Registration

Student registration begins today...I'm excited. I understand that faculty do not have a specific role to play in registration, but I need to be available should anyone need to consult with me. My only role this week before classes begin is to proctor the Bible content exam tomorrow morning, but other than that, I've come to the office early and I've got the little view port in my door open so anybody who happens by can see me in here. I'll just be continuing my work of preparation unless and until someone comes by. I have the first three lectures in each class ready now, so I'm right on the schedule that I want to keep. Actually, I'm a little bit ahead right now, because like I said in a previous post I think it would be ideal to have about two weeks' prep done ahead of time. If I get one lecture prepared in each class per day from now until Wednesday, then I'll have six done, which gets me up through Tuesday of the fourth week. So that's what I'll try to do.

In the meantime, I cannot contain my excitement that I'm actually about to begin the work I've been training for for so long. It has definitely been a long time coming.

A Possessed Phone

The telephone in my office picks itself up and dials random numbers on campus. The screen also flashes blue incessantly. I don't know what that means. It turns out that the last call the possessed phone made was actually someone trying to call me, but it sounded like the ring you hear when you call someone else. One of my faculty colleagues needs the key to the laundry room, and she was calling me from the central office to tell me that the keys she found didn't work in the lock that is on that door now. So I'll go over in a bit and give that to her. I don't want to wait too long, because she needs to do laundry and the building here is locked after 11:00 PM, but I want to get a little work done since I don't have anything else to do at the moment. ;-)

Wedding, Department Store

There's a wedding on campus tomorrow. The groom is an alumnus, set to begin Ph.D. studies in the UK this fall, and the bride is the receptionist in the seminary central office. It will be most interesting to witness Filipino wedding customs first-hand. This is a great experience for everyone.

The wedding also has a stated dress code, something that is usually implicit in the States, almost never stated. One wouldn't think, I suppose, of coming to a church wedding in shorts and flip-flops. Some might, but I certainly wouldn't, unless the wedding was outside or something--and probably not even then. But males are to wear white barongs and black dress trousers. I am hearing shades of Matthew 22 in all of that. (Go ahead, go look it up.) Anyway, I took a jeepney down to the mall today and bought a barong for whatever it was. Incidentally, that's another thing that's different about Filipino culture. Although it's generally considered a taboo subject in the States to ask someone what X cost, Filipinos have no problem asking this, so I'm told. But I am hesitant to say, for whatever reason. The workers at the department store--who are universally helpful and friendly--were giggling at this ridiculous oaf of an American buying this article of clothing which is distinctly Filipino. They talked me into signing up for the rewards program at their store. The department store is run by the same company that runs the grocery store in the mall, and a lot of the malls/department stores/grocery stores around the area, so it's a good thing to sign up for. The fee to sign up was P150 (=less than $4) for two years, and it knocked 1o% off the price of the barong on the spot, which amounted to more than P150 savings. So I figure I already made my money back on that one, even if I never get 10% off on anything else. I'll get reward points or some such silly thing, but I am not sure how that works.

Anyway, on the application for the card was something that would never be seen on a similar application in the States. In fact, not only would JCPenney or Sears not care what the answer was (being rightly only interested in my money), they could be held criminally liable for asking the question.

The question was "Religion."

Yep.

They wanted to know my religion on an application for a discount/rewards card. Right next to name, citizenship, date of birth, address, all that jazz. I thought, of course, why did they want to know that? Not only would such a question not be allowed in the States, it would be considered an affront. But I didn't want to press the issue so I just put "Christian" down and had done with it.

Lectures

Just finished typing up notes for my first lectures in the two classes I'm teaching this semester. I feel pretty good about them, that they introduce the subjects well. I'm also feeling pretty good that I am ready for the first day a week in advance--I'm not rushing around late night on Wednesday, July 2 trying to figure out what I'm going to say at 7:30 AM Thursday, July 3. LOL.

My goal is to have about two weeks' advance preparation done, so if that is true then I need two more lectures for each class, seeing as how there is no Tuesday session in the first week. So no problem. I'll be in good shape. Everything is coming together as it should, and as it already has, and as I know it will continue to do. Or something.

