Well, after 3 weeks away, we finally made it back to San Jose de Buenavista, (there's a town song that's pretty catchy, I can't really describe it, but it's upbeat and has clapping. If you sing and clap and say the name "San Jose de Buenavista," you'd probably be Left soon after.pretty close to what it really sounds like. Try it and see!...) and our trip was quite an adventure. Without going into too much detail, here are some things that happened while we were away:

-We took a 20 hour boat with fellow volunteers Ian and Tim from Iloilo to Manila.
-We arrived in Manila and were awed by the "Big City."
-I drank coffee. Real, brewed coffee. Not instant. Real. It was wonderful. Real wonderful.
-We went to the Mall of Asia. We walked there. Almost 5 kilometers. In sweltering heat. Bad idea. Marriage was rickety.
-Marriage back on solid ground as we ate Ice Cream at Mall of Asia.
-Watched people ice skate at Mall of Asia.
-Watched IMAX movie "Everest" at Mall of Asia. We had all just finished reading Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" about, well, Mt. Everest. It was big.
-We had Mexican Food. Maybe the best meal since being here.
-We had Wendy's. Maybe best meal since Mexican.
-We had Middle Eastern Food. Definitely best meal since Wendy's.
-We went to what we thought was an Irish Pub. It wasn't. It was a GRO bar. (Guest Relations Officers--a coy term used for people who are paid to, well, "relate" to wealthy, old, disgusting Americans) Oops.
-We went to Silang, Cavite to our training. 1 week of technical skills in Education and Child, Youth and Family training.
-Erin got her purse stolen. At Pizza Hut. With 6 people at the table. Cell Phone, thumb drive, wallet, ID, cash and cool purse. Not so awesome. Boat tickets back to Iloilo were there, too. Non-refundable boat tickets.
-Had Ice Cream to soothe sadness of lost purse.
-Flew back to Iloilo in 45 minutes for about 4 dollars more than what we paid to take a 20 hour boat. Still working on my remedial math skills and why we took the boat in the first place...
-Went to Boracay. Awesome. Beautiful beaches.
-Got SCUBA certified. One of the coolest things I've ever done.
-We had Mexican Food. Maybe best meal since Middle Eastern Food.
-Visited fellow volunteer in Pandan. Went to cold springs. 30 meters deep. Perfect blue water. Pictures to follow later.
-We got back yesterday. Tired. Laundry up to our ears. It's raining. Can't do any laundry. We stink, but we're happy.

Thank you for the Emails, thoughts and prayers. We love you all.
Scott

Here are a couple shots of our new house, and one of a frequent visitor of our house, a giant damang (spider). He's about the size of an adult hand. We are really happy in our new place. We can barely see the ocean through the trees and we can always hear the waves from our porch. We do have two bedrooms, so visitors are MORE than welcome. We're a little remote now, so we both have bikes for traveling to and from work. We are really enjoying riding along the coast, cooking for ourselves, and even handwashing our clothes. We are currently on the look out for a stray pet to keep us company.