Hi All!
Happy
December!!
We are busily getting ready
for our trip back to the states in a few weeks.
We can’t wait to see our families!!
It’s definitely starting to look a lot like Christmas around here, so we
snapped a few pictures of the lights at the park, a video of the light/sound show, some of the decorations
around town, and a few other things that were going on here.
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| Not our best picture, but we had to include at least one selfie. :) | | |
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| These are all over the city in the medians. |
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| Manila Hotel lobby |
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| Christmas tree in stock exchange building |
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| Glorietta Mall |
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| Outdoor Bazaar |
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| Love these giant bowls of Poinsettias! |
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| LOVE! |
We went to a book signing for author Marie Lu (author of the
Legend series and The Young Elites – YA titles).
We couldn’t believe the number of people in
line.
Poor Marie Lu must have signed her
name thousands of times.
It was 8:00
when we finally left the bookstore, and she had been signing since 2:00!!
There were still a few hundred people left
after us, too.
It was pretty cool to see
the excitement from the very young crowd (90% were teenagers) about books.
As an English teacher, it does my heart
good!
We also had an awesome opportunity to watch the Philippine
Philharmonic Orchestra play at one of our local parks.
It was a wonderful evening!
We listened to the music – from holiday
classics to movie scores and Broadway tunes – and just relaxed in the beautiful
surroundings of a newly renovated park that is about two blocks from our
apartment.
It was perfect weather for
the occasion and we sipped wine and foot-tapped along to the music.
We found a couple of new restaurants to try out over the
past few weeks, too.
Have any of you heard of
Slappy Cakes? Apparently it started in Oregon, and they are also in Maui. That's it for the U.S. They are in Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. We have been twice, and it's. just. fun. Now... many people will say, "If I wanted to make my own breakfast, I would have stayed home," right? But this is no-sress and just pure joy! You make your own pancakes right at your own table with whatever toppings you want. Batter is made. Done. Toppings are pepared. Done. And there is no clean-up. Done. Seriously. This is a blast! You get a squeeze bottle with whatever kind of batter you order, and there is a griddle built right into your table. Write your name. Make perfect round pancakes. Write a message. Create a picture. Whatever you do, they still taste delicious. Loved it! And we will definitely go back for our hat trick!
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| 180 degrees for perfect pancakes. |
All in all it has
been a lovely fall and beginning to winter, although, the season doesn’t literally
change here.
Still warm (80’s), still
humid (85%-95%), and still rainy now and then.
In fact it is raining right now! We are expecting one last typhoon to head this way this
weekend.
We are not in any danger in
Makati; we are far enough west that we may not even have any effects at all
from the storm, but Ruby is on the same path that
Typhoon Yolanda took about a
year ago when it wiped out entire villages on the eastern islands of the
Philippines.
Over 7,000 people were
killed during that storm last year, and a lot of residents who remain are still
living in tents there.
Tacloban and a
few other places are undergoing emergency mandatory evacuation right now.
There’s still a chance that Ruby could shift
and head north toward Japan, but right now, it is headed on a straight path
through the middle of the Philippines.
We are keeping our fingers crossed and praying for the people in the
outer lying areas that they find safety soon.
Ruby is expected to make landfall Saturday or Sunday.
We will keep you posted, but, again, we are
not anywhere near where the storm will come ashore, so no worries about us, but please keep the Philippines in your thoughts/prayers this weekend. They could use a respite this year. Here is a link to the latest update:
Ruby Update.
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| Typhoon Ruby |
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