This Little Piggy Went to Market

I was asked to post a picture of the pig's head, so here it is:




I didn't get to ask the vendor how much it was (Tagalog: Mangkano dito? 'How much is that?') partly because I was afraid he'd try to make me a good deal. ;-)

Exercise

It's not exactly the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but I've started calling these the Rocky Balboa steps. These are the steps in front of the Owens Hall entrance where my office is. The top photo is the view looking down, and the bottom the view looking up. There are 38 of them counting the two wide ones that take two of my footfalls to get across. I haven't done it the past few days with the rain and some laundry issues (thankfully now resolved) but so far I can run up and down them four times without my legs exploding. Put that together with the big hill leading up to my apartment and you get a pretty good workout.

Writing

Now that everything is basically settled (save for a few details with regard to my classes), I have started back up the writing project I've been working on for a year or so. I've gotten a bit behind on the project, what with the last four months being a tremendous whirlwind. So I pledged to my coauthor that I'm going to buckle down and get myself caught up. I think I'll find it easier to get caught up even with a full-time teaching load. The simple reason is that my job and my writing pursuits are now in harmony. When I was working in banking, I didn't have any time during the day to write. And even when business got slow, by the time I got my mind right for writing my responsibilities to my employer would represent themselves (that first "e" is long, just for clarification). So now, even though I'll be just as busy in a teaching job as I was in my bank job (and probably more so, to be honest), I will have time during the day to work on writing projects, both scholarly and otherwise, and the mental retooling process will no longer be necessary.

Missionary Hazing

Hmm...I guess I forgot to post about my excursion last Saturday learning the ropes of the Manila public transit system. I was sent on an Amazing Race/Great Scavenger Hunt sort of thing. We each had a guide (Tagalog: kasama) who was supposed to remain silent and only help out if we got hopelessly lost. We first rode a jeepney to the large Catholic Church in Antipolo, then off on a tricycle (=motorbike with a semi-enclosed sidecar) over to an upscale grocery store. Then we got on another jeepney and went back to the Taytay public market (Tagalog: palenke ng Taytay--I think) where we were supposed to buy a couple specific pieces of fruit plus take a picture of the oddest thing we found for sale. For me, it had to be the pig's head. I might upload a picture of that eventually. Maybe. Last step was taking a g-liner (big air-conditioned bus) to one of the malls in the area. It was a fun exercise but I wound up carrying far too many things. ;-)

Birthday II

Oh, and it's also my mother's birthday, but this is the first time that we haven't shared the majority of the day, seeing as the time difference is so great. For me, the birthday has but four hours left, but she is only six hours into it. The most we've ever been apart, considering time zones, on our birthday was two hours, when I was living in New Jersey and she Idaho. So this took a little adjusting, but I'll make sure I connect with her later to wish her a happy birthday properly.

Oh, and she's 29. Don't ask how a 29-year-old woman can have a 34-year-old son. And one who's 37 as well (my older brother). Just suspend your disbelief and no one gets hurt. ;-)

Antipolo, Birthday, and Church

Went with a few others to a restaurant near Antipolo today. The buffet was excellent, but the company was better. I think it's very good to find people to connect with, especially colleagues, in a new and unfamiliar environment such as this. Turns out the celebration was not only, as stated, for one of the people there getting into a Ph.D. program (congratulations Sam) but also for my birthday.

This is the second birthday I've had outside of the United States. The first one was my fifth, observed in Rio de Janiero when my family was vacationing there and my parents were connecting with their Brazilian counterparts in a foreign-exchange program they used to run. My only clear memory of that experience is seeing an episode of The Bionic Woman (dubbed into Portugeuese) which I had seen in the States just a few weeks prior (in English, of course). Anyway, 5 and 34 were out of the USA, but that's pretty much the end of the connection, because the occasion which made possible celebrating 34 outside the USA was of my own volition (answering the call of God and the church) and I haven't seen an episode of the original Bionic Woman series in so long that, while I would recognize it if I saw one, it would not register with me as having any kind of special connection. Besides, the TV shows coming from America, for what few I've seen, are left in English. They don't bother overdubbing them into Tagalog or Cebuano or any of the other zillion languages spoken in the archipelago.

