I am here in Cebu!

...and have been for 1.5 weeks. Sorry for the long silence, but things have been pretty crazy in terms of settling in and find my way around, not to mention finding anything close to reliable internet. Enjoy those pictures to the left, because those have taken hours to get up here - you might not see too many more of those unless I find a new internet source.

Quick (riiiight) review of the my time since I arrived: My dad took some vacation time to come with me initially, so we both arrived in Cebu after some thirty hours of travel time, DC to LA to Manila via Guam, then on to the Queen's City of the South, Cebu! In two multi-hour delays, we were able to witness something that I'm sure I will encounter constantly - Filipino time (not dissimilar from Bolivian Standard Time, for those familiar with it). The Filipinos have a phrase here - Bahala na. Literally, it means "Leave it to God," and is basically the cultural response to any question beginning with the word "when." Except, that is, for the question, "when do we eat?" The answer to that one, in the local language of Cebuano, is always "karon!"- now! Honestly, a very common Filipino greeting is translated, not as "Hi" or "How are you?", but "Have you eaten?"

My dad and I got off the plane to be met by a group of Filipinos dancing, clapping, and handing out colorful necklaces. I checked our tickets to make sure we had not accidentally gone to Hawaii (what a misfortune that would have been!). Last weekend was in fact the largest religious festival of the year in Cebu, the Sinulog festival, which celebrates Santo Niño, the patron saint of the city. I almost wish it had been this weekend, so I could have been conscious and actually seen more than just glimpses. We were met at the airport by my boss's assistant Maribel, aka Ate (older sister) Bing, and one of the office's drivers. The office drivers, by the way, deserve to be recognized with something not too far shy of the Congressional Medal of Honor. In this city, traffic lines and lane guides might as well be a child's chalked hopscotch grid for the all the attention drivers pay them. Drivers just go wherever they need to and use their horns like most Americans would use turn signals. The only thing that saves this city from being a ghost-town due to to traffic fatalities, ironically, is the sheer number of people driving so ridiculously frenetically. The traffic is such that it is incredibly rare to see a vehicle go above 40 km/hr, which makes all the braking and course corrections and honking much easier and safer - quite thankfully for all those who need to brave the roads.

Anyway, The first three or four days were sort of an Ambien/jet-lag induced blur, but we looked at the Western Supermarkets, had lunch with my boss Andrey, attended church and met Andrey's wife Jen. On Monday the mental haze cleared a little. My dad and I were taken on a tour of Cebu City by Ate Bing, an investigator, and one of the departmental assistants, Dimples. Additionally, we looked at a few places to live, and that very day found the one I will be moving into on Wednesday! A process that I thought would take at least a month will end up taking just over a week - an absolute answer to prayer. The ease of the process is thanks in large part to Ate Bing, who has really taken me under her wing.

After my dad left Monday, I moved in with Andrey and Jen. As much as I owe Ate Bing, I owe Andrey and Jen more. Aside from the very obvious act of allowing me to stay at their place, they have been a great comfort to me. I have not met many expats at all, so Andrey and Jen have been a wonderful steadying influence as I adjust to life in Cebu. They have been so gracious and welcoming, it is difficult to think of a way in which I can repay them. Perhaps it's all an underhanded plot by Andrey to create this relationship of indebtedness so I will feel compelled to work hard...

The work itself is pretty good, though probably wholly uninteresting to those not doing it -research, reports, stakeholder needs assessments, grant paperwork. YAHOO! The staff are mostly Filipino (4 expats in an office of 27), and I have found them warm, friendly, and welcoming. Though English is the educational and commercial language of the Philippines, and widely spoken (to some degree), I am making efforts to learn bits and pieces of Cebuano, which my co-workers find endearing like they would an infant trying to lift his father's briefcase to go to work - I am way outmatched. This has created a few embarrassing situations where co-workers will give me words to learn, then later quiz me...by using the word in a full Cebuano sentence spoken at what must seem to them to be an incredibly slow pace, but in reality is just short of Mach 2. This will invariably happen after Ate Bing or someone else tells a co-worker, "He's learning Cebuano, and he's sooo good!" I proceed to stare blankly at the comment that is supposed to prove my linguistic prowess, then blush madly as they realize that I, in fact, still know nothing of their language. It is still enjoyable, though, and means they are taking an interest in me, which I appreciate. I am going to Andrey's Cebuano tutor at the end of this week to see if I can meet with her regularly and actually make sense of this language before I leave.

Alright, the internet is working again now, which means I should probably take advantage and post this. I will see if I can't make this a once a week deal, depending of course on internet availability. Next week: maybe more pictures, more on the new apartment, local food (mine vs. theirs) and whatever else befalls me in that time. Take care everyone!

Kelly

PS - If anyone knows how to use google Picasa software to upload pictures, please help! It keeps eating my photos and not posting them, so I can't put up an album on the blog as I would like to. Let me know if you can help. Thanks!