Finding Joy in the Philippines

I feel like I’ve written a lot about the struggles we’ve had since our arrival in the Philippines. Every new place has an adjustment period, some taking longer than others. Guam felt like home almost immediately. I’m pretty sure I’ll never feel at home, but the longer we are here I’m finding more and more pockets of joy in the Philippines.

The View From Our Condo

I don’t think we will ever tire of the view from our 17th floor condo. We all enjoy spending time “watching window”. (If you’ve never seen the movie Croods II you won’t understand that phrase.) The skyline and sunsets are beautiful! The people watching is also great. We saw some local kids doing an elaborate dance with fans over the weekend, and Braxton can easily spot if a friend of his is outside to play!

Friendly People and Cute Babies

There are always a lot of people outside. As Dave and I walk around the complex we receive one of two greetings. The security guards will greet us with “Good morning ma’am, sir.” Local people (kids and grown ups) greet us with “Good morning, Po”. “Po” is part of Tagalog (the official Filipino language) and is put at the end of sentences to show respect. I’ve mentioned that we get a lot of looks here, but once we smile at someone they almost immediately smile back. The locals are the friendliest we’ve met so far!

There is an abundance of cute babies around here. Alexis and I are covering early childhood development in her elective right now and it’s been fun to ask her questions like “how old do you think that baby in the elevator was?” Plus, they are just super cute to smile at!

Christmas Decorations and Night Time Walks

The decorations here make me so happy. Twinkly lights are one of my favorite things about Christmas and I’m so happy I don’t have to miss them this year. We spend a lot of time walking around the complex at night. It’s much cooler and always feels a bit magical (even with the bugs – ugh!). If we didn’t have this open space to walk in and escape our tiny condo, I might truly go crazy!

Friends From Across The World

Watching Braxton play and interact with all the locals kids brings me tremendous joy. I’m so proud of his ability to make friends and join in as an outsider. It helps that the kids here are extremely friendly. They approached Braxton almost immediately when we arrived. Braxton said when they first meet they say “Hi” and then usually ask him “What’s your name? Where are you from? What’s your sport?” He plays with kids of all ages, enjoying games such as basketball, tag, hide-and-seek and many more. He’s tucked behind the cute toddler in white in the picture below.

We’ve been here for almost a week, and I imagine I will find many more things about this country that bring me joy. Dave and I daydreamed during one of our many walks about just hopping back over to Japan for a week. We are missing their clean, quiet streets and laugh now at how we thought our condo in Tokyo was too small. It’s all about perspective!