Studying. Estudiando.

Sitting shirtless at my computer, working feverishly, and dripping sweat. A cup of strong, black coffee at hand. Birds singing raucously outside. Sunlight streaming through the window. Suddenly, I am transported back to Madrid.

Me siento en frente de mi ordenador, sin camisa, trabajando locamente. El sudor corre por la espalda y se gotea de las piernas. Una taza de cafe muy fuerte está lista para el trago ocasional. Afuera, los pájaros cantan ruidosamente. Los rayos de sol entran por la ventana abierta y rebotan por mi habitación. De repente, en mi espíritu, me traslado otra vez a Madrid.

Ni hao!

Greetings from Beijing, where I'm doing another study-abroad. I'm at the Law School of Renmin University of China, studying Chinese business law through a program sponsored by Indiana U/Purdue U-Indianapolis. I arrived on 20 May and will be abroad until 30 June.

Unfortunately, I can't access my blog from China, except through Elon's VPN, which is a bit of a cumbersome process. Never fear, though! I've been keeping a blog/journal by posting notes on my Facebook profile, so have a look over there. As always, photos are on Flickr, at the following URL.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrervin/

Huitou jian!

Believe It or Not!

I can’t believe that I spent nearly two months in Spain and wrote only one entry for this blog. It’s true that I was busy enough experiencing living in a foreign country and documenting that experience through photos, not to mention the commitment required for my two Spanish courses in Madrid and the independent study that I’m doing for law school! It took a couple of weeks to adjust emotionally and physically to being abroad. It was quite an adventure living in a cosmopolitan city of six million people in a foreign country where I had to use my foreign language skills on a daily an hourly basis to survive. In the end, I not only survived, but flourished, and came to love my temporary home! I made many wonderful friends of classmates, my señora and her family, and other madrileños. I learned a great deal about myself, too, by finding the assertive part of myself, by pushing the limits of my tolerance for daily annoyances, by pressing myself to persevere in difficult tasks, and by stretching to communicate with people with a completely different perspective and approach than I.

I can’t believe that I finally met Enrico, my Italian pen-friend of seventeen years! After my Spanish courses ended, I flew to Italy and spent a few days in Modena getting to know Enrico, his family, and his hometown. After Italy, I went to France to spend a long weekend with friends who live south of Lyon, near Montélimar; they live in a fairy tale – a medieval village with a castle towering over and surrounded by mountains and vineyards. In both France and Italy I had to pull out and dust off my French in order to talk with my friends, find my way about, and get along in daily life.

I can’t believe that I’m already back in the States and working in my internship in the District Attorney’s office and living with my grandparents. Pepper and I have installed ourselves in Rockingham with Mamaw and Papaw. I awaken early, put on a suit, and head to the courthouse, where I observe in court and do research to help the prosecutors to prepare for upcoming cases. Deputies, jurors, defendants, defense counsel, and even judges have all addressed me as if I were already a lawyer; at least I look the part!

I can’t believe that on 4 July, the day after I returned from Spain, Chris, my boyfriend of two-and-a-half years, proposed to me over lunch in the restaurant where we rekindled the friendship that we initiated fifteen years ago. I was dumbfounded and couldn’t speak for a moment, but I eventually gathered enough wits to accept! After some discussion of what to do next (set a date for a ceremony, elope, plan a reception), we went on to purchase the rings that we’d chosen before I went to Spain, said vows to one another in private, and are now married – husband and husband. Chris wrote about this event in his blog far more eloquently than I did here!

I can’t believe what an amazing man I have in my life. Chris is intelligent (especially so in ways that I’m not), gifted in dealing with children, a great cook, disarmingly handsome, a gentle lover, and has a seemingly unending capacity to love. He is a good friend, was a great boyfriend, and will certainly be a wonderful husband and father.

I can’t believe the reactions of our families. Chris’ family comes from a religious background, but most of them root their faith in love and choose to express that emotion over others. Chris’ sister voiced her delight at the prospect of my being her brother-in-law several weeks ago. Chris sat down with his parents just a couple of days after our exchange of rings and was pleasantly surprised by their reaction and their willingness to engage in dialogue. My own mother expressed unabashed pleasure at the news, exclaiming “You picked a good one!” My dad was surprised at the quick turn of events, but was delighted and wished us much happiness. My grandmother was also caught off-guard by the surprise news and I was caught equally off-guard by her reaction. My mother had apparently told her that someone had gotten married and that she should phone me for details; she did and when I revealed the newlyweds’ identity, I was met with silence. When I saw her in person the next day, a disrespectful comment on her part resulted in a confrontation between us which ended only with ruffled feathers being smoothed, rather than any meeting of the minds, or, for that matter, any congratulations.

