Off to Manila!

Nini and Angela saying their
goodbyes.

After flying back from Risal on the morning of December 14th, we quickly packed a suitcase and started the 4 hour trip to Puerto. Andrew, Michel, Nini, Me and Her spent the night at the Adventist Hospital and then the next morning, after renewing our visas, got on a plane and headed for Manila.

While stopping at a rest stop we
saw a praying mantus. 

This is only our 3rd time flying in and out of Manila but it never ceases to amaze us. While coming into the city you're amazed at how foggy it is, only to realize thats not fog, its a thick layer of smog. I didn't know cities this polluted existed outside of California, but apparently they do. Another thing that we always notice about Manila is how DIRTY it is. It almost seems like they don't believe in trash cans. Its very sad.

Luckily for us, we weren't staying within the city limits of Manila. We took a cab from the airport to AIIAS which is just outside the city limits. Wendy's father is the President of AIIAS (Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies) and so her parents live there. They invited us to come stay with them before we headed to AUP for PYC. It was the first time we could really relax in a long time, so it was nice. Monica and 2 of her friends from L.I.G.H.T joined us also. It was nice because we hadn't seen Monica in such a long time.
On Thursday, we were all just chillin', when all of a sudden Michel said to Allison "Ok, give me your pillow" Let us explain.

Those of you who have done any sort of overnight trip with Allison probably know her pillow. It's a thin, ugly, green pillowcase with holes all over it. But for some weird reason, she likes it and refuses to get rid of it.

When we were getting to know Michel better and realized that she was a whiz at the sewing machine, Allison showed Michel her pillow and asked, "Hey, what could you do for this?" Michel looked at the pillow and said, "Uh...I could throw it away for you..." "What? No! I love this pillow!" Allison said back. Two months later, it had finally gotten to Michel and so she decided to patch up her pillow. Allison was so excited! So now her pillow is just thin and ugly. lol.

The next morning at 3am, Michel, Andrew, and Nini had to drive to the airport to catch their flight to Mindanao. So we had to say our goodbyes to our favorite neighbors, friends, and missionary family. :(
The next morning we would head to PYC. Till then....

~Me and Her