When we were in training classes getting ready to head overseas, they presented a bell curve graph that showed the different phases of cultural acclimation. First was the honeymoon stage, in which everything was new and exciting. That lasted a good 4-6 weeks for me. Next usually comes the...
Sarah Novak
Now that we’re approaching day 90, I’m really beginning to get my feet wet. There seems to be a natural progression that plays out for expats that parallels Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It looks something like this: Learn how to get around in order to find food and meet...
It was a big week here in Manila. As you know, our stuff arrived a week ago, which means that we’ve been furiously attempting to stash things in any open location around the house. I have definitely learned some critical lessons about how much to pack and will be doing many things...
Awesome news – Our car has finally cleared customs at the port and is available for us to pick up! After celebrating for a few moments it dawned on me that I had no idea how I was going to get the car from the port to our house as neither Nick or I are crazy enough to want to risk...
On Sunday our Camera Club was having their third outing. On the first outing in Fort Santiago, I ended up wandering off on my own too long and missed the meeting part. Outing two didn’t work in my schedule. So here I was, all pumped for outing 3 at the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City...
Greetings- I apologize for the long overdue recap of our trip to Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. We got in late Friday night to the Kota Kinabalu (KK) airport and were transported to the Pacific Sutera Hotel. It’s a part of the Sutera Harbour Resort that encompasses two hotels, a marina and...
Wow, it’s been a long time coming…. but after 73 days of patiently waiting I FINALLY got exactly what I’d been dreaming of – a perfect lunch of Ravioli and Diet Coke! And let me tell you, it was just as grand as I remembered. Now the key will be to stick to the...
Hi All- Forgive me the LONG absence! After five days of being away, I was swamped with emails and to-do’s upon arriving home. Oh yeah and it took me six hours to edit down the 400 photos from the trip…. perhaps digital photos aren’t the greatest thing in the world...
Remember how I wrote a month ago about how I had all these amazing taxi experiences. I guess all good things must come to an end because yesterday I ended up with my first crazy cabbie. Here’s a play-by-play of our conversation: Cabbie: Ah, mum, you are beautiful! Sarah: Oh, sir...
Oh, but WAIT! The story’s not yet over from our weekend in Batangas. As if failing at SCUBA wasn’t enough for my weekend, we got another little surprise when we got in the car to go home. (Background information: We had rented a car and driver through a Craig’s List...
Just got home from a long 3-day weekend spent in Batangas, in the Southern part of Luzon (the island Manila is on). We’ll just cut right to the chase – YES, IT’S TRUE. I FAILED AT SCUBA. Seriously, if there’s one thing I hate, it’s failing. It stings just...
Who knew? It turns out that I have breathing issues. I go to the dentist and I get yelled at for being a “night mouth breather” (which causes gum bleeding) and then I get in the pool for my first scuba session and can’t stop exhaling through my nose no matter how hard I...
So for weeks and weeks I’ve been hearing about this S&R place. People would RAVE on and on about it and I was getting a bit tired of not knowing what all the hype was about. So last weekend we had an Embassy car and driver (they allow you two loan periods of 3 hours until your...
Nick and I hosted what I would consider our first Manila dinner party. Well technically it was lunch but we served enough food for an army. An Army of 12, that is! We invited over our long-time friends (we met in January 2009) from Nick’s training class, along with their families. I...
We must be feeling comfortable here because we’re starting to venture out beyond a 3 block radius of our condo. Last night we were offered the opportunity to join a group of people heading up to a restaurant/bar called Cloud 9 in the Manila suburb of Antipolo. If I heard our host...
I’m enjoying doing a random update every so often, as I have a few fun pieces of “news-worthy” stuff that don’t merit an entire post (unlike corn dogs!!). As long as everyone’s okay with this bullet-oriented style of posting, then we’ll just keep doing...