I was also going to upload some pictures of my first experiences in Nazarene churches in the Phililppines, but of course I left my camera at home across campus. No matter. There is plenty of time. One thing that was really neat--we were at Miracle Church of the Nazarene in Angono (next town to the south from Taytay). The rains from Typhoon Feng-Suen were still beating down hard (including a waterfall-like stream coming from a leak in the roof). We were singing "Here I Am to Worship." We had just gotten through the bridge ("I'll never know how much it cost / to see my sin upon that Cross!") when the power went out. It was just like it was intentional. The music leader kept on singing, leading us more slowly through the main chorus of the song:

Here I am to worship.
Here I am to bow down.
Here I am to say that you're my God.
You're altogether lovely,
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

And then as the pastor was praying, the lights came back on just as dramatically as they had gone out. It was a neat experience of worship. That's about it for this post.

Rain

The last couple of nights, it has rained all night long. Last night, the rain was so loud as to by and large drown out the noise from the constant traffic on Ortigas Ave. Extension—no mean feat. Earlier this morning, I was sitting in my apartment (the internet connection there is having problems or else I would post from there) and the wind was amazing in its severity. I actually felt something I never thought I would feel: cold! So I rushed through and closed all the windows. But then I got an amazing show with the trees outside my front window being billeted about by the wind. This must be what a monsoon is like, I would suspect. I’ll find out sometime between when I am writing this and when I actually post it if that suspicion is correct. There are a lot of strange noises: pieces of the house being bandied about, even. This is almost scary. I even had to go get a towel out of the laundry bin and stuff it under the front door to prevent encroachment from the water outside. I am going to switch to battery power on the computer to make sure. I don’t want an unexpected power surge to destroy the computer, because then I’d really be in a world of hurt. Now as I write the rain and wind have calmed down a bit and I can again hear the sounds of the traffic. Those sounds, which over the first few days here were somewhat of an irritant, now have become a source of comfort as I see first-hand, for the first time, the fury of the weather here during the rainy season. I pray particularly for the squatters and others who do not have nearly the same stability in their living quarters that I do.

Update: I found out in talking to others that "monsoon" and "typhoon" are basically synonymous. I had thought there was a distinction between those two things, but now we just got an email about Typhoon Frank/FengShen. Interesting.

The Cat Brigade

Some of the many cats that wander around campus and keep down the mouse population. You can't really see it in these pictures but the white one has one blue eye and one brown eye.

Pictures of the Campus

Here are some pictures of the APNTS campus. I have a few more but Blogger will only let me do five at a time.

Shopping and Cooking

The first trip yesterday to Filipino grocery stores was interesting and enlightening. As expected, some items were available in less variety than American stores, but unexpectedly there were other things in much greater supply and variety. One example of the latter was canned tuna fish. There were all different styles (packed in water, packed in oil, packed in brine) and also all kinds of flavors (regular, spicy, extra spicy, etc.) That was an eye-opening experience. I purchased a few items but didn't come with a list this first time out. I really just wanted to see what was available and where find it so that next time I can be a little more prepared. I also discovered something innovative compared to American grocery stores: refills! There are refills available of just about everything: ketchup, soap, shampoo, aluminum foil... This is so you don't have to buy a new glass bottle or paper or plastic container. I really like that.

One of the items I purchased was a small package of pancake batter, which I made up this morning with bananas. It was good with a glass of orange juice and a cup of instant coffee. Apparently pancakes taste the same no matter where you live in the world. :-) So I'm continuing to adjust. It'll take me a few more days or weeks before I'm fully comfortable, but I'm trusting in God and the people already here who have helped make the transition smooth.

Getting adjusted

Going to the Filipino grocery store for the first time in about 15 minutes. I suppose this might be a place where culture shock could happen, but we'll see. I've also gotten the process started for my visa, which seems to be a rather lengthy deal. But, everything else has happened when it was supposed to, so I don't have any reason to think this will not do so...

