My friend offered to have Josh and Naomi for the day last week and she mentioned to me a couple of days ago how polite and complimentary Josh was. Apparently he walked around her apartment complimenting everything. I can imagine this, he is very good at that. It would have gone something like "I like your ........"; "............is so beautiful"; "That ........... looks lovely". She also said he thanked her for everything she gave him. He is good at that too. Even on Sunday in the fast food place, he said, "Thank-you for getting this delicious food, mummy". And I didn't even make it! As my friend's husband said, "Let's hope he's still like it at 13!". But if not, I'll take what I can get : )

Plastic Burgers

We were having lunch in Wendy's (fast food place) and Rose starts reading off the signs round the room and she made Steve and I smile knowingly when she read "plastic burgers" instead of 'classic' burgers!

Two Places at Once

Today we chose to divide and conquer - something I suspect we will have to be doing more of in the not so distant future! Steve took Josh to football and Naomi went with them because they were going to a party straight after. I took Rose to Church for the kids' "advent fest". I thought she might enjoy it. It was called the Advent Mystery and she had 9 stations to do activities at and then she qualified as a detective. They were cool stations: some of the ones I saw was "dodge the catapult", a tunnel maze looking for green things, decorating cookies and an obstacle course. I think she had fun although none of her other Sunday School classmates were there but she said she went round by herself and she made it to detective.

Then we had an adventure as I took her home on the MRT. It was her first time on there and I discovered, for the first time, that the front of the train is reserved for females, children, elderly and disabled. (It reminded me of using Mexico's underground which had the same thing and it is definitely worth it.) We headed up to the front and found it pretty full as, unsurprisingly, it was full of women travelling in safety! We had to make a change to a different line and the next train (now the LRT) was a lot more spacious so I think Rose enjoyed it more. Steve picked us up at the station.

Our Thanksgiving

A Brit hosting Thanksgiving for her American friends? Sounds crazy but it's exactly what I did! It was really special and felt like a family gathering - although I'm sure not as good as being with real family on Thanksgiving.

I tried out some traditional recipes - Green Bean Casserole and Pumpkin Pie. They both came out good. Josh and Naomi helped me scrape all the seeds out of the local equivalent of a pumpkin. (I made it from scratch) and I had fun cooking all afternoon. I did mashed potatoes as they are traditional but Steve and Wendy insisted I make roasties too. Wendy made a peppermint pie (very yum) and Kate and Bonnie prepared the turkey. It was very good and, I think, probably qualified as a "feast" for Rose.

The kids had prepared some cool turkeys from handprints for place names. And I stole some decorations from school to put up. We also put our Christmas decorations up before everyone arrived.

When I sit back and reflect on what I am thankful for, I realise how extremely blessed I am. Thank-you God.

Grade 1 Thanksgiving

Steve doing the welcome and teaching us some Native American sign language.

Grade 1 and 2 learn about the pilgrims and Native Americans (respectively), and then have their own Thanksgiving Feast. Rose was very excited about this and has constantly been on about the "feast" all week. She wanted to take this "rainbow turkey" she had made but we wouldn't let her!

Pilgrim Rose saying what she is thankful for: "family, Bible, my bedroom".

I went along to help decorate the hall and tables where they were eating. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the program too. The actual story of the original Thanksgiving feast is very interesting. (You can read it here if interested).

Rose eating the "feast".

Talking to Adults

Joshua told me that he is happy to talk to adults, "but not all children are. Some are shy about talking to adults." He explained he had seen Christian's dad at football and he and Rose had said hello, "because it's good to talk to adults".

It reminded me that one of the classic signs of being a TCK is the ability to converse with adults. It was interesting that he even brought the concept up. It also made me realise that my kids really do make a choice not to talk back when accosted by strangers when we are out, because obviously they could.

A New Day

A better start to today. Both my mum and dad sent me an email and they lifted my spirits.

We have recently finished watching "Firefly" but the sad thing the series was never resolved. I think we like resolution, with neat endings, but life isn't really like that, is it?

The Day Without End

I've been praying that my friends won't feel too homesick this week with it being Thanksgiving but I think I could easily have boarded a 'plane and flown "home" today.

