Jeff's Newspaper

Jeffrey came with the idea to start a monthly newspaper. He charges two pesos a copy (4 cents). Each person gets an individual copy. Here are the contents of the first edition:

[Page 1] JM News - Dad

1. I Just love Duck-Duck Goose!! Dont you!! here is how many ive been in [arrows]

Duck-Duck-Goose Games, 5

[Page] 2. JM is fighting for jutise [justice] on trampoline with Dad Jumping

[picture of three people on trampoline - me, Jeffrey and Laird]


Quite an edition. Upon questioning, "JM" stands for Jeffrey-Military which I couldn't get a good explanation for, since we are not in the military.

Stay tuned for next month's edition.

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas from Manila. It is currently 78 degrees and pouring outside. Our warmest Christmas ever! Our Holiday Letter:

We started the year in Houston. We moved to Virginia for the summer. We now live in Manila.

Pete started the year as a lawyer. Then he because a new foreign service officer in the State Dept. Now he is a vice consul.

Likes: running, reading, accumulating so many books he can't possibly read them all, old TV sitcoms.

Dislikes: long plane rides with children and driving in traffic.


Sheralie has not changed: she is still beautiful, hardworking and an excellent mother.

Likes: Music, playing and listening, being a mother, talking to friends, cooking

Dislikes: Being so far from family and seeing her picture on the family blog.


Holiday Nativity Play

Jeffrey started off the year in Kindergarten playing soccer. This summer he started piano lessons. Now he is in first grade.

Likes: Legos, riding bikes, reading, Bakugan (don't ask if you don't know), trampoline

Dislikes: fruit



Holiday guitars

Laird is a handful at age 3, but we love his energy and enthusiasm (most of the time).

Likes: fruit, lego guys, drawing trucks, playing with Lucy

Dislikes: going to bed, sitting still, being a middle child



Lucy started the year as an adorable infant. Now she is a precious toddler. She is a lot more work now than she was though.

Likes: climbing stairs, following her brothers, trying on shoes, pounding on the keyboard while dad is at the computer.

Dislikes: getting new teeth, keeping food on her tray and sitting still.


Merry Christmas

Angels We Have Heard

Lucy loves to sing. (She also likes to play with coconuts!)

I didn't know this until recently. The children's favorite song right now is "Angels We Have Heard on High" and they request it at the beginning or end of every scripture time. Lucy and Laird wait until the chorus and then sing exuberantly: "Gloooooooooohria!" Lucy sound more like "OOO" but she smiles with a little twinkle in her eye because she knows it is right on.

Today I heard her in Laird's room as he built legos. I wondered what she was trying to express. I came in to see her with a little book, singing to him. She has also been tapping her fingers together, requesting "Two Little Blackbirds" which was our junior primary's favorite song last year. Some days the sounds here are sword fighting and piano playing and wrestling. But her little peaceful voice adds a serenity and grace we appreciate!

A Very Broadbent Christmas

Some favorite Broadbent family Christmas traditions:

1. Every Christmas Eve, we would go as a family to see a movie at the theater. This stems from the fact that everyone counted down the minutes on Christmas Eve. We started in 1993 with "Rudy" and continued with such holiday favorites as "Lord of the Rings", "Family Man" and "Rocky VI".

2. One Christmas tradition that was eventually scrapped was Cream of Wheat on Christmas morning. Since we all hated it, but we all wanted to get through it, it was the only time we would ever eat it quickly. Eventually one Christmas we had some cousins over and they refused to eat it, and I think that was the last time it happened.

3. Sitting on Santa's lap.





4. The Nativity play and reading Luke 2



5. Chocolate coconut balls. I'm not sure why these aren't year round treats, but my mom would break out the chocolate-covered coconut balls around Christmas. These are insanely good. I distinctly remember devouring these one night with one of my good friends. Unfortunately, it was right before dinner, and we wound up feeling quite ill.

6. The Christmas Ham/Turkey. I was not aware of this tradition, but Sheralie told me that she usually makes a Christmas ham for dinner. She saw one of these delectable delights at our Costco equivalent today, but was forlorned to find the price to be $65. This tradition will be put on hold until we find some cheaper pigs. I think we will go back to the Christmas turkey, which Sheralie informs me my mother always makes for Christmas.

