Manila Traffic - a crack of sunshine

In a city of 15-20 million - ish (who can ever know for sure?...), as you can imagine, traffic can be a bit of a problem sometimes. Like the first weekend we were here last year, when we attended a 'new staff' party. A journey that might have otherwise taken 15-20 minutes from our apartment took close to 2 hours. It was a Friday night - the worst traffic night. It was also raining, AND it happened to be the last working day of the month - pay day. (This always makes the traffic bad). And by the time we got to the village, the gates had 'closed' for public vehicles, so our bus (although private) was given a hard time, and some got out to walk the last few hundred metres.

Well, Manila has a few funny ways to deal with its traffic problem.

One attempt to reduce the volume of traffic is called 'colour coding'. Every car has one weekday where it's not allowed on the roads. While this sounds like a good idea, this system is fraught with difficulties. Our restricted day is Thursday, so all our trips between the "coding" hours are simply taken by taxi. Whether or not 'coding' increases the volume of taxis on the road is the first issue.

Another complication is that Metro Manila is divided into several 'cities'. Some cities (like Makati, where our apartment was) have 'coding' from 7am til 7pm. Easy to remember. However, now we live in Pasig city, and the coding is only during 'official' rush hour times, which is 7am - 10am, and then again 3pm-7pm. So if we can manage to do a school pick up at 2:15 and get home by 3pm, we theoretically don't need to use a taxi. Unfortunately, our trip from home in Pasig city to school in Fort Bonifacio city crosses one major road which is technically Makati city, so we could get caught out and be liable to a fine. (although I'm told the Makati traffic enforcers don't worry about that intersection from 10-3. We have certainly not had a problem yet.)

A third issue is that the traffic enforcers are particularly prone to corruption. So the only time when we've been caught out on 'coding day' (which was when we were driving home from holiday, and we forgot that it was Thursday when we returned to Manila), we were able to 'pay the fine here' with the traffic enforcer.

The other way that people get around 'coding' - for families with more than one car - is by simply driving a different vehicle that day. :)

Another (also very debatable) method used to help traffic problems is turning off the traffic lights. Yes, you read that right. Half the time, the traffic lights around the city are not working. Sometimes, it's clear they don't work, as they are either totally off, or flashing yellow, other times they are still 'going' but are to be ignored. Instead of traffic lights, a pointsman is on duty to guide the traffic. The idea is that the pointsman will be able to decide better than a traffic light which cars need to go through. You get used to pointsmen quite quickly, and there are all sorts of gadgets that they use to help them be seen. Most frequently, they wear a large reflective 'glove' that has red on the 'palm' side, and green on the 'back' side.

Well needless to say, sitting in traffic can be quite a negative experience. Frustration at being late, boredom at the time-wasting, even anger sometimes at the other drivers (or the pointsman himself!). This is why, when I first saw him, the 'dancing pointsman' totally made my day. In the middle of a 'negative' time, this pointsman put a huge grin on my face, and really did change my outlook. I've driven past the same intersection several times, and have been delighted to see him on duty many times, and he even has an apprentice - a young guy doing other shifts, who is imitating his ways by dancing his time away.

I was delighted to see a friend's blog about this dancing pointsman, so if you want to see him yourself, take a look here. It speaks for itself.

...and the grand finale... Brendan & Frances' wedding!

Yes, the REAL reason why we had scheduled yet another trip to NZ was to participate in the wedding of Nigel's brother. So after all the preparation, the day finally arrived, on the last Saturday of our trip.

Brendan & Frances had organised 2 cute dresses for the girls, and even had them altered, Nan (Shirley) had made some cute little bolero jackets for them to wear on top (being winter!) and we went hunting for some stockings & shoes. (Which was MUCH harder than you think!) So the day arrived, and ...

Whoops! There were still a few glitches to iron out. Emily's dress was STILL too long, so Grandma did some loose hand-stitching to take it up, and ensure she wouldn't trip on her big journey down the aisle....

The HAIR took a while to achieve. It had to be 'just right' and show off both Emily's long hair, and Zoe's beautiful curls...

We found out that the track pants the girls wore 'in the meantime' left nasty blue fuzz marks all over the stockings!!!

But we thought they scrubbed up pretty nicely!!! Just like the groom himself, and Daddy.

We had to keep them occupied for a while, before their big moment...

But when it came, they did fantastic! They were told to walk slowly and smile, and they did both of those things very well!!!

Emily was brave enough to stay on the stage during most of the ceremony...


Zoe, on the other hand, needed some familiar arms to keep her happy...

All in all, we were VERY proud of them!

The whole wedding was a brilliant success, and a very special occasion. We wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Then off to Australia!

The weekend after our Taupo visit, Nigel and I went (with only Tessa) to Australia for a very quick visit. (Yes, more long travel for Tessa- thank goodness for that sling, huh?) My cousin was getting married, and it was a fabulous opportunity to meet up with that side of the family. It had been nearly 10 years since we'd all been together.

While we were there, we also managed to hook up with some good friends of ours, who moved away from NZ not long after we did. They now live in the Sunshine Coast, but came down to the Gold Coast, to see us, and meet Tessa! We enjoyed ourselves alot, and from the looks of their blog, I think they did too!

After our fun 48 hours, it was back to NZ to get ready for the MAIN purpose of our big trip - Nige's brother's wedding. That will have to wait for another blog...

Off to New Zealand!

Next stop in our holidays was New Zealand. Before we left, though, we spent a week back at our apartment and packed it all up. With these 3 tricksters hanging around, it really did take us all week!

