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insult to injury

Today has been a long day. A very long day. It started at 7 a.m. when I awoke to my completely trashed apartment, the result of two days of halfhearted packing. I held it together pretty well until lunch, at which time I realized I had three times more things set aside to bring home than would possibly fit into my luggage. At that point I curled into a little ball on the floor and immersed myself in a teeny-bopper vampire romance (you know the one) until the arrival of my Super Superhero In-Laws.

Truly, today would not have happened without Cathy and J.J.'s faithful help. J.J.'s spiritual gift is packing uncanny amounts of things into small spaces, while Cathy immediately set off to find a notary public to process my move-out form. They even went head-to-head with building security when the guards tried to prevent us from removing my bags from the premises--not pretty. 

Did I mention that in the middle of the day my landlord's crony showed up at the door demanding payment for the $5 of water I had used last month, the same period in which my water was turned off twice for his boss's failure to pay his morgtage? I declined.

But the real blow came this evening when I went to a nearby cleaner's to retrieve a handbag and wallet I had left there a week ago. These two accessory items have been my faithful and classy companions for two years, and I was taking them to be cleaned as homage to their loyalty. I had carefully scouted cleaners for an establishment that seemed professional, and took for granted that the words, "It is no problem to clean leather goods," meant just that.

Stupid girl. 

The ruby red wallet bled its color all over the pretty paisley lining, and the leather, once polished and supple from use, is now cracked and covered with blotches the color of dried blood. The worst, though, is the totebag. It was a honeymoon present to myself, and hovers in value to me somewhere between my engagement ring and my laptop. The shiny saddle-colored leather that once made me look so very European now just makes me look like I had a confrontation with a bottle of motor oil. The finished product reminds me of nothing so much as a badly cleaned coyote hide cured in fabric softener, and I don't know how to make it better.

I want to cry little angry tears, mutter culturally-insensitive things that I would immediately regret, and leave this country on Sunday at the latest. At least I get to do one of those things.

-a 

jancy and jákup

I got to the Faroes on last Thursday and shot my first wedding last Saturday.  I will be here for about three more weeks doing weddings and commercial work, which is a really interesting change of pace from what I have been doing in the Philippines.  But it is a welcomed change. 

This is Jancy and Jákup, a really fun couple from Klaksvik.  They had a beautiful wedding and the weather cooperated for us, which in the Faroes is pretty amazing.  

no. 3

CLICK HERE to download our latest newsletter, our last update from the sunny tropics. This has been a wonderful, consequential year and we are grateful for the dozens of people who played a role in supporting our work.

-a

thank you?

The other day I was told, "Abby has shown us that you can be chubby while still being cute and sexy."

Coming from a Filipina I know that this was a simple statement of fact meant to be encouraging, not a backhanded compliment. Still, it is hard to totally remove my negavite cultural associations with the word "chubby". I am just trying to focus on the second half of the statement.

-a

whimsy

This week marked the beginning of my little time of solitude. Ben left on Tuesday for the Faroe Islands where he is taking thousands of pictures for money over the next month, my intern companion flew the country on Thursday, and Alice the Rabbit has made the trek across town to be with her new owner. What I am left with is a nasty head cold, five unwatched seasons of the Gilmore Girls, an apartment full of stuff that has to go somewhere in the next two weeks, and an enormous work project looming.

Of course I am making do nicely, but there are a few things I could imagine that would make this time go more quickly:

1. A magical Monopoly-style card which would give me an unlimited baggage allowance on my flight home. Instead, today I spent 30 consternating minutes on the phone to discover that United Airlines has an unpublished carrying policy that would charge me a hefty $550 for bringing one extra bag back with me.

2. For the water in our apartment to not be disconnected again. Fingers crossed.

3. That the new Harry Potter movie would be released. Oh wait!

4. For the tiny lizard that currently makes me shriek every time I walk into the kitchen and see it staring at me with its little beady eyes to somehow find its way out of the apartment.

5. That the United States Air Force would accidentally have mixed up Ben with his brother (who is in the Air Force) on a transfer list, and so send over complimentary movers. I have seen them work, and it's a miraculous and painless process--much different than trying to figure out how to prioritize your life into two, 50 lb. bags.

