I haven’t done a day in the life post in over 2 years, and our lives have certainly changed since then! I planned to do just Friday-Sunday, but didn’t finish this post by Monday so included Monday as well. This is a good glimpse into half a week in our lives!
F R I D A Y
8:10 am – I wake up and hop on my phone. We’re 13 hours ahead of New York, so it’s 9:10pm there. I check the comments on Mr. Bee’s Hellobee post, then surf Facebook and save articles for the Hellobee weekly Link Roundup. Mr. Bee and I also run two local Facebook groups here focused on news, events, community, etc. so I’m always looking for interesting and informative things to post. It’s been an awesome way to meet tons of people, including the mayor who is a member!
9:10 am – 9:45 am – Charlie wakes up when he hears me get out of bed and starts reading. Even though we live in a 2 story, 3 bedroom house, both kids and two dogs sleep in my first floor bedroom, which is the smallest one in the house. I guess they’re just used to being together 24/7. Charlie sleeps on a mattress on the floor, our small dog sleeps under the bed, and Olive, me, and our big dog sleep on the bed.
I let the dogs out to pee and then feed them. I cook a big batch of their food once a week, boiling a whole chicken for a long time to get that good bone broth. In a separate pot I cook a whole squash, dried seaweed, broccoli stalks, moringa that grows in our yard, and a little oatmeal. My dogs devour every last morsel! Dog food is very expensive here since it’s all imported and it’s not even the good brands, so it’s more nutritious and cost effective to make your own. Then again it does take a lot of time!
There are always a ton of dishes every morning because I’m too lazy to do them after dinner. I clean the kitchen and wash dishes.
9:45 am – Now both kids are awake. They stay in bed reading for a while.
Charlie was rereading this book. He has learned so much from the Horrible Histories/Science/Math series.
10:10 am – Cook breakfast for the kids. They eat at the kitchen island while I make my breakfast – avocado toast. I usually skip breakfast, but I had some wine last night which makes me hungry.
banana smoothie, breakfast sausage, shredded cheddar cheese, cucumbers, and pear
10:45 am – Today is payday for the resort, which happens twice a month and is one of my least favorite days. Payroll is complicated because most of the staff have an outstanding loan to us, and half the staff have cash advances. It takes a lot of focus for me to finish, so I need to start my work day early (for me). In addition to payroll, I also maintain the resort website/social media, purchasing, renewing licenses (there are a lot!) since all the government offices are located here, as well as a ton of other random things.
12:10 pm – Usually the kids do their chores on their own, but they bought (knockoff) Minecraft Legos the day before with their allowance and didn’t get to play with them, so they need a reminder to do them today. They get 200 pesos/week (~$4) allowance and usually spend it on a small Minecraft Lego set, which costs 175 pesos.
I take a break to feed 5 dogs that live next door. They have owners but aren’t fed enough — you could see the ribs on all of them, particularly Raspberry who recently weaned 3 puppies. I boil beef bones which are sold very affordably, then add rice and some dry dog food to stretch my dog food budget. I’m also treating two of them for mange and 5, month-old puppies for fleas. None of them are skinny any longer and the black puppy (Mulberry) is quite fat, but now that we’re good friends I can’t seem to stop feeding them daily.
Mulberry (getting over his mange) and his mama Raspberry. Their owners tied the ice cream containers I had been using as dog bowls to their gate.
I make lunch for Olive. Our driver arrives around 12:30pm, and I usually have a list of errands for him to run (drop off laundry, refill water cooler bottles, etc.).
cheese quesadilla and she requested more breakfast sausage
12:55 pm – Olive leaves for school. It’s 3 minutes away and starts at 1 pm. This is when the house gets quiet and I typically start work. For his homeschooling, Charlie is required to read a new book every day. I don’t assign specific books, but he must choose a new book he hasn’t yet read. I’ve filled his bookshelves with so many good books that I don’t care what he chooses. Then he must work on his math and English workbooks which he hates. I don’t worry about science and history because he devours science and history books on his own, listens to podcasts, and we experience it in our unschooling adventures. But we have a teacher moving from the US next month to teach Charlie since I can’t devote enough time to it. The rigid structure of the religious schools here just aren’t a good fit for Charlie. Olive on the other hand thrives in a school structure, but she attends the only progressive school on the island (it only goes up to second grade). Studies show that siblings are no similar than complete strangers; my kids are complete opposites so I treat their individual needs differently.