Back in New Zealand, we relished the company of family. Grandma & Pops' house was once again our 'home-base' and the girls enjoyed just playing, both with them and around their house.

We had a very special long weekend away in Taupo at a holiday home with our siblings and nephew. We rented a holiday house for several days, and just hung out together.

Taupo also offers fabulous outdoor play. The 'boys' had a go at shooting their holes in one at the barge on the lake. And the playground was a hit, too.

Taupo is also very close to the mountains in the North Island, so one morning was dedicated to visiting the snow.

Baguio

Our 6-week summer holiday started with a fizz. We were all sick. They say that teachers crash at the end of term, while mothers crash at the end of the holidays. Well in our family, the teacher crashes at the end of term (and last year, he didn't quite make it through the last week!) and then the rest of the family gets the sickness too. So our first week "off school" was spent pretty much in bed or at least not doing a heluva lot.

Our second week, we went up to Baguio, which is in a mountainous area of Luzon, so it's cool! It's only 200kms north of Manila, but with the state of the roads here, and needing to have 'family friendly breaks' every couple hours, it took us more than 6 hours to get there.

Some highlights from our time in Baguio were:

Visiting the 'Easter weaving room'. Here, we got to see weaving in action. To be honest, I think we were as much an attraction to the weaving ladies as they were to us. Tessa sleeping in the sling was quite a talking point for the ladies. We ended up buying a few woven pieces for the walls in our new house.

We also went to 'Tamawan village', which is a hang-out for several local artists. They have re-assembled some traditional houses there, and they also exhibit and sell their artwork. The girls posed for some sketch portraits, and we got to keep those.

And generally, we just loved being able to play outdoors because it wasn't stinkin' hot! Check out the long pants and long sleeves!
There was also a butterfly sanctuary close to our 'inn', where the girls enjoyed getting 'upclose and personal' with the winged creatures.

And the other highlight of our trip? Sleep. It was dark, cool and quiet. Because we were sharing one room, the lights went out at 7:30. And stayed out. Our cards and magazines stayed in the suitcase. It was such a relief to be away from our inner-city apartment, where traffic noise and streetlights were our nighttime companions. And it was lucky we did go to bed so early, because Tessa's reflux really started kicking in here, so we were up several times a night, trying to prevent her from waking the rest of the inn's guests.

All in all, we liked Baguio so much, we're thinking of going back again for Christmas. But we'll see. We're told it can go down to 5 degrees at night in December. Seems awfully chilly to us...

Back into “real life”

It’s been AGES since we’ve posted a new blog! We've had our 6-week “summer” holiday from school, and it was a very full time!

In the next few blogs, I'll show you about our holidays. For now, here's basically where we're at:

Upon arrival back in Manila (end of August) we went straight into our new place. Luckily for us, our house helpers had unpacked EVERYTHING! We felt so spoilt, and very grateful, as Nigel was back to work the following day!

We’ve now had 3 weeks back in Manila, and life has (thankfully) acquired some sort of regular routine. We’re slowly getting our (very large) new house into shape, although our travels have left us broke, so we’re waiting till next month’s payday to get some of the big things we still need. Like a dining table. See the 'vast emptiness' behind Zoe here... She's having breakfast on one of her play tables. We use the coffee table...

We also still need to get some more fans & air-con units to make the house more comfortable. Apart from that, we’re really enjoying living in our new house. There are NO cockroaches! We have fresh air-flow, and LOTS of space to play, both indoors and out.

Emily has now started ‘real’ school. Being the British system, her first year of school starts when she’s four, turning 5. She is one of the youngest in her year group, but she’s absolutely loving school. What a huge difference from her first day at the nursery class last year! (see last year's blog entry here) This year there have been no tears whatsoever, and she says one favourite part of her school is having lunch in the canteen.

Zoe has started preschool at the local ‘Cambridge’. She has the same uniform and very similar routines to her last pre-school, which was the ‘Cambridge’ by our apartment. She enjoys this, and has also had no tears at all. She’s even made a new friend already, who we’ve had over to our house for a play date. She attends 4 mornings per week.

Tessa is doing well, but is still not sleeping through the night, at nearly 6 months. (the older 2 were sleeping through regularly by 3 months!) She’s had some issues with reflux, a little bit of teething (although no teeth yet), changing time-zones several times(!), changing beds and changing climates. However, she’s generally a happy, chubby baby, and she loves smiling at everyone she meets. (Here she is practising her dancing, and showing you the new playroom...)

We’ve also acquired a new family member, named “Freddo”. He’s about 4 months old, has 4 legs, and short, orange fur. He’s a real rascal, and we nearly gave him right back, but in the time we were ‘stuck’ looking for a new family, we have grown to like him. Zoe in particular, has gone from being frightened of him, to nearly loving him to death. She loves to pick him up, but hasn’t quite mastered the art of knowing where to put her hands. Surprisingly, he purrs whenever he is picked up.

Nigel’s well back into the swing of working life, although getting back the momentum was quite tiring! He’s also found a tennis partner (Zoe's friend's Dad), whom he plays with every Friday afternoon. We live just across the road from the village park, which has a tennis court in it, so it’s very handy!

I (Joanna) am starting to enjoy our regular weekly routines. With Emily gone during the whole school day, Zoe at preschool 4 mornings, there’s only Tessa to worry about, and so with a little help from Jenalyn (aka ‘Superwoman’) I’m finally getting some time to myself! I’ve joined two women’s groups –one on a Monday night, (with Zoe's friend's mum) which meets at a café just up the road, and one on a Tuesday morning, which is back closer to the city centre, but it’s with some precious friends I made last year. Both are proving very stimulating and energizing – exactly what the doctor ordered.