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.