The Kids!

We have new additions to the family!

Hermit crabs: Elijah and John the Baptist

Mexican Turbo Snails: Javier, Josue and Joachim

Emerald crab: Patrick

Chromis fish (it's a hardy fish that will test the water for us-Andrew called it our "cup bearer"): Nehemiah

Andrew took some videos:

Day Nineteen Philippines Adventure

Today we are travelling to Hong Kong. We left Roxas at 6:30am. We said goodbye to Lazarus and Gordon (the Gekko) and sadly we said goodbye to Maryanna, Eden and the hospital. Dan drove us to Puerto Princesa where we bade farewell and went through security at the airport. They are really not used to insulin pumps here, I need to explain it every time. We did some last minute souvenir shopping and Andrew had a 30 minute massage.

On arriving in Manila we discovered that my friends dad was very sick and was unable to meet us for lunch. Thankfully Ayee had come to pick up some items from us so we were able to spend some more time with her-it’s been so nice to see Ayee again.

As we flew out of Manila this evening Gordan came to say one last goodbye. We really felt sad leaving because we are going to miss all the dear friends that we made and got to spend time with in Manila.

We were excited about Hong Kong too though! We were met at the airport by smells of dim sum and a chauffeur to drive us to our fancy schmancy hotel. We are looking forward to exploring this city over the next couple of days. My first taste of Andrew’s parents homeland.

Day Eighteen Philippines Adventure

This morning we woke up to a new sound. Screeching, constant….screeching…. Turns out it was a squirrel who was being bothered by the cats. I’m glad the squirrels in LA don’t make a noise like that!

I went into Roxas with Eden today to do some last minute shopping and to go to the internet café. Another black out meant no internet however. I did have a successful shopping trip though and got some very cool Philippines t-shirts for me and Andrew.

Today the staff at Palawan Baptist Hospital organised a goodbye party for us. They made a huge grilled fish for us along with coconut pie and lumpia (and many other lovely foods). Andrew and I wore our new t-shirts with the map of the Philippines on the chest. Andrew gave a speech. My favourite quote:

“When we go home we’re going to wear these t-shirts. When people ask us where we were I’ll just point to my chest. When people ask us if we had a good time, I’ll just point to my stomach.”

My favourite part of the party was when the staff all sang for us. It was so beautiful. Andrew recorded it. I’m going to see if I can post it here.

Day Seventeen Philippines Adventure

This morning Ayee traveled back to Manila, leaving at 6am. I slept in and woke with horrible back pain. The muscles in my back were ACHING! I swam quite a bit yesterday and when I swim I do the breast stroke which uses a lot of unused back muscles. This made it hard to be on my feet too much so I spent the day lying down a lot. It was also EXTREMELY hot. So I spent the day in our room with the fan blasting lying down reading a book about Vietnam and revising my Chinese. I know more than I ever knew about Vietnam and I can now count to ten in Mandarin. My back still hurts and my arm still burns. But being in the jungle, seeing my first chameleon, eating with the Bundacs, watching our new friend Suzy eat noodles, and enjoying some jack fruit and star apple makes it all worth it!

Suzy (who lives under the lazy suzy)

Andrew worked late this evening.

Day Sixteen Philippines Adventure

washing out the salt water

Me and Eden lounging around

Today was our island hopping day! Ayee, Eden and I took a van to Port Barton for the day. We hired a boat to take us to some of the small islands off the coast of Port Barton. We started with some snorkeling. This was a lot of fun seeing the coral reef and all the beautiful fish.Unfortunately my mask kept leaking and I ended up inhaling a load of sea water-ugh! We then went to two islands. On the first island they grilled fish for us for our lunch-they caught the fish just that morning. On the second island we did some swimming in the WARM water –the water and the sand was gorgeous! The only thing missing was having Andrew there-he was too busy at the lab. Next time!

I wore a full body swimsuit in hopes that I wouldn’t have to worry so much about getting sunburn. Unfortunately I used spray on sun block on my arms and missed a spot. I have a horrible burn on the back of my arm. I give up!

Back at the hospital Ayee became another control sample for Andrew and Jonnas. I donated another 10 ml of saliva. Just after eating chocolate. Yuck.

Andrew worked late this evening.

