Summer vibe & first blogger meet up in Manila

Being out of the routine for two weeks made me used to have not much structure to blog, many things to catch up, and still lazy summer feel. Even the girls are sleeping in until past 7am most of the days (they used to wake up by 6am). I let them sleep in and have them just do everything slow, summer pace. Also I’ve organized several play dates for them and declined the invite to take lessons. Just two weeks to go of summer break, makes sense to just chill.

Scene at 7:20am when I came back from my run

I have officially started working on the Indonesia program, getting to meet new teams, reading about the country. It’s surprising similar to the Philippines, same problems combined with kind and friendly people.

The condo negotiation is still on which annoys me.. heheh I’m really impatient. Hopefully we can sign it in the next few days. Then we will do an inventory of things to leave behind as we need to downsize and some of the furnitures are too wore down. I love getting rid of old things but the family is quite attached to their things.

I had a call with one of my best friends this morning and she is telling how much she misses to be in the field. Living cost in the US is crazy. I got to appreciate the opportunity my job gives me to live in different places. Living in new countries keeps learning and never really get bored or too comfortable. I’m super grateful to bring the family to experience the world.

I had my first blogger meet up in a long time!!! I had lunch with T who’s visiting family in Manila. It feels so special to meet someone new but not new. We felt like knowing each other’s life, in some ways more than the people we interact in a daily basis. I took the girls with me and T came with her daughter. Unfortunately the girls didn’t play but had fun having ice cream. I used to meet with blogger friends when I first started in 2010s, then I stopped as I was blogging less and busy with life. I had a blogger friend who I visited her several times at her home city and vice versa. In some sense, we share some values although we didn’t share life history. It’s a different kind of friendship and very special.

Sofia had a playdate with her soccer friends. It seems she had fun. I must say I was a bit nervous because I haven’t met the girl nor her mom. While I confirmed the girl goes to the same school as Sofia, for some reason I had those thoughts of what if they kidnap Sofia? hahaha…. So I got nervous when it was time for her to come home and she didn’t. For like 10 min I panicked and regretted agreeing to this playdate. Fortunately she came home, happy and healthy.

We have a cat situation. Jakarta condos are super pet unfriendly, 99% of the buildings don’t allow pet officially. So I am debating whether to take Cookie (take the risk) or leave her behind. The family would be super sad if we don’t take Cookie.. and I realized I’ve became a cat person in the last year as well. I found this little kitty outside of our building and couldn’t help myself to stop and pet her. Poor thing. Ayyy…. decision decision.