Charlie read The Tale of Despereaux and the day before he read Flora and Ulysses, both by the same author Kate Dicamillo
2:20 pm – Charlie eats his lunch later since he usually eats a bigger breakfast than Olive. I quickly eat broccoli stir fry leftovers and go back to payroll.
4:15 pm – Olive gets home from school and I finish payroll! I pack some crackers as a snack for the kids to take to taekwondo. I need to run some errands so decide to drive the kids to taekwondo, but our driver usually does it since that’s pretty much the only kid-free time I have all week. I pay my driver his weekly salary of 1500 pesos (~$29). He works about 30 hours a week but I pay him an almost full-time (which is 48 hours here) salary, and regular overtime. I don’t really need him full-time, and finding a driver you can trust, especially when I live alone with two kids, is not easy. His parents have worked for my friend’s family for over 20 years, so I can really trust him. Having help is how I’m able to solo parent. I have someone who comes and cleans for a couple hours 3 times a week, a driver Monday-Friday to drive my kids to school and their activities, and 2 amazing college student babysitters who are sisters that live close by. I really, really lucked out with the great help I have. I have had not so great staff who stole from us before, which is why we didn’t have any help for a long time in El Nido. Having domestic help is the norm in the Philippines — on our island nannies, cooks, drivers, etc. who work 6 days a week make about $150/month.
4:30 pm – Taekwondo starts at 5 pm but all the kids from Olive’s school get there early since school ends at 4, and they have a grand time running around together. I drop off Olive, her classmate and Charlie and head to Booksale, a used bookstore we frequent 4 times a week. It’s kind of an addiction for me. They get new books every week, and I’ve been through every single children’s book the two locations carry, but we are constantly discovering new authors so I go through their inventory regularly. These days I find books that look interesting then look them up on Amazon for reviews. The books are so affordable that I buy any that have good reviews.
5:50 pm – Return to taekwondo and watch the end of class. I’m friends with the master since he can’t speak English and I’m the only Korean mom in the younger kids’ class. Charlie and Olive love taekwondo because most of Olive’s class attends so it’s one big party, but they also just love taekwondo. Today all the kids had to fight the master.
Afterwards we head to the market because a friend is arriving from El Nido later tonight and we’re going glamping tomorrow. Most people who live in El Nido have to come to the island capital at least once every two months, so we’re constantly hosting guests. We hosted guests for 3.5 months straight from November – February!
one of the things I missed most living in El Nido was having a real indoor supermarket! This is one of the two malls in our city.
Junk in my cart for our glamping trip
7:20 pm – Long lines at market since it’s Friday night. We get home and the kids immediately jump in the shower while I feed the dogs. I have to do some Hellobee work and get on the computer.
8:10 pm – Cook dinner for kids, go back to work.
miso soup, salmon, buttered peas, and bread
8:45 pm – My friend was supposed to come by 10 pm but arrives early. I’m still not done with work but she is very close to my kids, so she hangs out with them.
9:15 pm – Finish work, prepare snacks and drink beer with friend!
1:30 am – We all go to sleep. I let the kids stay up late when friends are visiting.
S A T U R D A Y
11:10 am – Wake up. We all slept almost 10 hours! It’s been a busy week. Lay in bed and surf on phone.
11:30 am – Lots of things to do before we leave for glamping! I feed my dogs and the dogs next door. Then I boil bones and soak brown rice to make more dog food for the next door dogs. I do the dishes and cook breakfast while the kids pack.
