Two weeks of catch up

Sorry dedicated fans! It has been more than two weeks since I wrote, but what can I say! It has been very busy and have really settled down to work and thankfully Clariza has arrived and life is that much better now.

So where to start? The hotel is in the midst of a wonderful room refurbishment at the moment so occupancy has been relatively low. This has of course been advantageous for me as I am able to spend more time with the teams, and really sinking my teeth into the job. We had a lot of fears of noise in the hotel but overall there have been few complaints and the work is progressing well.

With Clariza's arrival I have been able to enjoy the restaurants in the hotel more, and actually not feel like that "nigel no friends" in the restaurant all the time. We have had some great meals and now we will try to conquer several of the dishes on the menus in time! Clariza has got herself on a fitness program in the gym and it seems the instructors are taking great pleasure in inflicting great pain on her in her work out sessions. This past week has kept me quiet amused watching Clariza adjust to the stiff muscles and aches in the body she has never felt before!
(Sorry Clariza!)

I think I forget to mention that I also choose our new apartment we will be living in. Several weeks ago I had narrowed down to two apartments I thought Clariza would like, and we were going to look at them when Clariza arrived. But unfortunately thanks to the pathetic bureaucracy of the Philippines government, Clariza arrived 5 days later than planned, and I had to make the final decision on the apartment before it was rented. So I choose a nice three bedroom apartment in a 4 storey building on the top floor. It is an old building, but I feel once it is done up, it will have great character. What I am most pleased about is that we have the private access to the roof top which is a great area to put a BBQ and a few chairs to relax! We will move in at the end of July.

Besides this, last Saturday we went to the Namdaemun Markets. We took the subway there and entered streets and streets of endless small shops that sold everything from leather boots, shampoos, to DVD players. After a while it all became a blur, but we enjoyed walking around and looking at all the stalls. I am sure we missed a few streets, but overall worth the walk around, but don't expect anything flash! We had a late lunch there in a chicken and fries restaurant, then spent the evening watching a movie.

Sunday we went with one of the band members in the hotels Hunters Tavern to an area called Hyehwa. Here we stepped into Filipino heaven! Located in Hyehwa is the main Roman Catholic Church of Seoul, and it also home to the main Filipino Catholic Community, with every Sunday afternoon having a Tagalog service. As we stepped out of the subway, we were met with a street lined with hundreds of filipino's hanging out around dozens of stalls selling everything you could buy in downtown Manila! It was very interesting and I could see the excitement in Clariza's eyes. I was very happy for this as I knew now at least once a week Clariza could get that Filipino fill in her which she really likes and wants. So we walked around, then attended the filipino mass. Of course I did not understand much at all, but I knew Clariza enjoyed it. Towards the end of the service Clariza spotted her causing whom she has not seen in over 10 years, and also a high school class mate, so after the service we grabbed then and all hung out for the afternoon. After a long lunch of catching up, as well as watching a filipino basketball tournament, we went home by taxi to the hotel at around 730pm in the evening exhausted.

That's all for now. Will try to write one more blog today so I am caught up. I will also attacha photo of clariza and I if I can find one!