Life in the Philippines

I know it has been quite a while since I put anything here. I was out of town for an extended period, then had health issues, and now things are just hectic between work and home life.  If you have been trying to call us, we’ve had a box failure for Vonage. We are currently waiting on a replacement box which will let us get back in the phone world. In the mean time if you need to get in touch with me, email still works!

I’ll be back here in a day or so with Halloween pictures and some more flood relief pictures.

Currently I am out of the country but the rest of the family is still there. Rains from the Typhoon have been tremendous but they are safe and the house is not in danger of flooding. The pictures of the city and those surrounding where we live are devastating. I am not sure when I will be home but will update more when I can. For now, please say a prayer for the folks in and around Manila who have lost their homes, for the ones still stranded and struggling with how they will make it. Be advised, the pictures in this link are not filtered like the American Media does. There are pictures of bodies within this link but the pictures speak loudly of the circumstances in the area today.

Pictures of Flooding in the Philippines

When the movie Bucket List came out many people were talking about their list of things to do before they die.  I’d like to do a little bit different type of bucket list.  Every time we leave a location we have lived, we think back to all the things we wished we had done.  We have time left to do them now so I’m making my bucket list of things I want to do before we leave the Philippines.  Here’s mine, do you have a Bucket List of things to do? Maybe things to do before your kids go to college, things to do before summer is over, things to do before your child starts school? What’s on your list?

Find Invisible Sisters, donate products, buy items
Visit the Children’s Orphanage
Feed the Children with Reach Youth
Visit the Rice Terraces
Go to Tagaytay again and make it to the volcano
Visit Baguio
Learn to make Adobo, Pancit, lumpia etc

When you think life is tough, consider what others are going through.

Please take a look at this website.

http://www.invisiblesisters.org/meetinvisis.php

If you click on the left hand links you will read some of the stories and see some of the pictures of the women and their crocheting of plastic bags, sold for next to nothing, but providing an income for their families.

I especially like the one of the woman’s whose husband did not believe in her efforts. Now that she is making money through her crafting, she puts the sticker of each sale on the mirror to remind him of his lack of faith.

I will be researching it further and share what I find, what I am able to donate for their use, and where the items can be purchased.

Things have been hectic here again. I guess that is just the normal pace.  Between me having medical woes, the SkyCable not coorperating, and my lousy memory, I forgot to post the grocery prices from the Price is Right blog I did earlier this month. You can read the initial thread here  

For those of you curious about what things costs in the Philippines, these items were bought in Makati City on 08/08/09.  I have ranked them from least expensive to most.

• Oreo Cookie single serving pack, has 3 cookies, 7 pesos (.14)
• A single size lays chips bag (14 pesos) (.28)
• Orchard Fresh Lean and Light Four Seasons Juice Drink, single serving plastic bottle, 16 pesos (.32)
• Oreo Minis pack, 24 pesos (.48)
• Dole Bananas: there are 6 in the bag: 40 pesos (.80)
•  1 Bottle of Lemon and Lime Gin (about the size of a wine bottle and yes I bought it at the Grocery store!), 62 pesos ($1.20)
• 1 Litre of LowFat Milk, 81 pesos ($1.60)
• 1 500 gram (100 cup serving) Coffee Mate, 90 pesos ($1.80)
• 1 Ocean Spray CranApple Juice. 173 pesos ($2.46)
• Energizer Batteries 4 pack AA, 150 pesos ($3)
• A Kilo of Medium level ground Beef (probably equates to an 80/20 in the US) and a Kilo is 2.2 lbs, 160 pesos ($3.20 for 2.2 pounds)
• Bag of Walnuts, 2 1/2 cup, 279 pesos (5.58)
• The Wok it all sits in, 280 pesos ($5.60)

A couple of observations from this list.  The single pack of Oreos is packaged here in the Philippines and the mini oreos were imported.  That dictates the triple price for not much more cookie.  I guess walnuts are expensive everywhere and this was actually cheaper than the first bag we bought which was more than $7. The wok is actually the best deal in comparison to what I would pay for one in the US and it is very sturdy. But the moral of the story, when considering my earlier blogs about $16 cans of ground coffee has to be “Drink Gin Not Coffee!”