauce, beef and local spinach) and meat pie (with chives, veggies, pork, tofu). I didn't catch the Chinese names for any of these dishes. Not my favorite

 

Stop three: A dumplings (jiaozi) restaurant. It serves food that is influenced by the Northern region of China.

Everything is made in house. They even grind their own meat.

 

Speaking of meat...this was sitting in a chair that we walked right by to go up the stairs to be seated. And let the gagging begin! Notice the legs of the person sitting at the very next table!

Food Prep

 

When we sat at the table, I was CERTAIN bugs were all over this jar! Actually, they were chili flakes in their house made chili oil (that was probably prepared by that guy chopping the meat).

This time of year, the dumplings are made to look like a gold coin. Yummy

Chinese pancake: yummy

Our tour guide wouldn't tell us what this was until we tried it. Not this chic. I waited it out. He joked and mentioned Chicken feet. Not cool. I may have liked it had I not seen the bowl of chicken downstairs.

The view going downstairs.

The reason I joined this portion of the tour was because of Jane (in black). Her lovely parents were in town visiting (sitting just to the left). This was near the end of the tour, my belly was still okay and I actually was enjoying myself. Thanks Jane!

I didn't catch the name of this dish. Our funny tour guide joked again and mentioned Balut. If you don't know what it is, look it up.

Yeah, no.

Probably my favorite dish! It was a cold soup with mango and tapioca. YUMMY!

 

Chinese Cemetery Walk

I was not sure what to expect from the Chinese Cemetery tour. It did not disappoint! Imagine walking through a neighborhood, only there are no live bodies living in the houses. I was fascinated by the history and the set up!

 

The first mausoleum that we came upon. Or at least the first one in my pictures.

Apparently this mausoleum comes with a guard dog.

 

The outside of one mausoleum....

...and the inside.

 

Touring the "neighborhood".

 

Sometimes loved ones move away...and they don't leave anyone behind. Seriously.

If you strain your eyes, behind the gate of this mausoleum you will see the portrait of a man and his TWO wives.

Here is another man that also had two wives. The red sign shows that one of the wives is still living.

Four portraits=husband with three wives.

Some of the structures were pretty amazing!

This one caught my eye because in lieu of flowers, this man has cans of food.

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

My own personal amusement park

Miracle Strip Amusement Park was the place to go in the summer when I was younger. My nights there would be filled with laughs as we rode rides like the Log Flume and Dante’s Inferno. Some of my best belly laughs came while riding the Musical Express! All was fun and games until my cousin, Amy, wanted to ride the roller coaster. “Come on, Chryssa, you’ll like it.” Truth be told, I hated every moment in the forever long line and the anticipation as the coaster climbed each steep hill. As I departed the ride, even though my hands ached from holding on so tight, I still managed a smile.

Since March, my time in the states has been a little like those moments at Miracle Strip. I have watched beautiful sunsets and had great belly laughs as I have caught up with friends and family as we reminisced over old memories and made some new.  I was there to welcome my new nephew just a few days ago. What a special gift! My “hold on tight” moment came when Tony’s mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May. As frightening as that moment was for all of us, she has pulled through and doing better than we could ever imagine!  Our roller coaster ride continued as our place of residency came into question. In June, it became pretty clear that Texas was not going to be our home…at least not at the moment. We became hopeful for a project in Raleigh, NC. Unfortunately that fell through. It now looks like our family will be relocating to the Philippines. The kids and I will head to Clemson for the start of school while Tony awaits final word on our move. And so the roller coaster ride continues. Hey, maybe I will like it…and manage a smile.
 

Here are a few pictures to highlight our summer

 

Noah, Kendall, and Hannah Grace doing one of their favorite summertime activities.

 

A baby shower for my fabulous sister!

Hannah Grace and Giggy just days after the brain surgery.

Hannah Grace's 8th grade dance

 

 

 

Auburn Basketball Reunion

 

 

 

Florida vacation

Everyone loves to hear Uncle Bill's stories!

Happy July 4th!

 

Hannah Grace's big catch...all on her own!

 

Putt-Putt with the cousins

 

 I just loved that this belly laugh was caught on camera!

 

Introducing Micah Ellis Moore!