The headline from the local news says it well: "A mutiny, a siege, a curfew...Just another day in the Philippines!"
An earthquake and now a coup attempt all in one week! Just one more thing to add to our ever- growing list of adventures here!!
It's sheer craziness!! And it all happened just down the street from us at the Peninsula Hotel yesterday. Brett goes there often for work, and actually had meetings scheduled there for Monday. They blocked the street off next to our apartment building, and we could see the army trucks with the armed Filipino soldiers from our window. We also saw all the guests that were staying at the Peninsula walking down the street with their suitcases to another Hotel- which is next to us.
Apparently some people were on trial for a failed coup attempt in 2003: The 'Oakwood Mutiny' (Which was, by the way, at the same hotel we stayed in for 2 months when we first arrived). The rebels had all been in prison since then, and simply walked out of their trial yesterday and up the street to the Peninsula Hotel where they took it over with guns. They stayed there all day until the armed PNP (Philippine National Police) and Philippine Army drove through the front door of the hotel with a tank and started shooting. We heard some of the gunshots, as we were watching it all unfold on live local TV. It was rather surreal to know that we are just around the corner from where all of it was unfolding!
As scary as it could have been, it was also rather amusing! It is funny to see cultural aspects coming out in even these kinds of situations. And it just makes me laugh. I was watching live pictures last night of the tanks breaking into the Pen Hotel, and I just couldn't help but laugh at some of the things that were happening.
Here is just one example:
There was a wedding going on at the Peninsula when the rebels broke in yesterday. The Filipinos all kept eating because they are used to armed gunmen, but the foreigners ran! Now that is funny!
Only in the Philippines!!! :o)
P.S. Just got a pedicure/manicure and haircut at the Pen today (Mon. Dec.10), and you can't even tell anything happened there. They put up a cement wall where the door used to be, and painted it to match. Then they hung a gigantic wreath on it, and you can't even tell there should be a glass door there!! And no bullet holes on the inside either!! Amazing!!!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
New wheels and an earthquake
Here we are in month 5 of my pregnancy.....and I'm STILL on bed rest. It all started at week 7. And although I CAN finally get out a little (a VERY little), I am completely going insane! I literally only get out of this apt maybe once a week--if that, and only go to 1 hour of church on Sunday (if I even go at all). Everyone tells me to "just take it easy" but this farm girl from Idaho can't take sitting around "taking it easy" for much longer!!! And I've got at least 3-4 more months of this "doing nothing" stuff left! Not to mention the fact that I'll be cooped up again once the baby arrives (You think I'm taking an American baby out to be mauled by Filipinos?!? Oh no....this baby isn't going out for months!!!).
So in an effort to be able to get out a little more before the little guy arrives (which may happen really early), we went out and got me some new wheels:
Boy, if I thought I got a lot of stares as just an American out with her "cute white kids" I was wrong. It's quite an event to go out with me in my wheelchair! Apparently an American in a wheelchair with her husband pushing her instead of her helper is QUITE the head turner!!! And people here don't even try to hide the fact that they are looking either! Not to mention all the other stares from the pregnant Filipinas! They are so superstitious and believe if they see a feature they like (especially in an American or someone with white skin), if they stare at you long enough their baby will get that same feature. Nuts I know, but they really believe it and hence will truly STARE YOU DOWN!
And let me just say that I am now SO grateful for the Disabilities Act in the U.S.!!! I never even thought about it before....that is until we took a trip to the mall with my wheelchair. We drove around looking for an entrance that didn't have stairs. There wasn't one. We assumed there would be a ramp by the front entrance. So we parked and started for the entrance, only to find MANY stairs (I'm talking like 50 of them, maybe even 100--up to the 2nd floor of the building) and NO ramp!! Brett preceded to push me half way around the building looking for a ramp (and this is a huge mall...he probably pushed me half a mile just looking for a ramp!). We finally spotted one, and boy was it steep!! Brett got quite the workout pushing me up it. The ramp went all the way around the building back to where we had started from. So we had gone all that way to find the darn ramp, only to have to go back up it the same way we had come. And then right in the middle of this long ramp there were stairs! I had to get out and walk down them!!! Now who was the bright engineer that thought that one up?!? What good is a ramp if it has stairs in the middle of it?? Isn't that common sense?
No wonder you never see people in wheelchairs here: #1 - they can't afford a wheelchair to begin with #2 - if there is an elevator (which often there isn't), you have to wait forever and then they pack you in like sardines whether you're in a wheelchair or not and #3 - even if they could afford a wheelchair, it is SO incredibly hard to go out in one that its almost not even worth the effort!
At any rate, I'm glad I have the wheelchair and can get out a little...even if it is a huge pain. I have so much more respect and sympathy for handicapped people now! It is amazing the things they can do in those wheelchairs!!
