Our first Sunday...May 9th, 2010

So Dave knew exactly which ward we should attend our first Sunday....the one with the most ex-pats.  He didn't have to guess, I was open with my sadness and in desperate need of some contact with the outside world!!!...who would have ever thought a 5 star hotel could feel like a jail cell???  It is different here.  I am not comfortable to go out by myself yet, especially after dark - it is like everyone comes out at night, well they are out all day too, but more... if you can believe it at night...crazy!

Anyway, back to Sunday...

I had thought, from Dave's explanation, that the whole ward would be full of ex-pats...one big ex-pat gathering!  So I was very surprised to walk in the chapel and see that the only other white person was a missionary....but as the block went on 6 (I actually counted) other white/american families came in!!!  After Relief Society ended I had to go searching for Dave in the halls....of course he was wrapped up in conversation with some new friends...he is such the social bug..hahaha! :D"  He introduced me to everyone and thankfully we all hit it off....AJ & Jake will have been here a year in July, so they will be moving back to Washington State soon, and Jen and Chris just got here 3 months ago and are on a 2 year contract.  Chris works for the US Embassy and because of that they will be lifetime International travelers.

After talking for a while, in the un-air conditioned hallway (only the classrooms at the church have air-con), we were invited back to Jen's for Sunday dinner.  We were sooo...o lucky to meet these couples and we hit it off right away.  Heavenly Father knew I needed some people to relate to and that could help us...or just me...navigate this country.  I asked lots of questions at dinner and got a ton of info....like they have a store here called S & R...it is almost like Costco, awesome huh!!! :-)  Also, we got phones numbers for a women that comes to your house and gives a 1 1/2 massage for $10 and for a tailor that makes great clothes.  I can't wait to try all of these things out!!!  BTW - dinner was delicious!...it was basically the first meal I had eaten since we arrived...I was starving and I ate more than Dave...hehehe!

We all decided to go to Dinner the following night (Monday) at The Fort (Fort Bonifacio)...that is were both couples live and the location we knew we wanted to live in.  In fact, the building we are going to move into is the Regent Parkway....Jen and Chris live there as well!  This is the view from the condo...it is of the US military cemetery.  It is very beautiful!

So...Monday night we all had dinner at The Stock Market, if J. Crew had a restaurant this is what it would look like, on High Street.  High Street is like Gateway.  An outdoor mall with lots of shopping and restaurants.  It is definitely a popular place to go!  Dinner was pretty good, but mostly it is wonderful to have friends....I can't say that enough! :-)  

Since last Monday, 4 days ago, we have been back to The Fort to eat, gone to see Iron Man 2, Dave has checked out more office space (I think he has finally found the right space) and we had some amazing dolce de lecce cheesecake...yum, yum, yum!  Oh yeah....and Dave had to spend almost an entire day at customs.  I guess that was a nightmare!

Well, good bye for now!