My Eight Legged Friend

I must admit that since we moved here almost four years ago, I have become more accustomed to bugs and insects than I ever thought I would. Now when I see ants, I usually get frustrated, but not grossed out. When I see a cockroach, I usually jump, but more because it startles me than because I am afraid of them. I actually enjoy watching the occasional gecko running on our walls and I barely notice the flies or moths or other flying insects that I don't really know what they are. However, I in all seriousness consider myself blessed by God since we haven't had rodents, snakes and until yesterday spiders. I have heard many stories of all of those things invading many people's houses here, but I had never found any in our places. I hesitate to say they haven't been in our places, just that we haven't seen any. Well, I take that back I have seen many daddy long legs in our apartments. Anyway, I guess God has figured that I am slowly being able to handle more of the vile creatures because yesterday I went to take a shower and looked at the curtain about 6 inches from me and saw this thing staring back at me...

I freaked out. Daniel was not home and JoAnn was asleep, so it was a little more subdued of a reaction, but nevertheless I FLIPPED OUT. You can't really tell much by the picture but this thing was HUGE and scary. It was large enough that I could actually see the fangs. I have seen these spiders outside and in the hallways, but have never looked closely nor taken time to study them. I of course was not going to try anything to get rid of it (that is part of the man's role in the home, as far as I am concerned), so I patiently waited for Daniel to get home and had him get rid of it. We soon found out that they are very fast spiders and it seems as if they can jump as well. It took Daniel a while and a lot of screaming from both of us, but he finally killed it (and we managed to wake up JoAnn during the whole commotion). I am now afraid to take a shower without inspecting every inch of it for bugs. I would look up what kind of a spider it is, but to tell you the truth I am afraid to find out what kind it is and if it is poisionous. I am choosing ignorance in this case.

Later in the day we took JoAnn out to a local mall (there are malls on just about every street corner here). It is a mall that has been here since before we moved to Manila, but is fairly new and has opened an even newer section in the last couple months. It was fun to walk around and check out the new stores and restaurants and JoAnn loved getting out and about. We found a really good Greek restaurant that had very good pita bread and hummus, which I was really excited about since I have never found hummus here before and it is something that all three of us love. Daniel had a gyro and I had the kabobs and both of us liked them very much. It isn't often that I find a restaurant I will crave, but I think I found one last night. Here is a picture of Daniel and JoAnn outside by the fountain between some of the buildings. JoAnn was so impressed by the "jumping" water that goes over your head on the bridge that I could not get her to look at the camera.