Having covered what I can’t believe, you might be wondering what I can believe. I can and do believe that life is a series of challenges to which we must rise and that the greatest injustice that we can commit against ourselves is to think that we aren’t good enough to achieve great things or that we don’t deserve to have great things happen to us. :J

Madrid 1: Journey and Arrival

After a whirlwind of studying, exams that felt like one punch after another, and seeing to countless details, I boarded a plane at noon EDT on Thursday and headed for Madrid. Despite connections in Detroit and Amsterdam, the trip felt short. Heck, after that 19-hour flight to Manila, almost any non-inter-planetary trip would feel short!

Dutch security tried to throw a monkey-wrench into my travel plans. I was trotting through the terminal of Schiphol airport, following the signs to the gate for the final leg of my trip when -- Bam! -- I ran right into a crowd of people sifting VERY slowly through passport control and customs. I stood in one line for about ten minutes without moving before deciding to head over to the "quick connections" line. Despite its name, it wasn't moving much faster than the other lines. Tempers flared. People shouted at the Passport agents in French and Dutch and with Australian, British, and totally foreign accents that they were missing their connections. I was in danger of missing my own connection! I watched as flights leaving at the same time as mine showed "boarding" and then "gate closing". I tried to not panic. At the x-ray belt, people flung things trough, disregarding admonishments to remove liquids, gels, shoes, belts, laptops, etc. I grabbed my bags and started to run as I fed my belt through the loops on my pants, then stopped short, realizing that I'd left my wallet, passport, and onward ticket at the x-ray! I dropped my bags right there in the middle of the airport and went back for my other things! Granted, it was only about 15 feet, but in the pressing crowd, Jimmy Hoffa could've disappeared.

I did make it to my flight to Madrid. As I approached the gate, I heard my name announced over the public address system. The gate agents and flight crew were very friendly and welcomed me warmly; they expressed genuine concern that I had to rush and told me to relax on the flight and let them take care of me. No problem! KLM treated us all well with good food and extremely friendly staff, so the flight from Amsterdam to Madrid was awesome. There was no passport control or customs to speak of in Madrid; I just walked past a lone Guardia Civil that ignored me. Cash. Change. Phone call ("Hola, Marlí ¡he llegado!"). Taxi. Apartment. Exhale. Relief!

I have eaten and slept a good bit since my arrival this morning. I was hoping to lose some weight in Madrid with all of the extra walking and none of the fast food, but if my señora keeps feeding me like this, those hopes will be dashed. I have already had a pan-fried chicken breast with garlic, green salad, and a huge tortilla. Of course, a Spanish tortilla is what we'd call an omelette -- chopped potatoes and onions mixed with a few eggs and baked on the stovetop in a pan so that it looks a bit like a stout cake of cornbread. Yum!

I have taken some photos of the apartment where I'm staying, as well as the little bit of Madrid that I can see from my windows. I walked around the neighborhood after dinner, but it was too dark to take photos then. BTW, it didn't get completely dark until 10.30 PM! I plan to go out tomorrow to take photos of the neighborhood, scope out the route to school, and see Retiro Park. Retiro Park was once a wilderness preserve and royal retreat, so it is to Madrid as Central Park is to New York or Bosque Chapultepec is to Mexico City.

I have discovered just how much energy it takes to concentrate on what people are saying so that I can understand them. I am blessed with a good accent, so people can understand me easily when I speak Spanish, but that leads my listener to assume that I'm gonna understand him/her when s/he talks back! Not always the case at present. I'm confident, however, that if I maintain throughout my trip the level of interaction that I've had today, I'll have made a big improvement in my skills!

For now, I'm off to dream-land! Er, I mean... el país de los sueños. :J

And That's Final!

Exams are over, at last, and my first semester of law school is history, but a relaxing winter break is hardly in the cards for me.

To celebrate the end of exams, Chris and I went to Asheville for the weekend, dined at one of the restaurants on Biltmore Estate (The Bistro), and took a candle-light tour of Biltmore House. The food was excellent and it was fun to see the House in its full holiday finery, but I had car trouble on the trip. My car, Diego, decided to help me to develop an appreciation for irony and chose one of the coldest days of the year, in Asheville, in the snow even, to fry his water pump and overheat. He is now convalescing at the mechanic's while I get a work-out on the bus.