12:15 pm – Kids eat breakfast while I read them books, something I haven’t done in a while. I stopped reading to them at mealtimes, which we’d done since Olive was 2, when both kids completely transitioned to chapter books. But when Olive saw the picture books I bought as gifts for friends, she asked me to read them. Then I do the dishes, take a shower, and pack.
cream cheese on wheat bread, salami, orange slices
2:00 pm – Leave for glamping! We’ve stayed at this organic farm before but they recently added a glamping hut so I wanted to check it out because my kids adore camping.
organic calamansi (similar to lime) juice and wet towels to clean our hands.
fresh flowers from the farm
no technology needed – the kids read, drew, made up games, explored, roasted marshmallows, played with fire, and swung on the two homemade tire swings
the kids picked arugula for our dinner salads
the most glorious scent of the ylang ylang flower
the farm has so many crops, but here are two Filipino ones — star apple, which isn’t very apple like but is very sweet with soft flesh, and alugbati, which is similar to spinach and grows wild everywhere
spaghetti with meat sauce for the kids
smores time!
I like to let my kids take risks because I was able to when I was their age. They lit sticks on fire and ran around with them for hours.
S U N D A Y
8:00 am – I can never sleep well the first night I’m some place new. I stay up researching ideas for the children’s playspace we’re building in El Nido and fall asleep around 4am. The kids are already up and running around by the time I wake up.
9:00 am – Breakfast at the farm.
breaskfast for adults: farm fresh egg omelette, organic veggies and salad dressing from the farm, locally sourced coffee, yogurt, honey and milk. for kids: scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, pineapple smoothie, hot chocolate with marshmallows
These tire swings were so awesome. My arms were sore from pushing all the kids!
my friend brought vegan ice cream!
11:50 am – Return home from glamping — it’s just 15 minutes from our house.
had to stop the car for a family of ducks crossing the road
We’re supposed to drop off our things, take a shower, and go a monthly market we usually go to for their burger buffet and locally made goodies. But Olive is super constipated and crying – it happens to her a couple times a year. I leave the kids home alone to go buy prune juice. I play Captain Underpants on Netflix to keep her mind off it. I’m gone 15 minutes total — something I could never do in the US. But the kids are used to me leaving them home alone for short runs to the market. When we used to stay in hotels, I would leave them for over an hour at a time to run errands since they could go to the front desk in case of an emergency. I give Olive a glass of prune juice as she continues to watch Captain Underpants. The prune juice works in 10 minutes! The kids take a shower.
1:50 pm – We arrive at the Sunday market to buy 3 dozen farm fresh eggs ($8) and a handwoven mat called a banig ($25). Once I get the banig home later, I realize I’m going to frame them as wall art for the rooms in the resort and need a bunch more!
Afterwards we stop by Booksale as is our usual Sunday ritual. I spend ~$10 on used books and we grab pizza to go before going home because I cook every meal during the week, but eat out on the weekends.
They always carry a book with them. Reading while waiting for the pizza.
3:25 pm – Olive is exhausted from all the running around on the farm and waking up early. She eats some pizza and promptly passes out. Our resort front desk manager Eva is staying with us to buy building materials for her house, and she reminds me that we need water coolers for our island hopping tour boats. I head back to the mall to buy them since she is leaving back to El Nido tonight.
4:30 pm – Olive is sleeping, Eva is taking cuttings from the many plants and fruit trees in our yard to plant at the resort, and Charlie and I play Scrabble.
while I snack on farm fresh organic arugula
5:00 pm – Feed Raspberry and Mulberry. Am overcome by exhaustion because I only slept a couple of hours. Alas naps are usually elusive so I end up surfing playspace ideas on my phone instead.
6:30 pm – Olive wakes up.
6:55 pm – I drop Eva off at the bus terminal. I leave the kids home alone for 10 minutes to do so. I feed Blackberry (Mulberry’s dad) since he didn’t get to eat earlier. I’m treating him for mange with an oral flea and tick preventative and it’s still looking bad, so I apply Frontline and Advocate to his neck, which treat fleas, ticks, worms and more. I’m really attached to these next door dogs because they love me so much. I forgot to go feed the 7 cats at our old apartment — they have dry food that I leave there and the residents feed them, but I go once or twice a week to visit them and give them wet food.
7:30 pm – It’s wine o clock! I edit pictures for posts for my Facebook group.
8:40 pm – Too lazy to cook, and the wine has been opened, so cereal for dinner it is!
11:00 pm – Olive wasn’t tired since she took a nap so we stay up late, but by 11pm we all pass out.
