First day on the job

Well I arrived at work at 7:30 sharp although due to the time change I had been up since 3:30 and been to the gym when it opened at 6 A.M. I hope this pattern ends sometime soon. I just answered the door for a laundry pickup. Instead of knocking they ring the doorbell and it is loud and sounds like a house doorbell. At the office I sat through an all day session on Canadian labor market, job search techniques, cultural differences etc. Because I am the academic consultant from Canada I was being peppered with all sorts of questions which could all be answered with "depends" but I tried to be definitive although they may be basing their decisions on my information. They are mostly mid level Filipino professionals and today's group are planning on going to Alberta to live. Lots of discussion about the weather. The staff here are very friendly and after some brief discussion about the week's work activities it quickly moved to what I can do to see the country. I have been invited to North Luzon to be a judge in a beauty contest! I will be going to the home town and family of one of the staff who is a gregarious, large boned woman which is a lot of fun. One of the previous female consultants had gone with her to the family stead and had a ball. It should be a look at more traditional Filipino life. I mentioned I wanted to go to Lake Taal and they said they would take me but when I mentioned I want to climb it and go to the lake within the volcano they began to scramble for alternative ways to get me there. Part of their concern is the boat that takes you to the volcano is a little touch and go. Perhaps I will buy a lifejacket for the trip. The other place is Boracay which is an island in the central part of the country that I have heard many people comment on it as being beautiful with great beaches and coral reef.
At lunch I had a chicken fajita which costs a little more than it would in Toronto. This area is the high end of Manila so the food is not cheap unless you buy it off a street vendor. I walked down to the main road of Makati which is like being in Manhattan. The weekend was quiet around here but today I discovered there are a million people walking the streets about three blocks from my hotel. The traffic is crazy here, but not unlike Mexico City or Delhi. You really have to be mindful of the traffic because they take the corners so tight if you stepped off the curb without looking you could get whacked. It's a city of about 11 million with various centres strung out like Los Angeles rather than one downtown core. The jeepney I took a picture of the other day are operated privately, they are a cross between a bus and a cab. They run routes but not on any set schedule. There is virtually no public transportation in this city. The streets are so wide and busy they have walkways built underneath the intersections because you would not get across in a reasonable amount of time. You think you are walking into a subway but there is no subway you just come up on the other side of the street. I will take some pictures tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be observing the counselling sessions which by next week I will be helping out with in addition to facilitating the workshops. Then I am expected to coach and mentor the staff on group and individual counselling skills. It should keep me busy.