Jupiter Suites in Makati

After I am alone all day, trapped in my room I sleep all night. In the early morning I am considering my options and strongly consider going home.

Then, in the morning, it occurs to me that I am not really helpless here. I make it out of my room and outside and across the road to the gas station to get some more Coke Light. Having survived my first foray out,I decide to forge ahead on getting things done.

Before I left Bremerton, I was trying to make arrangements for a condo in Ususan, Taguig, called Lakeview Manor. I had a terrible time because it was for rent by the owner and the property office would not give me the owner's number. I tried working through an agent, but she was not responsive and was trying to sell me way up. My friend thought that Lakeview Manor would be perfect and I thought she was right.

So I decided to go for it ahead. The doorman stopped 4 different taxis for me but they didn't want to go that far or didn't know where the place was. I was afraid they didn't want to go to that area because it was bad, but later, I saw a lot of taxis near the condo so I don't know what the problem was.

When that wasn't working, the desk called a driver for me. His name is Ferdie and he has been a great help.

While he was lost a little my friend happened to text to see where I was. She talked to Ferdie and everything was under control then. We stopped at a store and she and her mom and her mom's friend and two babies climbed in.

(Later I want to talk about virtual vs real friends. Here is this woman I have talked to on Yahoo Messenger but never seen in person. When I actually spot her for real, it just seems seamless, like "oh, hi, haven't talked to you since yesterday")

So we all travel the rest of the way to the condo and, for some reason, ate Yolie (Yolanda), the owner of the condo is waiting for us at the gate. I think ate means sister or aunt of no actual relationship.

She shows us the unit and all the girls agree that this is a good place. It costs about $375 per month. Sounds much more impressive to say PHP 15000. Tomorrow I promise pictures.

In Manila, many people don't have hot water in the house. Ace Hardware sells a tiny tank-less water heater that goes on the wall in the shower next to the shower pipe. All the houses are prewired for these heaters. The installers came last Thursday to install it, but the "circuit was not properly provisioned" meaning the GFCI breaker wasn't put in. The owner took care of that so maybe tomorrow we have hot water.

Cold showers in the Phils are not the same as in Washington. The water there comes out of the wall at about 45 deg., but here it is closer to 80. I think I could get used to that, but you cant beat a warm shower.

The heat is another issue I had some concerns about. It runs about 85 deg with very high humidity so it is a shock. I thought of a way around it though. The only thing bad about heat is that you lose the "Oh, so fresh" feeling. Once you make the choice to embrace the sweat and become one with it, it is no big deal.

On Sunday, we all reconnect and Ferdie takes us back to the condo to make the payment. I bring all my big suitcases and backpack.

Really, tomorrow there will be pictures.