Right after all the family visits and festivities, I'll be consumed with packing and moving, since my roommate bought a new house a few weeks ago and will close the deal just before New Year. My cat, Cilantro, displeased with my scarcity around the house since I entered law school, has taken to urinating in a few choice spots around our current house. He can't do that in the new house, so as part of the move, he's going to Virginia to live with Jeff. I'm sure that I'll enjoy the brief visit with Jeff and his family, but I'll for sure miss Cilantro's rich personality and his antics. (Yes, it was just over a year ago that my other cat, Curry, passed away of complications from diabetes.)

On the brighter side, Chris has kitted out his condo with a doggie bed, kennel, and bowls in anticipation of my dog, Pepper, spending more time there. The ability to bring Pepper with me to Chris' along with Cilantro's move will give me a lot more flexibility with regard to traveling with Pepper and staying in Greensboro without feeling guilty about leaving her behind and imposing on my roommate to look after her.

I'm keeping my spirits up during all of this with feeling good about exams (grades in February), thinking about how much worse some of these scenarios could have turned out, and looking forward to my trip to Spain this summer!

Let's wrap things up with a random thought... Is it any wonder that two-thirds of personal bankruptcies in the United States are because of medical bills? My grandpa had heart surgery to replace a valve a few months ago and the bills have started to roll in. The first one was an eye-popper. For two weeks of hospitalization, two days of which were in intensive care, the bill was $110,000. Where I live, that's a modest house! Yes, his insurance will pay much of that, but can you imagine his reaction if he didn't have insurance? I dare say that his heart surgery would have been for naught at that point.

¡Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo! :J

Fall Break

Oh, merde! I forgot that I have a blog!

No, I didn't really forget, but sometimes it would seem that way. The truth is that a combination of school and what many bloggers suffer (call it burnout, block, or what have you) have conspired to both prevent me from writing and keep me unmotivated to write.

I will note that law school is going well. It is certainly challenging, but I feel that I have a hold on things. (We'll see if that feeling lasts past Thanksgiving or, for that matter, very far into November.) There is endless reading, but it's not like reading a novel or even reading a college textbook, it's like reading a refrigerator warranty, a credit card agreement, or a mortgage promissory note. It's dense, detailed, and, quite often, dull. To continue the alliteration, it requires a good dose of diligence, too. I often get a page or two into my nightly reading and begin to think about how dry it is and how much of it yet lies ahead. My mind drifts and suddenly it's two pages later and I can't recall a word from from those two pages, so I have to go back to what I do remember and pick it up there. Right on cue, my brain drifts at the same point as if triggered to do so by a particular word (no doubt a Latin word). I repeat the process, staying alert for the trigger word, and force myself past the blockade.

Not all of the reading is dull. Earlier this week, I knew that things were going to be interesting when a case began, "An unfortunate combination of gasoline, matches, and a seven-year-old boy resulted in the lawsuit which underlies this appeal." (Peterson v. Taylor, 316 NW 2d 869, Iowa 1982). Then there was the case that even my case book referred to as "The Nitroglycerin Case" (Parrot v. Wells-Fargo, 82 US 524, 21 L Ed 206, 1872). Ahh, if only all of life were as blazingly gratifying as torts class!

Fortunately, fall break gave me a reprieve from school earlier this week and I was able to enjoy a bit of life as I once knew it. Chris and I rented a cabin in Grayson County, Virginia, and spent a weekend on the side of a mountain, 20 miles from the nearest grocery store, in the middle of the pasture of a sanctuary farm for rescued animals. Rugby Creek Farm is home to horses, goats, dogs, cats, chickens, donkeys, and guinea hens that have been rescued from a variety of sad situations. Cabin rentals help to fund their full-time animal rescue operation, which recently achieved 501(c)3 non-profit status. We toured the farm and met all of the animals, enjoyed a short but scenic hike in Grayson Highlands State Park, and attended a molasses festival at the Mount Rogers Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. I also seized the opportunity to do something that I've not had the time to do since I've been in school -- I cooked! Bringing some ingredients from home and gathering more provisions from the Food City in Independence (where the local newspaper is called The Declaration), I made a pot of vegetarian chili on Saturday evening. See photos from the weekend in my Flickr.

We returned home on Sunday evening. I had grand plans to catch up and get ahead by reading supplements and getting my outlines in order, but so much stuff that I've put off during school (filing, laundry, software updates, etc) stood up and demanded attention and it was all that I could do on Tuesday evening to finish my reading for Wednesday. Ugh.

I'm already looking forward to the summer and how I'm going to fill my time without school. I'd like to get an internship in a law office or working for a judge for part of the summer, but I'm making plans to go to Madrid for another part of the summer to work on my language skills. I've applied to UNCG's program in Madrid (which focuses on language and culture) and am looking at William and Mary's program (which focuses on European law).

