boracay, philippines

We've just spent a great week in Boracay. With water so turquoise and sands so white, it's no wonder this is a premier tourist destination! I definitely recommend this boutique hotel and this delicious restaurant (BEST chorizo burger).

Our beach bum had a lot of first on this trip: first plane ride, boat ride, bus ride, and swim in the ocean! 

It was also her first bug bite and tiny sun burn (despite slathering on the sun screen!)

pros & cons: manila

A short list, but you've got to start somewhere so let's just jump right in.

pro: the weather!
It's beautiful. This may be because I hate winter, but the warm, sunny days are perfect!

con: the weather.
It's rainy season right now, and the Philippines sees about 20 typhoons a year. These can mean some pretty nasty weather and are a huge danger for those that live in settlement housing, causing displacement, damage to infrastructure, loss of property and even loss of life.

pro: so many western things
As I learn to navigate the rings of malls and specialty shops, and get to know the big expat community, it's easier and easier to find all the things I love from home. Maybe the brands won't be what I'm used to, but that's not usually a problem.

con: so many western things often sell out and are restocked way later in the season
You want it? Buy it now. Actually, buy two. One time I found stroopwafels and that was amazing.

pro: easy transfer of driver's licence
Even though mine will forever say I weigh in at 63 kg because I was pregnant, all I had to do was pick up a form and fill it out, walk to another building for a "medical", wait for awhile ma'am, step on a scale, wait for awhile ma'am, read letters on the wall wearing my glasses, walk back to the main building, hand in the paperwork, sign some things, sit and wait, sign some more things beside that first place, sit and wait, sign yet more things beside that place, sit and wait, pay, sit and wait even more, pick up my fancy new plastic licence! So yes, maybe it sounds like a long process, but I don't even think they actually looked at my Ontario licence - so I get the feeling that anyone can be licensed here. And I get that feeling because... 

con: traffic
There's so much of it and it is not pretty. We've got:

• maniacal drivers
• jeepneys
• lack of signage
• lanes that end or do not connect past an intersection
• lanes that don't really matter. If your vehicle can fit, you get in every last small space you can see.
• so many cars
• optional turn signals
• motorcycles that sneak in everywhere
• sloooow and erratic three-wheeled vehicles in some parts of the city

Although I have my licence, I still have yet to drive here. Jeff drives, and he's done a great job navigating the "rules" of the road here. I suppose if you don't like it you could hire someone to do your driving for you.

pro: household helpers
You can hire people to do all the things you don't want to do and it's affordable. Gardeners, drivers, helpers or all-arounders (to clean the house, pay your bills, shop, run errands, water your plants, take care of your cat or even your kids... whatever you need), yayas (nannys), pool guys, you name it. You can even hire people to come to your home and give you a manicure or pedicure, a massage, even take your blood if needed.

That said, a big con is major income inequality.
I live in a neighbourhood that's private property, which is right beside a gated community, which is right beside an informal settlement. To say there is a major divide between the rich and the poor in this city is an understatement. I know I am very fortunate.

In the same breath, they say the Filipino spirit is unbreakable, and most people we meet are incredibly friendly, welcoming, and so helpful. It's an adventure living here and I can't wait to explore more of the over 7000 islands the Philippines has to offer!

manila

A few shots from around the city while my parents were visiting.

perfect weather

jeepneys. the worst.

wildflour

and one cute one from home earlier today!

ps - this is what Manila looks like this afternoon! the pending storm is feeling more like evening time.

a few words on living abroad

It's sometimes difficult living overseas.
We miss a lot of things at home; milestones, etc.
Like weddings - we've missed several.
Birthdays, births, holidays... 
Even impromptu family gatherings around the dinner table.

And of course people at home miss a lot of our milestones.
Like the birth of our first child.

It's also sometimes amazing living overseas.

I am so grateful for the opportunities we've been given.

I've learned so much, traveled so many places, met so many interesting, unique, gracious, and giving people.

Living in another country is an experience not many will take, and we've grown from this.

A lot.

Now that we've started a family, the pressure will be on to return to Canada perhaps more often than we'd prefer.

The long haul flights, jet lag, packing and unpacking, living out of backpacks for weeks on end...

These things are less than desirable. 

As they say, though, home is where the heart is.

Time with family and friends is increasingly important to us, so we shouldn't be too bothered by this as time moves on.

It's all worth it.

random name generator + typhoon yolanda/haiyan

Pretty sure this is my new favourite classroom tool:

The Hat

The easiest computerized random group/name generator...
that's totally free!

You simply download it from the software developer here (I definitely declined all the "ad" options that come with it), type in your student's names, and then randomly choose groups, pairs or individuals.

I used it today to create "expert groups" for a bit of research we were doing about Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan and its devastation.
It's amazing the way the global community has come together in the face of disaster to offer aid...
It's amazing the way our ISM community is coming together to offer relief...
It's amazing the way even the students in my class are offering their time by volunteering to pack food and water for distribution to affected areas.
My heart goes out.

bohol, philippines

For our October break, Jeff and I got away to the coast of Bohol.
It was very peaceful as we were one of two couples staying at the resort at the time!
After the 7.2 earthquake that went through, leaving over 200 dead, almost 1000 injured, several missing, and many with homes in serious disrepair, I'm sure many travelers were hesitant, to say the least.

Some of the destruction in Loboc was quite extensive, including the loss of an historical church:

On a funny note, we were told by a driver that Bohol has such a high population because before there was electricity on the island, there was nothing else to do but make babies!

black, white, and neon all over! {some classroom pics}

A few classroom photos to tide me over in the too-busy-to-blog time :)
We have had some very dark and dreary Manila days here with the typhoon circling around us, but I tried to get the brightest shots I could.

We've just started up the 100 Book Club in class and I like the visual of tracking with beads. Plus the kids seem really excited about this "program."

We've done a lot of talking about active listening.

Yes, it drives me a little crazy that I didn't think to measure out the spaces between each set of coloured paper.

I have a few students already fluent in many Math concepts, so this is a board full of extension questions that focus on the standards being addressed during lessons.

MATH rotations. The white boards look ugly, yes, but it's so easy to switch students in/out of groups and to rotate groups through.

Jobs board

One of my new favourite parts of the room: Wonderings Wall. With the Inquiry curriculum I've started student I-Time (read more about that here - it's an amazing time jam-packed with student engagement), and this is a space where students will put up their Post-It questions. There are no questions up at this point because we hadn't yet talked about the difference between Thick and Thin questions - it looks a bit messier now with their ideas posted, but that's what learning's all about!

This is a shot of one of the courtyards at our school. It is such a peaceful place to be (when the high school students are not switching classes haha).