I woke this morning feeling decidedly grim with my sinuses all blocked again, sore throat and earache.

Thankfully, it was a slow start day so once Rose was packed off, I could plod at my own pace.

The doc rang to check up on me so I talked to her about my latest symptoms and Rose's complaints and decided I had to get a dr's appointment ASAP for Rose. So I worked on that, getting the very last appointment at the discretion of the doctor.

I got ready to go shopping and got in the car and, once again, it would not start. I felt pretty deflated. I was at least sure it was the battery this time as it wasn't even starting. So I called Steve as I already felt I'd had enough for one day and he called the mechanic who came out and took the car away after jump-starting it. So much for shopping.

The car came back in time to take Rose. As I was driving I was marvelling at the minimal traffic and thought, 'There must be a lot of Monday cars,' as the realisation struck me that I was driving a MONDAY car!! Shortly after that I saw a batch of traffic cops. I avoided them by driving down the far lane at a fast clip and was considering turning round for home when I got pulled over by the next traffic cop. To compound my error, I did not have my driving license in the car. So he and his partner - who he called over - start saying "impound" and I end up parked in this car park with my head in my hands while he says, "Want car impound? What do you want?" Obviously waiting for me to offer money. He claims it will cost me 2500 pesos to get my car released and a long time to get it back (that part I definitely believe). So I end up paying and am allowed to go home. With Rose still insisting she wants to see the doctor!

When I got home I got very upset and, once again, I am grateful my husband is the coolest dude ever.

As for wanting to go "home", I'm home wherever Steve is. I don't think any place feels like home anymore. And, actually, I don't believe it should because I don't think I will be home until after I die.

Weekend Away

Steve and I enjoyed our first weekend away just the two of us since we were back in England 2 1/2 years ago! We stayed at "Uncle Simon's hotel", enjoying the peace, reading lots and dong Christmas shopping. It was lovely.

Before we left I said to Joshua and Naomi that they had to be good for aunty Karen. "Why?" said Josh. Hmmm, not a great start, I thought. "Because she is in charge while mummy and daddy are away", I said. I think he accepted that!

On Saturday, in the mall they were having a Korean cultural experience. The slogan read, 'Taste foods. Make fun. Love Cultures." I had to laugh because at that moment they had some musicians up on the stage and I really did want to "make fun".

When we picked the kids up after church, Rose gave us a blow by blow account of their weekend. They all told me at lunch that they missed us, and I told them I missed them too. : )

Princess Dress 2

Rose wore her jacket to school this morning because it was "cold". I kept correcting her and saying, "It's cooler". She asked, "Why do you keep changing it from cold to cooler? It's cold." I said, "Not really." (It's about 23 degrees!) "This is not cold but it feels cool to us". When we got to school lots of the kids had their jackets on which made me smile.

So, I made a smaller version of the princess dress for Naomi. It was a lot quicker as I knew what I was doing this time! I asked her to try it on and she said, "It's great, mum", then "Ohhhh, but it doesn't have the sparkle. I must have the sparkle!" She was referring to the net that I put over the skirt. I said, "I'm going to do that now. I just needed to check the size."

When it was complete, she had to wear it there and then. So she wore it up to school and she wore it to her friend's house.

Princess Dress

Rose is attending a birthday party for one of her classmates on Saturday and they can go in princess dresses so it provided the kick I needed to finally get on and make her the dress that she has been bugging me to make for her for a few months. I used one of her doll's dresses as the basic pattern and was pretty pleased with the result. So was Naomi as she demanded her own dress, "right now". I explained it had taken me all morning to make Rose's and I wasn't going to make it right now. That wasn't good enough for her but she had no choice!

Let's Pretend

This afternoon Rose was colouring and Joshua came in as a knight and she clasped her hands under her chin, tilted her head to one side and said, "Oh, he's so handsome. I could marry him!"

Josh was protecting Queen Naomi. He got her a throne and a "red" carpet and she put her crown on her head and was very into the part.

