Alabang Ladies International Group

First and foremost Celia is a mother of four young kids and a wife. In addition, a SLEX dancer, rugby player and Philippines rugby official, cat welfare advocate, avid reader, party girl/animal etc. In a previous life she was a policewoman in London for ten years.
 
Celia has served on numerous committees, in both a professional and personal capacity, but this is her first time as a president. Her life's motto is 'gotta try everything once'. Being a distant cousin of an ex white house first lady, I'm hoping some diplomatic leadership qualities run in the blood! Slightly disconcerted re the diplomacy bit!She will try to do the best for ALIG, most of the time, but will not be on permanent standby. As you can imagine she has a very busy life. Bearing this in mind she's often very direct bordering on blunt. Please bear with her and do not mistake this for rudeness or disinterest.

Celia is a team player and believes everyone, including herself, has their own strengths and weaknesses, but pulling together as a team, your 2010 committee will do a great job on your behalf and with a smile. Hearing that big cheer when the announcement of her appointment was made was very heartening and extremely flattering. Any doubts she had on undertaking this role were definitely diminished. Bearing that in mind, she’s sure she can rely on you for encouragement and support in all that ALIG does.

After years spent dreaming of living abroad in a warmer climate, Hilde and her family moved to Manila in August 2008 and she just loves it here! There is nothing in her that wants to move back to freezing Norway where it is snow half the year, down to – 30 degrees C, where she has to do all the housework herself and where everybody is too busy to meet their friends. Life in Alabang is (almost) perfect she thinks, as she loves to meet new people from all over the world, shopping for the best bargains of native interior items, furniture and jewellery as well as enjoying the sun and having lunch with her friends. Hilde also loves to travel and grabs every opportunity to go places. 

In her previous life she worked in tourism and humanitarian aid projects before she (a mother of 3 kids) went back to school to take her Masters Degree in Finance and International Management.  She now runs an investment company (from her home office) and follows the Norwegian stock market, which means lengthy afternoons/evenings. She joined ALIG in August 2008 and entered the board as Vice President in 2010.

This is Jessica's second year acting as secretary for ALIG and is happy to serve on the board again. Although this is her first overseas posting, this Texan has proven herself up to the challenge and is ready for more.  A high school English teacher in the U.S., she now devotes her time to improving her golf game, giving string instrument lessons, and occasional English tutorials.  

For almost three years, Claudia has been enjoying her first overseas posting together with her husband and two teenaged Kids here in the Philippines. She grew up living in Germany and France and enjoys the challenge of raising her two kids abroad.

As a software engineer, she likes to work with numbers and hopes to keep ALIG's finances straight together with Leigh Halliwell.

While living here, she enjoys diving and traveling, dancing with SLEX and having plenty of time to read, quilt and learning to play the guitar. 

This is Leigh Halliwell’s second international posting, living with her family in Alabang for the past three years.  During Leigh’s first international posting in Thessaloniki, Greece with her husband Steven, Leigh gave birth to their two sons Simon, age 9 and Andrew, age 6. Leigh and Steven repatriated to Toronto, Canada for three years, long enough to reconnect with family and friends as well as rekindle their desire to live abroad.

Leigh was the secretary on the ALIG Board of Directors in 2008 but stepped down to pursue a consulting opportunity.  Taking a break from work, Leigh gave birth to a little girl in September 2009, to the delight of Leigh’s sons and husband.  After working in Canada and in the Philippines, Leigh is enjoying spending time with her kids at home this year.

Leigh is rejoining the ALIG Board as treasury assistant, working with Claudia Krueger-Sprengel.  Leigh’s experience as Chartered Accountant and auditor with KPMG will help ensure the ALIG books will be well managed.  Leigh is grateful to Leigh Anne Reichow, the former ALIG treasurer, for handing down such an orderly set of accounts and procedures.

Eli is a Norwegian and came from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia last January. After one year transition time she finally felt ready for a job with ALIG, on one condition- she would be VERY HAPPY to share this position with the three other ladies, as she knows Ronda (Trower) had her hands more then full last year. Eli is an oncology nurse by profession, but has not been in active employment for some years due to her role as a mom and an expat-wife. She worked as a volunteer nurse at Hospis Malaysia for almost 6 years. There she made a very special friendship with one of her dying patients and her husband Stein and Eli decided to take over the care for her daughter Renayy (6). The rest of the family consists of 3 daughters; 13, 15 and 17, a dog and a cat! The girls are all schooling at ISM and Eli, as an involved mom, is commuting back and forth by SLEX, most of the time driving her own car! Eli likes to read a book in peace and quite, but is active in different groups; she is the organizer for the Norwegian ladies book-club, is a history student at the Museum Volunteers and a member of Manila Women Forum.