M O N D A Y
2:00 am – 4:00 am – I frequently wake up in the middle of the night, stay awake for a couple hours and then go back to sleep. I have a lingering cough that won’t go away so I get up and drink two cups of decaffeinated tea. I watch some Netflix until I fall back asleep.
7:10 am – Wake up. Driver arrives at 7:50am to run an errand for me. Feed dogs, give Challenger his meds, make rice for next door dogs. Make myself a turmeric tea and sit outside while dogs run around yard.
Challenger is my favorite rescue dog with severe lung damage from heartworm. He had been wheezing lately so he’s now on antibiotics, steroids, and a respiratory supplement.
9:00 am – Driver is back from errands.
9:20 am – Charlie wakes up and starts reading.
10:00 am – Cook breakfast. Do the dishes.
10:30 am – It’s a holiday here today – the anniversary of the city’s founding, so there is no school. Lots of little work projects to work on today. Eat the kids’ leftover pancake and sausage for breakfast while they do their chores. I’ve arranged separate playdates for the kids today.
11:30 am – Driver arrives to drop Olive off at her playdate. Then he comes back to pick up Charlie, his friend, and our babysitter. They’re going to a new bungee swing, followed by lunch and swim lessons.
1:15 – 2:15 pm – Talk to Mr. Bee on the phone about all the playspace ideas. Getting very excited for this project. Continue to work.
3:15 pm – House cleaner arrives. She comes 3 times a week for 2-3 hours each time. I pay her 250 pesos/day ($4.79). A regular 8 hour salary is 320 pesos/day ($6.13), but I only want part-time help which is hard to find because everyone wants to work full-time. I pay a close to full-time salary but I can trust her as she was already the cleaner for the owner of this house (our houses are attached). I just don’t want someone in my house full-time after having lived in the middle of a resort with no privacy.
5:00 pm – I have a meeting with an architect for the playspace so I take a shower and get dressed.
6:00 – 7:00 pm – I have a great meeting with the architect who really seems to understand my vision for the playspace as he was a Waldorf trained teacher in a former life! He’s coming to the resort in a couple days to look at the lot where we plan to build.
7:00 pm – 7:45 pm – Stop by Booksale and pick up 6 books for the kids. Buy origami paper at Daiso. Market lines are too long so just go home instead.
8:00 pm – Pay babysitter 1700 pesos ($32.55) for dog sitting overnight, babysitting all day, and swim lessons for Charlie and Olive. My driver takes her home (luckily we all live close to each other). I cook dinner, feed all the dogs, and boil bones for dog food — since there are 5 dogs next door they eat a lot more than my dogs that are on a strict diet.
8:45 pm – Work on Hellobee.
10:30 pm – Lights out!
. . . . .
Our lives are much busier living in the island capital than in El Nido, but the pace of life is still much much slower than when we were living in the US. We go to bed late, we wake up late, and we have a lot of flexibility in our schedule due to Olive’s short school schedule and Charlie’s homeschooling. Before moving to the island capital, I didn’t think it had much to offer other than better schools and more civilization than El Nido. But my friends here are completely different from my friends in El Nido, which is a tourist destination that most do not plan on staying forever. Here though, families have set down roots and there is a much stronger sense of community. That was one of the biggest pieces missing from our El Nido life – our tribe.
Once we start summer vacation in April, we’ll be in El Nido for two months, back to beach life!
guest
This is so interesting! I love getting glimpses into different lifestyles and this hit the spot
I love the rhythm of life there and it seems to have truly done wonders for the kids without all the pressure!
pomelo / 5621 posts
As busy as you are it seams much more relaxed. I love seeing a glimpse into your days.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
@snowjewelz – the pace of life here has been soooo good for charlie. it’s hard when you first move here from america, but then you get used to living with less and prefer it.
blogger / persimmon / 1225 posts
I love your DITL posts! So different and yet so appealing. I hope my boys end up loving reading as much as your kiddos!
clementine / 948 posts
Thanks for sharing. So interesting!!
blogger / cherry / 138 posts
This is so interesting! It is so fascinating seeing a glimpse into the culture of the island and how you live. Thank you for sharing.
pear / 1521 posts
Really enjoyed this glimpse into your life and awesome job giving your kids the love of reading, it’s quite incredible!