Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Well, we escaped the typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda as they are calling it here.  It hit south of us, so we just got rain and wind. The orange dot in the picture below is Manila.  You can see that the smaller islands to the south got pounded and were not as fortunate as we.  There is a huge relief effort going on here...

We had a really nice weekend.  We found a great pet store called Bow and Wow, so Kona is set with food, dishes, chew bones, you name it.  We went to the Sky Park which is green space on top of the SM Aura Mall.  It is a beautiful view from there and quite peaceful.  There is a chapel there where they hold church services every day and Samsung Hall, but I'm not sure what events are held there...

The last couple of days we have been concentrating on finding an apartment to live in.  We have been looking at 3 bedroom apartments as this 1 bedroom we are staying in now is getting smaller by the day.  We got it narrowed down to 2 and finally made our decision this morning.  I can't wait to get moved in and settled!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Our DHL shipment did arrive yesterday - all 4 suitcases (two of the cases are our scuba diving gear) and 3 boxes.  The boxes were a little beat up but no worse for the wear :)

Our French Press was in one of the boxes, so we were able to have real coffee this morning in our apartment - ah!  Our small DVD player was also in the shipment.  I was excited to be able to watch an episode of McLeod's Daughters, or Dr. Who (DVDs we brought with us to watch), but when Edi plugged it in, we heard a pop and saw smoke escaping the machine - yep, our DVD is toast!  Oh well :)

 Because we had to reorganize and get this wifi thing straightened out, Edi worked from the apartment for part of the afternoon.  He enjoyed some time working out on our balcony :)

Our first few days

October 31 - November 3, 2013

Our trip here to Manila was flawless.  We flew first class on Delta, and it is definitely the way to go!  We had a short layover in Tokyo and arrived in Manila at 10:30 Thursday night.  Our driver was waiting to take us to the Seda Hotel.  People were in costume roaming the streets going to and from Halloween parties - it was quite festive.  We arrived at our hotel and talk about comfort!  It was just what we needed after being in transit for 24 hours.

After having breakfast at the Seda Bistro, we met Liza at Serendra  Two.  She got us settled into our apartment and showed us around the property.  Serendra is really great - there are three pools, a workout facility a meandering garden with a man made, rocky stream.  It is so peaceful - difficult to believe we are in the middle of the city :)  We explored the area and checked out the new mall and supermarket within walking distance.  Of course we were killing time awaiting the arrival of Kona.

Kona arrived at 10:30 P.M.  We were so glad to see him!  Air Animal did a great job getting him to us :)  We walked the grounds to let him get acclimated and then headed to the apartment - it is going to be a different lifestyle for him!

Saturday was a great day enjoying the apartment (our view is beautiful!) and exploring the area.  We took Kona for a nice, long walk to one of the parks in the area.  Even though it was dark (the sun sets at 5:30) it was still humid, sometimes difficult to catch a deep breath.  We will all get used to that I suppose.

Sunday was another great day.  Just relaxing and letting our systems get used to the time change and climate.  Of course Edi had to go into work today (Monday).  It was a 16 minute walk for him - a straight shot from our complex.  What a nice commute!  I am hanging around the apartment today.  I think DHL is supposed to deliver what we shipped today - I can't believe it has gotten here so fast! 

Our Move to Manila, Philippines

November 2, 2013

First of all let me say that Edi and I have always known that we were blessed, but our move to Manila has let us know ten times over just how blessed we are.  Our support system is truly incredible.  The well-wishes, positive thoughts, and prayers we have received throughout the moving process have humbled us.  There are no words to describe how we feel about our families and friends - they have supported us, prayed for us, given us encouraging words - all of theses things have helped us through this stressful, exciting time.  It was so difficult to leave family and friends behind and to leave the comfortable lifestyle we had built; however, we know that we would have regretted not taking this opportunity.  Making it through the selling of our house (well, it is under contract), the selling of our car, seeing Kona off on his three day journey, the 24 hour travel day we had, we are finally here, and we are already having a great time!

Manila, Philippines August 30, 2013

Today we walked Bonafacio High Street, a street filled with shops and restaurants.  We began our adventure at Bo's Coffee Shop...

We window shopped and just explored the area.  There was a 3D painting on the sidewalk...

No, I'm not about to fall on that crevice!  We made our way down to Market, Market Mall...

There is an open air produce/flower market at the entrance...

The mall itself is huge - 5 levels including a cinema...

There is an Ace Hardware and a Wendy's in the mall!  The grocery store is actually on the basement level of Metro Department Store.  We picked up a few groceries and stopped for a Jamba Juice on the way back to the apartment :)

Manila, Philippines 8/26-27, 2013

The flight from Atlanta to Seoul, Korea was very long but actually not too bad.  We had a two hour lay over in Korea...

The 3 1/2 hour flight from Korea to Manila was painful-I guess because we were so tired!  Our driver was waiting for us when we arrived, and we got to our apartment at Sebu Suites safe and sound.  

Edi went into the office on Tuesday - I took a picture of him walking to work from our window.  What a nice commute!

While Edi was at work, I did some reading by the pool...

We walked to High Street where there are shops and restaurants.  We decided on Italiano's for dinner.  After dinner we walked through Market, Market Mall and found a proper super market:). After a nice walk back to our apartment, we called it a day :)

Maggie Valley 8/15-8/18, 2013

Edi and I headed up to The Mountain Landing, our house in Maggie Valley, North Carolina for the weekend.  We had a great time - Kona really had a good time being able to run around chasing all kinds of critters :)  Friday evening we walked around Lake Junaluska and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.  Saturday evening, we walked up 'our mountain.'  It was so cloudy we couldn't even see the top of the mountain across the way!  Back to Decatur rested and relaxed :)