Apparently, I arrived at work just in time for the annual Christmas party. The theme was a luau and everyone received lei’s before heading over to the hotel banquet room. The party was a massive celebration with singing and dancing contests. In November, the company sponsored a battle of the bands and the top 3 bands performed during dinner.

Before dinner, the emcee led everyone in a prayer of thanks. That’s definitely something that would not have occurred in North America! It was refreshing to see such an open display of religious faith and reminded me a lot of my time in India – where Hindu priests performed ceremonies at work and the Muslim call to prayer could be heard throughout the building multiple times a day. I think that in our rush to be a secular and inclusive society in Canada that we have lost something of ourselves. Whether or not we share the same faiths, we should be able to celebrate them equally in public, rather than sweeping them all behind the curtain (privacy of your own home). I’ve always found that I learn so much about people and their culture by exploring their religious beliefs. I think this exposure helps us become more open and accepting of others and the differences should be acknowledged and valued.

Despite Paul’s trip to the concierge to remind them of my pending arrival in Manila, there was no one waiting for me when I arrived. After many fits and starts, I found my way to the hotel limo stand and caught a ride to the Peninsula Manila.

There is a beautiful fountain at the front of the hotel. On each side of it is a small notice on a blue plaque reminding everyone not to bathe in the fountain pool. At night, the hilltop and trees are lit up with Christmas lights and decorations and the fountain itself also has a number of lights. The water appears to glow from top to bottom.

A few hours after arrival, I met up with Paul and we headed out to a local shopping center. It was a few blocks from the hotel and Paul couldn’t stop talking about the restaurant dedicated to Spam. Apparently, it’s a delicacy here. Even Pizza Hut has a spam and pineapple pizza!

Crossing streets in Makati is a lot like crossing streets in India – close your eyes and pray. The traffic wasn’t as dense and some of the busier routes did have occassional crossing guard to slow down traffic.

This trip did not have an auspicious start. The Tuesday before I flew out to the Philippines, I was rushed in for emergency oral surgery, so I spent most of the days leading up to the flight – and the flight itself – in agony. We left the house at 5:30 am to head to the airport to discover that our car had been broken into. Since there was nothing of value in the car and they hadn’t managed to hotwire it and steal it, the perpetrators trashed the car – smashing windows and ripping the trim off of it. Good thing we had the truck, otherwise I might have missed my flight waiting for a cab to arrive and take me to the airport!

Upon arrival in Minneapolis, we were forced to circle the airport for 30+ minutes while we waited for Air Force One to land. Apparently, the president had a short state visit to Minnesota and I just happened to be flying into the middle of it. Landing was uneventful, but my connection was delayed leaving by 45 minutes – again due to the president. I felt a bit like Jeff Foxworthy – ranting that the president was taking over the airways (or in this case, the airport).

The Tokyo airport was nothing like I suspected. For a tiny country where space is a premium, I hadn’t expected the airport to be so large and airy. I also hadn’t expected this bastion of efficiency to be the home of such as disorganized plane embarkation. After the boarding call was made, airline representatives walked around the front of the counter holding up the row numbers that were called. This might have been an effective method, had any of the passengers cared to line up in any semblance of order. Groups of people pushed and shoved their way to the front of the line, regardless of what row they were supposed to be seated in. Granted the entire mass of confusion was mostly due to the passengers, but the Japanese employees didn’t seem able to exert any sort of control over those who wanted to board. In the end, what would have been a 20 minute boarding procedure back home turned into a 1 and a half hour ordeal.

Immediately upon disembarking from the plane in Manila, I was reminded of Bangalore. The air was hot and humid while the smell was familiar and almost welcoming. The Manila airport is a warren of aisles and not well signed.

On my passport, page 9 is filled with US Immigration (and now Homeland Security) entrance stamps. Paul, Doris and Darrel all had their Philippine visa’s place on page 9. Mine was on 19. Before I sent my passport to the Consulate for the visa, Paul joked that the Philippines must have a lock on page 9 for their visa’s. I figured since my page 9 was already sporting some nifty stamps, they’d have to put it somewhere else on mine. When I went through customs, the customs officer stamped the wrong date in my passport. Apparently, page 9 is the standard location for visa’s in the Philippines and when he didn’t see mine on page 9, he didn’t bother to look any further. To me, it was a poor excuse because I’d opened my passport to page 19 (the one the visa was on) when I handed it to him. I noticed the error after leaving the counter and had to have a security guard escort me back to the front of the customs line to have the date adjusted in both my passport and their computer systems. It wouldn’t do for me to be arrested for overstaying my visit when I have a valid visa that allows me to stay in the country longer.

Apparently, there is a 550 PHP exit fee when you leave the country, so I’ll have to remember to keep some cash on hand.

Including travel time and barring any changes in the current plans, I expect to will be in Manila for approximately 5 months (on and off) between December 2005 and October 2006.

Ground rules and other important notes:

• The purpose of this trip is business, but the purpose of my journal is to keep my friends and family informed on how I’m faring. While there will be the occasional mention of people from the Philippine office or cultural differences between work environments, there won’t be anything specific to my roles and responsibilities.
• I will have access to the internet on a regular basis, but will be working long hours and might not have as much time to work on this journal as I did in India. In addition, many things in Manila are unexpectedly similar to North America, so I’m finding I have less to say that I had expected. Unless you’re fixated on what I’m doing, you probably don’t need to check back more than 2x a week for updates.
• I’ve decided to change a few things in the Philippines journal. I’m separating sections out into trips (yes, I know that will make for long pages to read.. but it’s less work for me in the end, so *thupppppt*. The future dates will not contain information at this time. If you’re curious, the links all work.. there just isn’t any information on those pages at this time.
• I’m equipped with a digital camera on this trip. Pictures will be updated regularly in the Photo Gallery.

Preparation:
If you’d like to visit the Philippines, there are a number of things you’ll need to do before you can start off on the 28+ hour journey. It’s best to begin by contacting the Consulate General of the Philippines and reviewing the Government of Canada – Travel Advisory.

In order to travel to the Philippines, you’ll need the following:

• Passport
• Visitor Visa – Canadians can visit the Philippines for a total of 21 days without a visitor’s visa. If you’d like to stay longer, contact the Philippine Consulate in your are for assistance.
• Vaccinations – Required vaccinations will vary depending on your country of origin. Lucky me, I had all the vaccinations I required when I went to India in 2003. Contact your health care insurance provider for additional details regarding your limits of coverage.
• Travel Insurance – Not all personal and health insurance plans will cover travel to international countries. It’s best to contact your healthcare provider and ensure that you are covered in case of emergency prior to leaving the country.

We’re headed to Calgary to visit Drews’ uncle.