good afternoon, my sweet little potatoes-

I send you well wishes from a Starbucks at TriNoma as I sip my Toffee Nut Latte (does this Holiday drink exist in the States?) and observe my fellow Starbucks patrons chat/type/sublimate their –insert feeling here- with copious amounts of caffeine.

It’s day 3 of my ex-pat life. My parents left on day 2 for Laoag before I woke up- I wasn’t allowed to come with L On day 1 I noticed tons of changes. Construction has gone up quickly and the completion of the Skyway is approaching. I haven’t seen the area greatly affected by the typhoons but my goodness, things here move fast and I’m going to need to learn how to keep up. Seriously, the last time I was here was April and already I wouldn’t be able to find my way from the airport to Muntinlupa.

As of now, my parents’ house does not have Internet or cable. I’m almost totally unaware of any world news and vaguely aware of news here as I am only able to understand a word here and there during the evening news- apparently Manny Pacquiao had an affair. Oh, and there’s the small matter of the Presidential elections next year and how the news constantly mentions Barack Obama when talking about them. Why, Philippines? Why?? Until I am all hooked up in that department, I’m managing via 100 PhP Globe Internet cards that I believe give me somewhere over an hour or so of Internet time. Since I have no idea where else Globe WiFi spots are, Starbucks is my number one criteria when determining which mall/area I go to that day. This means I will drink 1000% more coffee (I’m trying to drink enough between myself and my cousins so that they can score some 2010 Planner that Starbucks has a frequent drink card promotion for) than before as I try to check the status of numerous job applications and resumes I’ve sent out.

The lack of correspondence and news via electronic life and has been blissful. I don’t even have a working cell phone right now and I love it. Sure, that will have to change soon but for now I’m completely enjoying the freedom. Aside from the understanding that as of now I am under the care of my wonderful Uncle Petso and his family so I shouldn’t do anything to make them nervous. Read that as no gallivanting any way I please. For now.

I’ve felt close to 0 nervousness or fear that people frequently asked me about before I moved. I mean, other than feeling like the worst mommy in the world when I dropped Toby Rex off at boarding, what exactly should I be worried about? Yes, I don’t speak the language and can barely understand it- I get giddy when I hear Ilocano because it means comprehension on my part. Yes, I get extreme road rage when I’m not even behind the wheel here and I suppose there’s also that small matter of my distaste for things that move quickly just because you give someone some cash (for the record, I have none so you’re wasting your time) but that’s just how it is and being worried/nervous/afraid about it does nothing to make it better. Also, I can’t help but feel incredibly useless whenever I’m told not to bus my own tray or throw away my own trash when I’m at a restaurant/food court. Besides things like that I’m going to continue living like I’ve always lived- like it’s just any other day. Call it self-preservation or some unhealthy self defense mechanism; I’m completely fine with it.

Originally I’d planned to type out a post today on all the funny things I’ve observed about myself here and my surroundings in general, but since it’s only been 3 days I figure I should give it more time. The list is about half a page long and will at least double once a full week has gone by.  I hope I’m not the only one that will find my observations interesting. Also, if any other Americans in the Philippines read this- I’d love to hear how you’re doing it. This may be the place of my birth and definitely not my first visit back, but everything feels brand new and I’d love to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t always need to pull out a dictionary. Maybe you can recommend a Tagalog phrase book?

This post is already way too long.

In conclusion, I’m doing well, friends. The food is good, inexpensive, and sometimes strange. Have you ever had soft-shell crab flavored Pringles? The weather is very warm and when the rain comes it pours hard for some time. It’s similar to Hawai’i. I’m about ¼ unpacked and have already committed to only buying the essentials for now, like the 12 hangers for 88 pesos I found at Daiso, a Japanese home store that sells items in the 66, 88, 99 pesos range. The dollar is abysmally weak- at the airport the exchange rate was 46.45 or something like that to the USD. Please tell whatever macroeconomic policy goon in charge over there that whatever they’re doing isn’t working. Throw the 12% VAT they have here on top of that and it’s making it a little easier to imprison the compulsive shopper that resides inside me. I believe it’ll only take me a few more days to adjust to the time zone and I’ll stop nearly falling asleep at inopportune moments.

Till next time.