El Nido

We got back from our vacation to one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines (the world?). The lonely planet write up was right on. With some help from dramamine I survived my first flight on a small plane onto a dirt runway (see video below). As part of our resort package we got a private boat trip each day to a place of our choosing. The first day we went to two lagoons that the area is known for. The small lagoon was the best. We don't have pictures because we had to swim through a hole in the limestone to get to it. Inside there was blue-green water and tall limestone walls with jungle vegetation. There was some cool stuff to see via snorkel along the sides of the rock.

The next day we weren't as excited about our destination but it turned out to be beautiful as well. It was called Snake Island and it is the white strip of beach in the picture to the right. We also went to some caves (Cathedral Cave below).

Day 3 was our favorite day. It was the first day where we didn't see other boats with people. We went to Helicopter Island (video below) which was a deserted island with a white sand beach, jungle, blue green water and coral for snorkeling. We felt like castaways. Then we went to another lagoon (Cadlao Lagoon video below) where we saw all sorts of cool wildlife like birds, crabs and a 5 foot long lizard.

Day 4 we went to some other deserted beaches and then back to helicopter island. The best thing about the trip was observing nature. We saw lots of flying fish in the water. There were tons of crabs on the beach with beautiful shells. The limestone cliffs and lush jungle were homes to all sorts of tropical birds. We were really sad to leave (and even more sad to have to get back in the small plane). Check out the picture slideshow for more photos!


Plane Landing in El Nido



Helicopter Island



Cadlao Lagoon

Excited for our Holiday Break!

2 School days left and we have a nice two and a half week break!!!

Heather and I are very excited. On Thursday, we will be flying to El Nido to explore the Bacuit Archipelago. This is what Lonely Planet says about our destination:

"The Bacuit Archipelago is a fantastic seascape where Mother
Nature appears to have let her imagination run wild. It is a collection of
jagged limestone islands that leap skyward from the crystal-clear waters of Bacuit Bay. The archipelago is similar to Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, or the Krabi and Phi Phi area of southern Thailand, only- dare we say it- more beautiful. Many of the islands have sheltered bays that conceal white sand beaches, stunning lagoons, and vivid coral gardens."

Yeah! We are excited! We are staying at the Dolarog Beach Resort for 5 nights.

Originally, we had flight arrangement complications (Of course!). We wanted to fly directly to El Nido, but one of the big resorts ($300 per person per night) has a monopoly on all flights and you can only fly with them if you stay with them. The flight we had paid for brought us two hours south- but no longer exists. Luckily, the flight that goes directly to El Nido opens up there plane to other passengers 5 days ahead of travel time and we got on! So, on Thursday morning we fly out at 11:30 AM and should be on the beach by around 1:00 to 1:30 PM.

The only catch is I have to sneak some anxiety drugs in to Heather that morning. She freaks on big flights- our flight is smaller and lands on a dirt runway. Here is a link with photos. I am super excited about the flight as well! (as long as Heather is somewhat medicated:-)

We will post pics for you all when we return! As excited as we are to be travelling, we are very sad to be missing time with friends and family during the holiday season. We hope everyone has a fantastic holiday!

Beach Paradises

Last week, we got our first vacation. We finally had some time to explore the Philippines but mostly we needed time to relax and not work. So of course, we headed to the beach. First we went to Apo Island which was our favorite stop. To get there, we flew, took a van ride and then took a boat. Once we were on the island, the only way to get around was on our own two legs. There was a town with about a hundred people and a path went down the middle of it. At the end was a marine santuary in a cove and it had the best snorkeling we've done. There was lots of colorful coral, tons of interesting fish and even a sea snake or two. We would just float and watch everything for a couple hours until we got cold each day. Then we would go back to doing pretty much nothing. Our room was just a few meters from the beach and we had the resort and cove all to ourselves for most of our stay. The only drawbacks were no running water, electricity only a couple hours of day and our resort's food. On day two they ran out of fruit. On day three there didn't seem to be any vegetables left and by the end there wasn't any pork or chicken left. Luckily we discovered that the other resort on the island had really good food. The only thing lacking was chocolate. That was the hardest to live without. By the last day, we were shoveling down this dessert that was basically low quality hot chocolate mix, mixed with water and rice.