7. Christmas movies. How many great Christmas-themed movies are there? Topping the list is "It's a Wonderful Life" but also getting high marks in my book are "A Christmas Story", "Family Man", "A Christmas Carol" (the George Scott version), "Miracle on 34th Street" (i prefer the recent version), "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (the cartoon, not Jim Carrey), "Christmas Vacation" and "Ernest Saves Christmas". I'm sure I am leaving some out.

8. Opening presents the night before. We have recently instituted this and I think it is a great idea. Why not have 12 days of Christmas opening presents, like the song? It spreads out the excitement and the kids have something to do. It would require you had at least 12 presents though, and shopping and shipping would have to be done well in advance. Just an idea.

9. Christmas TV. Every good series breaks out a holiday-themed episode. My favorite: Festivus. A holiday for the rest of us. Feel free to print up the picture below if you are running low on gift ideas.



10. Christmas cards. We're not getting a physical card off this year, but look for one next year. We'll start the logistics for that in February.

After reviewing the list, I realized that only one of these traditions has to do with the true meaning of Christmas, although in most of the Christmas movies people find the true meaning before the end. I really do love the holiday season and the kindness and thoughtfulness that come out in people. And most of all, it focuses people (including me) on Christ, which we could all use a little bit more.

Merry Christmas from the Broadbents!

Now you know

Ten things you probably didn't know about the Philippines.

10. Magellan died here. He didn't actually circumnavigate the globe, though his surviving crew did. He was the first European to make contact with the Philippines in 1521. He was killed by a tribal leader Lapu-Lapu. There is a gigantic statue of Lapu-Lapu in Rizal Park. No statues of Magellan.

9. The best pound for pound fighter in the world is Manny Paquiao, who recently beat Oscar de la Hoya. I issued a lot of visas for Filipinos to see that fight.

8. Karaoke was invented in the Philippines, not in Japan. People love karaoke here. It is the standby activity at any event, party or gathering.

7. The Philippines used to be an American colony. When the USA took it over from Spain, it put down a bloody revolution in which 250,000 Filipinos died fighting for independence.

6. The Philippines has about the same land area as Arizona when you combine its 7000 plus islands. However, it has 90 million people, making it the 12th most populous country in the world. Arizona has 6 million.

5. Text Messages are huge. It is estimated there are 400 million texts per day sent from the 35 million cell phone subscribers. That is more than the US and Europe combined. It costs about 2 cents to send a text message.

4. There is twice as much coastline in the Philippines as there is in the US.

3. 11 million Filipinos work overseas. They supply about 1/3 of the world's seafarers. In the US, they congregate in California and in New Jersey. They need a lot of visas.

2. The Filipino flag is hoisted upside down if it is at war.

1. Rainy season is from May to October. The hottest part of the year is March and April. It never gets cold.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.


Welcome to the Jungle

A Grief Observed

Our sweet friend has left this mortal existence. She no longer is in pain. She is has gone to a better place.

Laird said to me this week, "But she is still my friend! It is ok Mommy."

And yet my heart aches. I miss her when I go pick up Jeffrey after school. She greeted me with as much enthusiasm as he did - daily. She was a third visiting teaching companion, a beloved playmate, Lucy's biggest fan and a true princess. I am so grateful to have an eternal perspective this week. But the tears are still there. We are so grateful to call her friend.

USA Top 5

We sometimes take requests. A recent request was top 5 things I miss about the US. While I try to focus on the things I enjoy here, I do sometimes think of what I miss. I've touched on some of these before. [Pictures are from Jeffrey's soccer days]

#5: Live sports on TV. Especially college football. They do show some basketball, but it is never live and it is always the Lakers. And since it is hard to watch, it is also hard to find other fans.



#4: Cool weather. The only time we are cold is if we set the A/C too high. Last night it got down to 75 and we actually turned off the A/C in most rooms. It looks like a cold front. I am especially sad to miss the recent snow in Houston, as it never snowed while we were there.

#3: Scenic neighborhoods. In Houston and in Virginia, we enjoyed tons of quality parks, trails, lakes, etc. There are a couple of big parks here, but they are not really the same, as there are an abundance of mongrel cats and people that use the park as their home.