Mangoes and Avocados

I don't know how I made it 34 years in life without ever eating a mango. They are SO good! Before the missionary prayer meeting last night, we had some and they told me they were pretty sour. If those are sour, then I can't wait to see what the sweet ones taste like!

And when we left the prayer meeting last night, I was told I couldn't leave unless I took two avocados. So I did, and asked people what were some "man-proof" ways to use them. :-)

I'm dealing with jet lag still pretty bad, but I think I'm recovering nicely. Soon enough I'll be posting pictures of the seminary, my apartment, and some of the city, but I just haven't gotten to do that yet. I have some meetings today and then maybe later.

Reflections on the First Day

I've been in Manila now for a total of about 27 hours, so I figure it's time to give a record of my impressions so far. I still find it hard to believe that I'm actually here. It may take a while yet to get my mind around that concept. The campus is beautiful, and I actually have an office--a real office--for the first time in my life. That's a big step in my professional development.

I met several students and staff people here at APNTS yesterday, but of course I cannot remember very many names because I was exhausted from twenty-four hours in planes and airports. Then we went to dinner at the home of some missionaries, and I crashed out about 7 PM, sleeping almost uninterrupted until 6 AM today. Today hasn't been as hectic. I've been (slowly) organizing my apartment and working on syllabi.

Now, to quit beating around the bush: I was told yesterday by one of the missionaries who came to retrieve me from the airport that the word most often used to describe Manila is contrast. We saw, literally within a few meters of each other (and it's meters, not yards...another adjustment this naive American will have to make), squatters' huts and wealthy people's houses. And I just missed getting drenched in my first Filipino rainstorm yesterday. I had left the seminary president and had gone back to my apartment to start putting things away and about five minutes after I walked in the door the sky opened up and it rained very hard for several minutes, then faded away just as quickly. The rain also cooled off the temperature significantly, and even today it is much cooler than when I first arrived--although this is perhaps because I am starting to get used to the environment.

As for my classes, I'll be teaching Introduction to Old Testament 7:30-8:50 TR, then Pentateuch 1:30-2:50 TR. That is a fantastic schedule for the first time out. But it reminds me that I probably shouldn't be blogging right now; I should instead be continuing to put my syllabi together... Man, I've only been in the Philippines just over a day and already I'm procrastinating. :-)

Airport II + Luggage Matters IV

Sitting in the gate area at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei. I was happy to learn (a) that Taiwan, or at least the airport, uses the same plugs as American appliances; and (b) that free wifi is available as it was not in Seattle. On (a), I have a plug converter so it would not pose a problem, but it's good not to have to figure out how to use that thing when I've been on a plane for 15 hours already. ;-) On (b), I think that free wifi is a very good thing, and I'm rather dismayed that SEA hasn't gotten it. Oh well, I guess if people can charge money for something they will. I have two hours and some change left before my flight on to Manila. The flight from Seattle arrived nearly an hour ahead of its scheduled time, which under normal circumstances would be great; but, since it makes for a longer layover, it is not so great. Come to think of it, that hour would have been spent either way, in the plane or in the airport. I'll change my mind; the extra hour in the airport is better because I can use the computer and surf the internet at the same time.

On luggage, my only problem with all of that--considering that it was an issue that weighed very hard on my mind--is that China Airlines made me check one of the carry-ons. I had thought the regs for China Airlines were the same as domestic airlines...one carry-on plus a smaller personal item. The gate agent indicated that I was ok with the computer in one of the bags, but I got stopped boarding the plane. Oh well, it doesn't make for an extra charge in checking three bags, so I don't have much to complain about. It would have been nice to be able to freshen up a bit here in Taipei, but I didn't take out the materials required for that out of the bag. I was sleepy and not thinking especially clearly. No big deal. More to come.

Prayer for Travelers

This is my favorite prayer for travelers. It comes from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:

"O Almighty God, whose glory fills the whole earth and whose presence we find wherever we go: Preserve those who travel, especially the passengers and crew of Horizon Air flight 2363; and China Airlines flights 21 and 631. Surround them with your loving care, protect them from every danger, and bring them in safety to their journey's end. Amen."

