Happy New Year!

It seems as if 2008 has been two or three years in one for my husband and myself. We began the year finishing a couple of classes, one of which (my class) had been extended far into the second semester because the teachers had been in Bangladesh and other places during most of the first semester. We were staying with some of the extended family in Bambang and traveling to Manila frequently for classes and for my husband's visa application. I was also suffering from a terrible allergy to smoke and pollution, which made me feel sick much of the time.

n April, we celebrated both our first anniversary on April 7, and our graduation on April 6. I graduated with my first Master’s degree, M.A. Applied Linguistics, and my husband got his second Master’s, M.A. Community Development.

Then in June, my husband had the wonderful opportunity of flying to Thailand to present a paper about preserving cultural heritage, especially the traditional music and musical instruments of the Kalanguya, with an SIL Ethnomusiclogist who works in the Philippines. We decided to make it our belated honeymoon/anniversary celebration, and flew over a few weeks early because of the expiration of my student visa and denial of my permanent resident visa.

After the first week in Thailand, we had some adventures traveling across the Thai border into the communist country of Cambodia to visit an American couple who had gone to school with us in Manila and are living in Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. After we took a bus to the Thai/Cambodia border, we crossed the border into Cambodia on foot only to be followed by a man for more than an hour who sent us to the “only” bus station and was trying to get us to pay an outrageous price to take a taxi to Phnom Penh. We ended up having to stay the night in a little guest house in the muddy border town in Cambodia where the water from the sink drained onto my toes when I tried to wash my hands. The landlady’s sons drove us on their motorcycles to the real bus station early the next morning.

Then in July, I had to be out of the Philippines before my husband's visa interview, which was scheduled for July 14, because the embassy would not issue a visa to him if I were still there at the time of his interview. I arrived home on July 7 after traveling for about twenty hours. It’s nice to be back with family and friends and to be in a place where I blend in and can easily find pants and shoes that fit etc. after being a foreigner for such a long time. I was amused, though, when a couple of fellow Americans asked me what nationality I am. I must have been gone a little too long….

I actually haven’t experienced much reverse culture shock other than noticing for the first time the rather strong accent used in this area. I guess I’ve spoken that way all my life and didn’t even notice it before.

A few days after arriving home, I learned that my husband's visa interview would be postponed because his medical, which he had a few days after I left, showed something on his lungs. It turned out to be TB that is resistant to one of the four TB antibiotics. He consequently had to move to Manila where he goes to the hospital every day to get his antibiotics. His treatment should be done by spring of 2009. His latest sputum test already shows improvement.

For now, I’m staying with my Dad (and Grandma lives in the basement) and am working full-time (4 am to 1 pm). I hope to save up a little money so that I can go back to school and so that Bob and I will be able to move away and rent our own place after her gets here. I also hope to find a job teaching somewhere so that I can use my degree. (If anyone knows of a place that is looking for ESL teachers anywhere in the US, I would definitely be interested). I haven’t been sick once yet since returning home, probably because I haven’t been around enough smoke, pollution, and second hand smoke to trigger my allergy.

I do have my own car now, which is a huge blessing. Dad sold me his car, which is a good, reliable one, for a much better price than I could have gotten one elsewhere (with the condition that I pay him the profit that I make when I sell it later), and he replaced it with a one-year old car that he also got for a very good price.

My husband just moved to a different place in Manila because of the late-night noise and second hand smoke that he had to put up with in the place he was staying. The new place isn’t close to the hospital, but has a cleaner, quieter environment. He is also starting to search for a job over there.

In December, he was also spared from a terrible accident. He was preparing to ride a jeepney (bus-like vehicle) to a wedding in one of the villages. In fact, someone was calling him to leave, but my husband delayed and ended up making them both miss the jeepney that they were supposed to ride on. As they were waiting for the next jeepney leaving for the wedding, he learned that the first jeepney had been in an accident and that 18 of the 25 people riding it had been injured, and some were in serious condition. He ended up going to the hospital and helping the injured passengers instead of going to the wedding. We’re thankful that God spared him and his companion from being on the jeepney that was in an accident.

May you all have a wonderful 2009!