Warm Welcome

We have been so amazed by how friendly and warm people are here.  Sometimes when you know people are only in the area for a short time it's easy to think that it doesn't really matter if you reach out or not, but that is definitely not the attitude here.  I had made a friend, Jen, before I even arrived, and she has happily introduced me around and helped me get to know some people.  It has been fun! 

I ran outside for the first time today.  I had been a little nervous because I wasn't very familiar with the area, but now that it has been a couple of weeks I was ready to get off of the d*** treadmill.  (Especially since sometimes they forget to turn on the AC in the gym.)  There is a loop close to our apartment that is popular with runners and busy enough that it feels safe to get outside in the mornings.  I ran the loop a few times and it felt really great.  On a related note, the Filipino people are more modest than the Mormons.  Even though it is hot here, most people wear pants and t-shirts- I rarely see shorts, and when I ran this morning I was the only person I saw that was in a tank top.  Probably people are going to pass out when I get out my lucky running shorts.

This stands for "Bonifacio Global City."  It's the technical name of the town where we live.  This is about a block from our place. 

At Bonifacio High Street- yet another mall within close distance to us.  (The Asians love their malls!)  We  walked up here today and did a little shopping.  High Street has a lot of American places: 9 West, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Speedo, Gap, Starbuck's, and Krispy Kreme, as well as some great local shops.  There are some amazing sculptures in the mall also, but I'm planning a later post on the art of Fort Bo, so you will have to wait on those pictures.

We went to our first week at church.  We are in the Makati 4th Branch.  There are about 150 people in the branch: 20 or so kids in Primary, 4 in nursery, maybe 30 in Relief Society, and less than 10 Young Women.  The warm welcome continued here with an invitation to speak in sacrament meeting in a couple of weeks.  We were invited to dinner with 3 families in the ward.  The world is definitely small...I met a lady who attended USU at the exact time I did and I'm sure we had classes together because we both were in HASS.  She's also extremely good friends with several people I went to high school with.  It was good to see my kids start to meet kids and play with some new friends. 

Me, Jill, Jen, Kim: My new, nice friends.

Both Bruce and I have remarked that many of our friends at home seem to have twins on the other side of the world!  We have met quite a few people that remind us of dear ones at home (in only the best ways, so neither new friends nor old need to worry about unfavorable comparisons), so it seems cozy and familiar here already.  Today Kate said, "Today this place is starting to feel like home."