Monday Morning

It's the start of a new week. Monday morning and I have big plans - big, as in lofty. I've made a schedule for my NARM exam study preparation and I'm a little worried I won't do a very good job sticking to it but I'm going to try. I plan to spend 9 hours a week studying - 3, 3-hour sessions - so by 9 this morning I need to be hitting the books. I've always done better with a little structure so here's hoping it goes well this time around when I have a pretty big test to study for and truly can not afford, in all aspects, to fail and have to take again. So here we go...

As I mentioned before Andrey returned from Manila on Friday evening. He flew out just before another big storm blew through Luzon. Apparently flights later that night and the next morning had to be canceled. I'm happy he made it out of there. Unfortunately the storm did more damage and flooding in Manila and other areas that were hit in the last two storms. Thankfully there were few fatalities. I think they were a bit more prepared this time around and were able to evacuate people in certain areas. It's crazy that the Philippines has endured three, large storms in five weeks and we haven't experienced much of anything in here in Cebu. It makes it hard to imagine what going on there.

Andrey is home from work today due to the All Saints/All Souls holiday. It's pretty big around here, celebrated on November 1 and 2. Most Filipinos travel to their home provinces in order to visit the graves of late relatives with the rest of the family. The graves are washed or painted. Candles are lit to usher the spirits from purgatory to heaven and piles of leaves are burned so they smoke near the grave to keep bad spirits away. A meal is eaten and food is offered to the relative. If you ask me it's a very spiritually-dark holiday.

Yesterday we were reminded of just how big the occasion was. The streets felt empty. Traffic was very light. After church we went to the mall to run a few errands but it was closed! The whole mall! Wow. I had no idea. That's when you know it's a big holiday in the Philippines - when the mall is closed. It's almost unheard of.

I have a few random photos to share from the weekend (as you can see it was an exciting one!)

Time to defrost the freezer?? Got this done on Saturday. I clearly put it off for a long time... NEVER buy a non-frost-free ref. It didn't occur to me when we made this purchase (obviously).


Do you like my fur coat? Gerald loves to pick the least convenient place to relax. He is seriously right up against my neck and face. Nice.
Have a great week everyone!