Loving It

3 Months here...

A friend who I haven't seen for awhile as she's been away on home leave asked me yesterday, "So how are you finding things here? Really?" I hesitated, trying to search for the right words to describe it, and then out it came, "I LOVE it here!".

So of course the next question is why?

I said early on that I was coming here to look and to see. Being instead of doing. (And let's be honest, what I'm also loving is being retired!) Every day is an adventure for me, even the smallest of things are a delight. Delight though is not always joyous, if that makes any sense. Many parts of this huge city are very dirty and at a glance seem chaotic. It is what it is.

Every morning I wake up to amazing views. The first picture was taken last Monday and it was an astonishing sight. Click to enlarge both of these to really get the view. On the left hand side, you can catch a glimpse of Manila Bay. Other windows in the apartment have more direct views of the Bay. What is amazing about this picture, taken about 7:00 a.m., when the air is still and the winds haven't yet had a chance to disperse whatever nastiness is there, is that in the month or so we've lived here it's never looked like this, so clear. More often, it is varying degrees of the second picture.


The second picture (also taken at 7:00 a.m.), however filled with the horror of man's mismanagement, a planet in crisis, health issues, urban blight etc. etc., is, nonetheless what it is. This view is the other extreme. Again, it is what it is. The smog and pollution is part of it. And there is, strangely enough, an odd beauty to it, as there is, really, to everything. This is how I'm loving my life these days - looking, seeing, absorbing and trying my very best not to judge. In judging, I believe you cloud your vision.

This was the view this morning. Window cleaners. Now that my windows are clean I'll be able to see the smog more clearly. Thanks guys.


I love my perch up in the sky. This is a shot of my desk in front of the window in the office. My sunset view. Oh, and by the way, this shot was completely staged. Do you really think my desk looks this clear all the time? NOT!








I keep in mind a cautionary tale, which has to do with processing what people say, advice given, words read. I'm very very mindful of this...

When we were in Jamaica, we lived in Kingston - a large "3rd world" city, crowded, poor, chaotic, etc. On the north east coast of the island was a place called Port Antonio which was quite the opposite. By the ocean, beautiful, quiet, great people - fantastic. We used to spend many weekends there (a couple of hours drive up along the coast road).

Now there is another road to get to Port Antonio from Kingston, and that is through the Blue Mountains. Early on, in our time there, some expat told us that the road through the mountains was dangerous, that you needed a 4-wheel drive to get there, that it took a very long time, that if you broke down you were on Mars, subject to robbery, beating, rape, murder etc. etc. So, we never took that route. Until, almost 2 years later, just before we were about to leave Jamaica, we decided to go. It was the most beautiful, wonderful drive of our whole time there. No 4-wheel drive needed, 2 hour drive max, the people we met were wonderful and friendly, the views were outstanding. I said at the time, "We have missed out on all of this! And why?" I have never ever forgotten that. And that is how I have been framing my hopes and wishes for our time here. That we don't miss out on beauty and adventure - and life! - out of timidness, fear or accepting misinformation as truth. Be cautious yes, but come on...!

A good thing to keep in mind I think, as today I sat and listened wearily to expat tales (stated with great authority) of pirates, road bandits, unscrupulous taxi drivers, and kidnappings. Don't do this, don't do that.

Yes, and perhaps I should just spend the next few years looking out of my window!

Oh, and by the way, P.S. to the mall explosion. They are now saying that there is no evidence of a bomb, that it looks like it was caused by a gas leak in the basement. Again, don't believe everything you hear (even if it does come from the chief of police!)