#2: Friends. It is hard to replace four years' worth of friends from Houston, as well as friends from Chicago and Virginia. We can keep up through blogs, but we miss them all the same.

#1: Family. While we were able to come back for Melanie's west coast wedding, we already missed Mark's wedding in Utah and we will probably miss Steve's upcoming wedding in Utah. Maybe they will make a cheap non-stop flight from Manila to SLC on a supersonic jet, but it is unlikely. We also miss having my parents just down the road to come visit all the time and the Monroes being just a short (relatively) plane ride away.

Ask me again in 18 months what I miss and it might be different - we're still new here and enjoying it a lot.

On driving in Manila

One of the pitfalls of big city life is the traffic. Manila is worse than most from what I can gather. Granted, my limited experience in New York City was not pretty either, but I never had to drive in New York City. I don't drive much in Manila - I live that to our trusty driver/lawn guy. But on Sundays and late at night I will do my own driving. And it is terrible. It is always stop and go traffic. If you leave more than 3 feet in front of you, someone is going to cut you off and wedge their way in front of you. The brakes business must be doing quite well here, because everyone is constantly speeding up and braking.

What makes it so much worse than regular, everday American traffic? After a few months of noodling, here is my analysis:

1. Civil engineers must be in short supply, because the roads are designed horribly. It is almost impossible to turn left at any intersection. And most intersections forbid U-turns (though most people ignore this). To turn left you usually have to do a combination of right turns and U-turns to get going in the direction you need to go. Sometimes you can drive for miles before getting the U-turn you need.

2. Not enough working lights. Stop lights that are out are pretty common. In fact, there is a stop light in front of the Embassy but it does not work. So the embassy employs a team of police officers to stop traffic when anyone needs to turn left into the Embassy.

3. There are no bus stops. Most people use public transportation, in the form of jeepneys, tricycles (more on this below), taxis and buses. Unfortunately, there are no designated bus stops. There are a handful of areas that are labeled "No Loading/Unloading" but people just ignore these. So buses and jeepneys are constantly stopping to pick people up. Buses will swerve over several lanes if it seems someone hailing it. This is quite hazardous, though they usually can't swerve very fast since traffic is not moving that fast. On major roads, the right hand two lanes are reserved for buses and jeepney pickups, leaving only one or two lanes for regular traffic. Often times, people are just standing in those two lanes, so no traffic can proceed. Occasionally, there will be swarms of people on market day just filling the streets as in the picture below. We were only caught in this once, on our way to church when we got totally lost.



4. No one respects lanes. There are usually lane lines painted on the roads, though sometimes there are not. However, everyone ignores them. If there are four lanes on the road, the cars will form 6 lanes. These informal lanes constantly form and then dissolve, depending on the narrowing or broadening of the road. People often don't even respect the center of the road. I have been on many 4 lane roads (2 in each direction) where one of the lanes was going the wrong way.

5. Vendors are everywhere. You know how sometimes you find a guy selling flowers or newspapers on a major intersection in the US? Well, the guys here are at every intersection, selling everything imaginable - drinks, towels, halloween costumes, newspapers, popcorn - it is never the same. This has got to slow traffic down.

6. The motorcycles. There are many motorcycles that love to weave through stopped traffic. No one gives motorcycles the benefit of a lane. In fact, when I was back in San Diego I drove right up next to a motorcycle in his lane and then thought - maybe he would like some space here. Many deliveries (including McDonald's, Wendy's, pizza, etc.) are made by motorcycle. Jeffrey and Laird love to go examine the motorcycles if we ever order delivery. All the motorcycles definitely add to the bedlam.

A side note on vehicles in the Philippines. Mercifully, there are no 18-wheelers. However, buses are everywhere, and they are very aggressive. Being big and having lots of people, they command the respect of everyone on the road. Next in the pecking order are jeepneys. These are modified World War II vehicles which have two long benches in the back where the people sit sideways to the direction of the vehicle. The only entrance for passengers is in the very back. People often hang on the back, and in a pinch will even ride on top (as pictured below). I have hung on the back of many jeepneys for long rides (half hour or so) but never ridden on top. Without people on top, you can usually fit around 25 people on a jeepney. The embassy forbids us to ride in them. They are always brightly colored (usually to the point of being ridiculously ugly). The one pictured below is typical.



