Day 2: Manila
Not surprisingly, the four of us staying a the hotel didn't sleep well and woke up early. We headed down to the bank to exchange money, but they sent us across the street to a money changer. Easy enough, unless you've never crossed a busy street in Manila! We watched and followed the crowd, but what we learned over the course of our visit is that you have to "be brave and have faith." Crossswalks, similar to lane lines on the street, are merely a suggestion in The Philippines, and you can't wait for the flood of cars, tricycles and jeepneys to stop for you; you have to MAKE them stop for you by faithfully walking in front of them and praying they won't run you down. We did make it, and we got better at it as the trip progressed; we also got a very decent exchange rate on our U.S. dollars ($49.8 pesos to $1 dollar). Next stop, Mercury Drug, for essential supplies (ie. bottled water), and then we went on a mission to find COFFEE! We stopeed at a couple of roadside fruit stands and eventually made our way to the Red Ribbon bakery, which soon became our favorite morning coffee stop. We were not expecting to find good coffee in Manila, but we were pleasantly surprised, and it was so close to our hotel!

Later that morning, Gi sent her cousin (and friend) to pick us up and bring us to mommy's house, which was located nearby. Our friends, Julie and Cindy, decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood while we were re-packing our bags for the flight to Dumaguete and several day's stay at the Kookoo's Nest resort. It started pouring down rain (really dumping), and the two of them came home looking like drowned rats. We were all dying laughing! They had to change clothes before coming into the house! Once we had all of our luggage arrange (no small feat), we prepared to go into town to go to the spa. We got lessons from Gi's cousin on how to properly hold onto our bags and how to hide our money in different places. This was important to know before we departed on the tricycles.

The "tricycles" are motorcycles with covered sidecars on them. We were able to get four people on a tricycle - two inside and two behind the driver. These drove us out of the neighborhood to the main street, where we would catch a jeepney to the SM Mall. Riding the jeepney was another new experience. These 4x4 converted jeeps are carryovers from WWII; they are privately owned and decked out in a variety of colors and slogans (mostly religious), and they typically carry as many people as they can squeeze (including school children and mothers carrying babies) in up and down the streets of Manila. Please keep in mind that Gi was directing us through this whole process, quickly earning her the name, "Mama Duck," which carried on throughout the trip.

We made it to the SM Mall and quickly found The Spa, were I had the best one-hour swedish massage ever for less than $20 from a woman who looked like she was about 12. In the after euphoria of my massage, I unwittingly tipped her more than the massage itself cost. I was a little embarassed, but not regretful, as it was probably enough money for her to take her whole family out for dinner! It was equivalent to what I would have tipped for a massage here in the U.S., and this one was better!

After all of our spa treatments, we met up at the Pizza Hut in the mall for pizza and San Miguel Beer - "the only beer that nourishes Filipino friendship!" Later, we took the jeepney back to our hotel to get some sleep before early morning airport departure for Dumaguete.

I was remiss in not keeping a travel journal during my trip to the Philippines, but I will attempt to recapture some of the higlights here!

Day 1: Arriving in Manila
The three of us arrived at the Manila airport after 11 p.m. on Sunday evening and quickly located the other four members of our group, who had flown on a different airline. We were all exhausted from the 16-plus-hour flight from Seattle. We made our way through customs and out to the curb knowing only that a red Nissan Sentra and an orange SUV-ish vehicle would be picking us up (no mention from our friend Gi of who would be driving these vehicles). We joined the masses on the curb and waited. After several minutes, we located our vehicles, and Gi jumped out to greet us and help us navigate the traffic jam to load our bags and ourselves. We found out that two of our friends would be staying at Gi's family's house, and the others would be sharing a room at a nearby hotel. In the meantime, we were all headed toward's Gi's mom's house to meet the family and store our luggage. The whole family was waiting to greet us (sister, two cousins, and mommy) with fresh water and mangoes. Later, we were taken to our hotel, The Traveller's Inn, a modest air-conditioned hotel in the neighborhood, which would oddly become our "home" for several rest stops in Manila.

I've had more time to relax lately and have been reading quite a bit. In fact, I think I've actually discovered the joy of paperback mystery novels! Of course, I have to read a couple at the same time in addition to my magazines and travel books, but whatever. The book I'm reading right now is called A Superior Death by Nevada Barr. I also just finished a book called Butterfly Lost by David Cole. I purchased both of these book in the $1 clearance rack at Half Price Books, which I can easily walk to from work. I've also been reading travel books on the Philippines and Vietnam, since we are starting to plan our trip for November. How exciting!

