Summer heat had started this week at our new humble abode in the southern part of Luzon (south of Manila). It’s a few hours from Manila and our arrival at our new place welcomed us with a cool refreshing breeze we never experience in Dumaguete. We now live in the province called Laguna, about an hour to two from Manila (depending on the traffic). Evening were especially cooler that we only had to turn the A/C on for an hour or two and the room will stay cool for the rest of the night (with an electric fan of course).
That was for the past two weeks. This week, we can feel the summer scorching heat of The Philippines. We moved into an unfurnished 3 bedroom house with 1 bathroom. The 2 bedrooms are upstairs and because of the type of roofing we have (I think it’s cottage style), it gets very hot during the day that’s it’s almost unbearable to hang out upstairs, unless the A/C is on.
The third bedroom they call here ‘maid’s bedroom’ is downstairs as well as the bathroom. Tim and I plan to occupy it (since we don’t plan to have a stay-in helper) when the baby arrives, so it’s easier for me to go to the bathroom and give the baby a bath. Plus, it will be too hot for the baby to be upstairs during the day.
The downstairs, although without any A/C has at least a fan. Our rent is cheaper than our previous house that we rented in Dumaguete. However, the downside is it’s not furnished with beds, table and appliances. Scraping one day at a time to gradually furnish this place, it feels like Tim and I just got married again (after 10 years). We recently got a small fridge (6.8 cubic feet) as opposed to the standard side-by-side refrigerator which is 22.5 to 31 cubic feet. Surprisingly, our weekly groceries fit. Less food means less or no leftovers to throw. Having a small fridge, we decided to get a small trash can too, in fact it’s so cute it is smaller than my paper trash bin in the states. I’m reminded of the show on cable called Tiny Home Nation. We are somewhat inspired by that show with our ‘tiny kitchen’. It actually works! We’ll see when the baby comes, we definitely have to flexibly fit everything in our fridge when that time comes.
We’re grateful for being close to one of my sister. Truly it is a blessing…because they allowed us to borrow a 2 seater chair from their upstair’s room. It’s quite heavy though, because its pure solid wood, that it took 3 men to carry it. They recently bought a new TV last December, so they gave us also their TV. Tim and I are planning to build our table with the help of the handyman maintenance guy of the house. So, for the mean time, we’re using my sister’s folding table and their old dining chairs.
She also graciously let us borrow the foam mattresses from her guest room as well that we use to sleep as of now. After 2 weeks of sleeping on the floor on a foam, we realized how important it is to prioritize the bed over anything.
Our house is bare so to speak, but its very full everyday with laughters, prayers, reading, schooling & families. One of the perks I believe moving from US-to-Dumaguete-to-Laguna is ‘FAMILY’. We miss our family in Indiana (and Florida too)…so being near our family here is a BONUS.
Lastly, we were surprised by a house-warming gift by my brother-in-law’s dad. He moved here last year from Wales to retire. He came to our house one day with a paper that someone is coming the next day to deliver a cooker. Well, that cooker will definitely ‘warm’ our house with home baked cookies and quiche!
Thank you for continuously praying with us.