For now, I'm paddling along until Christmas, by which time I'll be looking festive with my red eyes and green complexion. :J

Last Hurrah

Just before my final days at work this past Monday and Tuesday (30 and 31 July), Chris and I headed out of town for a brief get-away. We had wanted to go to New York and see Fantasia Barrino play Miss Celie in the Broadway version of The Color Purple, but that trip fell apart as we studied our respective budgets. We scaled back our plans and decided on a couple of road trips instead of one big, fantastic voyage.

So, last Friday, Chris and I piled into the car and headed north to Lynchburg. Chris lived in Lynchburg for a few years and I had visited Lynchburg often over the previous several years, as it's the hometown of my ex, Jeff, and his family sstill lives there. Upon arrival in Lynchburg, I met Jeff's mom to exchange some of his and my possessions that had gotten shuffled in the moves. I brought her some of her favorite candy treats and Chris and I both enjoyed chatting with her. We then met a friend of Chris' for lunch at a Lynchburg-style Chinese buffet (complete with all of the normal, Americanized Chinese fare, plus french fries, pigs in blankets, pizza, cheese and seafood tartlets, and an array of dishes made by combining the same six ingredients in different proportions; kinda like Taco Bell, but "Chinese" instead of "Mexican"). As much as I deride it, I enjoy an occasional dose of Lynchburg-style Chinese food. After Lunch, I paid homage to tradition by hitting the J.Crew outlet (J.Crew is based in Lynchburg and this is a real outlet attached to the warehouse!) and the outlet of the Old Virginia Candle Factory, which is always a good place to find Christmas and birthday gifts.

I'd planned a surprise for Chris on Saturday, who organized and surprised me with several adventures when I visited him in the Philippines. (I'd have no idea where I was going and end up on a donkey headed up a volcano or on a plane to Fantasy Island.) We were planning to go to church at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh on Sunday and I wanted to find a hotel near Raleigh so that we wouldn't miss church like we did the last time that we tried to attend Pullen when we ended up too hungover to go! So, I was poking around on Google Earth to find a nice hotel with a spa and spotted the Carnivore Preservation Trust, an animal rescue facility near Pittsboro that has tigers, leopards, ocelots, servals, jaguars, and other carnivorous cats and keystone species. It sounded like fun, so I made a reservation and we ended up enjoying an educational, 90-minute tour of the facility and introduction to several of their eighty resident animals. We watched tigers feast on whole chickens, saw a male tiger spray (Think garden hose.), and enjoyed the antics of a deceptively comical kinkajou.

Leslie, my roommate, had gone to the Raleigh-Durham airport to pick up her nephew and her sister, so we met them and had dinner at Southpoint mall in Durham after screening Knocked Up on our own. After dinner, we headed to Raleigh. I gave up on finding a hotel with a spa in my price range, so I just got us a room at the Holiday Inn next to Pullen so that we'd have minimal excuses for missing church the next morning. We did roll out of bed and attend church, where we were treated to a Taizé-style worship service (the main feature of which are musical chants in-between the components of worship) that also incorporated vignettes of prayerful dance.

After church, we visited some of Chris' friends, Andy and Megan, who'd recently become parents. Another friend, Brooks, who knows all of us one way or another (I met him at Wake Forest Baptist Church.) and who happens to now be the youth minister at Pullen, also joined us and we spent a lovely afternoon catching up and taking turns holding the baby. Andy is a software developer, Brooks used to work as a Macintosh technician, and I was until just recently a database administrator, so it was predestined that the three of us would end up geeking out for a while. Sure enough, we headed up to the Andy's study to "ooh" and "ahh" over the Commodore 64 that he'd recently purchased on eBay to relive a bit of his youth. I mistakenly identified it as a Commodore 128 until he pointd out that it was a 64 in its second-generation case. He'd kitted it out with a monochrome monitor, two disk drives, and a HUGE mouse that plugged into the joystick port. He demonstrated the GEOS software that he'd installed that put a Macintosh-style GUI on the Commodore. I mentioned that I had a TI-99/4A and we went on for awhile about the TI's superior graphics and sound, the Commodore's greater popularity, and the deficiencies of the two (TI's curious implementation of BASIC and convoluted code interpretation, Commodore's crippled serial bus that made access to disk data slow). All we lacked was the tape on our glasses, the goose-honking laughter, and our tri-Lam sweatshirts! We visited for a long time and ended up going for dinner immediately after leaving Andy and Megan's house. I was able to talk Chris into going to one of my favorite restaurants, Sweet Tomatoes, whose nearest location is in Raleigh. Yum!

