apparently do not mix. I ventured into my first salon on Monday to get a much-needed trim. As I previously mentioned, I already stick out horribly amongst the dark-haired, dark-skinned Filipinos...
Best of Novakistan
This is a compilation of the posts I feel deserve the “Best of Novakistan” title. They cover the entire 15-year span that I’ve been writing.
Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!! I FINALLY got the one thing that I’ve been pining my whole life for (besides a husband and a blow-out wedding). I wanted what every little...
There once was a house that fell ill And racked up an emergency room bill. They hacked all day and night With no end in sight, Thank God the Neti Pot works better than a pill. WE LOVE YOU NETI! ...
Today I was privileged to get a tour of the garbage dump Tondo, home of 1.5 million of Manila’s residents. It was one of the most humbling and disturbing experiences I’ve ever had and I...
Picture from Rage.com Instead of engaging in my typical St. Patrick’s Day activity of beer drinking and social events, I had the opportunity to do something vastly different this year. I was...
I’m having a hard time letting go of this experience, feeling that my sharing is still incomplete. I’m hoping that in doing one last post, I’ll feel like I did Tondo the justice...
Here are a couple of great videos about Tondo that aired on TV in London last week. Â Lynie, who led our tour is featured. Â You’ll recognize many shots from my pictures. Â And I promise, no...
Honestly, I can’t say enough good things about our recent trip to Batanes. What a stunning, remote location! It was like something that time forgot, but in an oh-so-wonderful kind of way. ...
Zoom in on me, looking VERY CRABBY as I waited to board our boat to Sabtang Island. Here’s the back story…I woke up at 5:30 AM so that I could be ready to join the group at 6 AM to...
As many of you know, my friend Karolanne is in town for 6 days, following her 2 week tour of China. Â Given the short duration of her stay, we’ve been cramming in the fun double-time...
Since it’s become obvious that I can’t stop time and prevent the one year mark from happening, I’ve decided that for today’s 1 Year Commemorative Post we’ll take a more...
As most of you know, I am less than 30 days away from my visit to Minne-SOH-ta. Â My energy has been ramping up for weeks and I’ve found myself talking non-stop about all the things I’m...
Ahhhh, home sweet Manila! Boy does it feel good to be back. Don’t get me wrong, I had a sensational trip, but there’s just something SOOOO sweet about arriving back home...
Ok, let’s start with the facts. I adore Christmas. Not just any old Christmas, but the snow-covered, sweater-wearing, eggnog-drinking, fireplace-roasting type. Perhaps some would call...
So after 3 days in Hong Kong, Nick and I can say without hesitation that we prefer to live in big Asian cities rather than visit them. Â It’s not that they’re bad by any means...
This will be my third and final post about Hong Kong. Â Today’s post will actually focus on Macau, an island that is a 1 hour ferry ride from Hong Kong. Â Macau is best known as the Vegas of...
One of the many volunteer hats I wear is that of Worldwide Recruitment Specialist (my self-appointment title) for the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University (CSB/SJU) in Minnesota...
On Saturday Nick and I were graciously invited to join a group of Filipinos who were traveling 2 hours North to Pampanga to experience the food, churches and handicrafts of that region. Â It was one...
After our patience-trying flight experience, we needed things to take a turn for the better. Thankfully, that’s exactly what we got. We arrived in Sydney and took a cab to Darlington, a suburb...
I know I said that sailing past the Sydney Opera House was as good as it gets, but I’m going to have to retract that because the last 24 hours topped it. Â This last day was out-of-this...
After we got done with our helicopter ride, we continued driving south to Fox Glacier where we had booked lodging at a 700 acre working farm/bed and breakfast called Clearwater B&B. Â We had...
Nick put together a 5 minute video of our helicopter ride over the Glaciers in New Zealand. It’ll give you a better idea of what this majestic experience was like. Enjoy!
We had just wrapped up our stay at the B&B/Farm when Nick threw another surprise my way – he told me we’d be spending 2 nights in a private apartment on a vineyard in the Otago Valley...
I take risks in many ways in my life but the physical realm is not one of those areas. So you might imagine how out of place I felt in the Adventure Capital of New Zealand, beautiful Queenstown! ...
