56. Object permanence

guest post by Anna

Anna (age 13) is guest posting this week. - Kate

What I’m up to

Still in the Philippines! We’re heading back to Taiwan on the 16th, but in the meantime we’re enjoying spending time with the family. Thanks to our cousins H and R, I’ve been rewatching the Pixie Hollow movies, which brings back lots of memories. Mom and I have been watching Stranger Things every night, and we just finished season three. I really like it, but it’s a struggle to avoid spoilers while we try to catch up.

What I’m reading

I have been rereading the Aristotle and Dante books by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. I had forgotten how heartfelt and bittersweet they are, but I think I like them even more the second time around.

I’ve also been reading lots of YA romance novels, which aren’t exactly incredible literature, but they’re certainly entertaining and cute. The most recent is one I bought yesterday: Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins. It’s the second chronologically in the Royals series, but although I haven’t read the first one, it worked really well as a standalone and it was super fun.

I’m currently reading The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee which is also the second in a series (I should really look these books up before buying them), but it’s also making sense so far and I’m planning on checking out the first (The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue) from our online library.

What I’m thinking about

How good Filipino food is. We had adobo for lunch about an hour ago and it was amazing. I feel so spoiled; I’m pretty much eating from when I wake up to when I go to sleep.

What I’m learning

How used to Taiwanese currency I am.

When we moved to Taiwan, it took me a long time to get used to NTD. Now it’s the currency that makes most sense to me. However, even now, when talking about large amounts of money, I think in USD. Now that we’ve been here in the Philippines for a while, I know how much a book should cost in Philippine pesos, and I know how much a meal should cost, but I’m still having to make calculations in my head.

This split way of thinking about money is part of my identity as a third culture kid, and although it’s annoying to have to convert different numbers in order to get an idea of how expensive something is, I think it’s really cool that I’m influenced by all these different cultures.

What I’m doing

Eating. Reading. Eating some more. Shopping. Even more eating.

Yesterday we went shopping and I pretty much spent all the money in my wallet. I came home with: two new books, an Old Navy t-shirt, a new water bottle, and a swimsuit. One thing that has been incredible (and slightly overwhelming) about the Philippines is the selection of English books in all the bookstores. Living in Taiwan, I’m used to one, maybe two shelves of English books. Here, almost all of the bookstores are filled with books in English. It’s awesome.

What I’ve saved

Nothing. I have no sense of object permanence.

Mom will be back to write next week’s newsletter.

Anna