Luggage Matters III + Airport

Luggage officially weighed in at 95 pounds, five short of the total limit. Luggage is checked all the way to Manila from Boise, so that's a load off my mind.

Almost got a chance at a free ticket on Horizon...the flight to Seattle is oversold and they needed volunteers to give up the seat for a later flight. But, because I was connected to the wall I didn't get to the counter in time. The agent said the later flight is now full, but she could route me through Portland. I told her that was no good, since I'm ultimately going overseas. It would have been nice to have a free ticket waiting for me. I already have a free ticket with Southwest, but I paid for that one through frequent-flyer usage.

They're about to call the flight in Boise, so I need to shut down now. I don't think I'll have wifi in SEA, because in the concourse you have to pay for it. It is possible that China Airlines offers free wifi at the gate, but we will have to see.

Minor Battery Tragedy III

I was going to bring along the laptop to make sure the new battery fit. But it's also parents' anniversary day (39) and I went back in the house to get my digital camera but forgot the laptop until 15 miles down the interstate when Dad asked me if I had it. No big deal though, as I put the new battery in and the computer recognized it. I think the old one has just had it, so I'll leave it here with my parents and ask them to recycle it.

Aside from that, two more days till I leave for the Philippines! I'm excited!

Minor Battery Tragedy II--Resolved

Called Batteries Plus in Boise and they have the battery I need in stock. We had planned to enjoy parents' anniversary dinner here in Glenns Ferry but now we have reason to go to Boise. Things work out. I will pay $30 more than what the outfit in NJ had charged me for what was more than likely a refurbished, after-market item and shipping. And, of course, if I had gotten it and it had been wrong, then I would be in trouble. So it's all good.

Teeth II

Went to the dentist again today to get tooth #17 worked on. The decay wasn't as deep on this one as on the rest, so it was a fairly simple operation. I should be fine now, just so long as I make sure to schedule the regular cleanings (I've been neglectful) and floss and all that stuff.

Last Minute Details + Minor Battery Tragedy

I'm calling my banks to flag my accounts so that they don't cut off my debit cards when they start seeing charges in the Philippines. From my experience as a bank teller, overseas charges on credit and debit cards were usually a sign of identity theft. Even though I'm maintaining a US address at my parents' home, I plan to be using my accounts and debit cards over there. I was talking to the first one as I was typing. Now that one's done and I have to call the other one. I didn't type while I talked to the second one, and now it's done as well.

Next issue was calling the movers and asking them to call my brother as they're on the way to the storage facility to pick up my stuff. He lives 15-20 mins away so it's good if he has a bit of a heads-up. Left a message with them (I actually called them before the banks), so I should hear back later.

Now I have to call my cell phone provider and ask to be let out of the contract early because I'm going overseas where my phone will not work. I understand I'll be issued a cell phone by the seminary or by the field office so I'll be able to communicate while I'm there, but my American one is no good. Ack! *61 apparently does not work outside my home area, which is still Tennessee. But the independent authorized dealer I spoke with yesterday gave me a 1-800 number so I'll try that. On hold... The guy said I needed to fax the information about where I was going and they should cancel the account with no fee...so I'll do that.

Now for the minor tragedy, perhaps further evidence of the Fall: my laptop battery gave up the ghost during my trip from Tennessee to Idaho. I ordered a replacement from some outfit in New Jersey on Tuesday, paying extra for two-day express shipping. Long story short, they put it in as regular UPS ground shipping, arrival date 6/17/2008. For those of you keeping score at home, that's two days after I leave for the Philippines. So I called them and went around and around proposing solutions, and all I got was no, no, no, no. Essentially, their attitude was "Man, that must suck for you." I suppose I should have checked on Tuesday to make sure that it was coming as it should, but (cue Sappy Life-Lesson Music) I just thought that the people would do what they were supposed to do. I should know better by now. Anyway, I emailed the tech guy on the field for reputable places in Asia that can send stuff to the Philippines without my having to pay thirteen arms and a toe for duties/customs. More later on this issue, perhaps.