Day Fifteen Philippines Adventure

Today we visited Roxas Baptist Church for Sunday morning service. We enjoyed fellowship with believers and the beautiful singing of the choir. A lot of the staff from Palawan Baptist Hospital attend this church. After this we went for lunch with Cheryl; one of the missionaries who works at the hospital, and Pastor Tan and his family. That evening Ayee and I watched a movie about the missionaries who were killed by the Waodani tribe in Ecuador. It was a really good movie, now I want to watch the documentary “Beyond the Gates of Splendour” I’ll be looking that one up when we get home!

Day Fourteen Philippines Adventure

Today was spent recovering from our travels on Thursday and Friday. Andrew spent most of the day sorting out the newly shipped equipment in the lab and training Jonnas on how to use it. Some new experiments were done today which seem to have worked and should help a lot with some of the saliva analysis.

Ayee and I explored Roxas together. Ayee thought it was amusing to have me show her around a Filipino town. We bought some fresh fish at the market and Andrew steamed it Fung style. It was so yummy and so fresh! We also bought some baked goods and celebrated Jonnas's birthday at dinner time. There are many friends that we have made here that we would like to pack up in our suitcases and take back to LA with us :) Ayee and I are planning a trip on Monday to go island hopping and maybe snorkeling...roll on the touring!

Day Thirteen Philippines Adventure

Today was spent travelling to Sabang where we got a "ferry" to the underground river. The road to Sabang had about 15 minutes of dirt road-VERY uncomfortable... When we got to Sabang we took a boat, which was like a large canoe with outriggers to help balance the boat, across very high waves! By the time we were done our stomachs were feeling a little dodgy! The underground river was beautiful though-I loved seeing thousands of little bats hanging upside down inside the cave and seeing the unique rock formations. On our return to Sabang we went to a spa and had a massage (I fell asleep) and then we had some good Filipino food with coconut water-yum!

Day Twelve Philippines Adventure

Today we drove down to Puerto. I finally got to do some souvenir shopping! We bought gifts for the family and some clothes for ourselves-fun!

Who made it to Palawan first? Andrew's shipment-by a few hours! Praise God Andrew's shipment arrived with minimal customs payment and all in one piece. Ayee also arrived safely and she was such a huge help all day. We had to rush to a tourist office to purchase tickets to the underground lake. It's a very popular destination so the only tickets we could get were for 8:30am, this means leaving the hotel tomorrow at 6am! Ayee's Tagalog and knowledge of the Philippines was so helpful in all the negotiations.

We hired a trike for the evening and explored Puerto a little bit and then enjoyed dinner: crocodile and goat meat-yummy!

Now we are back at our lovely hotel, A&A Plaza, with wireless internet. We're tired but looking forward to our adventures tomorrow. Good night!

Day Eleven Philippines Adventure continued...

We ended day eleven with dinner at the hospital pastor's home. We enjoyed our time there with great food and great company. After this Dan noticed that the light in the delivery room was on. He went up to see if they were delivering a baby and then he invited me up to see the newborn baby girl. I got to see a half hour old baby! That was a lot of fun!

When we got home Lazarus had pooped on our bed. He's getting WAY too comfortable...

Day Eleven Philippines Adventure

Day Eleven was spent planning Day Twelve. Andrew received news that his shipment should be on it's way to Puerto Princesa tomorrow. We are hoping to travel there tomorrow for some shopping and stay there overnight for some more adventures on Friday. This morning Dean and I explored Roxas a little bit more (while Andrew and Ted worked hard). I bought some gifts for my students and also some more star apples-yum! We took a very cool pink trike back to the hospital-I loved it! Right now we are in the Internet cafe coordinating our hotel booking with Ayee who will be flying into Puerto tomorrow-yay!

Day Ten Philippines Adventure

Today was another quiet day at Palawan Baptist Hospital. We did have one adventure however. Andrew and I took a trip to town with Jonnas, the lab tech, on his motorbike. Three people on a motorbike with no helmet....scary....but fun....probably will never do it again. Jonnas is a good driver though! We enjoyed a snack in Roxas together and then Jonnas and Andrew visited the bakery.

Day Nine Philippines Adventure

Today Ted, Dean and Dan all headed out for an overnight trip. Andrew continued to work on his malaria sample. It looks like the results are promising! I stayed in Roxas with Andrew and had a relaxing day at home with Mrs. Horton. All day today we kept having black outs (or brown outs as the locals call them). Andrew and I tried to purchase some items in a store today but decided against it when we couldn't see anything...

Apparently the city doesn't always pay the electricity bill and for that everyone suffers. We do have a generator in the hospital however and this keeps things going there.