Frustration

Rose has been complaining of headaches and not feeling well so i finally got round to taking her to the doctor. I asked Lea to ring and make sure the doctors were there. Just as well. The one I was planning on going to is away till Friday. Unfortunately she was the one on duty after school so that meant I had to take Rose out of school this morning and go. I asked Lea to double check the doctor was there and the office assured us she was. So I go and get Rose - who is very unimpressed at missing class and wants me to get her back for Maths after merienda! I tell her it's highly unlikely given how long we'll probably have to wait to see the doctor. We arrive at 9:30. The clinic is supposed to start at 9 and we are 6th in line so I'm thinking this is pretty good. One hour later I realise the doctor is not even there yet. I ask the nurse when the doctor will arrive. Classic response: "She will be here ma'am. Maybe she has ICU patient. But she will be here."

Yeah, right! Her clinic is only supposed to be till 11 and it' s already 10:30. I'm fairly sure she'll be ringing any moment to cancel as she probably has another clinic in the afternoon at another place.

So I leave. I take Rose back to school - we manage to get there before Maths has finished so I scored a few brownie points there.

But I fumed all the way to the supermarket. Sometimes I can let these things slide but today I let it stress me out.

Shopping went well, no surprises - other than the whole of the vegetable and fruit section being cleaned out so all of it in trollies. I was pleasantly surprised by how speedy it was, given how much later I had arrived there than normal.

On the way home our car kept cutting out. Thankfully, I could re-start it each time so I did make it home but my frustration grew. We just had the fuel pump changed last week because it wouldn't start and I had to get the mechanic out again this afternoon for him to find the problem.

I'm still waiting to find out what and how much. Not the greatest day.

Friday Fiesta

It was the end of Filipiniana Week today and I went to help out at the fiesta for Lower Elem. I was in charge of the tsinella (pronounced chin-ella and means flip-flop) game where you throw your tsinella to try and knock the can over then run to retrieve your tsinella while the guard picks up the can and tries to tag you.

Rose is doing tinikling - a Filipino dance in and over bamboo.

Yuck!

This is the view from Faith on a "good"day.

This was the view from Faith (from a different angle but on a good day you would still see towers on the horizon) on Tuesday. You don't actually see how brown this delightful cloud of smog was but you get the idea. It's days like these I do not like living in Manila.

I had dinner at Wendy's last night and we had a beautiful sunset, which she says have been par for this course this week, but that too only tells us how bad the pollution is!

A Complete Disaster!

Rose was very excited as today was Field Trip Day. The whole of Elementary was going to the Children's Museum and Rizal Park in Makati (I think the most time is spent on the bus). It was my day to pick up after school and as Rose tiredly climbed into the car I was a bit surprised when the first words out of her mouth were "Today was a complete disaster!" I had spoken to a couple of people who had accompanied the kids and I hadn't heard of any terrible incidents so I was ready for a "Roseism". I said, "Oh no, why is that?" Rose answered, "we spent the whole day on the field trip. We didn't do any of our normal stuff. It was a disaster!" I explained that was the point of a field trip - a trip that takes the whole day. But I think she is still convinced it was an unsuccessful day. So then she began quizzing me about the other activities they are doing this week as I think it began to dawn on her that this might not be a "normal" week! She was a bit perturbed by this I think.
But she did say she had fun today!
Steve happened to be on the same bus as Rose's class so they had the benefit of his idea of taking a DVD to watch on the bus. There have to be some perks to having the principal on the bus!

Packing Up

Elementary's Filipinania Week (a celebration of our "host" culture) begins on Monday and as part of the Ministry Day in the middle of the week the older grades are taking food and school bags full of stationery to flooded areas. Rose wanted to join the preliminary packing this afternoon, so we all went up and took part in filling bags with food. It was fun. We took a bag and walked round in a circle past different "stations", collecting an item of food. Then Bonnie and I took Joshua and Naomi outside to the circle so Josh could ride his bike and Naomi climb the big rocks. Rose was more interested in staying inside as that's where everyone else was. She told me this week she wanted "lots of friends". Spoken like a true extrovert!
We decided to have Steve's family birthday tea tonight as we were going out tomorrow for dinner.

