My New Fam*

(*don't worry real family, you're not being replaced!)


Back Window view


The view from my side window at sunrise




My Bed and AC (such a blessing!)

So I am now settled into my new home in San Pedro with four crazy girls, one sweet "helper" (kinda like a maid/babysitter that lives with them), and Sister Odessa, the lovely mother. The father is away working until December, so it's a house full of babae (girls)!

The daughters are:
1. Princess (just turned 5): I cannot wait to video her singing and dancing... hilariously adorable. I literally call her "princessita diva" because she is such a little diva! She’s sassy, witty and has such a big personality for a five year old. Love her. So much.
2. Miggy (9): Miggy is a gentle spirit. She is great and does a funny funny impersonation of Beyoncé moving her hips in Single Ladies. Such a cutie.
3. Kyla (11): She sings like a mix between Ella Fitzgerald and Jennifer Hudson to Celine Dion, Taylor Swift and church choir songs and she's had no training. Her voice is amaaaazing. She loves performing (they all pretty much love using the stairway as their stage haha). She is really good in English so I am able to speak to her the most.
4. Mico (12): The oldest sister in Filipino culture is supposed to be like a 2nd mom, and she truely is. Mico is very bubbly and bouncy. She, like her sisters, loves singing and dancing too. She is very kind as well.

Then, the two "adults:"
1. Jenny (19): The helper, she is shy but so smiley and cute. She sometimes struggles a little with English, but we do communicate with motions and laughing. She is so helpful though and very pretty.
2. Sister/Ate Odessa: A self proclaimed workaholic, she works in Manila 3 hours away during the weekdays and also is the wedding planner for the church and a flower arranger. Her husband is working in Malaysia right now so she holds the place down as best as she can (although the girls certainly have minds of their own haha). She loves the Lord a lot and is very cheerful and helpful also. She makes me feel very at home in her house.



(From Left) Miggy, Kyla, Jenny and Mico

I have my own room here (the only room in the house), with a large bed with a foam mattress and AC at night! Great surprise for me. The other 6 girls sleep downstairs where there is a kitchen, and two small little living rooms with 2 sofas and a TV. TV is huge here, even if people are without running water or shoes most have TV's. It's also a big thing to watch in the home. We're talking every day, every night for at least 3 hours. The girls LOVE Disney channel and this Korean Soap Opera whose translation from Korean to English is often difficult to understand but hilarious (just its title, Boys Over Flowers, makes no sense but is silly). Also, I’ve found 2 cockroaches in my room and bathroom and I’m slowly getting used to it. There are ants and spiders everywhere in the house but those are no big now. It’s just the roaches that are as long as your pointer finger that still shake my core. But hey, they’re harmless, right?

The food has been good, tons of rice and tons of fish. Often it will be just a fish (whole body with guts and all) and fish, which is kind hard to eat due to the plethora of bones. Here, you eat with only a spoon in the right hand and a fork in left which you use to push the food onto the spoon and then put in your mouth. These utensils are kinda hard to use for picking out the bones or the meat from the body, but I'm learning! For breakfast it's harder to adjust to because they eat dinner leftovers and fish. Sometimes there will be bananas or sweet bread, but mostly it's like dinner again which I usually can't eat too much of after getting up at 5am. I'll get used to it tho I'm sure, after I run out of protein bars from the states haha. Also, all coffee is powered Nescafé which is fine but not actually coffee. The good news is that I don't really drink that anymore and am no longer addicted to caffeine! We'll see how long that lasts once school starts again...

(…oh Diet Coke and grenadine, how I miss you)