First Impressions

Driving from the airport to our hotel it reminded me of Bangkok. Not sure if that is a good reference point or not. Fairly modern but not as clean and manicured as a city in the US. A lot of tuk-tuks (mopeds with sidecars) and Jeepneys (crazy looking taxis with open air bench seats). At one of the first stoplights just outside the airport, there was a taxi cab that was drawing some attention from people on the sidewalk. It was about 7:00 in the morning on New Year's Day and the driver had completely fallen asleep while waiting for the light to turn green. I mean, chair reclined back and arms folded behind his head. Must've had a late night celebrating New Year's Eve. Pretty funny. We've only seen a small portion of Manila (a business district called Makati City). Pretty much everyone looks Filipino here. And the mall just outside of our hotel has a lot of the stores we are used to seeing back at home. Oh yeah, and the food options here are pretty nice. Lots of good choices especially for Asian food. Even went to Starbuck's this morning for breakfast. Yes, a lot different than Angola. Maybe one of the commonalities is the weather. About 85 degrees during the day with a fair amount of humidity. Overall,  we are all adjusting fairly easily to being in Manila. We let the boys pick out a toy at Toys R Us which probably helped them feel right at home here. Today is Grace's first day at work which was a reminder that we are not just on a holiday. Hopefully she has a smooth transition into her new role.