When our photography class wrapped up at the beginning of the month, there was widespread interest in creating a camera club to maintain our new friendships and keep improving our skills. This past Sunday was our first meeting and photo shoot in Fort Santiago, Intramuros (the site of the...
On Saturday the unimaginable happened. I FOUND CORN DOGS! And not just any corn dogs, I found MY BRAND of corn dogs. How is that possible??? I do not know. I am still trying to wrap my mind around this fabulous new twist. Here I was, certain that I’d have to go two years without my...
As of Friday, we are officially 3500 pounds heavier. Round One of our “stuff” arrived on Friday. In case you hadn’t already guessed, this is a BIG DEAL. My chance to set up shop had finally arrived and boy was I ready! First, the bad news: it was NOT the shipment I was...
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I know that 2000 pounds of my favorite things are arriving tomorrow morning. Or maybe I’m just having my first hiccup. But today, for some reason or another, I am longing for the familiar. I’ve been stepping out and stretching...
It’s a big week, activity-wise. In typical Sarah fashion, I’ve decided to plunge right in. Be sure and check back in a month – I’m sure I’ll be totally overwhelmed. On Wednesday I have my first meeting for the American Women’s Club of the Philippines...
The church hunting process in Manila has begun. May I first begin by saying that I HATE church shopping. I find it all quite arduous. So much time is often spent at the “wrong fits” before you find “THE ONE”. Enough complaining…..This weekend I tried...
My, how quickly the days are passing! I think that’s a good sign, right?? Pretty normal week here but it seems worthy of a posting. The Helper– We finished our first week and are gelling already. I am amazed at how fast I adjusted to having her around. I honestly missed her...
Since my posting got a bit wordy yesterday, I’ll keep it more succinct today. Just wanted to introduce you to my second home (AND NO, it’s not Starbucks)! I am privledged enough to live right next to a fantastic mall called Greenbelt. Being that I visit her religiously EVERY...
Today, as many of you know, is the funeral and burial of Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. It is impossible to ignore the impact of her life on Filipinos – yellow ribbons adorn cars and poles, hundreds of thousands have turned out to wait in line to say...
Since I haven’t written about ice cream in quite some time, I thought I’d use a post to share my latest indulgence with you. Doesn’t it look good!? And let me tell you, it’s DELICIOUS! Here’s the simple recipe: Just buy your favorite flavor of vanilla ice...
Sadly, my 5 week photography class came to an end yesterday. Hard to believe that it’s over already! The good news is that we formed a Photography club and have our first meeting already set up for mid-August! It is hard to articulate how meaningful this experience has been for me...
In the spirit of radical self-care, I decided to treat myself to an eyebrow make-over last night. During my many, many visits to the Greenbelt Mall, I had happened across a shop entirely devoted to the art of eyebrow shaping. Please, allow me to share my find: it’s called Browhaus...
I thought you’d all enjoy seeing me pick out my dinner for tonight. This is definitely NOT the US of A! I’m adjusting slow but sure. Sorry for the poor video quality – I’m still getting the hang of it (plus I was trying to be convert since I was shooting a video in...
Oh the beautiful bobbles I saw today. Pearls as far as the eye could see… and like most things in Manila, very reasonably priced! Today I participated in a group trip to Greenhills Pearl Market, featured in Vogue as one of the 10 best-kept shopping secrets in the world! I was so...
Nick and I visited our first movie theater last week and like most things here, it spoiled us miserably. A colleague of Nick’s organized a group gathering and rented out a 30 person theater at the Mall of Asia called the Director’s Club. For a mere $7, each person got their...
Sorry for being absent for a few days – we had the opportunity to take our first weekend trip outside of Manila. We ventured South to the island of Mindoro via a four-hour car trip plus one hour boat ride. Despite the long travel time, it was a much-needed break from the chaos of...
