As you may have noticed in my previous blog, Mitch and Peta were married in January, and it was a very relaxed, special time. They have very recently moved back to Sydney from Canberra, and Mitch is back working at Fox Sport. Their first year of marriage has been full of challenges, but they have kept smiling and worked through things with great maturity, many tears and lots of laughs. What a great couple, and we have loved the fact that Peta chose Mitch to spend her life with, and that Mitch chose Peta!
In February, Russ and I moved from our temporary house to the housing that IRRI owns and provides for it's international scientists. Imagine......we went from little or no internet (depending on.....I'm not sure what, but it certainly fluctuated) to internet that is, in my opinion, close to Korean internet in speed!!!! THAT is saying something!! Thanks to IRRI, the institute and the staff housing area has internet access that is up there with the best in the world. More than that, we now have a refrigerator that has shelves that work and that doesn't freeze everything..... an oven that we can set the temperature easily, hot running water in the kitchen, and cell phone coverage (apologies to my Australian friends..... I now call mobile phones "cell phones" at least half the time....*sigh*)
Our new home is lovely. There are only two bedrooms, but that is only an issue when all our kids come together - we tested this a few weeks ago, and it was fine for two weeks. It is one of 10 row (semi-detached) houses that IRRI has in their housing compound, along with 33 large houses and 16 large apartments. There are also some houses and apartments that are provided in other areas of Los Banos.
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| Our beautiful banana flowers! |
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| Our street. |
We have a small back garden, and the outlook is lush and green all year round. Perfect for sitting with a drink and contemplating the world.....
This year marked the beginning of a few new adventures for me (....as if moving country wasn't enough.....) - I started my Master of Education degree (yes, I know!!!) and I started full-time work again, this time at Brent International School Manila.
The degree has had it's ups and down, and I still have moments when I wonder why, but I'm now over half way so will probably continue......
Working has been wonderful!! Brent has a small (tiny) satellite campus at Russell's work. That means that to get to work I have a 10 minute drive, instead of a 45 minute drive to the main campus (on a good day - with traffic and weather conditions cooperating). This school year (which runs from August to May), I have only had 6 Grade 1 and 2 students in my combined class, and I have once again fallen in love - these kids are just wonderful, they work well and keep me smiling all day. The staff I work with are also great, so it is a very pleasant environment to work in.
In February we had a very short break and joined Bronwyn and Brett in Singapore, with the added bonus of seeing our friends Tina, Laura and Rick while we were there!!
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| There must be something they haven't thought of.... |
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| Chinese New Year is always a good time to stay in Chinatown! |
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| Makes me miss Korea........ |
Alice started university in March, in Canberra, and has had a wonderful year. I also started a Master of Education degree - I literally woke up one morning, thought it was a good idea, applied and started!!
In March, Russ and I visited Korea, and Russ went on to Japan for a week while I stayed in Korea - it was so nice to catch up with our friends there........ I miss them SO much!!
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| What do we do on a chilling evening in Korea - go to the ice-cream shop.... |
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| ......of course....... |
We also had a quick visit from Tatiana Gobius in March - fun!!
March saw the end of an era - our house in Leeton was sold. It sold reasonably quickly and we are left with wonderful memories of our children growing up there, lots of fun times with family and friends, and a home that was a pleasure to live in.
In April, I visited Australia for a couple of weeks, spent with my parents and with our kids. It was great to have that special time with Aud and GP, and I always love spending time with Mitch, Peta, Hayden and Alice.
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| We even caught up with the beautiful Ro, and her daughter!! |
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| ....and a day in Sydney with Kwancho and Ella!! |
In May, Russ and Alice both made trips to Korea - Alice to make sure her great friends, Sara and Shea, got through their graduation, and Russ for work. They caught up with each other for around 2 days, and Russ spent a little bit of time with Alice, Shea, Sara and Cecilia, too. I think this was one of the best trips Russell has had!!
...and then June came...... our long-awaited trip to visit our dear friends, Pam and Bob, in Colorado, with the bonus of seeing Heather while were were there.
First we visited beautiful (and cold!!) San Francisco.... found Sara and Shea (walking on the path across the road from us!!) and then Katie (running on the path across the road from us....later on the same day!).
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.....and on to Colorado....
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| .....we were VERY happy to see each other!! |
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| The view from Pam and Bob's deck - amazingly beautiful! |
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| Bob gave us a private air show - he needed to practice, so we watched! I suspect Russ may have enjoyed being up there with him!! |
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| ....and we found Laura!!!! We seem to find each other in multiple countries!! |
Our trip to Durango and out to the Mesa Verde National Park in south-eastern Colorado was.......amazing.
Certainly a highlight of our whole trip was catching up with friends, both old and new. The wonderful Rhoades family (Joan, Bill and John) couldn't get rid of us - it was so great to hang out with them!
 Heather in (almost) her natural habitat.... |
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| Rocky Mountains National Park - pretty cool. |
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| ...and it's Summer!!! |
We returned to the Philippines to a visit from Alice, Nicola and Hayden in July, and I started working at the end of the month.
There is always something interesting to see at IRRI and in our area of the Philippines:
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| If you get your friends together, you can get a discount. |
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| One of my favourite people (Cristina) in a local bakers supplies shop...fun! |
The rest of the year was filled with work for both of us, with Russ travelling more than he was here some months - from August he visited Korea, Italy, Bangladesh, Brazil, US, Korea again, Japan and Australia.
As always, I love going back to one of my extra-happy places - Korea!
Ben and Katrina visited in November - so much fun, and so much tea and chocolate from Australia (the PERFECT gifts!!)......note to Katrina and Leanne: be aware when Ben says "We'll just go down and have a look....." or " the water is as smooth as glass......" or "yes, we'd LOVE to ride the horses all the way down into the active volcano...".
For Christmas, we headed over to Shekou, in China, for a wonderful week of relaxing, without full internet!!! The Jenkin family generously lent us their apartment, and we were set!!
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We ended our trip with Christmas dinner with our friends, Heidi and Sam (and Sam's Mom, Bernise), in Hong Kong.
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| ....always a pleasure to have a view of Hong Kong! |
...and just a little more from the Philippines.....
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| Our dear friends, Cristina and Eva Kay |
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| I'm really wondering if anyone actually thinks about these things before they make decisions...... |
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| Christmas lights in Manila. |
Phew.....what a year!!! Busy, and full of special moments!