Private vehicles and taxis are prevalent, and the lowest form of transportation is the tricycle. Tricycles are motorcyles with side cars. There is usually a roof for the motorcycle as well, as pictured below.



In my missionary days, I would ride on tricycles all the time. They are great at getting to remote parts of town that jeepneys or buses don't service. Capacity is also good. The side car usually has a seat with its back to the driver and then a main seat which can fit two smaller people (total of three in the side car). Then two people can sit on the motorcycle behind the driver, and another two can hang on the back. Some have a nifty fold out stand that people can stand on the back (as shown below). You can also have one person stand with feet inside the side car, holding on to the side. Total capacity of 9 if you include the driver. It's better than a minivan.



Thank you for joining me on this tour of Manila. Be thankful for Interstate highways, smooth, vendor-free roads and traffic that obeys predictable rules. You can also see why we haven't made it out of Manila yet (the traffic to get out is terrible), but we plan to leave for a beach trip sometime this month.

Bustling

I just realized I have been guilty of bustling. Bustling about, bustling around the house, bustling to do errands or clean or pack. Go go go. I wasn't always this way. But this last year has been a strange one. Three cities, two houses, two apartments, three children and two adults. That is really no excuse. As I look back at this year, it has been a difficult one. A lonely one in many respects. But mostly because I have been too busy, working too hard, trying to do too much.

I am seeking to end the bustling. I will seek to let go of the Martha and be like Mary. I am going to reinstate quiet time. A time to think, and pray, read and write. A time for a quiet heart.

One more post about Thanksgiving

Thanks to my sister Christina, who brought to my attention that Abraham Lincoln started the observance of Thanksgiving in 1863, during the Civil War. I think this is a speech that could be repeated every Thanksgiving.

The following is the text of a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave on the day that he signed the Thanksgiving Proclamation.

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the LORD.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to, feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

--Abraham Lincoln - October 3, 1863

Thanksgiving in San Diego

Thanksgiving 2008 was a whirlwind tour to San Diego. Where to begin?

The Trip There

For some reason, we had lots of obstacles on our trip from Manila to San Diego:

1. Lap children on international flights generally must pay 10% of the cost of the adult ticket. Fair enough. I booked our tickets on Hawaiian Airlines website, but it did not give me the option to pay for an lap child's fare. I called them and they said that I should just pay it when I got to the airport. Big mistake. The Hawaiian desk at the Manila airport was totally befuddled and had no idea how to handle it. We were at the ticket counter for over an hour before they finally just decided to let us board with Lucy without a ticket. They told us just to pay for the ticket when we got to Honolulu.



2. The Manila airport apparently has a fee for outgoing travelers. The fee is $15 per person (infants free). And they don't accept credit cards or checks. I was totally surprised and did not have that kind of cash on me. Luckily, Sheralie had some money in her planner - just enough to pay for the hidden tax.

3. To leave the Manila airport, we had to go through three security checks, two of which involved the full routine of taking off shoes, jackets, etc. We also had a customs desk to get through. Arriving two hours early was just barely enough time to get through it all. Luckily our flight left a little bit late (because of us?) so we made it on time.



4. Mercifully, the kids slept a lot on the plane (since it was our night time anyway) and the 10 hour trip passed quickly.

5. Since we left Manila late, we got into Honolulu late, where it was also raining. This slowed down our baggage, which we needed to get through customs. By the time we finally left customs, we had about 15 minutes to catch our plane, which was on the other side of the airport. We also had to go through security again, which really slowed us down. After security, we took off on a run for our gate, which was farther than expected. I had Laird in the stroller, and Sheralie followed with Lucy and Jeffrey. I made it to the gate just as they were closing, so they took my boarding passes and the stroller. Unfortunately, I had run ahead of Sheralie and she didn't know which gate we were loading at, so she didn't make it. After waiting a couple minutes, they told me I had to choose to be on or off the flight. So I checked myself off the flight (though they wouldn't give me the stroller back). They rebooked us (along with several other people who missed the connection) on an American Airlines flight which charged us $10 for a sandwich.



