I had set a reminder to blog our updates weekly but since landing in Manila, life has been a good busy, hectic at times, but good. We are almost at our 2 month mark in the Philippines but somehow it feels way longer! It’s been an absolute whirlwind and we are loving life.
A few days after arriving Manila, Tara and I were off on our Greece trip.! We spent 2 weeks touring the islands, eating yummy food, drinking wine and beaching. I can’t wait to go back and will be planning a trip for 2020!
We had a slight change in our housing and decided it was better for our family and probably my sanity to live in the house I grew up in for a year in Kawit, Cavite. It is a city an hour south of Taguig (where we were originally going to live.) It is what Terence will refer to as the real Philippines. While I would eventually like to invest in a condo in BGC, Kawit feels more like home. Plus it makes a huge difference to have family close by.
We are pretty much settled in and have somewhat of a normal schedule going. Still waiting for our internet to get installed, water heater for the shower and a few personal items that need to get picked up at the condo. The house is pretty big (for us) and old! The house has also collected many things over the years and all I want to do is purge and clean up! I’ll have to see what I can do here!
It seemed like a daunting task to find a new school for Teren to go to in Kawit as we really only had a couple days to get everything set up with school starting so soon. With a bit of help from my cousin, Jaja, we got to visit a couple schools and decided the International British Academy would be a good fit for him. It’s a bit of a drive from the house but doable and not so bad, 30-40 minutes depending on traffic and weather. On the first day of school, we tested out their bus service, which seemed great up until I rode back with them (had to give the driver directions to the house since it doesn’t show up on google maps/waze) and holy shit. It. Took. THREE. HOURS. to get home. 3 hours and 14 drop offs later, we were the last ones since we live the farthest. I couldn’t imagine making Teren sit in that commute everyday. SO, I’m buying a car and getting my Philippine drivers license. As some of you know, I really don’t enjoy driving but I’m willing to suck it up and drive if it will save Teren from waking up super early (5am) and a 3 hour home commute. My cousin is taking me to look at cars today, hopefully it’s painless and easy!
Oh, Tara made the cut of 23 for the PWNT and will be flying out to Thailand next Tuesday for 2 weeks to compete in the AFF Women’s Championship. I’m a bit jealous that Terence is going but I did have Greece not too long ago so it’s only fair, right?
Tara is almost officially enrolled/registered at De LaSalle Univ. She’s going pre-med and has a spot on the soccer team, GO ARCHERS! School starts mid-September!!!!
Life is good.
Keep posting these. I love reading them! I wish you all luck there, what an adventure 🙂
That was comical but true. . .
I was just in Cebu last week and went to a mall there. We were curious and found a grocery in the bottom floor of the mall. Same dang lines. What we thought was few minutes to pick up some shampoo, turned into a long wait lines. Bathroom, lines. Checkout took good part of 30 minutes.
Wait, when we want to go back to hotel and lo and behold another line to wait for taxis.
Your family’s bold move sounds like an adventure.