Teeth

In preparation for the great adventure, I've been to the dentist four times in the last two weeks. First time was just a checkup and x-rays, which uncovered a few cavities, five actually. Then the second time I just had a cleaning, no big deal. Third time, they got me in an repaired three of the cavities. That actually hurt pretty bad, so they had to inject some super-strength anesthetic in there. This still felt bad once the deadening agent began to wear off because it ITCHED like fire, but my check was still numb so no amount of scratching would alleviate the itch. So today I went in for the fourth time, and they fixed up the fourth cavity. Turns out now that there was yet another last-minute cancellation and I'll go in tomorrow morning for the last cavity. Better to get everything done now before I leave the country, I reckon.

Luggage Matters II

I hope you'll forgive the typo in the last entry...

And for the preliminary weigh-in results: on one piece my estimate was one pound high, and on the other it was four pounds low. The not-so-big ugly bag weighs 34 lbs., while the big ugly hardshell case clocks in at 49 and some change. We'll have to rearrange some things because we have a lot of play in the lighter one, and we'd like some breathing room in the heavier one. More to come.

Luggage Matters

Flying on Horizon Air from Boise to Seattle--itty bitty plane.
Flying on China Airlines from Seattle to Taipei and then from Taipei to Manila--great big huge plane.
Issue: will the itty bitty plane allow me to take as much baggage as the great big huge plane? Well, according to Horizon Air website and the customer service dude I talked to on the phone last night, international passengers with Horizon Air tickets transferring to another airline follow the other airline's rules for luggage. Turns out it doesn't matter so much, since both allow me to take two pieces of checked luggage no heavier than 50 lbs. each, plus, essentially, two carry on items no heavier than 35 lbs. (I think this is a total).

So, then, now it's just a matter of packing the two pieces of checked luggage. I have this huge, heavy, ugly, hardshell black thing my dad used for international travel long before 9/11 made the weight and contents of luggage became things to which people actually had to pay real attention. I also have a huge, not-so-heavy, not-quite-as-ugly softshell foldover garment bag-type black thing that I've had since seminary. Turns out that I didn't bring a tremendous amount of stuff with me to Idaho, seeing as how I was able to put most of it in the shipment from Nashville, and even then I didn't make it all the way to the limits established for that.

The first one weighs 13 lbs. empty--leaving 37 lbs. of packable capacity--and I didn't bother to weigh the second one empty. But once we got everything packed up, we're guessing that the big ugly one weights 40-45 lbs., and the big, not-so-ugly one weighs about 30-35 lbs. We're going to make sure we weigh them properly before we leave Glenns Ferry to go to the Boise airport on Sunday, because we don't want to get into a situation where we have to repack and redistribute at the airport. I really, really don't want my unmentionables on display for all the world to see. ;-)

Limerick

Four months is a very short notice,
and ignorance is not really bliss.
Could it really be
that God's calling for me
to use what I know in his service?

T-minus five days

A second is a second, a minute a minute, an hour an hour, and so forth, but sometimes it seems like time moves faster or slower depending on whether you are or are not looking forward to something. Me? I am definitely looking forward to something!

And here's another way time seems to march differently than it really does. My flight from Seattle to Taipei (leg two of three) takes, on the clock, 27 hours, 10 minutes (1:10 AM June 16th-5:20 AM June 17th). But the stated flight time is 13 hours, 10 minutes. I know it has to do with the position on the globe and time zones and crossing over the international date line and all of that, but I still think it's pretty cool.

I've gotten most of the details straightened out for my trip. The shipment of books and other household goods is leaving from Nashville on June 16th, and even though it leaves during my trip, it will not arrive until long after I do--another way time moves differently depending on your perspective. I've spent some time packing and saying goodbye to family throughout Idaho, but at the end of the day (another time reference) even though the time is very short before my departure, it still hasn't quite hit me...

Haiku

Headed for Manila;
interesting adventure!
God goes before me.