Life in Manila....March 13

Some have asked about how I am, as Linda appears to be the Chief Editor on this Blog. I can assure you that we view this as a joint venture that generally works best with Linda controlling the keyboard and mouse and me rambling on about the world around me. For a change of pace I thought that I would contribute a solo update on this beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon.

Big update.... it actually rained this week. Not a lot and not for very long but it actually did. I'm sure that my perspective will change when the rainy season arrives, but for now it was a very pleasant change. Once the rain stopped it instantly contributed to the humidity. The Filipino store owners instantly start sweeping the water off the sidewalks with their large straw brooms (they love to sweep here... a lot). This is the real first rain I have seen since arriving and was welcomed to an increasingly dry Manila.


Linda and I have now completed our Scuba Certification and are officially able to dive anywhere on the planet. The test was a combination of demonstrated skills such as removing your mask under water, replacing it and clearing the water out. We also studied hard and passed the 50 question exam with flying colours. Here is a picture of our latest Scuba adventure. We promise to send some pictures from under the ocean as well in future postings.

Work has been going well but I certainly have had to make some adjustments in the way I work. Asia, in general, starts the day later and ends the day later. This is due to the interaction with North America that tends to drift into the evenings when the west is waking up and getting into the office. I have spent many years getting into the office at the crack of dawn and getting home for family supper and sports events..... that does not work well here. Contributing to the change I have been given an office on the 3rd floor of our building.... the 3rd floor is very busy and full in the middle of the night (servicing Canada and US Daytime) but is dark and empty during the Philippine day. Over the past years I have worked in offices where there is generally a queue of people outside my office wanting to talk with me. Today, other than a few Canadian or US Expats, I am fortunate to have a visitor at all and they are usually terrified that I have asked them to my office to talk. This will get better over time as the local staff get to know me a bit and can relax. Things all move slowly.... still waiting for my real furniture to arrive and I am promised that the air conditioning will be on in my office this week. As long as the blinds are closed it is only 28 degrees....


A few more oddities and interesting observations.....

1. Licorice (Red and Black) is non-existent in the Philippines - When I asked my Filipino friend about it her response was "what is that"... this leads to number 2
   
2. It is really hard to describe what licorice is to someone that has never seen it (try it!)
   
3. We discovered that heating up frozen corn in the microwave was not a good idea.... when it started to pop. We have moved to heating it in boiling water.... It was an exciting few minutes!
   
4. They have Musical ATMs here. As I approached an ATM today it blasted out a groovy tune that said something about shopping.... I was too surprised and shocked to really get the full gist of the song. It was really loud!
   
5. Our neighbourhood is so safe that we even have crossing guards.... seriously... grown men with stop signs that will halt approaching traffic so we can cross at our leisure. They are armed which makes it even more silly... I suppose they could shoot the people that don't yield to the awesome signs.
   
6. Rooster Update: We have discovered what happens to Roosters that do not fair well in the fighting... As you travel along the streets of Manila there are people walking between the cars selling anything you can possibly imagine... including Feather Dusters (you guessed it) made from Rooster Feathers. A little disturbing....

Bye for now... Jeff