Christmas is a big deal in the Philippines. It starts around the first of September and builds to a peak on the 25th of December. Even humble huts are festooned with lights. Our office officially closed on the 23rd but in reality most people took off sooner. 
We attended two potluck dinners with other stranded Americans but mostly it just passed a few hours for us. We spent the rest of the time waiting for the appointed time to call our kids. It was boring, sad and lonely. We could hardly wait to get back to work. 
However that was disappointing because there were only a few people who showed up. The time between Christmas and New Years is like a continued holiday here. All our contacts and partners were out until Jan. 3rd. So Dennis and I decided spend a few days in Subic. We’ve been there before and it is one of the few places in the Philippines that hasn’t been de-jungled. This is a big area that used to belong to the US military it was a huge base, like a city. It was a key US location during world war 2 and Vietnam. It was given to the Philippine government, and they have maintained it as a resort area. You still have to pass through gates and check points to get in. It is like a slightly run down beach community you would find along the California coast. Because it belonged to the US the jungle is still there and the wildlife has not been eaten to extinction. There are even crows there, and monkeys troops. The monkeys are aggressive and scary. There is a cheesy wildlife park we visited there called Zoobic, thus the pictures. 
We attended two potluck dinners with other stranded Americans but mostly it just passed a few hours for us. We spent the rest of the time waiting for the appointed time to call our kids. It was boring, sad and lonely. We could hardly wait to get back to work. 
However that was disappointing because there were only a few people who showed up. The time between Christmas and New Years is like a continued holiday here. All our contacts and partners were out until Jan. 3rd. So Dennis and I decided spend a few days in Subic. We’ve been there before and it is one of the few places in the Philippines that hasn’t been de-jungled. This is a big area that used to belong to the US military it was a huge base, like a city. It was a key US location during world war 2 and Vietnam. It was given to the Philippine government, and they have maintained it as a resort area. You still have to pass through gates and check points to get in. It is like a slightly run down beach community you would find along the California coast. Because it belonged to the US the jungle is still there and the wildlife has not been eaten to extinction. There are even crows there, and monkeys troops. The monkeys are aggressive and scary. There is a cheesy wildlife park we visited there called Zoobic, thus the pictures. 
New Years Eve was like World War Three. All the eleven million people in Manila were constantly shooting off some type of explosive devise. We were warned not to go outside because of stray bullets from the celebrants shooting guns into the air. Obviously not a wild threat because the news reported people killed and injured by stray bullets the next day.
I'm glad the holidays are over and we are back to work now and busy as ever, thank goodness.
