…..AND THE BUILDING STARTS!

So here I am again after two or three weeks of silence.   Michael and I have been really busy but it's good to be able to sit down and do some updating on what's going on.

We found a contractor to help us build our house.  He is the son of the builder who built my parents' house in 2005.  Felipe is making a name for himself in the local construction business and is in high demand around here so I was surprised when he said yes. 

Michael gave him the house plans on Thursday, November 12 – one for the two-storey house and the other for a separate building for the bake shop.  Felipe suggested hollow blocks be made on-site to cut cost, so Saturday, November 14, deliveries started pouring in – cement and gravel and sand.  By dusk that day, they made 20 bags worth of hollow blocks (40 blocks/1 bag of cement).

November 16, Monday, workers came to start the foundation for the bake shop.  We wanted to get this done so we can use it as temporary storage for more building materials for the house.  Coco lumber is being used for scaffolding so we have to cut some coconut trees for this.  Here are some pictures I took of the workers as they made hollow blocks, dig the foundation, cut and shape rebars and install the scaffolding:

Everything is done here manually, mixing cement and gravel, cutting and shaping rebars, etc., etc..  No fancy equipments or tools.  We even let them borrow some of our tools as these workers are ill-equipped tool-wise but what they lack they made up for their determination and dedication to work and get things done rain or shine.  These guys are dependable, hardworking people and I admire all ten of them.  Michael and I make sure they have water all the time and snacks in the AM and in the afternoon. 

There are four coconut tree stumps that are sliced into fourths so that they can move these out of the site.   Here's a picture of what they look like:

We are brainstorming of ways we can utilize these chunks, perhaps some of you would have ideas we could use.  I am thinking maybe we could fashion one of them into a seating area and the rest incorporate in the landscaping.  I welcome any suggestions.

Lumber is really scarce here by the way.  So we need to order them as soon as we get the estimates and measurements.  Because of serious deforestation, loggers have to go through several barangay captains to get permission to haul the lumber to us.  We are still waiting to get our first order as of this week.

Thank you for your patience and for following our journey.  We love y'all and God bless you!

FIRST THERE WAS ONE ....... NOW THERE ARE TWO

FIRST THERE WAS ONE......NOW THERE ARE TWO

This is Orkie.  We don't know its breed.  She wandered into our backyard one afternoon, confused, scared, hungry and tired.  She is so tiny she must have only been three weeks old then, probably haven't been weaned from her momma.  She was crying and moaning obviously looking for her momma, as she came into our yard.  We took her in for the night hoping in the morning someone will claim her.  Three sleepless nights later, nobody claimed her, nobody looked for her so we decided to keep her and named her Orkie.  Michael prepared milk for her to drink and I put on my shopping list a baby bottle so we can keep feeding her milk.  We found out the next morning, however, that she can eat solid food, the poor thing must be really starving she decided to start eating.  That was three weeks ago.

Then last Sunday, our neighbor gave us a three-week old puppy.  Its mommy was run over by a vehicle and died on the spot.  He's furry and chubby, obviously well-fed by the momma.  He is almost 4 weeks old and of course hasn't been weaned yet.  JJ wants to name him “Blackie” but since its momma was named Blackie, I suggested “Brockie” since it has black body with chocolate brown feet.  We end up calling him Brock and Michael calls him Barack (aruy).  Just look at him...isn't he cute?

The funny thing is that when we brought Brock home, Orkie got so jealous she started growling at him, then she climbed on top of Brock and peed on him.  I guess she is “marking” him in a way and letting the newcomer know who's the boss around here.  She might be tiny, but boy she made sure Brock knows she was here first.  She didn't want to have anything to do with Brock so for two days and two nights we took care of separating them apart as Orkie bit Brock twice already.  Poor Brock would wail so pathetically each time he got bit.  I have to use a spray bottle to stop Orkie from attacking Brock.  I filled up a spray bottle with water and everytime Orkie growls or attacks Brock I spray Orkie's face with it and tell him to stop being mean to Brock.  It must have worked because on the third day they decided to be friends – just like that.  Now the two are inseparable.  They play together, sleep together and even share the same dish.  But Orkie still dominates him every now and then and that's alright too.  Someone has to lead, right?

TRAFFIC, not driving 55mph anymore

My brother in law would like driving here.  He is an aggressive driver in the Kansas City area (no offense, Rick :) hehehe).  Here you have to be a defensive and agressive offensive driver.  You have to take your spot on the road and claim it as yours. 

You have to watch out for people, pedalcabs,  motorcycle, trikes, jeepneys, other vehicles, dogs, cats, goats, chickens, ducks, water buffalos and other distractions.  People have a tendency not to pay attention to what they are doing.  We have had children run in front of us.  We have had motorcycles pull out of side streets in front of us.  We have had all sorts of vehicles weave side to side in their lanes.

