Home Sweet Home!

After almost 4 weeks of traveling and 6 flights, 4 ferry rides, a bus ride and a car ride, on August 16, 2009, the Team Swangelista Summer 2009 Odyssey came to an end. That morning we flew from Manila to Puerto Princesa and we're finally home.

For the first week in Palawan, we stayed with my mom and dad as we got some basic necessities set up in our new house. Marcus’ good friend from university and Taiwan days, Alan, arrived for a visit a few days after we arrived, and was a trooper with helping us get settled in our new home.

We finally moved into our place on August 25^th and it feels amazing. Our house was designed by my favorite architect – my brother, Alex. It is beautiful and airy and spacious and is the first house that Marcus and I have ever lived in together. In addition to the lovely design of the house, it also has a spectacular view of Puerto Princesa and of Honda Bay. Every morning when I wake up and gaze out the window I am amazed by the beauty of it all. Some days it still feels surreal to be here and I’m not sure it has really sunk in that this is where we live now… but we are here and happy and thankful for this new chapter in our lives!

We’ve begun the Roots of Health work, and I invite you to read all about it in my blog devoted to the organization - http://rootsofhealthphilippines.blogspot.com/

July 29th - August 16th

I just posted the blog entry I wrote in late July and am attempting to catch up on events in the last few weeks.

The rest of the Team Swangelista Summer 2009 Odyssey was amazing. We had an awesome time in Seattle, despite the record-breaking heat (104 degrees when we landed – hottest day in Seattle history!) We got to see New York friend Aminah who was in town visiting her family, as well as have a reunion with Brent friend Raquel and her husband Richmond. We had an awesome time catching up and also doing some sightseeing. Seattle is such a lovely city – it was so nice to spend a few days there.

From Seattle we moved on to Vancouver, Canada, where we spent a wonderful 6 days with my family. It’s always amazing to spend time with Ced, Lindsey, ate Sheila, Melo, Mark, Bella, tito Chong, tita Ogie, Malia, Breanne and Branden. We did lots of fun stuff, including a trip to Whistler and to Victoria where I got to catch up with old elementary school (UPIS) friends Joanna and Edurado, and meet their adorable babies, Raine and Bell. In Vancouver, we also got to meet up with my middle school in Japan friend, Brandi, and her boyfriend James. Brandi introduced me and Marcus and we hadn’t seen her since our wedding, so that was another fab reunion.

After we left Canada, we flew on to Hong Kong where we stayed with a university friend of Marcus’, Graeme. We had a really fun time hanging out with him as well as with Ed, Sage, Bethany and Damien. We took in the sights in the city, and also went on a day trip to Macau. We were a bit under whelmed by Macau but in the end, I think I am glad we went. We only had 3 days in Hong Kong so we had to pack everything in, but despite the exhaustion and jetlag, we had a really great time.

After Hong Kong, we finally flew to the Philippines!

As much as we’d had a blast traveling, it felt so good to finally arrive home and to be with my family. We stayed with my ate Sara, brother in law Mark and their kids, Matthew, Andy and Joshua. Our stay in Manila was also way too short but we did get some quality time in with my sis and her fam, my kuya Alex, my sister’s in laws, friends Karen and Len Trinidad, and my Brent guys Paulo, Frankie, Joel, Chino, DJ, and DJ’s girlfriend Abby. Fun times!

On August 16^th, Marcus and I got up early to catch our flight to Palawan. I checked my email on my phone as usual, and was crushed to find an email from my good friend Nick telling me that his aunt, my beloved Susan Smyly, had passed away after a 5 year battle with scleroderma and a nearly 4 month stay in a hospital in NYC. Marcus and I had visited her regularly at Mt. Sinai in the last couple months we had in NYC and we were just so sad to get this news. Smyly was my mom’s best friend from the third grade, and I knew that my mom would be devastated by this news. By the time we arrived in Palawan, she already knew. As much as I wish that we could have been in NYC to be some support for Smyly’s husband, Tom, I am glad we were here in Palawan so I could be with my mom. It’s still hard to believe that she is gone and I still think about her so often. I am glad that her suffering is over but I miss her.

Entry I wrote a million years ago (on July 29th while flying from Chicago to Seattle)

It’s been so long since I last wrote! So much has happened since the June 10th Board meeting of Roots of Health and my last entry. As I write this I am on a plane flying from Chicago to Seattle – Marcus and I left NYC on July 22nd and we’re currently heading to Seattle, the third leg of our seven-part journey west. Marcus was just working on his computer editing photos we’ve taken over the last few weeks. We were reminded again as we looked through everything how many fabulous friends and family members we have, and how many fun things we’ve gotten to do in the last few weeks. We feel truly blessed!

On June 16th I flew to Minnesota to celebrate the wedding of a dear grad school friend, Jess, and her now hubby Will. Marcus was on a trip to DC with his students so he didn’t get to come, but Sabrina was also flying solo so we went as dates and shared a hotel room along with Heather and Rachel. We had fun in the city and in our little hotel and had a blast at the wedding. The ceremony was lovely and Jess was a beautiful bride. Jess and Will picked an awesome bluegrass band to play the music in the church during the ceremony, and they also played during the cocktail hour and at the reception. They were great and a lot of fun to dance to. Jess and Will both have super great families and lots of fab friends and we really had a great time celebrating them.

