Daily Report(s): Catching Up

Okay. Let's get caught up a little bit.

On Saturday, January 31st, I worked a bit in the morning. Then Epril and I spent the afternoon enjoying a bit of our tax refund. I bought Epril some perfume and a nightgown. Then we bought a new laptop computer.

On Sunday, February 1st, it was out to Jasaan for the day. I hung out in the jungle with Mike Bird. Epril and I spent the night out there, and Epril was scared of a giant lizard in the bedroom.

On Monday, February 2nd, Epril and I did some shopping for the new house. We found a furniture maker along the highway who makes really nice low-cost furniture. We also found another place selling some fantastic looking bamboo furniture sets for $100 each. That's a 3-person couch, and two 2-person love seats, plus a center table in a set... not bad.

On Tuesday, February 3rd, Epril went back out to Jasaan while I stayed home and worked. Epril, along with her mother and Mike Bird interviewed two painters for the house (rather funnily named Mr. Tata and Mr. Toto). We settled on the cheaper of the two, Mr. Tata, who with a crew of 6 guys, will paint the entire house from top to bottom, inside and out (paint costs not included) for $450.

On Wednesday, February 4th, Epril and I went out to the paint store and met Mr. Tata and Momma Nila. The paint for the entire house cost $300. After that, I dropped off my motorcycle with Mr. Jun so that he could fix my headlights. After I put in the Xenon headlights, nothing worked right... and the Xenon headlights stuck out too far from the headlight casing, so the reflective surfaces of the bezel never did their work, making the Xenon headlights put less light on the road ahead than their halogen predecessors. I'm having the halogen headlights put back, plus a second set of halogen headlights mounted on the front forks. I'm also having the rear drum brake replaced by a disc brake.

On Thursday, February 5th, nothing happened.

On Friday, February 6th, Epril and I went to immigration to renew my tourist visa. We hoped to get me a permanent residency visa this time around, but we only had a copy of our marriage licence, not the original, so they wouldn't give it to us. After that, we did some more shopping, and I brought Epril some sneakers, as she wants to play badminton with her friends. Then it was off to Spooks Friday night expatriate buffet.

On Saturday, February 7th, Epril and I had lunch at Yureka Japanese Restaurant, and then we went out to Zax Restobar in the evening to listen to music and hang out with all of our friends.

On Sunday, February 8th, it was off to Kingston Lodge for the Expatriate Sunday Afternoon Dinner. Then, I showed one of the local expatriates around our house on the hill as he was interested in renting it. Then Epril and I were off to Jasaan again to check on the house. The paint job looks good so far: We are painting the living room yellow with white highlights, and the master bedroom gray with white highlights. The rest of the house is being painted white. The bamboo furniture for the rooftop deck arrived.

On Monday, February 9th, we took a jeepney back to Cagayan De Oro, stopping along the way to buy some more paint. We're making the second bedroom into a TV lounge, and painting it a deep orange color with dark red highlights.

On Tuesday, February 10th, Susan came buy and cooked for us again: Pineapple curry chicken and a nice chicken soup. Other than that, another uneventful day. Oh: It rained the night before and I'm told that the bamboo furniture up on the roof out at the new house has turned white. Apparently the people who made it didn't use outdoor varnish on the furniture. Idiots.

There we go. All caught up. Not very exciting overall, but Epril and I are enjoying the process of getting the house ready to live in. Oh: We're also thinking about getting a dog... a doberman... instead of an alarm system.