Motorcycles weaving through Herds of goats on the road                  

Buses are the king of the road here.  They appear to operate under GTR (gross tonage rules).  Tailgating and passing at will.  Using their horn and flashing their lights letting you know they are coming through.

Intersections are rarely marked with control signs.  Street signs are rare as well as highway signs.  Speed limit signs are far and few between.  No pass zones are marked however, they are merely suggestions with what other control signs that are found.

With all of this going on and because of the speed of the various vehicles, you do a lot of passing.  You have to watch oncoming traffic, side traffic, pedestrian traffic, various animals and of course people passing you.  Always check behind you before you try to pass another.

 Construction zones are not like in the United States where construction areas are well marked and controlled.   Here in the Philippines, there is usally a sign at the beginning of the zone, with no warning, saying lane closed.  There is rarely any traffic direction control methods through the zone.  You are on your own to make sure no one is coming towards you before you enter the zone.  Of course, you need to make sure no one is trying to pass you before you enter the zone.  If you get caught in the zone and think you need to back up to give right of way, do not back up.  There is probably somebody on your bumper that you did not see.  Occasionally, there will be a flag man.  Along with the flag man will be kids flagging you through.  Probably the flag man's kids.

School parades, Scouts, funerals and parades for various saints will be on the highway at any given time.

Nighttime driving is worse.  Take all of the above and add no lights to vehicles and pedestrians and you have the worst driving scenario.  And for some reason, some drivers do not like turning on their lights, unless they are flashing them at you for some unknown reason.  I, Flor, thinks there should be an ordinance requiring vehicles, bikes, trikes, motorcycles and the like to turn their lights on at dusk.  Maybe I should present that to the Sanguniang Panlalawigan specially at this time when election is coming up.

With all this said, the view, however, can't be beat anywhere you go.  We found some roads that are less traveled.  There is one road that we use often that runs along the beach.  Any distractions are easily handled since you have to go slow on this road and almost always you are the only one on the road.  And the view is breathtaking.

Since our vehicle is not automatic, I decline to drive it so Michael does all the driving.  I am afraid because of how people drive here and the tons of distractions along the road, I might get confused  with the clutch and gas pedals and will end up in a wreck.  I kind of miss driving so I am hoping we will upgrade or buy another one with an automatic transmission soon.

Michael teases me a lot about how most Americans when they come to the Philippines, they have Filipino drivers.  In our situation it is the other way around, I have an American driver :)

Well, it's time to park for now.  As always, thanks for following and until our next blog, may the Lord richly bless you and yours as He has us.

HI HO THE DAIRY 'O . . . THE FARMER IN THE DELL

OUR “FARM”

We finally found a property that we like, about a mile to the beach, and far from the traffic noise that we despised. We bought it on the 10^th of this month and we are still working on transferring the title to my name. It would only be in my name since Michael is an American citizen. Foreigners are not allowed to acquire real estate properties here in the Philippines. They can acquire a house but not the lot where the house sits. Since I have dual citizenship I can enjoy the rights of being a Filipino, such as being able to buy real estate properties, engage in commerce, etc..

It is almost 3,000 square meters land with coconuts and fruit bearing trees on the west side and an un-irrigated rice field on the east. Because it is un-irrigated, it can only be tilled for rice planting once a year and the rest of the year you can plant it with veggies, corn, etc.. The coconuts are harvested every 3 months.

We hired a couple of guys to clear the brushes one day and Michael and I have been going there everyday after JJ leaves for school. I am doing a lot of burning in order to get rid of the dead brushes. It's a good work-out under the morning sun and it feels good to be out there. Michael bought a can of blue spray paint one day and marked some of the coconut trees with KU. It's funny how people who stop by to chat asks me what KU stands for.

Here's some pictures that I took of the property:

And this is where we will build our 2 storey house once the paperwork goes through. Michael had been working on the house plan for a while now.

He already had layouts for where the hogs will be raised, where the chicken coops is going to be and a pen for the goats. We also have a huge space for pineapples and curry root plants. I need to set aside time to research on curry and whether there is a good market for it like ginger root does around here. From March to December, the rice field will be dry so there's that huge place for Michael to plant what he wants. The north side of the property facing the road is where my cake shop will be built and I already have cleared an area beside it to raise exotic orchids because it has shady spots. I already have starters for the orchids and I am slowly collecting stumps for these.

Slowly and patiently we will accomplish our dream and someday, the Lord willing, we will invite you over for a visit.

I feel the need to share with you our life verse when we got married in October 1987: The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” And then when we celebrated our 25^th anniversary we claimed this promise from the Lord for another 25 years and this is what that verse says: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15

I am just reminded of these promises as we celebrated our 28^th last October 10, the day we signed the papers to buy this property. God is faithful, indeed.

