Exploring Housing Options

Our housing situation isstill evolving. Andy is extremely gracious in offering his house for the full extent of our stay. However, we don't want to impose on his family for that long, so we continue to look for a place of our own.

I spent part of Monday with Mike looking into our housing options. I had been dropped off at the Reidenbachs by one of Andy's drivers after we had brought Andy’s daughter to the UP. Mike and I first had a banking errand to run. (Mike drives.) There was an armed guard outside the bank. Mike told me that a while ago there was a violent bank robbery in a town about an hour south of Manila that had been pulled off by corrupt police, so now police officers are not allowed to enter banks. The armed guard outside the bank I think was a private guard.

We then drove back to UP—UP is in Quezon City, which is NW of Metro Manila—where we took a look at the international housing. We have a unit reserved but for just September so far. It is a two bedroom apartment. It’s very small; the bedrooms just fit a double bed, the kitchen is really just a counter and sink with a double hot plate for cooking, and the kitchen, dining and living room are really all one room. Here is a picture of the kitchen.

Here’s the living room. That's Mike sitting down for scale.

It would be a cozy stay, very doable.

Here's a shot of the courtyard:

The woman who does reservations there mentioned that a friend of hers is renting out rooms in a nearby village (remember that when I say “village” I am talking about the gated communities). It is more expensive but is in a house that has a swimming pool, wireless internet (which the international housing has but only in a lounge), and a club house with its own pool. Plus, it is near where Andy’s nephews live, who are around Jordie’s age and who like to place basketball like Jordie. So that would be a plus. She is going to get back to me on whether I can take a look at it.

We also went to the Institute of Biology to see if I could meet Dr. Perry Ong, who is associated with the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) and who is working on getting me an affiliation with UP. We were sad to be informed that he is suffering from both dengue and typhoid fever right now. Yikes! He may be back next week so I may be able to meet him on Monday.

Stay tuned for more on the housing front.