Come over, we can build snowmen made of rice!

It's cold, so cold! Of course it's not cold, we're 12 degrees north of the equator. But it's December, which means it's a cold month to Filipinos. Everyone is talking about how cold it is. I've seen people wearing sweaters, jackets, knit caps, even gloves. I saw an old woman bundled up at the market, wearing a knit cap, with a plastic bag over it, and then a baseball cap on top of that. She must have been freezing. I, on the other hand, continue to sweat, but it really is nice. It's been cloudy, breezy and overall very reasonable here, I even slept with a blanket the other night! It was kind of a shock going to Portland, where it was only 45 or so, but it felt so cold.

Also, to give you an idea of the temp in Calapan, here is the 5-day forecast from Weather Underground. See, I'm not joking, it's crazy cold here.

5-Day Forecast for Calapan

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
84° F | 69° F 29° C | 21° C	82° F | 71° F 28° C | 22° C	86° F | 71° F 30° C | 22° C	87° F | 71° F 31° C | 22° C	87° F | 75° F 31° C | 24° C
Chance of Rain 20% chance of precipitation	Scattered Clouds	Scattered Clouds	Chance of Rain 20% chance of precipitation	Scattered Clouds

We spent thanksgiving knee deep in cheese

So we went back to the US for two weeks, which was interesting. I kind of spent the first two days or so just walking around looking at everything and going "wow" like some sort of 19th-century immigrant fresh off the boat. Abby on the other hand had more severe culture shock which led to a breakdown after visiting the grocery store with her saying "There's just so much shit!" Indeed, there was a lot of shit in the grocery store, like something called a Slim Jim Bacon n Cheese Log, and 12lb packages of pork, which must be sweet if you work and live in a firehouse. All that aside it was a great trip, with lots of family time, plenty of walking around in the park and the city, a visit to the Portland Art Museum and more feedings than I care to remember. Let's just say we ate a lot, and often. Also, for the record, I did get my chicken wings, so thanks for asking. Here are a few pictures. Unfortunately blogger is messed up right now and can't post pictures properly, so the photos will be spread over a few posts...

This is how we started off the trip, by seeing this odd display on an otherwise normal looking desk near our gate in the Manila airport.

We had a lot of time to kill in the Hong Kong airport...

Abby's brother Nate and his daughter Payden.

Abby with her niece Elsa. I guess I shoudl say our niece.

thanksgiving photos 2

Abby's sister-in-law Michelle and Payden.

Now that's a turkey!

thanksgiving photos 3

Since I took a shot of pinoy thanksgiving last year, I thought I'd take a shot of American thanksgiving this year. Looks remarkably similar, but this year's feast was a lot better. Sorry Philippines!

A pint of Smithwick's in a pub. This alone would have been worth the trip home.

My sister, hopped up on goof-balls.

Sorry dad, but you just can't take a good picture.

thanksgiving photos 4

I don't know what they're looking at, but I like shots where people aren't looking at the camera.

Abby and me, looking cute, and scruffy, respectively.

thanksgiving photos 5

We went to the tree lighting in downtown Portland. It was as exciting as a tree covered in lights can be.

A shot of the full(-ish) moon over downtown Portland.

We had a 13 hour layover in the Hong Kong airport on the way back (we could not get enough of that place!) so we found a little spot and camped out.