The Lost Plates of Jack and Leiana

Jack's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. However, the mission wasn't going to do dinner until Saturday. So Jack made Pad Thai and we invited our neighbors over for dinner, cake and ice cream. None of his presents were a surprise, and the bike shirt I got him is a little snug. However, the cake was amazing. Everything in the Philippines is super sweet, except for their cakes. They are moist and delicious. It was a good day.  

 We were asked to find an apartment in San Miguel for sisters to move into. So on a drizzeling Monday afternoon, we drove out to San Miguel to look. Our first drive through the town showed that there are no apartment buildings. We saw some vacant houses, but there was no way to tell who owned them. We talked with people on the street. They told us to go to the municiple building. There we were told to speak to the Mayor's office. We actually met the mayor. His office was going to make some phone calls. I figured that was a polite way of saying, good luck on your own. On our way out, we stopped to get a picture of us under the heart. We walked around the town a bit, talking to people and looking for places. Jack felt like we should go down this one street. At the last house, one of the people from the mayor's office was eating lunch on her outdoor patio. She told us that they had found a place for us to try. We grabbed some lunch then went back to the office. The one who spoke E...

 It's kind of fun at the mall. The Korean eye glasses store often has characters outside their store. We had to get a picture with the unicorn, just to prove they exist. There are often pokemon hanging outside this store.

 Our stake had a couples' night. It had a spiritual thought (all done in Tagalog so I understood less than usual), some games, dinner and dancing. We divided up into our ward for dinner. Our ward did Jollibees' chicken and rice with pancit, drinks and desert. The dancing is mainly what they call unity dancing, where you dance in a circle with all your friends. Reminded me of middle school dances but without the awkwardness of being in middle school. It was lots of fun. Jack and I got to do some ballroom dancing, which was also fun. As part of the fun, you were to dress up in traditional Filipino clothing, or Sunday best. We looked for weeks to find the traditional filipino clothes. We could find them at the mall for $120 plus but didn't want to spend that much. We were just going to go in our Sunday best. Then, on the day of the event, we had to run to the Iloilo Supermart. Jack was upstairs finding a pie pan. Just outside that part were 2 clothing stores. One had tradition...

 I haven't posted pictures of our newest "home", which is actually a home and not an apartment. I was delayed as right after we moved in we had to move out temporarily while they fixed leaking pipes in all the bathrooms. Then we were so busy that I didn't have time. So here is the newest temporary housing: The outside, taken in 2 shots.   Our bedroom is upstairs, over the living room. Our study is over the garage that only has a bike in it Living room, just inside the front door Kitchen and dining room. We actually have a gas stove just to the right of the blue water jug on the counter. Love having a oven, just wish the temperature was consistent. Storage under the stairs going upstairs.   downstairs bathroom. Toilet is just outside the picture to the right. Back porch that is screened in and tiled. You can see our water pump in the back and laundry machine that drains onto the tile. Tile with water is very, very slippery.  Study room and yoga studio. Notice the newl...

 We are back to spending lots of time taking the bus. Both of us are tired of driving. We had the Christensens drop us off by the church so we could help clean it. We then walked over for dinner at Casa de Daban that has amazing burgers and fries. We then took the bus home. It was late so the bus was very crowded. We managed to get on it and after a few stops got seats. I had to snap a picture of us all hot and sweaty with our fellow passengers. Somehow they don't ever look as hot.

 We have moved into our new and hopefully final apartment in this mission. It is a house that had just finished being built next to the other senior couple's house. We moved in to discover leaks in the plumbing from all 3 bathrooms, one going so far as to drip down from the kitchen light. Needless to say, we brought it to the landlord's attention. They worked quickly to get the repairs done. Unfortunately, it meant we couldn't be in the house as there was no water nor usable bathrooms. We did stop by most days to check the progress, eat dinner or lunch when we could, and exchange clothes.  They took out the tile and the concrete below it to get to the pipes. The leaks were fixed and they checked it this time. They then had to put the flooring back. It was interesting to see. They would hand mix a small batch of cement. It would be placed where a tile would go and the tile placed on top of it. They would then go onto the next piece of tile. We didn't grab a great picture...

 Typhoon Tino, or Kaimaegi as it is called internationally, passed right over us. It was classified as a Signal 4, with Signal 5 being the highest. Typhoon Yolanda hit 12 years ago in Tacloba and it was devistating as a Signal 5 with over 2000 people losing their lives. This wasn't that. We did get winds up to 130 km/h. Leaves were blown all over the place. We went out walking during one of the lulls. There are lots of branches down but most had been blown to the side of the road. A few signs came down. Mostly everything was boarded up tight. There were very few people out. We didn't time our walk right, though. Just as we were about to turn around and walk home, it let loose again. We were drenched by the time we made it home. However, the air was fresh; the breeze brisk so your wet clothes weren't sticking to your body; and the roads were clear. It was a great time to be out. We took a picture of us in our soaking wet clothes in front of our home. You can't really tel...

 There were some interesting plants we saw this weekend. While driving in Roxas, we saw lots of sugar cane fields. Some of them had feather like tops on them. We are assuming this means that they are ripe and ready to harvest.  Also, at church we noticed the two different types of palm trees seen here growing next to each other. The one on the left is called a fox tail palm. The other is the coconut palm. Then there is just the beautiful vistas. Some photos from our travels. You can see the ocean in the background, before the mountains. How green everything is and how vivid the colors. Jack loved the play of the wun on the mountains.