6. In Honolulu while waiting for the American flight, I attempted to pay for the infant ticket that Manila couldn't handle. I got on the phone with a reservation person. Unfortunately, I think it was her first day on the job, because she had to put me on hold after every question I asked. Finally, after 20 minutes on the phone she told me that I had to pay for the ticket at the Hawaiian desk in Honolulu. So I sprinted across the airport to get to that desk. I explained my dilemma to them and told them that my American flight would leave in 40 minutes. They told me there wasn't time to handle it, so I sprinted back. I was flagged for the extra security patdown going back through security, probably due to the fact I had no luggage and was very out of breath. I made it back to our gate just as we were loading the plane.

7. We got into LAX at about midnight (which felt like 4 pm to us) and went to Hawaiian to see if they had our bags. There was no one at the Hawaiian desk at all, so they couldn't tell us anything. So we had no baggage (or stroller) and had been in the same clothes for about 20 hours, which smelled terrible (due to all the running in Honolulu).



8. We finally figured out which bus would take us to our rental car place (not clearly labeled) and got our Toyota Sienna. We went back to the airport and Sheralie filed our report of missing baggage while I picked up some Carl's Junior. We finally got on our way to San Diego about 1:45 am.

9. Laird wakes up screaming he needs to go to the bathroom at 2:30.

10. We roll into our hotel in San Diego about 3:30 am. They initially book us in a smokey room with one king size bed and a rickety crib. Upon request they move us to a smoke free room with a fold out couch bed and the same rickety crib.



What a trip. We slept in until 10:30 am the next day and skipped church. We had entertained a notion of making it to the 9 am meeting, but realized a. that we were way too tired and b. we were not in a presentable condition to the public. Our bags were delivered Sunday night.

The Wedding

Due to concerns over rain, the reception was pushed up to Monday from Tuesday night. Kind of risky having the reception before the wedding, but rain is a real downer for an outdoor reception. So after a frantic Monday of preparation, the reception went out swimmingly on Monday night.



On Tuesday morning our stroller arrived just before we took off to the San Diego Temple (what a relief!) and we enjoyed a beautiful ceremony there. Lucy was quite upset to be separated from her mother for an hour and a half, but she survived. Very happy to have Dan in the family.

Wednesday was spent cleaning up from the wedding and reception, including delivering dozens of flower arrangements to people that helped with the wedding. Due to a car shortage, I wound up being on every flower delivery run.

Thanksgiving

The morning was the 10K race (see previous post). The Burks (groom's family) joined the Monroes for Thanksgiving dinner. Great food, especially the Broadbent-style rolls that Sheralie has now perfected. The college football, Texas-Texas A&M, was a little lame, and I was disappointed that was the only game I was able to see that week.



The Trip Back

We arose at 3:30 am on Friday morning to start the 24-hour journey home. The trip went much more smoothly than the trip out though. The only really tough part was the second leg of the air travel, which was a 10.5 hour flight from Honolulu to Manila. This time, the kids were very awake and it was a struggle to entertain them for so many hours. Especially since they really wanted to sleep toward the end of the flight, but we kept them awake so they would sleep through the night.




Conclusion
We were very happy to be in San Diego for the week, but we learned some things:

1. Schedule super long flights at night, so people will sleep.

2. Non-stop flights are worth their extra cost.

3. They never have enough food on these flights, though we did get Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

4. Don't fly Hawaiian. They're not going to wait for you.

5. Never travel super long distances with a lap child. Make sure she/he has their own seat.

6. Visiting family for important occasions is worth all the trouble.

10K Triumph

It is a personal tradition to run a 10K on the morning of Thanksgiving. I find it the ideal way to start off a day that is otherwise devoted to stuffing yourself silly and watching football.

Last year we still lived in Houston, and ran on a bone-chillingly cold day, with a temperature of about 40 with 20 mph winds. This year was San Diego, and though San Diego is usually a paradise for weather, this Thanksgiving it was raining. And it wasn't the nice warm rain you might find in Houston or Manila, but a very cold, driving rain.

The rain discouraged our spectators (hence, no pictures) and a few runners. Nevertheless, my siblings-in-law Mike, Greg and Kim (with one of Kim's friends) bravely ventured downtown for the race. It cleared for the start of the race, but by the middle, it was back to a downpour.