Next we went back on a boat to the main island where we hunted for breakfast at a weekly market. This was the real Philippines--nothing touristy about it. The market was like a fair in that they brought all sorts of live cows, bulls, pigs and goats to sell. I almost became a vegetarian after seeing how much the pigs at the market were resisting being brought to an eventual death. It was awful to see how aware they are of their fate. At this point in the story Matt likes to jump in by noting how long my vegetarianism lasted. Yes, it only lasted until breakfast the next morning when I ate bacon. However, I'm going to make an effort to eat a lot less pork from now on.



Then we went to another island with a really nice resort and excellent cakes and frozen drinks. However, the snorkeling wasn't as good and we had a moldy room that made both of us sick in the end. Plus there were some really annoying children there. So the first place is the one we'll return to.

Sonya's Garden

Last weekend Matt and I celebrated our anniversary at a bed and breakfast outside of the city. The hotel was great. Our "room" was huge with three double beds, lots of antique furniture, two bathrooms with various nice touches and a separate bedroom with another bed. There were windows all around which was great because there was jungle surrounding us on several sides and flower gardens on the other. It's cooler in that area so the windows let the breeze pass through and at night we could hear various fountains running outside of our window. We really wish we had more time to spend so we could just relax in our room reading and napping.

The reason we didn't have much time at the hotel was that what we thought was an hour and a half trip to get there ended up being over three hours. We took the bus there and regretted that choice pretty quickly into the trip. It was not airconditioned so it was extremely hot and sweaty. Also it was a non-stop traffic jam. At one point we were in the same spot for at least ten minutes. That was the low point because we began to doubt that we would ever get there. Sweat was pouring off of us and just when Matt was about to explode with man-rage, the guy next to him started smoking. I didn't even notice because the diesel exhaust coming in my window masked all other smells. We eventually made it to our destination but the next day my eye that was closest to the bus window was swollen up like it had been punched because of the pollution.

Here's a link to the bed and breakfast if you want to check it out: http://www.sonyasgarden.com/

My favorite thing was that at night, there were lanterns and little lights throughout the gardens. The other nice thing was that they didn't give you a choice of food at meals. They brought out multiple courses of really good food so we never had to make a decision or wonder if we should have chosen a different dish.

Those teachers at our school came out with another music video. You can check it out at the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l9HJrmOSd4

Keep in touch! Hope to talk to you soon.

Hammer Time

Two teachers at ISM are my new heroes. They put together music videos that incorporate various ISM students, teachers, administrators, secretaries, and security guards. It is a fun way for you to get a glimpse of our school.

I heard about them when I got word that they may invade the preschool class with cymbals for a new project to Beastie Boys' Sabotage.

Cick on the link below- my favorite part is when the students do the hammer dance- though the security guards bump is a close second.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk31DTtP4_4

Agapito and the magic whistle

There are no lack of security guards in Manila. They are found in front of most entrances to banks, restaurants, and businesses. Most have rather large shotguns hanging on their side.

The security guard outside of the restaurant Apartment 1b has no weapon. He only has his whistle. From time to time, he walks down to the sidewalk and plays a little tune with his whistle. Last night, Heather and I were enjoying some dessert at Apartment 1b when this security guard played a little tune with his whistle. I remarked, "I love this guy!" He turned around with a smile to see both Heather and I smiling in return.

A few minutes later he came to our table, placed a cd in front of us and said, "A souvenir for you." The cd is entitled "Merry Christmas w/ the Magic Whistle." He introduced himself to us. His name is Agapito and we have fallen in love. The cd is delightful- I will try to figure out how to attach a copy of one track so you can have a listen.

Apparently, the Christmas season is just beginning here in the Philippines. These people are nuts about Christmas!

Relaxation

Matt got massaged by a lady-boy yesterday.

A Turning Point

We have written numerous posts about the food and comfortable life we are living here. We've talked about restaurants, massages, trips, etc.

Last night, we had decided we would have a date at a nicer restaurant- one of our favorite things to do. The food was good, but nothing that was unbelievably good- like say $100 good. $100 is exactly what we spent and it was a huge wake up call.

We felt so guilty that we spent that much money on one meal. It would be something to do that for a special occasion like a birthday (Don't forget Heather's 30th will be coming up in October!), but we spent that on a random Saturday night dinner. $100!!! one meal!!!!

