As my third year here starts, the sleepless nights are only just beginning.....

I was surprised to realise only a few weeks ago that I have been here for over two years now. So much has happened in that time, not least of which is our new arrival who is now settling in well at our house. He is still sleeping in our room and probably will until he is 6 months old. There is also, of course, the separation anxiety thing, whether we will be happy with him sleeping across the hall from us.
Oddly, Paddy sleeping in our room has brought on the realisation of a truth, our bed is not large enough. Occasionally Paddy sleeps on our bed, normally between us, we make use of an additional mattress sized for his crib, which demarks 'his space' sadly it also means that he ends up with more of it than either Kat or I (both of us have been close to falling out of bed on more than one occasion). I therefore bit the bullet and have now purchased a king size bed from our local department store, we are awaiting it being delivered, but are anticipating that happy event in a few days, and the provision of an extra 20cm or so of width and that has to be more than Paddy's armspan, doesn't it??

The passage of time also brings with it our wedding anniversary, we are due to celebrate our 2nd at a beach resort in Batangas, Pico de Loro Cove which looks rather lovely from the website. It would seem that as Kat said the other day, we are slowly exploring all of the resorts around here, I think I might need to make a list.... I love the fact that there is so much variety of places to go, I am hoping that although it is a romantic weekend away (and yes we are taking Paddy) that I will get a chance to try some photography whilst we are there, especially as we should have reduced light pollution for night shots.

With the passage of time, I am slowly adjusting to life here, I would guess that mellowing into it might be a more accurate description. I have to confess that I was quite a handful upon my arrival, being openly annoyed at the way things get done here (or don't as the case may be) and on occasion I may have been a little rude to people who didn't do things the way I wanted. I am still put out by a lot of these, a full list would be quite long, but I am now internalising my frustration by taking a deep breath or two before saying or doing anything, there are a few things that still get me going though...

• Filipino drivers, the collective delusion that they are good at it and drive defensively, they are not and  don't, not even slightly-
• I will grant that they are skillful at slotting a bike, trike, car, pickup, van or truck into a slot most people wouldn't even attempt, but their almost total lack of consideration for other road users, inconsistent and incorrect use of indicators, hazard lights and firm belief that they, whoever they are, have the right to go or be at the front of the queue never cease to amaze me. 
• Regarding the defensive driving, it is far too reactive in nature for that with little or no perception of risks or looking ahead at possible hazards.
• Timekeeping, this is probably heavily influenced by the old Spanish colonial times, I have come to find this more amusing than annoying, but it does make any form of planning difficult, I will cite some examples of the sort of thing-
• Event planning, I was invited to participate as a speaker at a training event for a multinational company's Filippino head office staff, the dates weren't confirmed until the weekend before the event, giving me only 4 days to book a driver and hotel in Manila.
• Event timing announced as starting at 6pm, no body arrives much before 7 and the event might start by 7:30
• Getting something fixed or delivered, you can't book at time for this, or at least I have not been able to, despite providing mobile phone numbers for them to call before coming, they just turn up, sometimes on the day indicated, sometimes not.....
• On the other hand, some things happen with unseemly haste, one of my sisters in law and a friend have found work overseas, both jobs were identified by an OFW agency (Overseas Filipino Worker) and whilst it was known that they would be departing soon, both had less than 2 weeks notice of actual departure date, that included work visas, tickets the whole shebang.
• Bureaucracy and paperwork, I don't quite know where to start with this one.
• We have been living in our house for 12 months now and still haven't got all the necessary permits to be doing so, and can't get onto mains electricity without them....
• Licence renewals, this can take several months, and in some cases longer than getting the original licence.
• Duplication of effort, the number of times I have needed to complete forms in duplicate or triplicate, each exactly the same as the other, doesn't NCR paper exist here, or even carbon paper? Similarly, the same organisation wants information from their clients or customers, several different forms, each asking the same questions e.g. name, address, date of birth, marital status, age (see date of birth, laziness) home and mobile phone numbers before they get to the real detail that they need, this is very common in govt agencies and oddly hospitals.
• Dumb questions on forms which are irrelevant to the matter at hand, one specific instance was when Kat applied to renew her various licences, the forms all ask for her marital status, now this may be demographically interesting to a population statistician, but what does it have to do with her ability to be a doctor or drive a car?
• The "That'll do" attitude, whilst there are many craftsmen/women and those who will go the extra yard, so many don't. When we had our house built the air con indoor units were installed, two of them were so obviously not level a blind person could have seen it, but the guy hanging them on the wall seemed all put out when I asked him to straighten them up, likewise some of the light switches and power outlets. It is sad since it is the details that people often see and it is these that spoil what is otherwise good work.
• The way the Filipinos treat potatoes, come on guys, they are like rice is to you, there are many varieties and they need to be kept out of the sunlight or they go green!!

All that said, the big question is "am I happy to have moved here?" and the answer has to be a resounding yes. There are a number of reasons for this, in no particular order;-

• I have met and married my soul mate, Kat and I agree on many things and enjoy sharing these, some are music, movies and TV shows which are fairly trivial, others are our general outlook on life. Sure we disagree on some things, but so far we have not found anything we can't work around.
• We have a wonderful baby boy, I know all parents think their kid is the most amazing on the planet, so I won't disappoint, of course Paddy is!! He fills me with wonder and amazement each and every day, wonder that something so small can generate such a loud cry and volume of poop and amazes me by how much I love the little scamp despite the fact that he can drive me to distraction sometimes.
• My standard of living is better here than in the UK, and would be even better were I to have a steady income, but not too bad all the same.
• I am probably healthier here than when I was back in the UK. I used to spend hours driving around the country, often eating at odd times and not always good food. I also spent far too long in the pub drinking beer, my consumption is significantly lower now, averaging less than 4 pints (Imperial) per week (i.e. one 330 ml can or two some nights of the week), I could do that in a couple of hours back in Haslemere!!
• I am not spending quite so much on gadgets as I did back in the UK, well, this may or may not be true, I am tending to buy more expensive gadgets here since I don't have such easy access as before. A friend Tim and I were frequent purchasers from eBay from a number of resellers and refurbishing companies, even direct from Canon UK or Apple, we seemed to try and match or outdo each other for the latest or greatest iThingy. I can't do that anymore as eBay doesn't have the coverage here and sellers seem reluctant to send items to the Philippines....
• I am starting to make new friends here, mostly through Kat, but that's not a real problem.
• This is a country of 7,107 islands, tropical in nature, many of these have rather nice beaches, so we are spoiled for choice. The scuba diving here is pretty good too...

All in all, I think I made the right choice and hopefully this will remain the case as I get older and Paddy grows, I can't wait to take him to the beach in a few days time and eventually get him swimming and hopefully take him diving when he is old enough. Of course I miss my friends back in the UK and some of the things I used to be able to do and buy (sadly good old white bread, especially a bloomer loaf is something I really hanker for), but that apart life is good here and I am a very happy chappy!!