Football Begins Again

The Parent Run Soccer League has started up again for the next few weeks. Rose decided she did not want to do it this year - although she would like to go to socialise, but not play. Josh was so excited about being able to play and has been talking non-stop about what colour he wants his shirt and what name for his team and what number he will be. He is very into numbers and likes big numbers - 100 is his favourite number. So he told me he would like number 10 on his shirt as it's almost the highest number you can have in football (daddy has been educating him). I was very interested to hear him and Rose discuss football and some of the rules. Rose turned out to be quite the authority on football which surprised me (but shouldn't have really) considering her lack of interest in playing as the "season" wore on last year. But she knew her stuff.
The girls and I spent the morning at home while Josh and Steve went up as it was partly the arranging meeting as well as the first games. Then Josh had a birthday party straight after and then we joined them for a swim - in a very cold pool.
According to Josh, football was "great" and he loved having his own pair of football boots that friends passed on to us.

The Gracious Hand of God

The past 3 days has been Admin Council again. Tuesday I only did a half day as Steve was still away. I even still did my carpool runs! Weds I had to go public so Steve could have the car so he could do a later start and an earlier finish. The first leg on the jeepney was fine and I was actually a little early. I got off the jeepney (slightly too early, it's amazing how different the road looks from the jeepney compared to the car - especially when you are craning your neck to look out of the window because you are taler than the average rider). I put my backpack on my back and began crossing the bridge to the other side of the "road" (actually a 6 lane carraiageway) when I felt a bump on my bag. I looked round but didn't really see anything suspicious. Then I felt a harder bump and I whipped round to see a man about to relieve the contents of the front pocket of the bag. It had my phone and purse in. He had a limp so couldn't run and in a rush of adrenalin I pushed him very hard. He moved off and I couldn't believe how angry and violated I felt. It was partly my own fault for wearing the bag on my back - I know that's a no-no. So I get down to the other side of the road and get a taxi almost immediately. I was pretty shaken by then so rang Steve and that made me feel better.
The taxi driver asked me where I was going. "Commonwealth Ave".
"whereabouts on Commonwealth?"
"fairview"
We whip off through all these back streets and I'm beginning to think I've told him the wrong thing. We come out right at the top of Commonwealth - I don't think I've ever been up there! and end up doing a tour of the fairview area and detouring to the SM Fairview mall before straightening out where I actually want to go. The taxi driver gives me a lesson on what the various areas along Commonwealth (it's a big road) are called so that I don't make the same mistake again! I ended up being late having spent an extra 45 minutes in the taxi than I really needed to.
Admin Council itself was a breeze by comparison : )

Describe a Lemon

For writing, Rose had to take an object to describe. We talked about many options - they have been using the 5 senses to describe the object as detailed as possible. She settled on her stuffed toy cow (which smelled dusty) and a lemon. She did a great job in the car describing the lemon and we talked about how she could cut it to taste it. She said, "we can't cut it, there isn't a knife in the classroom". I said, "that's OK, Miss Wright can get one from the EMC (Elementary Materials Centre)." Rose looked aghast, "No, she can't go to the EMC, we'll all be silly". I had a little chuckle as I pictured the scene. I said, "You're right. We'll take it to Miss Wright before school starts and she can get a knife ready." And that's what we did.

Uncle Simon's Hotel

We got to spend the afternoon at "Uncle Simon's Hotel". It has become his hotel ever since he stayed there while visiting us. Rose even went so far as to ask if we were swimming in his pool! It's a bit like the condos are "Aunty Wendy's building" despite all the other people we know who live in that building.

We were able to go because it is where Steve is staying for his administrator's conference, and though we only got to see him for about 20 minutes, we did enjoy the perk! It actually took us far longer to get to the pool than I anticipated as the malls were closed - or opening late - as it was a public holiday. But we made it and enjoyed lounging by the poolside and swimming in the cold pool. It's always nice to do something slightly different, and as my friend said, "you feel like you are in a different city sat by that pool".

We were all tired coming home though and Joshua and Naomi crashed in the car. Rose started throwing up so all three went to bed as soon as we got home. Josh woke up after a few minutes so he and I had tea together before attempting to put him to bed which was not entirely successful!

When Naomi woke up in the morning (at 7!) she was most upset that she was still in her clothes!