Our second three day weekend in a row!

It seems like we're the people other people think of when they're planning something. You know, they say, "do you think the quattlebaum's are doing anything? probably not, we should give them a call." And this is very nice. We had planned to do nothing but read and hopefully get the internet this weekend (unfortunately that's still a no go.) However, we ended up getting invited to do stuff all day every day. We're beginning to feel more comfortable in our niche.

Saturday the new librarian, Catherine, stopped by to take us shopping and out to lunch. She really seems to like us...probably because I read every book she recommends to me and then we talk about them. Anyway, after we went shopping with her we went to a place called Mountain Woods Resort http://www.mountainwoodsresortsubic.com/ And as it turns out if you eat lunch there you can use their pool. So Catherine did a watercolor painting of the view and Jordon and I swam in the pool for a few hours. It was really fun and relaxing. There were a few groups of people there on holiday from Manila. If you come to visit and don't want to stay at our place, this would be the place to stay. Oh, and if you go to look at the pictures keep in mind that the pool has been renovated into an endless pool with dark green tiles. Fancy fancy.

Then yesterday we went to church in San Fernando. We went with several other expats and a filipino. When we walked into the chapel they all turned around and the worship leader said 'hello, you're new...are you americans?' it was a little awkward...but ended up being a really fun and joyful service. Jordon thinks people are obsessed with Kenny Rogers here because we sang one of his songs at church and we have seen many Kenny Rogers Roasters resturants from Manila to here.

After chuch we drove to the big mall and ate pizza at Sbarro. You could almost imagine you were at the Columbia Mall...if you wanted to...and what kind of crazy would want to do something like that?

After pizza I decided I needed a new pair of shoes to teach in...all I really have here are flip flops and closed toed shoes. It's too hot for closed toed shoes and flip flops are a little unprofessional. So we went into the SM, which I guess started out as a shoe market, and we got a little more than overwhelmed by the vast extent of our options. The funny thing was that we were down to our last 500 pesos...Around $12...and so when I'd pick up a pair of shoes that cost 600 pesos I'd set them back down like they were a fortune...it was kind of funny. I found an inexpensive pretty pair. It'll do the trick. So, we're really poor still. But we're getting by.

The bank called the school to talk to us on Thursday morning and by the time Jordon got to the phone they had hung up. So, apparently they decided that we didnt' need a new credit card because the people who stole it didn't use it. Or haven't used it yet. Tonight Jordon's calling the bank and finalizing all this business. He's doing a fine job managing our lives here and I couldn't be more appreciative :)

So, tonight we're going to get pizza at A Tavola...an italian resturant that has AMAZING italian pizza with some of our coworkers. We're pretty excited...and we can still afford it if you can believe that!

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Love,

The quattlebaums