In case you were wondering, we had a thyme lamb, red wine infused tenderloin, pecan treacle, and a fancy chocolate cake. It was not close to being worth $100.

By the way, we shouldn't have to threaten you each time we post a new blog to get a few comments. Is anyone still out there?

Living the Pagud Life

On our second long weekend, we decided to take our first trip out of Manila. We took a plane up North to Laoag. Then, we travelled two more hours north by van to a town called Pagudpud (Pa-good-pood).

The video below pretty much explains what we did this weekend. Other highlights included great food, snorkeling (I saw a sea snake, yikes!), and a challenging hike that landed us on top of a hill for a great view of the seascape.

Our resort was surrounded by green, lush hills which provided a refreshing retreat away from the city.

We will post more pictures at a later date, for now, you can watch the video. Also, we added some photos of a beautiful sunset taken from our apartment. Smog and pollution make for some outstanding sunsets! Check them out above.

Morning Routine Reaches All-time Slow

For those of you who have shared a living space with Matt, you probably remember how slow and painful his morning routine is before work. He is of a rare breed who need 1.5 hours just to eat breakfast, shower and dress. Just when I thought I had seen him at his slowest, the first week of school came. The first day, we woke up and started eating breakfast at the same time. I finished before him and started stretching in the other room. After about twenty minutes of yoga, I finally heard his dishes clinking in the sink. At breakfast the next morning, Matt looked up at me with a pained look and slurred, "I could butter my bread all morning." The next morning I set my alarm fifteen minutes later than him and was surprised to roll over and find that he had actually gotten out of bed. When I approached our living area, I was alarmed to find that no lights were on. "Matt???" I called nervously. From the living room I heard a faint "I just couldn't do it..." Sure enough he was lying on the couch in the dark, staring into space. The next few mornings were a little better. When I emerged from bed, the lights were on in the living room and he would jump up and pretend that he had been doing something. Now he's pretty much back to his typical slowness.

As for life in Manila, school has been eating up too much of our time and energy. We had a nice three day weekend last week where we finally got some free time. We finished our house shopping, got massages (or beat up depending on how you look at it) and did some general relaxing.

One odd discovery here is that people go to church in the middle of the Mall hallways. Otherwise, there hasn't been too much in the way of "differentness" here.

This Ain't No Barbeque!

A 5th grade teacher invited Heather and I to a barbeque this past Sunday evening. Her dad lives in another part of the city and decided to have a “bbq” for her and any new teaching friends that she met in the first week.

We got ready to go- Heather had a nice dress on, our friends Andrew and Rosie nice clothes as well, and I had on jeans, a t-shirt, and my red sox cap. I said to Andrew as we were leaving, “you’re all dressed up, Sarah said it was a barbeque.” Andrew, being from Maine with probably some approximate idea of what a barbeque should look like, went and changed into jeans saying to his wife Rosie, “It’s a barbeque!”

The house was beautiful. We entered through a lush landscaped yard with a variety of tropical plants. The stairway led into a living area that was enclosed with a wall of windows. As I entered the living area, I saw person upon person dressed in their finest wares. Dresses, button-up shirts all tucked in to nice khaki pants. Shoot!

There weren’t no horseshoe pit, no cornhole, no hot dogs, hamburgers, none of the sort. Instead, the houseowner’s servant immediately offered me a glass of wine or beer. (at least the “barbeque” did have beer- that was the one familiar product that I held onto) Then, the servant came around with a small appetizer that I proceeded to drop on the floor- Shoot again!

At this “barbeque,” we all sat down at a long table-clothed table with fine silver and fancy place settings. The food was terrific, of course, but it weren’t no barbeque! In fact, I don’t think I’ve been to such a fancy dinner party in my life.

The people were friendly and once I got over being self-conscious about my tattered appearance, I had a really good time.

My realization is that I am of a very privileged class here in Manila. My apartment literally is a glass castle in the sky and my social group holds “barbeques” with shiny napkin holders. On my taxi ride over to the party, a beggar with a deformed arm tapped my window for a good three minutes asking for some small donation. There is so much to take in and process right now and for the most part we are so busy with school and settling in to a new place, that there isn’t much time to reflect on our surroundings. My sudden change in wealth status in addition to my daily experience of extreme poverty will be something I will be struggling with while I am here.

