Monday, August 28, 2006



Bahay kami dito sa Philippinas!

Thats our place on the right looking east.

That our house on the left looking west.

The back courtyard.

The front courtyard. We had carpenters repairing termite damage hence the mess.

The kitchen with the wounderful
clothes washer in the background.

Si Kate in the living room.


A shower and a flush crapper.

What else is there to say?



So we caught one of the chickens that runs around our yard at the host family house. After the capture Alan pins her down and slits its throat and begins to drain the blood. Yep, its our lunch. Much better this way that how all you chicken eaters get em in the States. On a side note, I ate dog last week in a drinking circle. Not very good but I'd take it over liver any day.



The process is rather peaceful all things considered.


Poor little chicken.


Yep its dead alright. Carlo and Aron make sure.

Hilda flash boils to loosen the feathers.


Romoving the feathers.


Ahh, from the yard to the table in two hours.


A class skit in the Philippines...real booze and real cigs(lit)

Tagaty!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Wow, it's been a long time since we updated this blog. So much for keeing you guys posted of what we are doing. So the original house fell through as the landlady decided SHE wanted to live in the house herself. I was texting her and she would not return my texts'. It was the day before Ambet our RM was coming to inspect the house and I texted her again, no response. So I called her up and she said the toilet was broken and it would take a month to fix it and then hung up on me. She then texted me to say that she would text me later on in the day. She never did, so Ambet decided to go to the house and see if anyone was there. The landlady was there and she told him that the place was no longer for rent. Ambet is always positive and always feels something can be done. So he drives us all around Palayan City to look for rentals. We find a small studio for rent which we would have to pass a nasty looking dog to get by the entrance and it's a studio! Pat and I would probably kill each other if we had to live in a studio together for 2 years. The only other option was a house that was currently being built and super small. It was also located next to a Piggery ( pig farm). Yeah, no thanks. Ambet was surprised to find the rental situation so bleak. So he said for us to just keep looking around and as soon as we find something he will make every effort to get it approved asap. This all happens the night before our Anniversary and so the next day we are so stressed out about not finding a place to live that our Anniversary is secondary at this point. No one knew it was our Anniversary except us, so it was odd to know this information and know that back home we would celebrate it but here it's just another night. That morning I heard on the radio that our host brother blares every morning the song "Somewhere over the rainbow" by the Hawaiian singer IZ which was played at our wedding and I started to cry. I have never heard that song here before and of all days to hear it, it was so oddly comforting, like "someone" knew it was our Anniversary and played the song. So back on the house hunt we decided to take that Friday off and look for rentals in the neighborhoods we did not search with Amebt. We walked everywhere and found "rentals" but there were really horrible. I mean some had gravel floors, no electricity etc. In the beginning we were so polite about it like "Thank you we'll think about it" then we just got so tired of it all we would tell them immediately it was not acceptable. I had asked a co-worker if she knew of any rentals in her area and she lives halfway between work and Cabanatuan City which is about 30 minutes away from work, so she lives 15 minutes away. She said she found a rental and said "I assure you, you will like it". but what does THAT mean? Well since it's a longer commute for Patrick as his commute from the house to Laur would be longer then mine, we said it would have to be perfect in order for him to be commuting like this daily. We saw it that same Friday after seeing all the horrible rentals and when we just saw the outside we knew it was perfect. It's a pink ranch style house made of cement. It has a gated fence all the way around the house with covered areas in order to hang outside of the house. It has a tree/garden area that we will be able to plant some flowers and vegetables etc. The inside is all tiled and has a nice kitchen area, 2 bedrooms and a walk in stock room and the all important bathroom with a flush toilet and shower. We loved it instantly. Ambet came to approve it four days later and the next day we moved in.
It is so nice to be on our own again. After being with host families since we arrived in country you forget how it's like to be on your own again, but we quickly remembered and it's been a lot of fun.