Updates

In an effort to post every day or two I will let you know what we have been up to although nothing has been too notable. On Monday afternoon we found out that one of the favorite masseuses from Club Serena 9the resort where we will stay after our time at Glory Reborn is done) was coming up to Cebu for the day. Naturally, Lindsay and I jumped on the opportunity to have home visit massages! It was amazing to say the least. As it turned out, not one, but TWO of the masseuses came up to the apartment and gave us 90 min massages at the same time. I have never really had a massage other than sports massages (which are extremely painful) so this was bliss. They even massaged my ears! Afterward we felt relaxed and even slightly sore from how extensive they were.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was the monthly "baby party." All the babies that were born in March come back to the clinic for a few hours to eat cake, learn about breastfeeding, family planning and general health teaching, get a check up and get vaccinated against TB. Lindsay and I were able to help out with the vaccines, which were much harder than we had originally thought! The injection is "subderal" which mean you have to just barely get under the skin and inject a small bubble into the top layer. We practiced on eachtother (with sterile unused needles) with injecting sterile water. Even that hurt so I can imagine the TB vaccine really hurt! The babies were very squirmy and upset during the procedure but we managed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, napping and trying to be helpful at the clinic. We have befriended one of the mom's whose baby has been here for the past four days due to jaundice. Her name is Martinelle and she is very into American pop culture. She taught us how to make a cloth diaper and then proudly informed us she learned it on youtube!

Martinelle has also taught us how to make a classic Cebuano desert-Mango Float. Don't be confused by the word float- this is not club soda and mangoes. It is actually more like a mango cheesecake. It starts with a layer of graham crackers (pronounced gray-ham) followed by a layer of mango cream. Mango cream is mangoes, condensed milk and all purpose cream. This is followed by another layer of grahams and more mango cream. This goes on and on until you reach the top of the pan. It is then frozen for a few hours (nothing actually freezes here FYI) and then can be somewhat sliced up. It was quite tasty going in but not quite the same feeling afterward. Given my milk sensitives, I think that will be the last mango float for me.

Today we are headed for an all day City Tour of Cebu and Mactan Island (the island with all the beaches). We are excited to have a day off from the clinic. Tonight we hope to go on a walk up at Hilary and David's and visit with their puppy, Penny.

In other news, I just had a phone interview with Facebook. I was under prepared but couldn't pass up the opportunity to interview! Luckily Skype works to call landlines. More on that later...