6. That one of my co-workers will have sudden revelation concerning their interest in our office's newsletter, and therefore beg me to let him/her write the stories for the August issue.

-a

beyond the bullets

In one month the Jeepney issue about the conflict in Mindanao will be hitting news stands.  We really hope that the magazine, as well as this video, can help raise awareness about the situation there and the affect it is having on the tens of thousands of displaced families. 

Please watch this and pass it along to your friends and family.  And feel free to post it on your blogs and Facebook and Myspace accounts. 

The first step in forcing action is to create awareness.

-b

a wee trip

This week Ben and I discovered via an eviction notice that our landlord has not been paying his mortgage since we moved into the apartment in October. That means he has been pocketing our rent and waiting for us to get kicked out.

The eviction date conveniently falls during my last week in the Philippines, but the problem is that our water was cut off on Wednesday afternoon. Apparently, the idea is that our unhappy predicament will eventually force the landlord to pay his one million peso outstanding bill.

Cityland Corporation, Raul Himbing and the Corinthian Executive Regency Building Association; leave us out of it!

Ben and I decided to fly to Singapore for the weekend so we could take showers and use the toilet without restraint. Alright, actually this trip has been planned for several months, but we are still enjoying the showers.

On Tuesday Ben leaves for the Faroe Islands where he will photograph another cookbook project and several weddings during July, while I head back to Manila until the end of next month. For a few days, though, we are enjoying the clean air, marvelous public transportation and modern conveniences of Singaporean life--a special thanks to Mar Cruz, a good college friend who is playing willing tour guide for us.

-a

how busy?

It has been over two weeks since we last posted--that might be a copy & cutline truancy record.

I wish we were being more faithful in recording daily challenges and adventures. Ben has only been back a week from his final trip to Mindanao to do photo work, my mother has been our real estate agent in Colorado and we are in the final stages of securing a great little apartment for next year, and today I gave a high-energy photography skills workshop to a roomful of bouncy pupils (International Justice Mission employees).

Unfortunately, tonight another set of tasks have materialized. Instead of insightful cultural commentary or zippy political discourse, I leave you only with elaborations on how busy we feel.

-Ben is so busy he doesn't even have time to drop all of his dirty clothes on the bedroom floor.
-"Is milk supposed to be chunky?"
-Abby and Ben are so busy they haven't watched a single episode of Seinfeld in weeks.
-Abby is so busy that she can't even search for a used couch on Craigslist.
-"You haven't fed the rabbit in a week? I haven't fed the rabbit in a week!"

-a

a little affirmation

There are many things I enjoy about the Philippines, but there are also things I really miss about the United States. In particular, I miss the ability to attend performances by my favorite musical artists--like this one which is happening next month in Denver, Colorado.

I know that it won't take many months of being settled in Boulder for us to begin pining for our roving lifestyle of the past two years, but there will be definite perks to the life of a mostly-stable Colorado Law student.

-a

lovely manila

Something I enjoy about the Philippines is how frequently people sing. Yesterday I rode in the elevator twice with the same teenage girl who was doing her best a capella rendition of "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie. Our taxi to church this morning had a minstrel driver who was singing along with the radio in what seemed to be Italian. Almost every morning as I wait outside of my apartment for the elevator, the woman at the end of the hall serenades the commuter crowd with Big Band tunes.

These impromptu musical interludes are unlike anything I have experienced elsewhere in the world. The singers' lack of self-consciousness is usually humorous, and sometimes lovely.

The fact that grown men and women unabashedly croon along to the latest hip-hop ballads in public points to another nice part of Filipino culture--a lack of cynicism. Filipinos are generally willing to enthusiastically take part in group activities that would get your tires slashed if you suggested them to an American audience. For example, I have witnessed my workmates contributing after-hours to practice for our group dance in anticipation of the office Christmas party, a group of judges and social workers competing heatedly in a contest to build towers out of straws and masking tape at professional conference banquet, and the director of a prominent anti human-trafficking organization holding nothing back on her karaoke rendition of Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did it Again".

No one is "too cool for school". It is so different from my experience as a young American; I am often dismayed when the sarcastic quips that earn me nods of approval among my college friends fall completely flat with my coworkers.

In Manila there is corruption, pollution and poor urban planning. But there are also 15 million people who are always ready with a bright smile and a song on their lips.

-a