Matt arrived home from his last day at work with the news from our Social Worker that we won’t be able to collect JM on Monday 31st as planned. The Philippines adoption office had forgotten to let ICAS/us know that Monday was ‘National Heroes Day’ a public Holiday in the Philippines and things would be shut down. Oops! Whilst undoubtedly disappointed with the news, it didn’t come as a complete surprise given the series of delays we’ve had. I think our resilience to this sort of thing is increasing, which can’t be a bad thing!
At this stage we just can’t wait to get to Manila.
Wednesday 26th Aug:
The flight over seemed a lot longer than ten hours. Poor Will was pretty sick on the plane and went through all the spare clothes we had for him and for us, and also wrote off two rows of seats. We were sustained by Uno and good books. We were all very relieved to arrive in Manila. We were in the country where our son lives and where he was born! We got through Ninoy Aquino airport really quickly and were immediately hit by the humidity (about 85%), heat (31c at 6pm), and smell of pollution. We were relived to be greeted by the air conditioned hotel van. Driving through Manila at peak hour was something else. The traffic had a life of its own, chaotic on the surface but with a strange order that just seemed to make it all work... Lots of horns, bikes, buses, and Jeepneys. From the comfortable seats of the van we saw families, children and adults on the street, shanties, houses, shops, stalls, markets that looked dirty and that Will thought were ‘broken’, but were all a hive of activity, selling the weird and the wonderful. Mothers with children and babies, poor but loving and happy. It took 1.5 hours to travel the 15km to the hotel, and after a mix up with rooms we dumped our bags and headed out into the mall for some food. The elevator opened to friends from Melbourne (Jan and Malcolm) who have two boys from the Philippines (Tim and Alex). It was great to see some friendly faces. After grabbing a late dinner we collapsed into our very hard beds about 11pm Melbourne time exhausted.
Just off the plane & Will wearing the only thing we had left clean...
Thursday 27th Aug:
We woke up about 4:30am Philippines time (6:30am Melb) and unpacked. We had a BIG breaky at the hotel buffet. You name it they had it, chilli beef, noodles, rice, congee, pastries, fruit etc. Will was still feeling pretty lousy (as were we) so had a quiet morning, and explored the mall that adjoins the hotel a little. We had another rest in the arvo (still adjusting to the humidity) and then hit the pool for a few hours, Will had a ball with Tim (6) and Alex (4). Jan invited us on a day trip the next day organised by her friend who runs a Children’s Home here called ‘Gentle Hands’, where Tim was originally from. Apparently there was some room in the back of the truck/van for us, but we had no idea what we were really in for. We all ate together at a restaurant and hit the sack early with an early start and big day ahead.
Friday 28th Aug:
Up at 5:45am so we could grab some breaky before heading off. We piled into the back of the van with a couple of the workers from the orphange, seven of the kids and two med students from Melbourne who were doing placements at Gentle Hands. We found out we were going to Subic Bay for some fun at an ocean park, the beach and McDonalds. We had no idea how long it would take and if we were going north or south (the bay was North West of Manila and took three hours to get there!). What a privilege to share the day with these beautiful kids. Will, Tim and Alex just blended in like kids do, joking and having fun. It was amazing to get out of Manila... within an hour we left the pollution and craziness behind and were surrounded by green, rice paddies with buffalos working fields, simple huts, mountains and mist, and even some jungle and monkeys as we got near the coast! The Ocean Adventure Park was average by our standards but incredible for the kids, and was surrounded by pretty gorgeous scenery. A performing Sea Lion and a Dolphin show had the kids wowed. We experienced the wet season ‘downpour’ on a couple of occasions and eventually hit the beach (which we had to pay to use). The bay was full of ships and surrounded by mountains. The kids had a ball... It was such a delight to see the smiles on their faces as we swam, played in the sand and with the balloons we had brought along. The kids were so affectionate yet obviously complex, falling asleep on the closet person as we travelled home, with very numb bottoms! Out of the sadness and wrongness of these kids’ situations, we felt a sense of God’s goodness and blessing having spent the day together. We arrived home 13 hours later at 8pm, exhausted but thankful for an amazing day.
In the back of the 'truck' on the way to Subic Bay
Heading out of Manila surrounded by green
The private beach we swan in - incl ships (view from the road)
Having fun in the water and enjoying things like 'sand'
All tuckered out at the end of a big day!
The 'truck'... bench seats meant we had no problem sqeezing in 18 of us, but after 7 hours in the back I don't think our bums had ever been so sore!
**More photos on facebook. Just copy and paste the link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141961&id=632594049&l=772cdd572b
