The longer I live here the more I love it. I was really good at being negative our first two years here. Things were different than my own culture and I wasn't sure how long we would actually be here in Manila. Well, we moved out of my bubble of Makati and dug our roots a little deeper with an open ended contract and decided to stay in Manila for a long while. It was during this time I decided to try social media as a tool to show life in Manila. Finally, I found Filipino friends and a real barkada. My kids picked up some Filipino vocabulary and my Filipino pallet broadened. It's almost like I flipped a switch and my outlook changed, I think for the better. I can see our family adding more and more Filipino culture into our culture and I recently wrote a post titled, Becoming Filipino. Well, here is an addendum, My Filipino Birthday.

A few weeks before my brithday we had a picnic in our driveway, it is a moment I hope to hold forever. Kuya Oben ran to the sari sari for snacks, I brought out the plastic and everyone mingled sitting on the driveway. It felt good and I felt fully submerged in a culture and in a way of life different than my own. It was endearing and I loved it. I asked Chanda if we could have a picnic for my birthday and she threw one amazing party. We don't live near aunts and uncles but these neighbors surely are our kapatid.