O Christmas Tree!

To top off our busy weekend, we decorated our Christmas tree on Sunday. It was fun to be able to do that with my parents. The kids showed off every one of their ornaments like Mimi and Pop hadn’t ever seen our tree before. A third of their ornaments have even been given to them by Mimi and Pop over the years. In the late afternoon, The Brewer kids came over and Mimi made Christmas ornaments with the kids (Pop and I joined in too) She brought ornament kits from the states for the kids to do.

One of Em's favorite ornaments

It's Will's year to put the angel on top of the tree

Mimi explains how to make ornaments

Em and I work hard

The Finished Product!

Manila American Military Cemetery

After Spending last Saturday evening at Intramuros, Sunday we attended our normal early service at church. Since this begins at 8 that means we are finished by about 9:40. No one had any real desire to go to the mall and it was too early for lunch out, so my dad asked if it was far to the American Military Cemetery and Memorial here in Manila. Traffic on Sunday's is usually a breeze so we headed off to Makati and the business district. If you are ever in Manila, we highly reccomend visiting this memorial. As my mom said, it was very moving. It is a gorgeous plot of 152 acres with acacia trees through out. A little tidbit of trivia that my dad and I found intereesting is that the grass on this 152 acres was all grown from 2 square yards of Zoysia sod that was brought in from Maryland in 1951. The sheer number of graves here is sobering and this only represnts 40% of graves of Americans buried in Asia who died in the Pacific region during WWII.

According to the American Battle Monuments Commission "It contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II, a total of 17,202, most of whom gave their lives in the operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. The headstones are aligned in 11 plots forming a generally circular pattern, set among masses of a wide variety of tropical trees and shrubbery. Twenty-five large mosaic maps recall the achievements of the American Armed Forces in the Pacific, China, India and Burma." There is a chapel and an open air building "inscribed with the names of 36,285 of the missing who gave their lives in the service of America and who rest in unknown graves. Carved in the floors are the seals of the American states and its territories. "

The only disappointment to this trip was that we didn't have our cameras. I found the above picture on the web. Below are a few more pictures from our trip to Intramuros. For some reason blogger wouldn't upload the pics before. I added some to the previous post about Intramuros also.

Will at Fort Santiago

Will, Mimi, Pop, and Emily on the plaza

at Fort Santiago

Overlooking the Pasig River

Christmas Parols

Theater in the round

Intramuros

It is sad that we have to have guests to see some of the historic and commercial sights in our own city. We really wanted to show my parents some things in Manila. After reading a tour guide, my dad suggested we go see the old colonial walled city. So, Saturday afternoon, we took my parents down to Intramuros- which means "within the walls". Intramuros is one of the oldest districts in Manila. It was the colonial city set up by the Spanish after conquering Maynilad in 1571. Intramuros became the political, cultural and religious center of Spain's "Empire in the East" until the Treaty of Paris gave the Philippines to the US in 1898. Intramuros was also occupied by US armed forces and then the Japanese during World War II. Much of it was bombed and destroyed during the liberation of Manila. In the 80's, former first Imelda Marcos directed a revitalization project and many of the ruins were restored somewhat.

We were excited to be able to go and visit Intramuros at this time. On Friday and Saturday nights in Nov and Dec, they are having "A Walk Back in Time" with a theater in the round play about the colonial history of Intramuros. We arrived early and walked around the old city. We didn't have nearly enough time to see things though. We spent so much time at Fort Santiago. Will especially loved climbing all over and through the old canons and barracks. He was disappointed that the dungeons were gated and he couldn’t go into them. We saw the cell where the Filipino national hero, Rizal was held before his execution. We also saw a memorial cross marking a mass grave of 600 Filipino and American prisoners of war who died at the end of WWII.



After walking through parts of the city and tromping around the fort for a while, we went to the ruins of the old San Ingelsia church. The streets were lit up with a Filipino Christmas lights called Parols. The evening was cool and breezy and we sat under some festive tents and lights to eat dinner. We had our choice from 4 restaurants from the countries that were influential during the colonial time-Spanish, Filipino, Chinese, and Indian. Allan and my dad decided to go with Spanish food. They had shrimp and sausage paella, calamari, and flan. Mimi, the kids and I decided to have a shawarma which is an India wrap similar to a Greek gyro. It was yummy! For dessert, we had Puto Bongbong--a Filipino sticky rice available only at Christmas. We were entertained during dinner by a group singing a kundiman which is a style of old traditional Tagalog love songs.