Ceremony Follow-up:

Wow! What else can I say? Other than the 95-degree weather, I couldn't have asked for anything more. It was all really wonderful - it just went way too fast! The best part was all the love and support we received from our family and friends. You guys are THE BEST! We also really enjoyed having the whole gang at our house for several days. Our trip to the Oregon Coast was also very relaxing and enjoyable. The ocean view from our hotel room was fantastic, and we especially enjoyed sleeping until Noon.

Now, life is pretty much back to normal, but our relationship is sealed, and it keeps getting better everyday! :)

Btw, it is 70+ degrees and sunny right now and projected to be even warmer next weekend! :)

Okay, anyone who reads this is probably wondering why I haven't written anything about our Big Day coming up a week from tomorrow (OMG). That's because we've been so BUSY trying to get everything lined up! I had no idea how many details there are to planning something like this. It's a good thing SJA is very detail oriented and has been dealing with the caterers, event location, florist, banquet permit, etc. I've been focusing on the music, readings, invitations, programs, guest list, transportation, favors, organizing helpers, trip planning, etc. We make a pretty good team, so it all seems to be coming together nicely but definitely not stress-free.

Tonight is our non-bachelorette party, which will be starting at my friend Becky's house and will be followed by dancing at a club in Seattle. We booked a hotel room downtown so we wouldn't have to worry about driving home. The bummer is I woke up with sore throat and runny nose, and someone at work just asked me if I'm getting sick. NO, I AM NOT GETTING SICK! I CAN'T GET SICK!!! Okay, that settles that.

I am really looking forward to having my mom, sisters and MJ coming to visit, participate, and stay at our house. It will be great to have their support and to spend some time with them, especially since this is such a big deal for us and we don't get to seem them very often.

Did I mention we are expeting 80 people?!!! No, I'm not nervous at all. LOL!

I have to do something very difficult today. I have to take Eddy Dog back to the foster farm. SJ and I have talked endlessly about this, and it seems to be the right decision for everyone (including Eddy), but I am very sad, because I've really become quite attached to him.

Unfortunately, this dog really cannot be left alone. He can break out of any crate, and he knows how to open doors. He will also destroy doors out of frustration. I videotaped him with my computer when we left him alone on Tuesday while we were at work, and it was heart wrenching. He was so frantic, and there were a couple of times when he really could have hurt himself. That's even with the pet sitter checking in on him after only a few hours.

He also hasn't socialized well with the other pets, and as a result, they are all being neglected - especially the cats. And, as much as we enjoy being with him in the house, it's just not fair to them. We love them, and they were here first.

Basically, nothing they told us about this dog has ended up being true - at least not in our reality. Maybe it was true when he was running around loose out on the foster farm, but it's not here.

After talking to the AHS people, we really hope they will be able to get him into a program where he can be some kind of therapy dog or put him to work somehow where he will be around people all day. He is very smart, so with the right training, it's definitely a possibility. Unfortunately, with all of our other pets and responsibilities, we just do not have time time to spend on trying to get him trained and dealing with his issues.

Right now he is snuggled up beside me on the sofa, and I want to cry.

"I feel I've always been on the outside and always on the edge of an abyss. The women I portray, and the woman I am, are ordinary but maybe find themselves in extra-ordinary circumstances, and what they do is at great cost." ~ Susan Sarandon

We adopted Eddy Dog from a pet rescue in Bellingham. He is a 2 1/2 yr-old boxer/lab mix or a "boxador" as some people call them. He is the sweetest dog, has excellent house manners, and he absolutely LOVES people. He loves people so much that he can't stand to be left alone. He hates to be left alone so much that he figured out how to unlatch two different latches on the sliding doors in the laundry rooom, set off the burglar alarm, and the police came to find him sitting in front of the house wagging his tail when they arrived. He did this two more times after they left so everyone would know just how smart he really is. So, Eddy has been going to work with me in my car and getting walks every couple of hours. We tried to put him in an outdoor kennel today, and while he couldn't get out, he screamed like he was being murdered for about 30 minutes, so I ended up taking with me again. More later. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. He is underweight, and he is still about 70 pounds! He knows sit, stay, come, etc., but when he doesn't want to go somewhere, he plants his butt and won't move. This is funny and frustrating at the same time. We love Eddy, but he is a handful. More later.

Eddy Dog