Well, I had a chance to visit the Mall of Asia this week. As you know, Minnesotans are quite proud of the Mall of America, which we claim as the largest in the world. Imagine my disbelief when another Embassy person told me that Mall of Asia was larger. No! How could that be?? And so I...
not to write about massages anymore! But then the internet went down yesterday….and I just felt like The Spa was calling to me….”Come visit Sarah, we miss you”….and I was feeling bold and adventurous….and so I tried my first THAI MASSAGE! I had no idea...
Nick and I were having the most delightful day yesterday. We had just returned home from a dinner of Spanish Tapas and I thought I’d do a quick load of laundry. All was seemingly fine until I went to move it to the dryer and realized that the washing machine had discharged the water...
Hello all, please indulge me for a moment and allow me to gush about my most recent pleasure, The Spa. I know that I’ve written about this before, but I haven’t really given you a run-down on the entire experience. I’m sure you think my attendance is a bit excessive (and...
As I wrote yesterday, we have a household helper starting on Monday, August 3rd. Her name is Norma and she’s a Filipino in her mid-30’s. She was the first person we interviewed, but she seemed like such a perfect fit that we didn’t look any farther. We are going to do a...
I am proud to say that I successfully hired my first household helper. In the US we would commonly refer to this as a maid, but she’s going to do so much more than just clean that it isn’t a sufficient name (nor do they have an equivalent for maid in Tagalog). And so we use...
Great news – we have internet! I can’t tell you how much I missed it. I do believe I’ve developed something of an addiction, as it’s my primary means of communication now. I practically hugged the internet guy when he came today. I stopped myself just in...
Greetings all – Hello from hot, sticky Manila. I have lots of little updates to give, so I’m just going to fill this post with various subjects of my interest (and hopefully yours). Where to start… I had a fabulous 29th birthday. I indulged in a massage, took a nap, had...
I never thought it possible, but I managed to find a gym that has Bodypump classes in Manila (and it’s within walking distance of our place!) A little background on Bodypump… it’s a fabulous weight routine where you do 10 tracks in one hour, each of which is coreographed...
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. What I had failed to notice was that no women have short hair cuts. The most racy look is a...
Yesterday was the BIG DAY – Photography class started! Just to refresh your memories, this was the class that I had found online and registered for back in June. It takes place over 5 Sundays for a total of 40 hours of fun-filled learning about digital SLR photography. Let’s...
Hi folks – Still in the internet cafe, so I apologize, but it’s not a good environment to write in. Here’s a little highlight from the last 24 hours: Nick and I are woken up at 2 AM by a shrieking fire alarm in the building. He peeks out the door and sees mild smoke near...
Hi all- We’ve safely landed in Manila and are adjusting rapidly to our new life. It’s exhaustingly hot, but the people are so kind that you just forget about the heat. I have been going nonstop and Nick has been trying his darndest to get me to sit down. I just can’t...
Honestly, I did nothing all day except eat on day 2. And it was FABULOUS! I love food and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I don’t like to do it all the time, but a well-researched gem in a new city is a delicious splurge. Here are my reviews of our picks. First up for lunch was...
Day 1 of our trek to Manila is complete. The day started out a little rough, requiring us to awake at 4 AM to catch our flight. I hadn’t slept very well, most likely because I was so eager to get going. Any crabbiness I had in me was washed away by the fabulous in-flight experience...
Well, pack-out day is over and we did manage to survive it…. While we did have a moving team running the move, we still had the difficult task of splitting everything up between 3 categories: Things we hand-carry (2 suitcases a person) Things we send via air shipment (up to 450...
Today I’m going to educate you on the concept of the Escape Bag. First, a brief history on my introduction to the Escape Bag. When Nick and I had been dating for a few months I started to become annoyed by this black messenger bag that sat right in his living room next to the TV. We...
I have a feeling that I’m going to get some flack for this post, but I’m going for it anyways. Think of it as a Public Service Message (only via the internet). Having gone through the recent process of completing our wills recently, I started asking around to get a sense of...