After dinner it was time for the theater presentation. The cast of the play came in a procession down the road to begin the play before moving us into the ruins of the church. It was a great presentation of the early history of the Philippines and gave us a new insight into the culture. It was very well done and we all enjoyed it. We also enjoyed seeing all the Christmas lights down by Manila Bay.

Happy Thanksgiving—belated!

We have been having such a good time with my parents that I haven’t wanted to sit down at the computer and blog. We have also been busy in the last week. Last Wednesday we celebrated the 2nd annual Gilmer Thanksgiving lunch with the clinic staff. Last year I wanted to show our Filipino staff and students what the American holiday, Thanksgiving was all about so, I decide to have a thanksgiving lunch the day before Thanksgiving. Since turkey is really expensive, we had rotisserie chicken, but otherwise the meal was similar to what we would eat in the states—we just added rice. It was a big hit last year so we decided to do it again. A couple of the dishes our Filipino friends enjoyed were cranberry sauce and carrot soufflé. One of the dishes they don’t quite get is dressing. The common question being-“What is it?” I don’t really have a good answer for that one, so if you have a good definition of “what” dressing is, pass it along.

Thursday, the kids went to school because, of course, Thanksgiving is not a Filipino holiday. Mom and I spent some time in the kitchen preparing for dinner. It was a very relaxed preparation since our meal wasn’t until evening. By 3:00pm the kitchen was filled with the homey, fall scents of turkey and pumpkin pie. It was cozy and warm and really knocked the chill off our 89 degree humid weather. We were joined for Thanksgiving dinner by our neighbors, the Brewers. The adults enjoyed talking and visiting late into the evening, while the kids ran around inside and out and had a great time being kids! Will’s new puppy, Maggie, loved the scrappy turkey leftovers. We had such a good time that the only picture we took was of the "kiddie" table. All in all it was a near perfect day! Much better than Thanksgiving last year when it was just the 4 of us and I got teary eyed at the table because we were away from family.

Pictures Pictures Pictures!

In the last few months, I have been terrible at uploading pictures to our website. Part of the problem is that Allan and I are notorious for leaving our camera at home. Since my parents are here though, they (and we) have been taking pictures everywhere we go. If you are interested in seeing some you can check them out at our website at :
http://www.philippinemission.com/FamilyFun.html
New pictures are under Mimi and Pop Visit and Faith Academy. Soon to follow will be Sights around Manila. Check back again for more pics on Mimi and Pop's visit because I will be adding more soon.

The Adventure Continues!

Well the first week of Mimi and Pop’s 4 week visit is over. The week has just flown by. It has been so great to spend lots of time with my parents and show them around our new town. Pop even got to see Allan in action. Last Tuesday he went to the clinic with Allan to watch him do minor hand surgery. He didn’t seem to be grossed out and even took a few pictures.

One thing Pop has had a hard time adjusting to is the driving. Traffic in the PI is crazy and it can also be a little nerve racking. After a few rides in the front seat, Pop decided he would just sit in the back, that is until just he and I went to school on Thursday to pick up the kids and saw a trike carrying a small refrigerator. We discussed how we wish we had the camera to catch occurrences like that. Pop decided then and there he was going to be the official front seat photographer. I hope we see some more interesting things on our drives and we can share the pictures with you.

Friday we went to school to see the Elementary school International Parade with music provided by the 6th grade band. Emily was excited to play in her first marching band parade. It was great fun! We also stayed and went to the Elementary chapel. Each grade gave a presentation about the continent they have spent the last month studying and then they prayed for that continent.

Friday night, the middle school bands and choir put on their Christmas concert. It was great to see how much the 6th grade band had improved since last year when they were the 5th grade beginner band. Emily enjoyed performing and showing off just a little for her grandparents.

Mimi and Pop are now of with Allan at the clinic. I wish I was there with them, but Will is home with a fever and vomiting. Hope he is better soon. I hate for him to feel so bad when he has Mimi and Pop here to play with.

Mimi and Pop are here!

After months of eager anticipation, my parents finally arrived Sunday! We are so excited to have them here. I am impressed with how well they are dealing with jet lag. They haven’t gone to bed too early or woken up in the middle of the night yet. Of course with grandchildren around to entertain you, it is hard to fall asleep too early.

Monday was a busy day for Mimi and Pop. They began their day with a trip to Faith Academy. It is International Week at the Elementary School and they began the week with an invocation and a parade of nations. This year there are students and teachers from 14 different nations. There are 65 students from the US followed closely by South Korea with 55 students. Will enjoyed waving to his grandparents as he marched with the other American students behind the American flag to the national anthem.