Thank you for following us in this journey. Until our next blog, may the Lord pour out His blessings on you and yours. We love y'all!

THE NITTY, GRITTY STUFF OF LIFE HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES

I am going to write about the everyday stuff where we are right now. I might not cover everything but hopefully this should give you an insight of what it's like to live here. I grew up in this little town, my beloved Hinunangan, went to school here until I moved to Manila in 1977 to pursue my college education. I've been gone since then, seldom coming home for a visit, I moved to the US after Michael and I got married in 1987. I came home for my parents' 50^th Wedding Anniversary in 1999 with our two sons in tow, and in 2005 when my dad passed on. During those brief visits my longing to stay home keeps gnawing at me. And who wouldn't want to? I keep asking myself, “What would I give up to enjoy all these breathtaking scenery and beauty that God has blessed the Philippines with?” 

I decided I'd give up anything...I'd give up covenience, a big house, lots of “stuff”, I'd leave behind the rat race and the constant stress and worries that haunts day in and day out. And yes, I'd give up the washer and dryer, . Here we are doing our laundry at the back of the beach house one day. The constant breeze from the Pacific is our dryer.

“I WANT MY MAYTAG”

This is our clothes washing “station” at the back of the house we are staying. Our dryer is the line you see in the background. Michael and I do the laundry together everyday so it isn't too overwhelming. We spend about P7.50 in detergent every week. We figured we will be busy once we settled in our new place so Michael thinks we will buy a washer then. I believe he just want his Maytag back :)

There is a nipa and bamboo hut behind the property we are staying complete with a kitchen and a loft. There's a wood stove in the kitchen that Michael decided we will use to cook our food. Two weeks of doing that he decided he is tired of trying to start a fire. His scouting and camping expertise didn't pan out here :) so we end up cooking our food in the big house with the gas stove. “It was worth the try,” I told him.

My cousin's house has a big yard. In the front are two mango trees, several lanzones tress, chico trees and to the back are santol trees, more lanzones and a sunkist tree. Every morning I sweep the leaves into piles and burn them. While I'm at it I also burn our trash. There are no trash collectors here in the smaller villages or barangays, you take care of your trash. And, no street sweepers either, you take care of the street in front of your house or property.

Most of the people here buy and cook just enough for each meal everyday as most do not have refrigerators. We still go to the market and groceries once a week for a week's worth of groceries. The reason why I stated “groceries” and not “grocery” is because you have to go to at least three different ones to get everything on your list which is so frustrating. But I keep telling myself I'm not in America anymore.

There are chicken to be fed every morning and evening and that became JJ's responsibility. We need to get used to eating home-grown, free range native chicken. Michael thinks they are a little tough (because they are so lean) but they are excellent for chicken soup. We tried cooking oven fried chicken in the dutch oven that we brought with us and it tasted good. Here's JJ feeding the chicken.

The three 5-gal. jugs you see in the back of the house are filled with water every morning and Michael sets them out in the sun all day.  At the end of the day we have our warm baths.  We found out 5 gallons of water per person is all we need for our baths.

We now have established a “suki” for our morning pan de sal which is a roll that most Filipinos have for breakfast with their coffee. A vendor riding a bicycle with a box full of pan de sal at the back sells them early morning, as early as 4am (which at that time, the rolls are still hot, just off the oven). They are P10 for a dozen. They are small rolls, though. We love them paired with sliced processed cheese.

I promise I will be updating this article as there are lots to write about the nitty gritty and everyday stuff. Until then, thanks for following and God bless.

PORK CHOP and LECHON -------- HMMM

We never thought we'll do this, but we are raising two piglets. My cousin Elizabeth and her husband Joven, who so graciously let us live in their empty house for free, has a pigpen next to the nipa hut behind their house. Our next door neighbor just happened to have piglets for sale so we bought two which proved to be a wise decision. The piglets keep us busy from morning to night. Michael enjoys getting up in the morning and checking on them. These creatures CAN be playful and interacts with him with their antics. He talks to them and they recognize his voice. They even act like our former dog, Abby, who had a constant need to be petted. I never thought pigs can be like that.....and they are so cute.

JJ was so excited when we first got them but soon lost interest in them. So much for having pigs for pets. He insisted they are going to be his pets and that he will be taking care of them. That didn't last. We will be adding two more in a month as there is an extra pen for two or three more.

Here they are.

One of them is named Porkchop and the other one is Lechon. We bought them for P2000.00 each and hopefully at the end of November we shall be able to sell them around P9000 – P9500 per. We will be adding two more in the middle of this month. We already have a name for them too: Bacon and Shortrib.

We will be raising organic pigs at the property we are getting and possibly have a sow.  That should keep us busy along with organic gardening.