In the meantime, I need to figure out a way to show these people what a real barbeque looks like.

(Note on Grammar in post: For those who are not familiar, the language used above is meant to reflect Vermont accents or "redneck talk.")

Eating Our Way Through Manila

When we come home, you may not recognize us because Matt and I may be ten pounds heavier. Manila has the widest variety of food of any developing country that we’ve been too. Luckily for Matt, the grocery store has about 3,000 bottles of cranberry juice on its shelves and all sorts of other comforts from home (including Wheat Thins). Also, unlike Thailand, Manila specializes in decadent chocolate desserts and other treats like cheesecake and tiramisu. To use the free internet at the café across the street from our house we have to buy something so we begrudgingly get a cake that’s layered with rich chocolate devil’s food cake and cheesecake and coated with chocolate chips and shavings.

The first time Matt and I attempted to cook on our gas stove we were confronted with the strong aroma of leaking gas. Initially, Matt laughed at my complaints of dizziness but before long we were both standing in the doorway of our apartment and running in and out of the kitchen to stir our pasta every few minutes. Needless to say we ate out every other night last week. Even though our street is just a side street, there are some really good restaurants. The highlights have been a greek salad across the street, Mr. Poon’s asparagus and beef, mango wrapped in prosciutto at an Italian place that made us cheeseless pizza, and a very good Indian restaurant.
Our most exciting discovery so far has been the organic farmer’s market that takes place every Saturday a block from our apartment. There was a nice mix of Filipino food, organic fruits and veggies, house plants and health foods. Before we came here we were wondering if we would have trouble finding peanut butter at the grocery store but we found organic sugarless peanut butter at the farmer’s market! We also sampled some really nice frozen yogurts with unrefined sugar and so forth. There were some good breads for sale too. To remind Matt of his roots there was a cow roasting on a spit. We actually tried the local dish, “Lechon,” which is basically a pig roasted on a spit. They serve it with plenty of skin and fat- “the good part.” Matt did think it was actually kind of tasty.

Our household help starts tomorrow and has stated that she is an aspiring chef. The teacher who recommended her to us stated, “we don’t ever think we will eat as good as we did with Mariz as our cook.” Mariz has already promised us Mango shakes when we get home from work and for dinner some fancy Shrimp dish that she was excited to cook for us. There was also talk of pancakes in the morning before work- we will see.

Another reason for you all to start looking at travel plans.

Island Living At Its Opulent Best

Our apartment is much nicer than we had hoped. We live on the 38th floor and have sweeping views of the city from the floor to ceiling windows in our living/dining room, office and two bedrooms. We can see all the way to the ocean although the water hasn’t looked all that beautiful because it has been cloudy every day. The weirdest part of living so high up is looking down at the birds that fly by. Also, we’re right next to the lightning so that’s kind of scary.

The first night that we arrived, we kept discovering new rooms and bathrooms. In fact, we were calling each other’s names as we could not find one another. We thought we had opened every door but the next day discovered another bathroom and bedroom—the maid’s quarters. We have a total of 4.5 bathrooms so if you come to visit we can give you your own bathroom. How much you write us before you visit will determine whether we give you the guest bedroom or we stick you in the maid's quarters. The other nice thing about the apartment is that we have a walk-in closet. Since we’re in Asia, I wasn’t expecting there to be a closet. The pool area is nice with a swim-up bar (that’s not stocked or staffed, but can be for parties) and a warm tub. We also have a Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom but I don’t think it works.

School has been good. A bit bigger than we’re used to with approximately 200 teachers compared to the six we had at Bellwether. We’ve met lots of cool people and so forth. We will be updating our blog with pictures soon! Hope to hear from you soon!

Love Heather and Matt

Never Been So Excited for a 16 Hour Flight

After hours spent on the phone with Vayama, mostly listening to the same 4 songs in the hold rotation, victory was ours!



Vayama said that we were confirmed to fly from JFK this morning (Friday, 10:00 AM). Mama and Papa Pelkey, who have been super generous throughout the week, brought us to Rutland where we picked up a rental car to take to JFK.



I ain't ever drived through so many big bridges, cars, and tall buildings in my life. We could've bought a new Deere for all the tolls we spent getting to the airport.



