Philippines Vacation

I created this blog www.ourphilippinesadventure.blogspot.com to record our adventures while in the Philippines. It is definately a work in progress....and i have no idea why the picture at the top is lop-sided! Check it out from time-to-time for more stories from the motherland:)

Accomplished!

This weekend I passed the training to become a Body Pump instructor! Ever since I started teaching RPM last year I have wanted to become certified in another Les Mills program(for those of you who know what I am talking about...you know what I am talking about!! if you don't just click on the links to find out more...and if you are ever in LaGrange let me know and you can come to a class for free! it is a par-TAY baby!)

A couple of weeks ago I looked at the trainings offered in my area and saw that Body Pump was being offered in Albany-close to home and I could stay with Richard's brother. Hmmmm.....this got me really interested....but my family was supposed to be coming into town that weekend...so I had to just wait for another training to roll by. Well...plans got canceled which opened the way for me to go and I actually got the last spot in the training!!! I knew it was going to be brutal-"the hardest thing I have ever done" is what all the instructors told me-so I was a little nervous! But I thought RPM training was THE hardest thing I had ever done. Well...they were both "bloody" hard! (our trainer liked to use that word;)) This was somewhat easier because I had gone through a Les Mills training before...but this was more physically challenging! They really push you to lift A LOT of weight to show that you can do WAY more than you THINK you can. That is so true!

Don't you just love that feeling of accomplishment when you do something you didn't think you could do???

Why....oh....why

I recently attended a baby shower for a dear friend. This friend was 3 weeks from her due date and looked wonderful....but I believe all pregnant women look wonderful as long as they are smiling:) Not that frowning is unacceptable...it just makes for a better look for anyone...pregnant or not.

So anyway....about 75% of the discussion at the baby shower was about how much weight everyone gained while they were pregnant and how the pregnant lady looked so beautiful and was carrying her weight so well. Then while we were eating the talk was about how we shouldn't eat this or that. How getting seconds was supposed to be forbidden but how we wanted it anyway which led to guilt for sure. Oh and how much exercise it would take to burn off the extra helping. It made me wonder why do women have to beat themselves up when they get together. There were some who didn't participate in this kind of talk (which i try very hard not to do....but maybe I did so I won't say I didn't) . I spent too many years making excuses for the food I was eating....I will have to exercise extra tomorrow....or....I must skip a meal tomorrow.....or....can't eat this in front of those women because it is somehow socially unacceptable....or....i am going to be so bloated tomorrow....or....blah, blah, blah, blah! And I thought it was hiliarious when 2 days later I saw one of the friends who was at the baby shower at the gym. We were both taking the same group fitness class. She said "we have to work off that cheesecake we ate!" and then she chuckled. Wow....I don't think she has been worried about that cheesecake all weekend so i thought it was odd that she brought that up...and it took me a minute to even figure out what she was talking about.

I guess we all have friends who talk about food as if it will make us a fat slob or who pick at their bodies. I find this very emotionally taxing to listen to ...probably because of my past experience with an eating disorder. I try to stear the conversation away from this talk whenever I am around it. I also cringe when I hear someone talk about their weight-loss and hear others praise that person and tell them how "wonderful" they look. I hardly ever do this because what do you say to them if they gain the weight back?

So after the shower- while we were cleaning up I asked why we have to do this when we get together. I said we should make a commitment NOT to participate in this talk the next time it happens. So...who's with me??

Ozamis

After arriving in Manila we boarded a very small plane headed for Ozamis City. The flight was only 1 hour and they gave us no snacks:(. By this time I was pretty bent-out-of-shape so it seemed like we were in the air FOREVER! But just as I thought my legs were going to walk away on their own(they were very restless) we landed in the middle of rice fields at the Ozamiz Airport. There were farmers in their fields waving at us. A group of boys had gathered at the fence to watch the plane arrive....and now I am guessing that is most of the entertainment they have!

Richard's Tita and Tito and other relatives were there waiting to take us to a chicken BBQ place in town. Yes it was hot but not what I expected.

This was an outdoor resturant....very beautiful and there was a nice breeze blowing. The lady next to Lola is her sister Lourdis.

This is Beverly and Richzer(Richard's younger brother).

Here is what we ate. The dish on the left is raw fish(i didn't eat that) and dish on the right is vegetables and the middle is the chicken. That was a thigh and leg piece....what do you notice about it? Very tiny! No perservatives pumped into this bird! Talk about organic! Free-range I bet! It was all good....and the rice was "all you can eat!"

Here is a group shot of the welcoming party!