FINAL SEPTEMBER UPDATE

This is the 12^th of September and we are still checking out parcels of land for sale. We have a constant calls from people who want to show us their properties for sale. It's amazing how word spread out so quickly around here. In spite of the many tours, as of today, we still haven't found one.

The first week of September we made a trip to Sogod where we opened an account with one of the big and stable banks in the Philippines. Everybody was helpful and the transaction was a breeze. Because Michael's I-card was not available yet, we opened the account in my name. We will add Michael's name to the account once immigration sends the card.

Since it was late in the afternoon and there was no van going to Hinunangan around that time, we took a 3-hour bus ride. It was already full so we have to stand halfway to our destination. After an hour of standing, we finally got a seat in the town of St. Bernard. Michael told me the bus was a 26 person seater (apparently he counted the seats) yet there were 60 of us (more or less) jammed in this bus, young and old, it didn't matter as long as they can squeeze you in. It was an exhausting ride to say the least. We definitely need to look for a vehicle so we don't have to make that kind of trip again.

The second week of September we decided to get our driver's licenses. LTO (Land Transportation Office) that issues driver's license is four towns away (about an hour bus ride). As long as you present your current, unexpired driver's license from the US, they only require you to submit a completed medical form signed by a physician. Each town has a Rural Health Unit where this medical form can be obtained. It only cost P50.00 per person. We opted for Foreign Driver's License Conversion because our licenses haven't expired yet. It didn't require any tests or exams, we only need to have our pictures taken and signatures and it cost us a little over 600 pesos each. Another requirement was a copy of the arrival date stamp page from our passports. I noticed that every government offices (whether Manila or the provinces) doesn't have copier and it is your responsibility to bring copies of the required documents when transacting business. We learned we will get our actual driver's license in three months so we will be carrying with us a temporary one in the meantime. Again, everyone was very polite and helpful, customer service with a friendly smile.

On September 18, we purchased a parcel of coco land up in the hills of Calag-itan, Southern Leyte. This is an income property that should give us cash flow every 3 months. We hiked up to the property one morning and we were treated with a breathtaking view of the ocean and the beautiful Hinunangan Bay. I regretted not taking my camera with us but we plan to go back next month so I should be able to share with you via pictures on my next blog what we saw. We retained the caretaker as he is very familiar with the land.

We planned to travel to Ormoc City September 23-24 to look for a vehicle, then head to Cebu City for a couple of days should we not find one in Ormoc. We might as well make this a sightseeing trip while we are at it.

We received word that there is a vehicle for sale in my mother's neighborhood. September 22 we test drove a 4-door Toyota Revo. This was not what we planned to get but after looking into it, and weighing our options, we decided to purchase it. It sat in the garage most of the time, hardly driven except for a couple of weeks once a year when the owner, who lives in California, comes home for a visit. Apparently since the parents passed on, they do not plan to visit yearly as they did before so they wanted to sell it. This is our new ride:

Our plan to go to Ormoc and Cebu is tabled for now. We will still go and visit these cities some other time.

Two exciting things happened this last week: 1) we found a farm that meets our needs and we plan to purchase it; 2) JJ was allowed to sit in at a nearby school everyday starting today, the 26^th. He is not officially enrolled but it didn't matter much to me since all I really wanted for him is language immersion. I will teach him at home with the basics just so he would not be left behind once he is enrolled next year. Here he is in his school uniform. Isn't he cute?

That is all for now. I pray you will continue to follow my blogs and journey with us for however long the Lord will let us in this adventure. Please pray for us as we are for you. Until then - MIZPAH!

GONE FISHING....

Months before we left for the Philippines we invested in a fish trap with the help of my cousin Elizabeth and her husband, Joven. With the money we sent, they bought the materials necessary to build the pen, hired workers from start to finish and then retained some of the hired hands to help them in the day-to-day operation. At first we just watched them harvest fish from the shore, but soon we were brave enough to get on a little dug-out and paddle to the center of the pen to watch.

I am sharing some of the pictures here:

We watched the guys haul the fish in with the nets into the boats.  There were people milling about ashore wanting to buy the day's catch including fish vendors.  We wanted to help but thought we were just in the way so we stood and watch them wheeling and dealing from a corner.  It's kind of being at an auction.

Yes, we have fish almost everyday. JJ one day opened the refrigerator and said (with a tone of dismay) “The only thing we have here is fish.” I don't mind that at all – a diet of fish, veggies and rice and ocassional red meat.

We are enjoying the weather here especially at the end of the day when we take a swim. Mike had been making progress reaching his goal of swimming to the edge of the fish pen and back. JJ has learned to swim and to float on his back.  Most of all I am enjoying our lifestyle here: no bills to pay except for electricity (P700-P800), cable (P360) and water (P10.00)

Thank you for following and I hope you will come back again for more updates.  Blessings.