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The First Few Days In The Philippines: An Essay By Ramblin-Bill

2005-01-04|6:54 p.m.

Hello all and greetings from tropical Manila!

Before I say anything else, I want to point out that this is journal entry number 69. Hehehe� As you may have learned in my 100 things about me entry, I am still sophomoric enough to celebrate the number 69 whenever I can.

Enough of that drivel� I thought I would could tell you a little about the trip so far�

As with most trips, it started with the flight. On the flight from Cincinnati to LA, our movie was "Catwoman." The headset was $2.00, and even though I got to keep the headset, it was a waste of $2.00.

This movie sucked. Every major plot point was horrible - a cat that performed �kitty CPR" when Halle Berry�s character died � and breathed special cat breath into her that gave her super kitty powers.

The woman who helped Halle Berry find her kitty powers who was named
Ophelia Powers. Yeah. Oh, feel your powers. Oh come up with a less pathetic name.

That's the kind of name my high school English teacher would have thought was brilliant. I thought it was the lamest movie name since Jamie Foxx's Willie Beaman (Gosh, will he be a man and grow up?) in Any Given Sunday.

Anyway, I�ve digressed horribly. After getting to LAX, we barely made our flight to Manila. The Philippine Airlines hub in LAX has to be the worst thing I have ever seen�

There were no lines - just a large group of people standing behind a rope. People dressed in white shirts and ties would randomly walk up to people and ask for tickets and passports� It was ridiculous.

The flight was long, but they took very good care of us... It was very
hard to sleep though - the chairs didn't recline very much...

They went from this:

to this:

They moved back a little bit, but not enough to get any amount of sleep.

After landing we discovered that our luggage didn't leave LAX when we did. I was lucky - I had packed a small suitcase with a change of clothes just in case something like that would happen. Ken on the other hand, was not so lucky... He didn�t have any luggage, so soon after landing we visited our first mall.

It seems the only things to do here are drink and go to the mall... Seriously. I�ve asked several of the people that I�ve met in the Philippine office � and they have lived here their entire life � and they have said that. Everyone goes to the mall�

We discovered this out on Sunday�

So anyway, Ken needed to get clothes, so we went to a place in the Mall called Men�s World. While there, I asked a woman to check a size for me� It had been a long flight, and I didn�t really pay attention to who was helping me� All I knew was that she had dark hair and a grey blouse on.

So when a woman in a grey blouse turned in my direction and started talking, I assumed it was her. Unfortunately, I couldn�t understand what she was saying (it turns out she was speaking Tagalog � a common language used in the area.)

Since I didn�t understand her, I leaned in and said �Excuse me?� It was at that point that I realized that she wasn�t the woman that helped me. The look on this poor woman�s face was priceless - I know I scared her half to death. I can only imagine she thought I was some sort of bastard American man who was insulted that she didn�t have the common courtesy to speak English � the way God intended us to talk.

After security was able to pull her out of the ceiling tiles, we had a short talk and a few laughs� Since then, Ken has labeled me the man who can scare any Filipino. If you need my help, just send me an e-mail.

That evening we went to a nice restaurant for dinner, then celebrated New Year's Eve. It was very interesting. We went to the Makati New Years Eve Street Party. (Makati is the Manhattan/Times Square of Manila.) There we listened to several big name Philippine bands like Sugarfree and Sandwich. (I am not making those names up.) It was fascinating to see a different culture bring in the new year.

The fireworks at midnight were amazing! I would have to imagine that most of them are illegal back in the states. Every time one shot off, it was like someone shot a canon... We heard stories from the locals that there are tons of fireworks accidents each year - and people end up losing fingers/hands/arms... Kind of sad.

At the hotel I am getting spoiled. If it keeps up, when my sister picks me up from the airport, I am going to expect her to get out of the car and come around to open my door for me. I am not very comfortable with all the attention we are getting. I'm never even given a chance to open a door or carry a bag... But as my co-worker Liz says - "They are just showing you hospitality."

The most ridiculous part - there are even bathroom attendants - IN THE BATHROOM IN MY ROOM.... Okay, that part isn't true, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Anyway, I set off to write an entry on the differences in culture, and I have not done any of that yet � and this entry is way too long�

I will write more later. Have a good day � I am off to get some rest (the 13 hour time difference is hard getting used to.

Previously on Ramblin' Bill -- In The Year 2000!

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