After leaving Faith, I took Mimi and Pop to the grocery store. We went to pick up just a couple items and look around. We had a good time exploring the fruit and veggie section. I bought a pomelo for Pop to try. It is a fruit similar to a grapefruit, but sweeter. I think he will really like it. We also bought some guava and chayote for them to try. In the freezer section, I let Pop pick out some ice cream for dinner. I told him he could try any of the uniquely Filipino flavors like corn, queso, corn and cheese, ube, or buco fruit salad, but he chose Vanilla Marble—good choice!

In the afternoon, Allan called from the clinic to invite Mimi and Pop to accompany him on a house call in a nearby squatter settlement. So on their first day in country, they went with Allan and Ling Ling into one of the poor areas near our home. Mimi enjoyed taking pictures of the kids they saw. The kids had fun showing off for Mimi’s camera and showing her some of the street games they play. They gave Mimi a high sign of respect by blessing her. This is where a Filipino child takes your hand and touches it to their bowed forehead.

Monday was also Pop’s 69th birthday. It was great to be able to celebrate that day with him. We invited our neighbors over after dinner for a “party” of cake and ice cream out on the lanai. It was a great way to end their first day here in the Philippines!

Flying over!

Tonight, while you are tucked up in your warm beds, Mimi and Pop (my Mom and Dad) are flying to see us. They will be here in the morning...hopefully. While they are flying a catagory 3 typhoon is passing just north of here. It should be gone before they are close enough to affect their flight. Welcome to the PI Mimi and Pop!! We can hardly wait!

Maggie!

Those of you who have been reading our blog for a while know that last March Will got his first dog. He had been waiting since he was about 2 for a dog of his own to love. We had put him off all through med school and residency. We told him when we arrived on the mission field we would get him a dog. So last March a beautiful golden retriever puppy named WAGs joined our family. We couldn't have asked for a better pup and our family be came a little obsessed with Will's new companion. Unfortunately, I don't think WAGs came to us very healthy. In the 8 months since March, he has been pretty sick 3 different times. Over a week ago, he became ill again and this time he didn't pull through. It was a sad day for all of us when WAGs died. Allan and I also hurt for our little boy. He was crushed. There were many tears as we buried WAGs with his favorite yellow ball in the backyard near where he played with the kids. Will told us that day that he didn't want another dog because no dog could replace WAGs. He is right, no dog could ever replace WAGs in our hearts and lives, Will did change his mind about wanting another dog. He decided he wanted another golden and quickly.

Shortly after letting his feelings be known, we knew of a puppy looking for a home. So we now have a 2 month old girl golden retriever that has come to live with us. Will has named her Maggie and she is precious. We are loving and hating the puppy stage. WAGs was 4 months old when we adopted him, so we missed this stage. Maggie is cute, funny, and trouble! It's like having a toddler again. As much as we love her, we miss WAGs alot. Her mannerisms remind us so much of him. We had been told that Goldens were similar in temperment and mannerisms and it is true. One thing is she has already taken to "WAGs pool" (you can see the little fountain from our front yard in the picture below). She loves the water just like he did!

Will and Maggie!

Happy Halloween!

Today is one of the biggest holidays of the year in the Philippines--All Saints Day. If you would like to read what it is all about you can read a blog I wrote this time last year -http://thegilmers.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_thegilmers_archive.html You will have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to Nov. 1.

Last night though was the American holiday of Halloween. This day is not really celebrated here, although the checkers at the grocery store were all dressed like pirates yesterday. I guess that shows some of the American influence. Since the kids were out of school today, we decided to have dinner with our neighbors last night and let the kids stay up late. For dinner, we had a great meal that is a common love between the 2 families--tacos. I had made a cake shaped like a pumpkin complete with orange frosting. After dinner, Emily and Will and the other kids watched a movie and then played with legos. Mary, the mom next door, happened to find some candy to bag up so at about 9:30 the kids dressed up and ran next door to "trick-or-treat". Since the door bell is out side the gates and wall that surrounds the 2 houses, the 4 of them just chimed "ding dong". It was really cute. They also took the dogs along for treats. I was surprised that Will didn't try to dress WAGs up too. It was a good night and a fun time.

The next American holiday we celebrate, Thanksgiving, my parents will be here-- less than 2 weeks until their visit!

On a humorous side note, just before we sat down to dinner last night, the dad from next door commented to Will that he had dressed in a costume for our Halloween meal. Will looked down in confusion at his camo shirt and pants and commented-"These are just my clothes. I wear them everyday." He's right. Will is still the same. If you came to see us in the PI, you would find him wearing some type of army get up in the yard every afternoon.