Jan 7- First Impressions.

Thanks again Air Canada for your EXCELLENT service in luggage transport. *Sarcasm* But it's okay, Air Canada, Amberlea doesn't really need her clothes.

We had planned (upon our first glimpse of Rhonda) to drop our bags and leap into her welcoming embrace, but instead all we could do was stand there, separated by mounds of luggage and troops of security guards, and transmit cheerful and explanatory gestures to Rhonda and her friend.

Finally, we were able to greet each other. Oh it was so great to finally speak in real life. Her friend was Jonah, one of our new roommates. A great girl, with too good of a sense of humor, as Amber Rae found out when it came to cockroaches, her greatest fear. She was doing reasonably well, until Jonah calmly stepped over to the table where we were sitting, positioned her broom and dustpan under Amber Rae's feet, and said "oh let me get that cockroach out of the way for you." Of course there wasn't one, but we have seen several.

At the house, we also met BJ, our other roommate, a third year nursing student at the university.

Our house is amazing! It is on a narrow, but very busy road. There is a high gate with coils of barbed wire at the top, protecting our humble abode. Our upstairs room is spacious, with 5 beds neatly in a row. Our sleeping order is Canadian-Filipina-Canadian-Filipina-Canadian. WHOA SWEAT! Hence, no blankets, just one fitted sheet. YAY no making beds in the morning!!!

Quick info update.

Genesis 17:5

"No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham."

Because Anna was feeling a little left out of the Amber club, AND as the result of noticing the panicked faces of Filipinos whenever we were introduced, we have followed the road taken by Abraham, and done a slight name change. From this day forward, our names have become

Amberlea

Amber Rae

AmberKay (Anna)

Everyone loves it, the Filipinos can now just call us Lea, Rae, and Kay, and we are always asked "Are you sisters?" (Filipino sisters often are given the same name with a different ending.)

The End.

Jan 6 - getting there.

Blizzard conditions; Amber woke up late; Major traffic jam; Amberly's car got stuck in the snow; Anna forgot ticket and passport at home; Line-ups were crazy. However, we did manage to get on the Calgary flight on time. Arriving in Vancouver, we had approximately 6 minutes, 21 seconds to reach our connecting flight to Korea. As we were bolting top-speed through the crowded terminal, Anna's high-heels snapped, Amber had a nervous breakdown due to lack of travel experience, and Amberly, insisted on getting her daily Starbucks venti-soy-no foam-half sweet-triple shot-decaffeinated-toffee nut latte.

Yeaaaaaaaah...... no.

Sadly, our trip was utterly uneventful, but we did see lots of good movies.

P.S. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.... go rent it.

Leaving on a jet plane!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010
For months we've been planning....for weeks we've been stressing, and for days we've been packing. We have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off.....only worse, because we actually still had our heads intact, which meant we were worrying like marshwiggles AS WELL as running around frantically...and....okay, it was bad. But now it's here! Can it be we are really going to be arriving in Cebu city, on the island of Cebu, in the Philippines, 28 hours from now???????

So we're pretty sure this battery illustration would break down rather quickly if pushed too far, so we'll just give you two reasons that's our name. First, (the obvious one), our names are Anna, Amber, and Amberly. Yeah..... we feel bad for anyone who has to meet us as a group. It's kind of overwhelming. Second, like a battery in a flashlight, we want to be used to shine The Light.