Your Attention Please: There's a WHITE girl on this plane!!!

Mabuhay!

I am officially in Manila! I landed bright and early this morning at 5:30am on Monday December 12 (1:30pm on Sunday in the US). For those of you that don't know, December is the peak traveling season for the Philippines. Not only because of the holidays, but because it is the best weather of the year. It's still pretty warm here (enough to want AC), but they refer to it as winter and the "cold season", and coming from San Bruno that's sort of funny!

Anyhow, because December is so busy it makes flying stand-by a bit difficult. When I called the reservations desk on Friday morning to check how many people were booked to fly from SFO to Manila they told me that every flight from Friday to the middle of the week was over sold by at least 40 people. Translation: "you're not getting on the flight". So, I decided I better start trying for any and all flights right away, rather than sticking to my plan of leaving on Sunday. Amazingly it only took me two days of trying before I got on!

My white skin started drawing attention right away, even in San Francisco. Not only was I the only person in line for the flight with a backpack and without a balik bayan box (large box used specifically by Filipinos to bring lots of stuff to and from the Philippines - it's actually so popular that they sell colorfully designed carriers for the boxes), but I was the only white person without a Filipino escort. So, every Filipino within talking distance was trying to figure out what my story was. It started with the lady in front of me in the check-in line. As soon as I got in line with my big ol' back pack and no Filipino by my side she said, "Excuse me miss, this is the flight for Manila." "Thanks, I know."
And then the questions began...
Lady:"Why are you going to Manila?"
Me:"My husband is Filipino." (thinking this would stop the questions)
Lady: "Well, where is your husband?"
Me: "He's in Vietnam right now, I'm meeting him in Manila."
Lady: "Oh, is he in the military?"
Me: "No."
Lady: "Oh! He cannot get a US visa?"
Me: "No, he was born in the States."
And on and on it went. Pretty funny stuff!

So, now I'm at Miles' Tito (Uncle in Filipino) Manuel's house in Manila. The few times I've been exposed to Filipino family abroad I'm always treated just like a princess - literally. I was picked up by Tito Manuel's driver. He had a huge sign flying out the window with my name on it. Not that it was necessary as I was the only white girl for miles! Upon arrival at the house I was served breakfast by the staff and after a shower and a nap I've now been served lunch. Believe it or not, it's really hard to get used to. I try and make a game of clearing my dishes before they do, but they always win. Ah, life is rough!

I'm sorry, but I just have to tell you a quick Filipino accent story. It just happened and I'm cracking up. I'm trying to not let these things make me laugh because let's face it, it's rude and their English is much better than my Tagalog. But this just made me giggle. Bic-bic (yes that's her name) served me dessert and she told me it was Lychee flan. She said, "This is Lychee plan, at least that is the name in Tagalog. I don't know what you call it in English." I said, "We call it Lychee flan." She said, "Oh! Lychee plan!" "Yes, Lychee flan." If only all of Tagalog were that easy!

Well, Miles is due to arrive here at 7:00pm this evening. So, I'm sure you'll be hearing from us soon! There will be lots of pictures of family and beautiful beaches to post! I wish you all a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas!
Love, Erin

P.S. For those of you that are interested, here's an update on the status of my mom: She is still in the hospital and her status is quite literally day to day. She has the most severe case of pancreatitis that her doctor's have seen. Some days have been really bad and the doctor's talk seriously about a major surgery, and other days she seems to improve and they put the surgery on the back burner. (The surgery is very dangerous. Not only because she has a lot of infection inside her, but also because the surgery that they want to do is a six week process. She would go into surgery every day for six weeks and they just pick away the dead parts of her pancreas. Not fun.) Today she has been in the hospital for about 6 weeks and there is no definite release date in sight. Right now she is not improving or declining and I think the doctor's are going to reevaluate her situation on Tuesday. Eventually she will have to have her galbladder removed, but that's a ways down the road. The only thing we know for sure is that she has a long road to recovery ahead. She hasn't eaten anything since the end of October and gets all her calories via IV. She will not be able to eat solid foods for a long time, and cannot even have liquids until she's out of the hospital. I really enjoyed my time with her and am very thankful for it. Unfortunately I felt that I needed to continue on with our travels. I've discovered that Miles is my home, and it's hard to be away from home for very long. So, please continue to pray for her. Her condition is not a life or death situation, but it is so long and drawn out and painful. Also pray for my father as he has a lot on his plate. Thank you for all of your love and support and well wishes for my mother! I will let you know when her condition improves.