Poverty

I knew before I came to the Philippines I was going to have a hard time with the true poverty here. I am not talking food stamps poverty where people live on $16,000 a year, I am talking about the poverty where people make less than $200 a year and have babies, and live in shanty squatter villages.

This past week I took Stella to a toddler mommy type class. The class was held at a local church in the area. As we walked out of the class the people came, and they came like zombies. "MAAAAAAAM" this one women (I think but not quite sure) who was emaciated wearing tattered clothes, carrying her glass bottle covered by a bag with glue for sniffing inside, came towards me begging for money. I had my two-year old daughter and she looked too high to realize that I was in mother lion mode, not feeling charitable when my daughter's safety was in danger. "MAAAAAAAAAM" she said again (ironically she was wearing a Dolce and Gabana pirated hat), and then more glue kids came-all with bottles covered in paper bags. The little ones were coming near my legs and I started to get really nervous. I picked my daughter up to protect her and made the sign for, no money. They ignored my sign and the got aggressive. With Stella in tow I started to make a scene. In that second my driver showed up and dispersed the crowd. We rushed into our car and left.

Poverty is not something new to this country but in the last month we have been hit with four typhoons. The people living in the shanty towns have had their homes destroyed four times in a month. Begging has always been here but this last week it was scary. The social cues were ignored, there is a desperation in the air.

Growing up in Florida, I am not a stranger to hurricanes. However, the preparations for hurricanes are not done here. At home with the oncoming of a category 2 hurricane we would tape windows and doors, fill bathtubs with water and hunker down. Here we just try to sleep through the wind and hope your windows don't explode.

Living here is so familiar and similar to home in so many ways. Our friends here are like family and help me feel like I am not so far from home. Yet, the extremes are so extreme. The people who are wealthy here are so incredibly wealthy, yet the poor are so poor there is a panic in their eyes. Although the Philippines is so familiar in many ways, it is still very foreign.

Columbus Day Fish Foot Fetish

I love living in the Philippines and having both American and Filipino holidays. It is especially fun since the Philippines declares new holidays all of the time.

.For Columbus day we went to the Manila Ocean Park Aquarium. It is really a nice place and exhibit. Afterwards we tried out a fish spa and had little fishies eat our feet. Seth and Stella were too ticklish to be able to handle it but I got into a zen mode and let them eat the tops of my feet (the bottom is just too sensitive)

In other news, like his big sister, Tiger has sprouted two bottom teeth at four months old. My kids just are in a hurry to grow up. He has been so sweet but a little whiny so it is nice to have a reason for the fuss.

You guessed it

This is the next clue.

Floods, Typhoons, Maids, and Chocolate

There has been so much going on in the past few days/weeks that I have had a hard time making myself blog. I feel like Facebook is the meth of the computer world. It is cheap and easy but not good, and it wastes you. Facebook has been taking all of my time neglecting the high art of blogging.

The past two weeks the Philippines has been spanked mother nature. When we heard there was a typhoon coming we did not think much of it. The Philippines is constantly getting hit by typhoons that usually turn out to be nothing. So when we woke up to rain we though that our maid was over reacting when she advised us not to leave the house. But it didn't stop raining, and it started raining harder. If it wasn't for a serious Stella tantrum we might have gotten stuck like many of our friends.

It was the most rain in 40 years. The road outside our home turned into a lake and within minutes our pool somehow became poop brown, not a coincidence.

Despite our condo having several stories above us before the roof we still had strange leaks in the middle of the house. Other than that we were fine. Sadly, the majority of people in Manila were not as lucky. Everyone was at least wet and many lost a lot more. Food, clothes, appliances were the minor losses. There were more than 200 people killed and certainly now the flood is taking its toll as the water has still not drained and is now filled with waste.

Stella and I scourged the house to help donate to the relief effort. She loved going through her old clothes and shoes and putting it in the box so that "kids who have no clothes or shoes can borrow them and have clothes" (clearly we are working on our concepts of borrowing and giving). It was precious to see such a young child understand basic Christian principles of love thy neighbor. Children have empathy at a much younger age than most adults give them credit.

The next week that followed was a mess. We tried out a new helper that was just didn't work. A red flag went off the first day when I came into the room to find her and Stella doing glitter glue on my carpet. When asked why she did it on the carpet she blamed Stella. There were other harbingers but after one week I didn't need any more and she was finished.

Upon the announcement that we were not going to keep her on, our maid of one year quit. Apparently she was planning on not coming back when we paid for her vacation and flight to her province. She came back anyhow but was just not excited about work. More days off and money did not give her incentive to stay and so in one day I lost all my maids.

It feels wonderful! I know that a lot of people who read this blog dream and imagine how awesome life would be to no longer do dishes or laundry, and I admit I love not doing dishes or laundry, but to have your house to yourself. Sigh. It is a breath of fresh air. Now back to the business of finding a replacement.

Oh, and we know where we are going next. The title is a clue. Leave your comment as to where you think are going next. If you guess right you are entitled to a waffle when you come and visit us.