Eli’s main wish being a member of the Charity Committee this year, is to be able to share some of her knowledge of health-care with the charities and share the experiences from the charities with the ALIG-members, so they will continue their indispensable support.

This is Pam's first overseas assignment.  So far, so good! With all three of her children grown, the transition was quite easy. Leaving behind a beautiful 3 year old grand daughter was probably the hardest part!
Pam looks forward to all the opportunities for travel while living in this part of the world, and just loves the international community that is becoming a part of her life.  There are hopes of learning to golf and maybe taking some photography or painting classes. 
Pam was very used to a busy lifestyle in the states with teaching high school, attending children's activities, and keeping up with a love of gardening. So, volunteering with ALIG charities these last few months has really given a purpose to those idle hours in the day.
This year Pam looks forward to the many opportunities to assist ALIG in it's charities mission. 

Early in 2004, Cora found herself in her home in rural Ireland when her husband asked “How do you feel about going to the Philippines for a few years?” “Yes, let’s go!” she said but just had one question…..”Where in the world is the Philippines?”

 And here she is, fresh and green from Ireland and finding the experience truly amazing. She finds the poverty here overwhelming and she wants to fix everything and everyone. She is involved in various charities since the beginning but now finds herself on the Charities Board with big shoes to fill.

Her background is varied, starting with Interior Design, Rape Crisis Counselor, mother of four, grandmother of two and “still evolving”. Since her arrival, she has done Crisis Phone-line with In Touch Foundation and teaching English as a foreign language.

Her passion is playing golf and getting others to come and play with her. She loves meeting people and learning about their countries and cultures. She loves to travel and is determined to see as much of Asia as possible in her time here.

This is Betty Onken’s first overseas adventure, which she agreed to accept when her husband asked her to move to the Philippines for a 12 to 18 month assignment. They are now going on their eighth year of living in the Philippines. Betty has always been a member of ALIG and has filled many of the positions on the board. But the last couple of years she has been traveling with her husband to China, which is why you may not have seen her around. She went to the general meeting thinking she wanted to get reconnected with the group but didn’t know she was going to be on the board when she left.

Betty is from a small town of 400 people in southern Illinois, USA. If you ask her where she is from she will tell you “I use to be from a town in the state of Illinois, now I have to tell people I’m from a state within the country “  Betty has no children but lots of outside cats.

Annamaria found herself packing to come out to the Philippines all the way from Malta (where's that - she keeps on being asked) about eight months ago.  This is her first time living away from home and is enjoying every bit of it.  It is her chance to enjoy life to the full and do all those things she's always promised herself she would do back home but never got round to or never had time to do. (No excuses now, her husband keeps telling her).  She has two kids who are attending school here and loving it as much as she is (Phew! - one headache off her mind!)

Thanks to ALIG she has met lots of great women, made some great friends and got many basic questions answered like where to get fresh milk and sugar free bread. (What would she do without ALIG?)

Together with experienced Natalie, she has decided to take on the Day Social events and hopes to carry on exploring and enjoying all that the Philippines, especially Southern Luzon, has to offer in the company of a great group of women.

Always busy with one or more projects, Natalie also can’t get enough of the Day social chair. For the third year in a row she is organizing day trips. This year she will be teaming up with Annamaria.  Natalie just loves to explore Manila and beyond.  She invites her ALIG friends to join on the trips she always wanted to make anyway.

Having to give up her job in the furniture business to trail her spouse, Natalie immediately founded her own studio when she arrived in the Philippines. She now designs contemporary furniture for renowned local companies.  Natalie also creates paintings and sculptures.

Cassandra is originally from Adelaide, Australia and has been overseas for the past 3½ years the Philippines being her second posting after living in the Dominican Republic for two years.

Absolutely loving her time here in the Philippines, Cassandra has made many new and wonderful friends through ALIG. Hoping to be here a few more years, what better way to get involved with ALIG then to do “Night Social”. Along with Linda, she hopes that they can fill the very big shoes left by Dina (The Social Queen).

Married to Glen, Cassandra has a 15 year old son and 13 year old daughter who always keep life very interesting for her. In her spare time she enjoys Tennis, learning to play golf and wining and dining with friends.

