What do you do to get rid of stress? In my case, I read some books if I can get my hands on some, or I play some games if I feel like it, or in some rare instances, I just simply sleep it off.

I don’t drink (usually) because I’m not so fond of going to the toilet or the feeling of wanting to go frequently. I don’t smoke as well because I never liked the taste nor did I ever see the point. Heck, I didn’t even try any e cigarette.

Lately however, the thought of drinking has been popping in and out of my head. Perhaps it’s because reading or sleeping are not as effective as they once used to be; or maybe it’s because I’m just missing the company of drinking buddies. I’m not sure. In any case, I’m not in a place where drinking is such a welcome activity so maybe I’ll wait and see when we get back to the Philippines.

There’s always a point in time when things get so rough that it makes you wonder how much crap you can take… or perhaps make you look back at the reasons why you promised yourself to stand all the crap that life throws at you.

In my case, that point is now (once again). Apparently, work and and life in another country is not that easy to adjust to.  The people, the site, the system, you all have to re-learn from scratch. And the fact that I’ve spent the last two years in the Philippines training other teachers to adjust to a system I’ve grown quite accustomed to is not helping at all.

Now, during this break, I’m harnessing all the positive energy I can to improve and make the adjustments a little easier and faster. Tomorrow, my family and I will be going off to KK for some visa requirements and hopefully for some shopping experience as well. We’ll be confining the budget to some small items of course because I have yet to save enough money for some big ticket items like electronic gadgets. The closest I can probably get to an electronic buy at the moment would be an ipod charger. hehehe!

Still, we’re hoping to have a great time there.

The dependent visas of Andrea, Mateo, and Anika are finally approved! It was a huge relief when we got the approval even though it means shelling out a huge amount too as security deposit. However, aside from the required security deposit, the three of them were initially told to go back to the Philippines to get the visas stamped on their passports in the Brunei Embassy there. Since it would be such a hassle (and more expensive!) to go home to the Philippines in the next few weeks, we requested if we could get their passports stamped in the Brunei Consulate in Kota Kinabalu instead.

The request was granted and we’ll be going to Kota Kinabalu some time next week. There is a quick 50-minute flight through Royal Brunei Airlines but ticket costs almost 200BND each so we have decided to just take the ferry to Labuan then another ferry to KK. Simply put, it will be an adventurous trip for us since it will be the first ferry trip for both Mateo and Anika.

It doesn’t help that the ferry schedules will force us to go around Labuan for around 3-4 hours. With the intense tropical heat, we will have to find ways to cool down the kids. Anika is ready with her hat and Kuya even has his sunglasses. Andrea jokingly said that it would be great if she also has a pair of Carrera Sunglasses to help her eyes with the bright sunlight we’re sure to encounter. So despite the very tight budget that we have for the short 3-day trip, we hope to enjoy it as much as we can. It is another country to visit and we are eager to experience Malaysia!

Andrea’s sister has finally arrived two weeks ago. She is one of the reasons why I initially preferred a two-bedroom house when I was searching for a place for us to rent. However, during the months that she was  not yet here, Mateo took over the second bedroom, along with his toys and stuff.

So now they share a bedroom and we realize that we might need to start looking for a three-bedroom house soon. It is a good thing that with the large number of expats here, there is no shortage of houses for rent. Some of the locals even buy manufactured homes for sale specifically for renting out to expat families like ours.

For the mean time, this house is enough for us. Maybe in a year or two, when Mateo is bigger already we can start our house search once again.