We had our first two apartment inspections today; Elder Northrup drove, with the Hiatts in the back seat. We went to the Santa Mesa area of Manila. These were two particularly nice apartments in nice areas. Those sisters were lucky. They were also both spotless, which was impressive. They are checked on general cleanliness, bed made, kitchen clean, dishes put away, no food left out, emergency kit in order, water filter changes up to date, etc., and they get extra points for having their emergency money. They are asked to have P3000 set aside, which is about $75. Both of these apartments were wonderful, and they were all at their desks, studying, as they were supposed to be. This is in contrast to one of the first apartments we visited, with six elders. A Monopoly game was set up on their kitchen table, one elder was still in bed (this was after 1:00), there were pans on the counter with food still in them, and dirty dishes in the sink. Not impressive. They lucked out because we visited them because Hiatts had some business with them, and we didn't have time to do an official inspection. If they make less than 800 points, they lose some of their support money for the month.
After pizza for lunch, leftover from training meetings the missionaries were having, Hiatts drove us out to a big mall we wanted to visit so we could train our GPS and ourselves, then we drove them back and had the car on our own for the first time. We were much to tired, and I was still too sick, to go back to that mall, so we stopped at a littler one on the way home. Ended up being there an hour, then when we finally got home, drove around for half an hour trying to find our parking place. Finally called Pres. Hiatt, who tried to guess at the number, then finally called us back with the correct one, or so he thought. In any case, someone was parked in it. We just parked, went upstairs, grabbed the minimum for dinner, and collapsed into bed.
This morning (Thursday) when we got into the car to leave, we found a note on the windshield saying we were in the wrong spot. We had planned to go shopping before going in to the office, and were able to get a lot done at a place called Cash and Carry Mall. Got a camera, a phone, a toaster, and other apartment supplies, then drove over to the office. A large group of youth from several stakes was practicing at the stake center for a performance tonight for a big US Chamber of Commerce meeting. We got to watch them rehearse. They were dancing traditional Philippine dances, but had a professional dancer as their coach, to make them more beautiful. They really were lovely, and lots of fun to watch. Again, I'll post pix as soon as I can.
The Hiatts had been up at missionary meetings most of the day, and didn't get to the office until 4:30. We trained with them on writing apartment contracts, then came home.
The other car was still parked in our spot, so we went to the desk and asked. Of all the Philippinos to not speak English, it would have to be these. We finally made ourselves understood, and they said they would give us a place to park tonight. I brought all our stuff up and David waited for thirty minutes for the guy to show up. Just as David was leaving, he came. We have to go to the management office tomorrow and see if we can make ourselves understood there.
Just a little explanation: Our church building is the first in the Philippines, built about 50 years ago. In the meantime, Manila has greatly expanded, and the building is now in prime downtown real estate. The mission office is on the same lot. So, it's very easy to walk over to the bank to cash checks or visit the ATM, because it's all right there together.
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