I Arrive in Manila!

Well, time to dust off the old blog.

Since the only people who read this blog already know what's going on in my life, I'm not going to bother with a recap of what's happened since my last blog post. Instead, let's just dive into the present- I'm in Manila! Technically, I'm in Makati City, which is very near Manila. It's a city defined by the major city near it, like how Roseville is considered part of the Sacramento area. Makati City is a small city near Manila that is the financial heart of the area. It is to Manila like the SF downtown is to SF. I still haven't seen much of it, but I got a little comparison driving back from the airport. Closer to the airport, we were in the Manila. Traffic signals seemed to be more guidelines, jeepneys were everywhere, and right of way seemed to be determined by force. For example, I was told pedestrians do not have the right of way, but as we were driving, I saw a horde of pedestrians take up 5 lanes of a major street. Who's going to say they don't have the right of way? There were hordes of them!

My coworkers drove me to my apartment, which is massive! I know with the last minute notice, they were only able to get a 2 bedroom apartment, but I didn't realize what a huge and swanky 2 bedroom it would be! I have my own washer and dryer! Yes!!!! Laundromats can suck it! There are granite countertops and it has HBO. What more can a gal ask for? Well, internet access, for one. Internet access was a must. Specifically, wireless was a must given that I don't have a way to hook an ethernet cable up to my phone. Luckily for me, wireless my only option. There is no ethernet jack in the apartment, probably because there is no infrastructure to support getting access all the way out here. But I can't complain- they gave me a wireless hotspot using the 3G network, so I've got all the internet access I need! Watching Netflix or some other high bandwidth activity might get dicey, but I'm sure I'll get by.

I spent my first day just getting myself unpacked and situated and didn't even venture outside, but even given that, I noticed a few interesting differences. I was given a brief tour of the amenities and I saw the apartment's pool. They had two boys in the pool cleaning it with brushes. In the US, this would probably be handled by a machine, some kind of pool cleaner. Here I guess it is cheaper to hire two people. I guess that's why we have a call center here.

I'll venture out more tomorrow and try to be a little more adventuresome. Maybe I'll even try soup #5, which I found out today is the "bat and balls" of a bull. Hmmm.