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Friday, July 28, 2006

The Trip So Far

Current Mood:

July 27
It's Wednesday, and I have a little time before I have to be somewhere so I thought I'd start writing to keep track of how the trip's been so far :-).

Let's see... I arrived in the middle of a typhoon and since then, it's rained so hard that the water would rise to about knee-level around my parents' house every time. Luckily the house and carport had already been raised so the water doesn't go IN the house, but you're essentially trapped there until the water recedes or you decide to wade through it.

My driver's license expired recently and I realized that I'm not going to be able to drive myself to and from work. Meekly, I asked Teresa (the president) if it was all right for me to ask if the company driver could add me to his schedule. She smiled sweetly and said, "Cecille, you're an expat now. You have access to the expat van."

Well now THAT'S pretty cool :-). The company van will take me to and from work for the rest of my stay :-). Awesome :-).

The neatest part of the trip so far is people recognizing me (or NOT recognizing me as the case may be). I kept my coming to Manila a secret just because I wanted to see people's faces when they realize that it's me :-).

I trained many of the current managers from Memphis via videoconference. These are actual quotes that these managers said when they met me in person for the first time:

I guess that's as close to being a celebrity as I'm going to get :-). It was so FUN watching them trying to recognize me when I first say hi. You can tell they're thinking, "I KNOW you... where do I know you from?" as they're smiling politely. Then, after two seconds, there's that moment of dawning comprehension and their eyes light up. "CECILLE!"

My favorite reaction was from Patrick. All this time he's thought that I couldn't come back yet because my green card was still being processed. I was walking out of the elevator and he was about to walk into it when I passed him and said "HI!"

He looked at me, kind of stunned, then when he finally realized who I was, he THREW his arms around me in a big bear hug hello :-). The elevator left without him :-).

Let's see... my parents. They've lined up a whole menu for me to eat while I'm in Manila. I've been loving every minute of it :-). Local dishes like Morcon, Sinigang na Hipon, crab claws... they taste SO good when you haven't had them for 2 years :-). I've also had hakao, also known as har gow (drools). They're steamed shrimp dumplings. That's my favorite.

My parents are so sweet. My dad even told the neighborhood guy who sells taho to come back this week because his daughter's coming home. My mom went out of her way to cook morcon for me, which isn't easy. It's rolled beef flanks stuffed with sausage, carrots, hard-boiled egg, and pickles.

My business trip/mini-vacation is half over, and already I know I'm going to be emotional when I leave. On one hand, I can't wait to see Steve again. I've missed him more than words can say. On the other hand, a week doesn't seem to be enough to spend with friends and family.

Maybe one day they'll come visit *us.* :-)

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