The Halfway Point in the Philippines

Yesterday marked the halfway point of our time here in the Philippines, but who’s counting? When I think about living here for two more weeks it sounds a little exhausting. Alexis is always pointing out the positive things about our location and I admire her outlook. Her extroverted side is loving the constant people and she’s embraced the chaos of the streets of Manila (it really is entertaining out there). Although I don’t love our current location, I’m trying to focus on the positive.

Amazing Learning Opportunities

There’s a lot to be learned when a situation is hard and I want to keep that forefront in my mind. I’ve mentioned before that we are all learning an abundance of patience. The kids are both learning about interesting topics in school right now related to where we are. Alexis just finished writing a paper comparing and contrasting school in America and school here. Braxton is working on a presentation about Christmas traditions in the Philippines. The opportunities we’ve had to learn about the world has been one of my favorite things this year. This is the first location that the kids have had the opportunity to ask local people questions as part of their research.

Small Joys In Unexpected Places and Christmas Decorations

The apples here have this pink foam netting that protect them from getting bruised. This was common in Japan as well. We eat a lot of apples and Alexis used them as accessories the other day. That girl can always make us laugh!

Braxton’s friend let him ride his scooter recently and he was so excited! Braxton rode his bike or scooter almost daily back in Colorado and has really missed that.

The kids and I did some decorating this week while listening to Christmas music. We used whatever materials we had which included my scarf, leftover origami paper from Japan, color pencils, a piece of ribbon I found in a drawer here, and tape. It still doesn’t feel like Christmas, but we had fun!

Why The Hardest Places Matter Most

Dave asked me last night if I could go back and change things would I still include this stop on our journey, and the answer is yes. Even though the Philippines has been hard, it doesn’t mean I’m not happy to experience it. We talked about how it relates to the concept of hedonic adaptation. If you experience nothing but comfort and convenience, that will become your baseline and not provide you any additional happiness over time. Our time here in the Philippines is going to make us appreciate other places even more. Only 13 more days – but like I said, who’s counting?