I Found the Embassy and the Job is Underway........

I finished Day 2 today and it looks to be a good job. I have five students from different embassies: two Filipinos, a student from Hanoi, Vietnam, a motor pool supervisor from Vientiane, Laos, and the ambassador’s driver from our embassy in Mongolia. Only the two Filipinos really speak English very well so we’re having a lot of fun communicating but they’re a good group. The Mongolian student is really suffering badly in this oppressive heat and humidity. Even for me, a Houstonian, the humidity is really tough to take and he comes from a basically frigid climate and it’s his first trip outside Mongolia.
As usual with these groups, we all seem to get along together and the Vietnamese, Laotian and Mongolian have been going out in the evenings—eating and sightseeing—despite their lack of a common language.

This morning at breakfast here in the hotel, the Vietnamese student joined me at the table and we were talking as best we could in English and I couldn’t help but think of the irony of it all. Forty years ago we were literally trying to bomb Hanoi back into the Stone Age and today I’m having breakfast with a person from Hanoi who now works for the American Embassy there. Kind of makes me wonder what that was really all about—all that money and lives lost.

I am really fascinated by the Jeepneys here—they are all handmade and are each a work of art. They don’t just have to be taxis, however, and there are a lot of personal hand-made cars running on the streets. I came across this one at the restaurant today at lunch and talked to the owner. Almost all of these are stainless steel which means they don’t rust and will last for probably a hundred years. It seems that when the U.S. Navy abandoned the huge shipyard in Subic Bay, they left behind tons of stainless steel and the Filipinos are using it to make these Jeepneys. This one is a two-seater and you notice the headlights, running lights, horn and everything else consists of cannibalized parts from other cars. The grill definitely looks Jeep but the stickers say Toyota and the engine is actually a Isuzu truck engine. A lot of these cars have Mercedes or even Cadillac hood ornaments but the hubcaps may say Buick. They’re really each works of art.

I slept all night last night and am basically over my jet lag. My appetite is normal again and I’m not falling asleep at 3:00 pm. This evening I walked three blocks down to Manila Bay and took some pictures. Despite the hotel being in an upscale section of Manila, those three blocks involved running a gauntlet of beggars, crippled homeless sleeping on the sidewalk and naked children. I really like the Philippines so far but compared to Thailand it is much dirtier and impoverished. There is a bay front walk but the crowds there are really aggressive in begging and selling stuff and the odor was overwhelming. I did shoot some pictures of Manila Bay and it is impressive: It is the deepest natural seawater bay in Asia and as a result, has been fought over for centuries. The power that controlled this bay usually controlled all sea trade to the Far East. The Japanese kicked us out of here during World War II and when we returned, we nearly bombed the city back to the Stone Age—something we seem to be determined to do in a lot of places throughout history.
Anyway…..despite the poverty and dirty streets, I really like the Philippines so far and am really happy I got this job. I’ve got a three day weekend coming up and have day trips planned into the countryside for all three days so there should be a lot more photos coming here……..