Badminton! With my Officers :-)

You know R&R is going to be cancelled soon when the Badminton courts have opened! Officers invited me to play . . it was tough! I sweat more than what would be described as natural :) But it was SO fun. Also found a great zumba class and will do both of these again this week. Told my team it's high time we get lives! So they are forced to leave office by 5:30.

Beaches and Reflection Time

The other weekend I went to our field office, and so challenged myself to find the hotel/restaurant that I had heard about but nobody had yet visited.

View from my room!

 So so glad I did. It is owned by an Italian who cooks 5 course meals from scratch-- lunch and dinner, family style. I met more people that weekend then I feel like I have in Tacloban! Renee and roomie Idalia joined in later on and we had a nice time, eating, sleeping, swimming, reading, walking and for me- reflecting about next steps. 

Boss and her beer

watching the sunset

Relocation Site

Last week was the relocation dedication for 100 + shelters to be built (38 complete and another 40 nearly there).  One of the trickiest things about the shelter program for the shelter teams is that many of the people who were most affected by the typhoon lived in the No-Build Zone, or within 40 meters of the shore. Therefore, for safety purposes, the government will not let them rebuild in that area. So, they have to re-locate or rent. So, the urban shelter program has come up with nearly a dozen housing options. Although all emergency shelter is for 4 years, the rental will be for 2. There was a mass and it was a very moving opening ceremony.

Country Program Director

CRS Choir :)

Beautiful sky

sprinkling of holy water

The Happiest Program Manager on our block :) We threw her a surprise celebration dinner afterwards

R&R in Davao

 The other weekend I joined another Program Manager, Ana, and her bf Josh (our Emergency Coord) for a visit to Davao, Mindanao.

Because they are working on the airport landing strip, flights are tough to come by, so we took a ferry from Ormoc to Cebu, after a bus ride from Tacloban to Ormoc. We had dinner at an Irish Pub with some other NGO workers and Josh Friday night and I tried to play pool. Epic fail.

Next morning boarded flight to Manila then Davao. We arrived in time for lunch and their friend Johannes was waiting to pick us up at the airport. He worked with Ana and Josh in East Timor and he and his wife now run a bed and breakfast in Davao. Super sweet couple and funny. Ana also did Peace Corps with the Head of Office and his wife of the Davao Office, so it was a fun reunion for them. They have 2 super sweet kids. Later that night we went out to a restaurant on the water, in the top floor cabana, with waves lapping the shore and funky DJ, sipping real margaritas. It was pretty spectacular, and then it got even better when the fire show started . . . The twirlers guzzled gas though and then would spit and light it on fire-- not safe lol.

The next day we took a 10 minute boat ride to another island for the "Paradise Resort"- day of beach, Philippines style--meaning loads of food to order, more entertainment shows, and some roped in swimming area. It was a fun day, and the kids were adorable!

Safer? :) Cuter!

Can't stop this girl from dancing!

Monday before our flight out we went to "Eden" garden, another Asia style attraction lol. Not just a park-rather they have hilarious over the top photo-ops sprinkled throughout the "nature" setting :) But it was a good time! Butterfly gardens, light hike & birds.

It was very tough to get her to leave this chair :)

Talk about a bird cage!

Butterfly gardens

That's the ocean blending into the blue sky :) Seems like Hawaii! 

And then it was back to Tacloban :)

Top of Palo hill :)

Made it to the top of Palo Hill with friend and fellow Program Manager Ana on Saturday. It was a hill I had always wanted to climb- it has lights going up the hill at night, all the way to the cross. AT Easter people journey up the hill to say prayers and have mass. There are a ton of stairs! View was beautiful, but as there was no electricity Saturday (due to repairs) we saved our photo taking for the top! We earned our beers & cupcakes that night!

"Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change" - Retreat from Pema Chodron and Meg Wheatly

Aunt Sharon was telling me that she had completed a retreat by Pema Chodron & Meg Wheatly called "Living Beutifully with Uncertainty and Change". Having come back all pumped up and ready to really make some improvements in my work accomplishments, leading the team (I have been given an addition of 7 new reports- totaling 18 people I am responsible for), and trying to have a work life balance-- I was feeling this theme in a big way by my 3rd week back from the US. 

Sharon shared her notes from the retreat, and I was blown away by the following passage:

Hopi prophecy

Here is a river flowing now very fast

It is so great and swift, that there are those who will be afraid and will try to hold on to the shore,

They will be torn apart and will suffer greatly

Know that the river has its’ destination

The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river and keep our heads above water

And I say see who is there with you and celebrate,

At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves.

For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over gather yourselves

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary

All that we do must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration for we are the ones we have been waiting for.

So much so that I purchased the retreat on iTunes--thanks so much Kate for the bday iTunes Gift Certificate!! I am going to slowly chip away at it and I look forward to all that I learn. I loved Pema's books The Places That Scare You and When Things Fall Apart. 

Some vacay time :- D

Last week I booked a hotel room at a resort at the Southernmost point of the island for our 3 day weekend. I live in Tacloban (the middle) and this was at the tip of Sogod Bay called Padre Bourgos Castle Resort. 

I will definitely be venturing back here between Nov-May to see the Whale Sharks (plankton eaters that inexplicably arrive in the bay). Renee, our boss, was the only one who was able to join me, and thank goodness she did as it would have been just me to enjoy this tropical paradise! We arrived Saturday afternoon and I took a much needed nap after my mango shake down by the water, listening to the waves lap the shore.

The next morning I booked us for the snorkeling, lunch, and dolphin package- for $40 bucks! We headed out on the private boat at 8:30am and 10 minutes later spent 2 hours snorkeling amazing coral reefs. 

Then we took the boat to another island about an hour away which is a fish conservation area. You can swim up close to the island  and there are gorgeous inlets and rock formations to explore. The fish were spectacular- and I saw a turtle. Followed it over the "cliff" into the deep blue for as long as I could :) 

After the 2nd snorkel adventure we went to an island with a private beach, in the middle of nowhere- the island has 4,000 people on it with a once a week small ferry boat! 

Lunch here? OK!

After lunch we went to see where Magellan first "found" the island. Two weeks after he came to this island and had the "first mass" and had the locals put a cross on a high hill, he was killed on another island... Nice town tour

Interesting garden approach! I've killed 2 of my plants, so this could be a good idea. Hollowed out bamboo logs.

Read it if you want the history :)

Local tour guide opened the "museum" for us on a Sunday. Got about 1/20th of what he said . . . 

Painting of Magellan

Town comes with a wishing well :)

Renee makes her wish

And up we went . . . 

I think our tour would have been a lot better had we been provided a chilled swig of beer at each landing . . . it was HOT

On the way back we walked to the other side of island to meet up our boat-- it was magical to walk through these spaces completely untouched. 

David, the UK owner of the resort leads us to the beach, and then stands at the helm as we look for dolphins on the sunset journey home.

Our happy faces after we spotted about 15 dolphins that we acting much like whales-- holding their tails up in the air, jumping and splashing their body weight into the water, and leaping! It was spectacular. We watched for about 40 minutes as the local fishermen went about their fishing in the middle of nowhere. It was amazing as the sun was setting.

The next day we had every intention of kayaking, but the rain on the window was our cue to sleep till 10, have a leisurely breakfast, catch up on reading, and then hit the road. I realized I didn't take too many photos of the place, so the pics below are stolen from the website :)

Pics from the website :-D