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. :-)