It was a good route, through downtown, but it did loop around the same course twice (just once for the 5K). This meant that the 10K runners had to lap the 5K walkers. The 5K walkers proved to be very good roadblocks, especially as many of them were walking dogs who wandered across the road. Nevertheless, I finished with a time of 53:53.76 (about an 8:40 mile pace), an improvement of about 6 minutes from last year. This time moved me up to 2nd in the Broadbent Brother Power Rankings, ahead of Steve and Phil.

Special acknowledgment to Keith Monroe for running the 10K on a treadmill while we were out in the rain. Keith was recovering from a surfing accident and battling a cold, so he opted not to try his hand outside.

Thanks to my fellow runners Mike, Greg, Kim and Friend of Kim for making it a very enjoyable race, even if it was very wet.

Wedding in San Diego

Congratulations to Melanie (Sheralie's sister) and Dan Burk, who tied the knot on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in San Diego. From what I can tell, Dan is a stand up guy and will be a welcome addition to the Monroe family, though I am sad to lose my status as the only son-in-law. It was a good 8-year run.


The happy couple


A happy Lucy


Bridesmaids and Bride


Laird using the props


Jeffrey going on a date?

Those Noisy Roosters

We hear rooster crows throughout the day. We have walked streets littered with roosters, roosters in cages, roosters tethered by a small cord (like this one) and roosters wandering. These roosters help supplement the family income through cock fighting and gambling.

I owe a tremendous debt to my husband for working hard and having a good job. I thank his parents for educating him and teaching him. I am very grateful he works hard and steadily. I love staying at home and taking care of our little bundles of love.

Doing the Laundry

I am thankful for a washer and dryer.

It seems that everywhere I turn, I see clothes hung up to dry. Makeshift laundry lines made between trees, on balconies, or just on the outside of a building. Whether I am at the park, at church, or at home, I can see clothing hanging in the polluted air. Washers must be scarce as well - the cost of the machine is prohibitive, as well as the cost of electricity. I watched a woman in the street scrubbing her laundry in an old bucket. Most women have do wash by hand every day.

Gratitude

I am thankful for a kitchen.

Sports on TV

Not related to blog content Just thought this old picture of me reminded me a lot of Laird

For a sports fan, one of the more frustrating things about living overseas is not having access to good sports. They do have ESPN here and a couple other sports stations, but they show all the wrong sports. ESPN360.com and other video features do not work overseas. A slingbox may well be in my future.

In my humble opinion, the best and worst sports on TV:

Worst:

5. Golf. Golf is a fun video game, and it may well be a fun game to play (if I was any good), but it is not a sport that should be on television. Booooring. An international favorite though.

4. Soccer. Filipinos do not play soccer. Yet soccer is on ALL the time. Have they not commissioned any studies on this, or does ESPN just have one sports package for all of Asia? No one ever scores in soccer and even shots on goal are rare events. I can stomach this sometimes, but not fun.

3. Bowling. For some reason, bowling gets a lot of Saturday afternoon attention on TV. Or at least it used to when I was a kid. Anyway, who is watching this? I love to bowl, but watching these guys bowl strike after strike is pretty mind-numbing.

2. Stock Car/Indy Car racing. Are people just waiting for the inevitable crash on these races? Because that is really the only valid reason for watching. They just go in a circle over and over and over. Good heavens.

1. Billiards. Really? Is this a sport now? When is foosball going to be on? At least foosball is fun.

Best Sports:

5. Baseball. A great sport to watch and think about. Great strategy game. Also great game to multitask with. Sometimes a bit slow, but more fun if you know the players.

4. Beach Volleyball. This gets a surprising amount of coverage on some channels, and it is a lot of fun to watch.

3. Basketball. There are things to like about both pro and college, so I lump them all in with basketball. Fast moving, high scoring, athletic contests. The only downers come when it becomes a free throw shooting contest.

2. Olympics. Summer and winter are both excellent, though summer has better events.

1. College Football. Saturdays and Thursday nights in the Fall are forever associated with college gridiron. It's tough to translate that to Friday morning and Sunday morning.

Lucy Walks at the Children's Museum

We went to the Manila Children's Museum last Saturday, which is right next to the Embassy. The kids had a blast and we caught a video of Lucy walking too.