A few days after getting back home from MN, I left again, this time for Houston, Texas where my dear friend Joyce Rafati lives with her husband Danny and son Adam. I hadn’t seen Joyce since 2007 when she was pregnant with Adam so it was a long-overdue visit – and so special, especially since I got to finally meet Adam and also see Joyce’s sister Teresa. I had a blast hanging out with the Rafatis, and the 3 days I got to spend with them went by way too fast. After I left Houston, I flew to Austin for a very brief but wonderful visit with close graduate school friend Michelle and her husband Thon. My time in Texas was way too short but I’m just glad I got to go!

Almost as soon as I got back from Texas, Marcus and I traveled to the Hamptons to spend a weekend with our friends Sage and Bethany. The four of us had talked for years about going on a trip somewhere together, and we were never able to swing anything big, but we had a blast together on our weekend beach getaway. Sage and Bethany are actually moving to Hong Kong. We are selfishly very happy about this – we get to see them when we are in Hong Kong in early August, plus we get to be neighbors in Asia with them. We’re all hoping we get to travel together again before too long.

Once we got back from the Hamptons it was all launch party all the time. In early June the Board of Roots of Health had decided that we could pull off a launch party by the end of the month, and though it took a lot of work and was pretty stressful during some points, we did indeed pull it off! We held the party on June 30th at a bar in the lower east side of Manhattan called Gallery Bar. The Board did a great job under Suneeta’s leadership and we had a great turnout (92 people!) and a really successful event. We even raised a little over $1,000 which was unexpected. (We had decided not to do a fundraiser at this time but simply throw an event to introduce the organization and the ticket prices covered the costs of the event. But because some people who bought tickets didn’t come, and a lot of people bought tickets at the door, we actually made a profit, which was definitely nice.) It felt amazing to talk to so many people about Roots of Health of the work we’re going to be doing and we all had a really great time. I was pretty nervous until after my speech was over (public speaking really scares me) but once I had that task out of the way, I got to party it up with everyone else. ☺ Keefe and Sabrina took some great photos from the event. Check them out!

Once the launch party was out of the way, it was all packing all the time. But we did have a very nice break after a few days of working – we headed to Vermont for the 4th of July weekend (and beyond). My aunt Marty and uncle Don, lola Alice and cousins Seth and Debbie all live there. To make the weekend more special, my aunt Juanita (who lives in Chicago) rented a house on Lake Champlain and her kids Miles and Whitney and their families, Judith, Kendall, Michelle, Sophie, Quinn and Lela, all flew in from Bellingham and Sebastapol. Don and Marty’s kids Rachel and Dan also came for the weekend from Ypsilanti and Boston, along with their families Jim, Celia, Eli, Lucy and Madison. We were quite the group! Sadly our cousins Mai and Simon and their kids Maya and Alice couldn’t make it, so all the US relatives weren’t complete, but it was fun to have such a large group together. July 4th had been my lolo Ray’s birthday, and if he were alive he would have turned 97 this year. It was really great to celebrate with the family, and see almost everyone before we left NYC and the US.

Highlights of the last 10 days we had in NYC after we got back from Vermont included multiple dinners and meet-ups with our fabulous NYC friends, plus some big events: Marcus’ 30th birthday party, the Philharmonic in the Park concert, and our farewell party on Keefe’s roofdeck the Saturday before we left the city. Between packing up our apartment and trying to see all our friends as often as possible, our last few days in New York were physically and emotionally draining, but we had a great time. It was really quite sad to leave NYC as our friends there have been our family, and we had a really amazing life there. But we are hoping and trusting that we will stay in touch with our friends and that they will all come and visit us in Palawan. ☺

When Marcus and I first started discussing the summer, we had really wanted to try to do a roadtrip through the US as we made our way west. However, some important factors, including the fact that we don’t own a car, killed that dream pretty quickly. But we decided to try to stop in a few key places to visit other friends and family. So the Summer 2009 Team Swangelista Odyssey includes stops in Madison, Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Manila before we finally fly to our new home, Puerto Princesa, on August 16th.

Our first stop upon leaving NYC was Madison, Wisconsin. My parents met in Madison when they were both there for graduate school, and our very dear family friends, the Doeppers, live there, so Madison has always been a very special place for the Evangelista family. I knew that Marcus would love the Doeppers and the city and I was right on both counts ☺ Dan and Carole took such good care of us while we were there, and we had a really wonderful time with them. Activities there included lots of great conversation, great food and drink, biking, canoeing, an outdoor classical music concert, an Indonesian music concert, and the Madison Opera in the Park event. We really had a super fun time in Madison and were so glad we went!

My aunt Juanita lives in Chicago and is also friends with the Doeppers, so she joined us for a couple days in Madison, and then drove all of us to Chicago. I’ve always loved Chicago and Marcus really enjoyed it when we were there 2 years ago, so we knew we would have a great time. Aunt J also took very good care of us, and again there was lots of great conversation, food and drink and many fun events. We had a lovely evening with aunt J, as well as with my good friend Megan and her parents Mickey and Phil. Megan and I were roommates when we both went to Australia for an International Baccalaureate conference in 1996 so we go way back. Megs used to live in NYC but recently moved back to Chicago so it was a special treat to see her and her fabulous parents. During the visit we also got to see my old friend Mike and our friend Rishabh. Another big reunion was with my Brent senior year roommate, Ginger. Gin and I hadn’t seen each other since 1998 so it was really amazing to reconnect. Marcus and I also got to meet her husband, Chris. We also got to see our friends Annette, Beth and James. And we got to watch a Cubs game, which was super fun.