On another note:
We had a 6.0 earthquake here yesterday. I thought I was just feeling a little dizzy until I looked down and saw my drink shaking and then noticed the curtains swaying back and forth. Our building is on rollers, and they obviously work well because the entire building was swaying rather intensely. We are only on the 6th floor, so I can't even imagine what the people on the 58th floor must have been feeling! This is the second earthquake we've experienced since moving to the Philippines nearly 15 months ago (Has it really been THAT long?!). We were on the top floor of our hotel during the first quake. But this earthquake must have been stronger because even though we are down lower, the building shook a lot more. According to the locals, its not a normal occurance to have an earthquake every year here. But we ARE living directly on the "Ring of Fire", so maybe we should just expect it. I can quickly see earthquakes becoming like all the other blizzards, ice storms, tornado warnings, and hurricanes that we've already lived through--just another part of life that you learn to deal with.
Boy, when I married Brett I didn't know what he'd be getting me into!!! Earthquakes and foreign countries were definitely not in MY plans!
So in an effort to be able to get out a little more before the little guy arrives (which may happen really early), we went out and got me some new wheels:
Lily loves to ride with me!
Boy, if I thought I got a lot of stares as just an American out with her "cute white kids" I was wrong. It's quite an event to go out with me in my wheelchair! Apparently an American in a wheelchair with her husband pushing her instead of her helper is QUITE the head turner!!! And people here don't even try to hide the fact that they are looking either! Not to mention all the other stares from the pregnant Filipinas! They are so superstitious and believe if they see a feature they like (especially in an American or someone with white skin), if they stare at you long enough their baby will get that same feature. Nuts I know, but they really believe it and hence will truly STARE YOU DOWN!
And let me just say that I am now SO grateful for the Disabilities Act in the U.S.!!! I never even thought about it before....that is until we took a trip to the mall with my wheelchair. We drove around looking for an entrance that didn't have stairs. There wasn't one. We assumed there would be a ramp by the front entrance. So we parked and started for the entrance, only to find MANY stairs (I'm talking like 50 of them, maybe even 100--up to the 2nd floor of the building) and NO ramp!! Brett preceded to push me half way around the building looking for a ramp (and this is a huge mall...he probably pushed me half a mile just looking for a ramp!). We finally spotted one, and boy was it steep!! Brett got quite the workout pushing me up it. The ramp went all the way around the building back to where we had started from. So we had gone all that way to find the darn ramp, only to have to go back up it the same way we had come. And then right in the middle of this long ramp there were stairs! I had to get out and walk down them!!! Now who was the bright engineer that thought that one up?!? What good is a ramp if it has stairs in the middle of it?? Isn't that common sense?
Needless to say we finally made it into the mall. But to get out I had to walk down all those 50-100 stairs in the front because we DID NOT want to have to go clear back around the building and down that good for nothing ramp again. And yes...everyone was staring at me the entire time I was walking down them! And in the stores I get no respect or sympathy whatsoever. Brett left me in a long line in one store holding all our stuff on my lap (and Lily too) while he went to look for a shorter line. I had to try to move myself forward each time someone left...because there is no respect for lines here. If there is even 1 foot between you and the next person they will totally push you aside and cut in front of you. I thought it would be different with the wheelchair, but NO!! I was trying to push myself and all our stuff forward and people were still cutting in front of me. No sympathy whatsoever! They would totally just push me out of the way if they wanted to get through.
No wonder you never see people in wheelchairs here: #1 - they can't afford a wheelchair to begin with #2 - if there is an elevator (which often there isn't), you have to wait forever and then they pack you in like sardines whether you're in a wheelchair or not and #3 - even if they could afford a wheelchair, it is SO incredibly hard to go out in one that its almost not even worth the effort!
At any rate, I'm glad I have the wheelchair and can get out a little...even if it is a huge pain. I have so much more respect and sympathy for handicapped people now! It is amazing the things they can do in those wheelchairs!!
On another note:
We had a 6.0 earthquake here yesterday. I thought I was just feeling a little dizzy until I looked down and saw my drink shaking and then noticed the curtains swaying back and forth. Our building is on rollers, and they obviously work well because the entire building was swaying rather intensely. We are only on the 6th floor, so I can't even imagine what the people on the 58th floor must have been feeling! This is the second earthquake we've experienced since moving to the Philippines nearly 15 months ago (Has it really been THAT long?!). We were on the top floor of our hotel during the first quake. But this earthquake must have been stronger because even though we are down lower, the building shook a lot more. According to the locals, its not a normal occurance to have an earthquake every year here. But we ARE living directly on the "Ring of Fire", so maybe we should just expect it. I can quickly see earthquakes becoming like all the other blizzards, ice storms, tornado warnings, and hurricanes that we've already lived through--just another part of life that you learn to deal with.
Boy, when I married Brett I didn't know what he'd be getting me into!!! Earthquakes and foreign countries were definitely not in MY plans!
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