Sneaking in three more hours of sleep, we were up and the first ones waiting in the Cathay Pacific line just like The Amazing Race. We even beat the ticket agents by about an hour. We were prepared for war! Well, Heather was, I was just thinking don't vomit as our shuttle and the whole situation have put my body a bit out of sorts.



Fire alarms went off, and it was apparent there was a fire in our terminal. Fire, or not, we were getting on a flight. We walked to the ticket counter, handed our passports over, and received our boarding passes in minutes. Then we went up to the TSA officials and said "we don't care how big the fire upstairs is, we need to go up there and wait for our flight for four hours." They were really scared I think, mainly because of Matt's big muscles and menacing stare so they let us through.

Actually, we had to wait for the fire to be put out but then security started letting people through and here we are, about to board our flight. I think we might actually be going to Manila!



We have never been so excited for a 16 hour flight! Keep in touch. We've really loved reading your comments and emails and we'd love to hear what you're up to at home. We'll update our blog regularly in these first couple of weeks especially.

-Matt & Heather

We hate the world (ie Delta, Cathay Pacific, Vayama.com & Spilanes)

This will probably be the longest (and certainly the most angst filled) blog that we write but I'm hoping this will be cathartic.

First we show up at the Burlington airport to catch our Delta flight on Tuesday to discover that it was canceled. At the ticket counter they told us that it was because of weather in NYC. They said the reason all the other planes were allowed to go to JFK that evening was that the other airlines had bigger planes. They reaccommodated us for 24 hours later. That night we did some investigation and found that when our plane was supposed to arrive at JFK, the weather was cloudy with 6mph winds. It's a good thing Delta canceled our flight because we would have never been able to make it safely under those conditions.

Day 2 the weather in New York is horrible with flood warnings, lots of thunderstorms and long delays both leaving and arriving in JFK. Luckily, this day Delta apparently had a gigantic jet and didn't need to cancel the flight. We waited at the gate for our boarding time while the overhead computers reassured us that our flight was "on time". However, when our departure time came and went and no Delta official even came to the gate desk we couldn't help but wonder whether our flight really was "on time." Eventually we were told that it was canceled.

On day 3 we get up at 2 AM to begin our journey toward our 6AM departure. At Delta's counter we discover (after about an hour of them furiously typing and mumbling and getting frustrated) that there is a problem with our tickets and they can't print out our boarding pass. The problem was apparently due to Cathay Pacific but their office didn't open until well after our flight so we weren't allowed to board. We raised a big stink but to no avail.

Then we decided to just rent a car to JFK to get our connection.

No rentals available except in Rutland.

We reserved the car in Rutland but realized that to get there we would need to use the car that we drove to the airport to get there. The car was in the airport garage patiently waiting for the Pelkeys to pick it up later in the day. The problem is that we locked the key in the car for them since we wouldn't need it once we were on our way. Doh! So we called AAA and they assured us that they'd be there in about 20 minutes. That would allow us to still get to Rutland to get the car and get to JFK in time. Two hours and many calls to AAA later, we had access to our car. There goes any hope of getting to New York to catch our connecting flight to Manila.

Next stop: Montpelier. Since we disconnected our cell phones, we decided to go to Montpelier to regroup and get on the phone with Vayama, our online ticketing agent (similar to Expedia), to get reaccommodated on Cathay Pacific for the last flight on Thursday. That way we could still drive to JFK.

Road Block. Cathay Pacific refused to switch our ticket to the later time. For one thing, they consider it a "rerouting" if we don't begin our trip on Delta. Heaven forbid we enter JFK from an external exit instead of a jetway. Also, they are sick of Delta's problems and no longer want to reaccommodate us at all. So even if we do go on another Delta flight, they won't honor our ticket to Manila and since "it's not their fault" we keep getting rescheduled, they won't refund our ticket. Nor will Vayama refund our ticket since it's not their fault. Hence, as it stands, we are $1850 in the hole with no tickets to Manila through no fault of our own.

There is some hope that once Vayama's west coast head ticketing office opens they will be able to persuade Cathay Pacific to accommodate us yet.

Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion...(which may involve us trashing the whole Philippines idea and spending the next two years developing hip hop and break dancing routines to audition for America's Best Dance Crew....or hopping in Dorie's kayaks and paddling to Manila--Lake Champlain will connect us to the Pacific right?...or joining the professional Corn Hole circuit.)

-Heather & Matt