Fiestas, Birthdays, Anniveraries, Re-unions etc

I am by no means an expert on this subject, but celebrations noted above are a very important part of life here in the Philippines. I have heard the view expressed that they are a little bit out of proportion in that a fiesta or birthday will be spent with lavish extravagance even though times are hard and money is short.

In any case there are certain ingredients to all parties and they seem to have to include...in general order of importance

Food, essential of course
Music and dancing including karaoke
Prayers and rememberance
Drink
Games and prizes

FOOD, Quite simple and straightforward really of course there is some detail...food...lechon which is roasted pork seems to be an essential to any party and i have the feeling here that if Filipinos have a party without lechon, then the feeling of everyone, both hosts and guests somehow think its a stingy party. Most westerners i know do not like lechon because its too fatty the cuts of meat,...... thats why we prefer butchers to prepare the meat for us, Pinoys prefer well lechon, they love it.

Music, of course a party is not complete without dancing and music and karaoke, which i used to dislike but now actually i like very much and also like to sing, the test is (for me) can i sing sober...yes and to an audience,...and surprise yes....but i prefer the party version not the stage and sound production version, my singing is up to the first but not the second.

Prayers, yes there is always a thanks giving and spiritual or rememberance side which is very important here see the picture of Jaiya and Aya offering prayers.

Drink, the guys like to drink, Tanduay is a standard here, a local brandy at about 80pence per 70 cl bottle, Red horse beer (too strong for me, about 7percent proof and if cash is short Tuba which is i think a distilled coconut spirit, about 50 pence per gallon, yes gallon.

Games and prizes....self explanatory

Anns Mum had a family re-union in Tagum Anns mums home last sunday and the pictures are taken from there, i dodged it, stayed in Davao on my own, enjoyed the peace / drank too much and saw city (man city) beat everton at 3am sunday morning, excellent weekend.

Visit to the doctors

Our doctors here have been excellent and Annika's current doctor, Dr Aguelo pediatrician is very much in that mould....professional, caring, thorough and very nice. Sure, at times they get busy and we need to wait for the doctor, but when you see their workload, some small inconveniences are no problems.

Annika has been (touch wood) remarkably healthy but we have been to the doctor loads, mainly for inocculations....but also for check up at the same time and good to get medical opinions for small issues of concern, like feeding and like alergies that Annika has but we haven't bottomed this issue out yet and it only seems to be a skin blotching problem.

Annika gets weighed and measured on every visit and its great to see her progress, in the photos shown she reached 8kgs, and that's 8kgs of solid baby girl.

The system here for medical appointments is good, basically you just pitch up at the doctors if you have anything wrong and take it from there. For Ann when she was pregnant (buntis here) and now for annika she has her own doctor and so appointments are scheduled for the future at the time of the current visit.

The doctors receptionist (pictured) links the doctor to the patients and is inevitably like this girl a lovely person who seems to care, sure they do....

pictured is the hospital, very local to us, 7th day adventist hospital (no idea what that religion is all about) and then the doctors reception room and then a quick one of doctor Aguelo examining Annika, confirming how lovely she is, Annika not the doctor, but she is nice too.

Fruit

Here in Davao and here in the tropics, fruit and vegetables grow in abundance....with little help from us it grows. With some help it grows with a passion (fruit?). Pineapple, Papaya, and in our garden and immediate neighbours gardens Jackfruit and Avocado.

In our garden we have 2 massive mango trees and in the neighbours behind they have this productive boko...coconuts pictured.

We used to have 2 other very tall coconut trees on our road but our neighbours had them cut down because they are a safety hazzard...a coconut coming down from 50 feet is lethal when there are children around, so, fair enough.

Behind us there are banana trees as well, there really is no fruit shortage here, it is growing on trees around us.

Growing up

Yes, Annika is very much growing up, she is over 9 months old now. She is mobile....crawling would be over-stating it, she doesn't so much crawl, as shift herself around. Our floors are tiled and think its too hard on her knees to crawl. Her sitting up is now very stable and she can shift from her front, to sitting up by herself.

Her eating is really excellent, she is on solid food like a natural, not baby food, she doesn't like it, it's too bland she likes solid food. Soups and rice of course, vegetables, anything we eat in fact. Of course she can't chew food yet (two bottom teeth appeared last week) but anything else mashed or soft she gets stuck in and basically she doesn't turn anything down, even...we gave her a local lemon equivalent, Clalamansi its called and quite bitter but Annika sucked away on it quite contentedly.

She sleeps with us and this is onerous on Ann, giving her comfort all night, she just won't be put down for sleeping, this is getting a bit rediculous now because she is a "big girl" now but sleep without a cuddle is not on Annikas radar. She still demands Anns breast milk and from the first nuzzle this hasn't been a problem, Ann and Annika are very happy with Anns milk supply and Annika has no dummy or comfort blanket, she is content with nipple comfort.

She has been remarkably healthy but she did get "my" virus a couple of weeks ago which anti biotics cleared up in a week and also she currently has a cold but generally speaking (touch wood) she is very healthy.

So that's Annika update, 9 months and battling on, she is a delight, most pictures are on her 9 month old "birthday", clutching breadstick.

Paradise Beach Samal Island

Paradise beach resort on Samal island is an institution here in Davao. What i mean by that is that it is "ubiquitous"....everyone knows it, everyone likes it.....its clean, facilities are great, the people who run it are well trained, friendly and helpful and the place has a great atmosphere. Its not perfect, its a little bit expensive in some aspects but anyway we all like it, it has the name and when we think, where shall we go for a day on the beach, then paradise beach resort is normally the place we head for i have been there about 20 times in the past 8 or 9 years.

Easter saturday was always going to be busy, and it was packed but with people having fun, it was very busy. Plenty of people sleep over night on the beach 250 peso (about 4 quid) when you can sleep on a lounger to the sound of the ocean, filled of course with tanduay, the pain will not kick in....anyway we were just there for the day with kids and i think 14 of us including Annika.

It was hot, we swam and had a feast, for some reason we were all starving at about 10:30 am, was driving, so Arnel and Karen had a well deserved break and had tanduay and ice tea, which i tried a small sample and very nice too.

Most people get the ferry from lanang pier, its well organised, with parking and assistance, it got very hot (of course) and Annika slept..Keisha conked out later, all passed wth food and drink very pleasantly and we arrived at 9am and left after 4...more swimming would have been nice but "day trippers" were ushered away, that was our easter saturday done with.

We got the dogs

We picked up the dogs this p.m. wednesday 1st april 09 from Nilda about 4pm, 1 boy and 1 girl, Chichi and Spike, names may change, lets see, so far we quite like them.

Dogs played in the garden for a good hour before they conked out and needed a rest. We all seem to get on well, the dogs love the garden, sniffing round...it seems and looks big to them, for example we are not letting them into the swimming pool area or the house but they still have a big area to explore. Also and a big bonus, the garden is dog proof, in other words, they can't get out, no gaps at all in wall or gates, only some gaps between the main house and the swimming pool, but some chicken wire will sort that out.

After a play 4-5pm, the dogs had a sleep in their cage, which is a safe haven home for them whilst they are puppies, they slept like babies. We then woke them up at 6 for a play and feed for 45 mins before it went dark and then back in their home for sleep. they whined for a while but it was dark, they miss their mum and dad and they were sleepy. After say 15 mins they conked out, we hope for the night. Their parents are quiet and we hope these 2 will be too...unless intruders come of course, anyway lets see, so far great fun, early days for Chichi and Spike.