Linda Ford is from Dallas, Texas where she married Kevin Ford 25 years ago.  Their longest move had been less than a mile during their married life and then her husband announced they were relocating to the Philippines.  Kevin owns his own business so the journey here was one of trial and many, many errors.  (She is more than happy to share her stories). They have three children attending Brent International School in grades 11, 9 and 3.  Linda loves to have a good time and talk about Texas, which used to be its own country (She gets a lot of grief about her home state).  She works part time for her husband and volunteers at Brent and now ALIG.  She plays tennis and now touch rugby in her spare time. 

This is Sarah Prunoske's second year at Membership Coordinator.  She and her family lived in Brasil for two years prior to moving to the Philippines.  She has two boys, who attend Brent International School.  When asked, she states she is from New Jersey, even though she hasn't lived there for the past 18 years.  She doesn't quite know where she is from because she tends not to stay in any location longer than four years.  Her boys have lived in four different places, and they are only seven and ten! Since this is her second year in the position, she will have no problems fulfilling her duties.

Avon still remembers the feeling of being the new girl on the block, back when Kirsten Maher ran newcomers.  “I called her up, and it was like a breath of fresh air; here was a person who understood, sympathized, and knew everything and everyone.  That call made all the difference in the world,” she says.   Now, she has the opportunity to help newcomers feel at home, just as Kirsten helped her.

This is Avon’s second expat posting with her family, and she believes that the Philippines is a great place to live, with a vibrant, friendly expat community.  She is looking forward to meeting all the new arrivals, and has even threatened to bake a cake for the newcomer’s coffee.  Just a little warning, you might want to stay away from the cake!

Theresa Thurman has been living abroad since 2003. After nearly five years in Mumbai, India, and thereafter a short stint in her home state of Arizona in the U.S.,  she found herself calling the Philippines home in 2008. Theresa and her husband Kris have been married for sixteen years. They have three children, all of who attend Brent International School Manila in grades three, four and five. She enjoys the adventure that this expat life has to offer and has been so grateful for the amazing people she has met and the dear friends she has made along the way.

Theresa is currently a full time student in the online degree program at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ, working towards her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education. In her spare time, she enjoys anything that will bring a smile to her face, whether it is spending time with her husband, her children or her friends, she is always up for a good laugh.

News travels fast in Ayala Alabang. Willy can tell you her experience on how fast, being pregnant of twins. Willy is married to a husband with a name hard to pronounce for most people (Sietse). As a Dutch, she views her bike as a great way to travel freely the short distances inside the village.

After spending two years in the Philippines, she hopes she can stay much longer. Being pregnant is much easier here, if like Willy you quit your job (as a Business Analyst) and don’t have to worry about the housekeeping anymore. Let alone the help of yaya’s when the twins are born! She keeps her fingers crossed.

This year, Willy works together with Kristen Owen, to share her enthusiasm for writing. Willy tries to downsize her computer time, but between Hyves (the Dutch version of Facebook) and all the emails of ALIG Yahoo, friends and family and another year as Website/Newsletter Coordinator, it’s hard. Her inbox deserves more attention for housekeeping, as she doesn’t use the delete button enough. She also edits mysteryshop reports for a company back home (yes, more computer time!), as this can be done online and is a lot of fun when you have a masters in marketing and market research like her!

Having left the US for the first time nearly two years ago, this is Nancy's second year with ALIG as the programs coordinator, a post she co-chairs with Stella Gonzalez. Nancy's three grown children live in the US, the youngest of who is a college sophomore. With plenty of time on her hands, Nancy is thrilled with all the travel opportunities that have taken her to exotic places like Singapore, Malaysia, Beijing, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, Australia, and while she's at it, she's soon adding to the list a little known, yet heavily cultural kingdom of Tibet!

When terribly exhausted from all the travel (and when ALIG is having a low season too), she enjoys dates with her husband David. She also bakes, loves to read (over a good glass of wine) and organizes Bunco nights! Phew! Talk about being a busy woman now!

Of French/Vietnamese/Hungarian origin, Stella was born in then Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; was raised in Singapore and came to the Philippines in the early ‘70s. Forever mistaken for a Spanish Filipina, she is often asked her nationality.  No one has ever guessed it correctly. 

Married to her Filipino husband when she was 18, she has adopted the Philippines as her home.  She has two grown children and a three year old grandson.  She has made a career in the moving industry working with various companies, presently with Carepak Moving & Storage as PR & Marketing Manager.  She is co-chairing Programs for the second year with Nancy Beachler.