After all sorts of moving around, Nick and I decided to base ourselves in Auckland for our final week. Â It’s been a nice change of pace, even though the lack of moving has made me a bit antsy...
Today was our annual Holiday party with the kids from Friendship Home. Â Each year we take them out to do something ‘special’ during the holidays. Â In December of ’09, if you...
WAHOOOOOO! Â Presents for Pinoys was a SMASHING SUCCESS! Â I will have lots and lots more photos for you tomorrow morning, but bed is calling my name right now. Â More later… In the meantime...
The night I had been waiting for months to arrive was finally upon us! Â After all the fundraising, all the wrapping and all the transporting, it was finally time to give out the gifts… and...
On Monday we had the pleasure of taking Nick’s parents to Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay for an up-close-and-personal encounter with the dolphins. Â Nick and I did this back in May of 2010 and...
I know we’re new to this Foreign Service thing, but I have a hard time imagining that we’re going to find household staff in other countries that love and care for us as warmly as Norma...
In accepting this cancer work, I knew that facing loss was part of the deal . . . although part of me was hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with it so soon. Â Sadly, I lost my first cancer client...
I think one of the coolest ‘take aways’ from our time in Manila is an honest-to-goodness appreciation of the concept LESS IS MORE. Â Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve known that...
Two weeks ago my dear client (and friend)Â Magne died of cancer. Â She was only in her early 50’s, so her death left many young children and grand-children behind. Â I knew it was important for...
If you’ve been following me on the blog or Facebook lately, you’ll know that I’ve been very vocal about my top goal for 2011 which is (Drumroll, please….) TO HAVE A BABY...
Last Saturday I had the privilege of having an impromptu photo shoot with these lovely little girls who were playing in Fort Santiago.  The photos were simply stunning and as I was uploading them...
There’s nothing like a little end-of-the-week baby scare to get a soon-to-be-parent’s heart beating faster… Earlier in the week on Tuesday morning I had a bit of dark spotting (for...
I feel misled. Â I was told that pregnancy was magical. Â And I believed it – hook, line and sinker. Â I was ready to GLOW from within and feel an INSTANT BOND with my unborn fetus. Â Instead...
So here’s how we’re divvying up the overwhelming amount of baby-related information to learn in Novak land. Â It’s really quite simple, I take care of anything that has to do with...
After MANY, MANY weeks of being cooped up in the house, my dear friends Andrea and Brian took pity on me and invited me on an overnight with their family down to San Pablo (Nick was busy working all...
It’s hard to believe, but it’s T-minus 3 months until I leave Manila for good. As one of my parting gifts to you, my loyal blog readers, I’d like to bestow upon you a list of...
Bohol Beach Club This is my second and final installation of ‘Best of the Philippines’ where I sum up all I’ve learned in the last 21 months of living here. Â I know you’ll...
I’m well aware that I owe you a MAJOR apology for not posting for the last week. Â It’s just that I’ve been so damn tired and I had to go on Medevac to Singapore for 3 days (more on...
So last week I had the chance to go on my first-ever Medevac for the Foreign Service. Â The term sounds a little scary and that’s because usually it is just that – A Medical...
On Tuesday at 12 noon Nick and I watched as a massive black cloud began to rise from an area called Guadalupe, which is part of Makati City (where we live) and blocks from where many of our Rockwell...
Baby Novak’s Brain! (a top view) As you all know, I’m quite impatient in general, so this whole baby gender thing has been on my mind since we found out we were pregnant 11 weeks ago...
I used to think of moving as a simple (but annoying) process where you threw everything you had into boxes, stuffed them into a Uhaul, drove across town and then unloaded those same boxes into your...
24 years my senior, I never expected for Marisa and I to become so close. Â I originally met Marisa during my volunteer work at Carewell. Â She was a frequent attendee and ended up...
Over the weekend I had the privilege of touring a Garment Factory that one of my expat friends owns. Â It’s a large-scale production, producing roughly 25,000 pieces per day and employing...
I know I’ve been MIA for too long by the large number of emails and FB messages I’ve been getting about why I’m not posting. Â Thank you all for being such devoted readers who...
Last week was stressful. Â So stressful, in fact, that I couldn’t even write about it until today when all the residual stress had been massaged out of me. Â And what, you might ask, had me in...