Arrival in the Philippines: The good, the bad and the ugly.

It's hard to believe we're here. After months of preparation, we've finally made it to Manila, our home for at least the next two years.

It was quite a journey - we left Auckland on a Friday, had two nights in Brisbane (family visit), one night in Taipei (stopover) then arrived in Manila on the Monday.

The good:
The flying went pretty well - even with our mountain of luggage - 13 pcs total. The girls coped pretty well with the long flights. Zoe kept watching a 20-minute Mickey Mouse cartoon (without the sound), and Emily learned how to use the seat control to play games!
We were met off the plane by one of the BSM staff, and were driven directly to our new apartment in downtown Manila (Makati). Our household helper was in the building foyer to meet us and help us with our stuff. She's a friendly woman, with two kids of her own, and her last job was full-time nanny to a pair of 3-year-old twins, so she knows her way around toddlers!.

The bad (well, just a little):
Our apartment was pretty bare - (minimally) furnished, but lacking lots of things, including curtains! (But we later found out that the curtains had been removed for cleaning.) As far as apartments go, I think this is a pretty good one - marble floors, each room has its own bathroom, we have helpers' quarters, a large kitchen, and lots of windows for big views of the city. However, at the end of the day, it really is just a box in the sky, and we will definitely miss the little patch of grass that came with our house in NZ!

And the ugly:
In our three days here, I've met 6 cockroaches. Killed 4 of those. Now if this was a stand alone house, I'd be fumigating the place, but there seems to be no point here, as the apartment is connected to an enormous network of pipes and drains throughout its 40 floors. For every cockroach I kill in our apartment, there will be at least 100 more in the drainpipes. YUCK! Anyone have tips on how to deal with the critters?
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