Easter Holiday!

Offices close Thurs & Friday in the Philippines so I decided to go 3.5 hours south to Maasin City where there is a beach. Lots of sleep, sun, the book The Goldfinch, first 2 episodes of Sherlock until my flash drive broke (and my computer is too outdated for the external hard drive I bought back in the US) :(, some yoga, walking, podcasts, and swimming. Back and ready to go, hard to believe how crazy things were at work the last 2 weeks. Hopefully, although workload remains nuts, we are all feeling better and rejuvenated! Hope you and yours had a happy easter!!!

Sign on the way there

With bees on it! They are the town of bees!

View from beach

Kids flying kites

infinity pool, yes please!!

Hilarious mermaid- complete with fountain boobs.

my father's daughter!

Ok so it's a coke zero, not a diet coke, but still had to take this photo of my workstation with my caffeine choice on a particularly stressful day last week. Coffee just doesn't sound good with the heat!

team appreciation dinner:)

The other night I took the team of data collectors to the recently opened fast food restaurant that they love and was a happy moment when they saw it had re-opened. 

M&E Program Officer Cris poses with the team's 36 orders of rice! 

Home is where the heart is?

Luxury Suites hotel room- home for at least another 30 days, until whenever we a) find housing and b) papers in finance are processed for said place. We have been trying to fit in looking at housing within the 14 hour work days. Saw cute place today, and now we all wanna scramble/fight for it. Can you blame us?

Hall way when you enter

foot of bed, from hallway (i.e. no room)

Photo from bed looking back at window-have to kinda crawl on bed

Ceiling

Who needs an ENT work-up when we can see the problem so clearly?! ;)

Last night was the first night I realized that this crucifix glows in the dark. Holla!

Here bathrooms are called CRs - short for Comfort Rooms. This is already many notches up from our new office facilities because although this door can't close it does a) have a lock b) toilet seat c) plumbing and d) toilet paper!!

Housing oh housing, you can't come soon enough!!

Storm surge

Went for a drive to look at apartments/houses and went through neighborhood just out of town that had multiple boats (I only popped out for photo of one) that had been washed up to shore from the storm surge in November. Crazy site, huh? Houses all around these.

I really want to triple post this!!! DID YOU SEE THE GOOD NEWS?!!

Secret is out for Nick and Nicki Nohner!!!!!!!!!

5 days feels like forever ;)

Arrived in Manila on Monday night, went to office Tuesday morning then flew to Tacloban Tuesday afternoon where I literally didn't stop working/moving until 10 at night and back up early to get the van to work. We had a 6 hour Manager's meeting Friday where we had Country Director leading us through the agenda and our great short-term head of office handover to a new short-term head of office who will stay with us until Renee the permanent head of office arrives at the end of the month. I also had a new staff member who arrived 2 days before me and I supervise. We are expected to hire 6 more on my team!! Woohoo! There was a fabulous consultant who lent her talents to a number of projects, and I glommed on to her to learn what she did and also to hear what she saw as gaps for us to work on in programming (ahem. . . there are quite a few things which need sorting out-- all to be expected with new programs!) Saturday morning the staff who live at the old office were troopers and woke up to move the office at 5:30 am. I arrived at 7:30 with breads :) By then the new office was ready for the work day! Furniture to come within 3 weeks. Went home tuckered out and hungry at 8:30 Saturday night. Slept till 11:30 today and then had a quick lunch and out to look at houses and apartments. Saw one fab house but that was it. Some of the international staff would prefer to live on their own. I don't blame em, but I do feel anxious about securing a place- and getting the heck outta the hotel room!!! I guess it can take quite a long time for papers to be processed at the office in order to pay for housing, so even if we did make an offer, it would be at least a month. I hope to make it to the beach for our 4 day Easter holiday about 5 hours south of the city. 

Great WASH sign of ours in field

Some projects- sent staff out with my camera :)

NEW OFFICE!! (Haunted :-) 

It's HUGE! Wish I had taken photos of old small place

New Head of Office helps get Admin area ready

I talk to logistics guy (striped shirt) to find car to take me to consultant :)

Protection and Accountability

Next to M&E (me!!)

WASH

Shelter teams

Kitchen

Upstairs Finance