All decked out in Filipino farming gear.


Hanging out in the Nepa Hut


Boys + Firetruck = Happiness

Lucy's Birthday

We celebrated Lucy's first birthday last week. The first is always the best, because they are not present-crazy or jaded at this point.






Lest ye think we give very odd gifts, this hat was a giveaway at a department store on Halloween. We thought it was cute.

To my new boss

Congrats to Barack Obama, who I actually voted for in the primary election. I missed the deadline for getting a vote in on the actual election (there is another registration that overseas folks must do), so I missed actually voting, though Texas was not exactly a swing state.

I think it is very historic to have an African-American president, and the rest of the world loves him (at least right now), so that is good. I hope he has more fiscal sense than the Bush administration, but we'll have to wait and see. I am cautiously optimistic that Obama will be a great president and that he may actually prod Congress to do something productive. Here's to my new boss, Barack Obama.

Top Ten Things about Manila

Well we have been here about 50 days now, and our broadband is finally hooked up. Ahhh. Finally saw an episode of The Office. Kind of a letdown after that much wait, but still pretty fun.

Top 10 things about living in Manila so far:

10. Early Christmas Season. It starts early here with no Thanksgiving to kick it off. Christmas trees and decorations have been up for weeks now and I sang my first Christmas hymn at church on Sunday. Nice.

9. Lack of Sports. This is kind of a mixed blessing, because I love watching sports and I miss it a lot during college football season. But not having any sports to watch has really freed up my time. I am reading more and working out regularly.

8. The Malls. In my opinion, malls in the US are overrun by wild teenagers. I never want to go there and if I do, I try to time it so that the teenagers are in school. In the Philippines, all the major shopping is done in the malls: Ace Hardware, bookstores, Drug Stores, etc. It's a one stop shop and everyone is there, not just teenagers. And they are numerous - you can't drive 20 minutes without passing six different huge malls. One of our favorites has five floors and a huge children's playground outside it. It's awesome. It does get a bit crowded though.

7. I'm Huge! Okay, I am still the same size, but compared to everyone else, I am one of the big guys now. I don't tower over the crowd like some Americans, but I am consistently in the top 10% of size. Sheralie says it is hard to get used to being a "big" person.

6. Everything is so cheap! My pay-as-you-go cell phone plan costs about $3-5 a month, depending on how much you use it.

5. Work. Though exhausting and sometimes stressful, interviewing people all day is pretty fun. I also get to associate with all kinds of different people, from US AID workers, the Ambassador, Filipino government officials, etc. It's very interesting.

4. Help. Having a driver is pretty great. You never look for parking and traffic isn't very much of a headache. And our helper is terrific at cleaning, cooking, watching the kids and teaching Sheralie Tagalog.

3. McDonald's delivers. In fact, all fast food places deliver. How awesome is that?

2. Time. What a joy to have a job that has regular hours. I know it won't last forever, but it is so nice after the totally unpredictable law firm. I really don't miss my blackberry.

1. Everything's different but everything is the same. We're in a foreign country and learning and appreciating the many parts of the US that we took for granted and the many things that make the Philippines special. We love the people and we love being here.

First Day of School

Hopefully this is the only year where Jeffrey's first day is in October, but he finally made it out to International School Manila. So far, he really enjoys it and has made several friends. He really loves have two recesses and playing basketball.


He even wears a uniform! Got to like that


Laird wanted to salute with his toothbrush

Cuisine in Northern Africa

A big thanks to the Monroes, who gave us a gift certificate to a Moroccan restaurant in DC. The week before we left, Phil, Jen and Wade joined for a night out on the town. It was notable for several reasons.

First, you don’t really have a table so much as you have an eating area. Our group has several sofas, chairs and pillows to stretch out on. For each of our seven courses, they would leave us a big platter in the middle of one of the tables.

Second, there is no silverware. I am sure this cuts down on the dishwashing, but it is a little bit tricky to get used to. It was a good meal, though it was a little slow. We should have prodded them on, but with the crazy Morrocan music playing and the incense going strong, we lost track of time. And since we had already sold our car, we rode the Metro home, which took a little more time.

The food though, was very good. Quite exotic. The service staff was also very authentically Moroccan. As far as we could tell.