The weekend gave way to a short work-week, since Tuesday was my last day at work before beginning law school next week. I tied up some loose ends and snuck out, wanting to avoid any long goodbyes. My law school text books have begun arriving and information about orientation has been arriving steadily. I have recently learned that I must wear a suit for my first two days! I might as well get used to it, since gone are the days of wearing camp shirts, cargo shorts, and hiking sandals to work. Silk ties, starched shirts, and wool suits will soon replace them. I might just have to rebel a bit and wear seersucker or olive drab and, to be sure, my faithful bow-ties shall make frequent appearances! Feh. Trust me to rebel by being über-traditional! :J

Roller Coaster Week

The past week or so has been quite a roller coaster, chocked full of events.

Last Monday, I viewed a condominium that interested me in the Whilden Place community in Greensboro. It looked better on paper than in person, but its two bedrooms and attic enticed me with the thoughts of separate sleeping and studying areas and plenty of storage for all of my possessions. Later, I spent a pleasant evening with my neighbors on their front porch, enjoying conversation and camaraderie, not to mention a couple of beers and one of the cigars that I brought from Manila. I went home that evening in my altered state and laid down in the grass in my back yard at nearly midnight. Pepper ran over and licked my face. I looked up at the stars, which were finally visible after several cloudy days. I lifted my head and looked at the soft light filtering through the windows of my den and the ceiling fan turning slowly inside. Did I really want to leave this place, my home? Did I really want to move away from these people? Would it really be that impractical to find a roommate and continue commuting to Greensboro after beginning law school?

My house officially went on the market on Tuesday. I stayed at home on Tuesday and Wednesday to make the house ready for showings and engaged in a flurry of cleaning and repair projects, the most significant of which was painting the entire floor of my front porch. Pouring all of this energy into my house kept stirred-up my sentimentality for the place. As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, I'd taken my car to the dealership for routine service and received some shocking news at mid-morning -- in addition to the $550 or so just for the service interval, they'd found other problems (including the rear brakes) and the bill would be closer to $1,000! Yes, again. Yes, within a month of my last $1,000 repair bill. I took this as a sign and resumed making my house ready for the market with fresh vigor. On Wednesday, my handy-womon came over and worked for a few hours on miscellaneous projects and I met friends Travis and Tony for dinner at California Fresh Buffet, which is closing at the end of this month. (It's fitting that one of my favorite restaurants should close as I'm moving.) A handful of viewers and curious neighbors came through the house and I had pleasant conversations with each of them.

I did a few law-school-related things on Thursday, including attending a talk on copyright issues at work and the Thursday afternoon tea at Elon Law. Each Thursday, Elon Law hosts a social hour with a local judge as the guest of honor. That Thursday's judge was Katherine Eagles. Her husband, Bill Eagles, taught the civil liberties course that I audited this semester. He's enough of a character that I was interested to meet his wife and take advantage of the opportunity to schmooze with members of the Elon Law community, as it was becoming more apparent that I'd end up there. I did enjoy speaking to the Eagles, as well as several Elon Law faculty and students and members of the Greensboro legal community.

On Friday, Pepper and I hit the road for Beaufort SC (pronounced BYEW-fert, as opposed to Beaufort NC, pronounced BOW-fert) to visit Mum, who is living there part-time in her retirement. I stopped en route in Rockingham and had lunch with Mamaw and Papaw. I stopped by the Filipino grocery store before leaving Winston-Salem and surprised Mum and Mamaw with some ube (purple sweet potato) ice cream. I had a fine time in Beaufort and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, natural scenery, and seafood (soft-shell crabs -- yum!), though Mum embarrassed me at dinner one night by flirting a bit too strongly with our waiter, whom we later found out was all of 26 years old. The long drive down and back went by quickly thanks to being broken up with meal stops in Rockingham and stretch/fuel/pee breaks in Santee and Latta.

While I was in Beaufort, my Realtor called to report that he had received two written offers for my house! We agreed that, in the interest of fairness, we'd apprise the bidders of the situation and ask them to submit follow-up bids. We also came up with a plan to make an offer on the Whilden Place condo that I had viewed. He called back to report good and bad news -- both bidders had come back with slightly higher offers, but the Whilden Place condo had just gone under contract. I made a plan to view some other condos in the Sunset Hills community in Greensboro and reviewed the revised purchase offers. I accepted the offer from Norma, a neighbor who walks her dog past my house nearly every day and collects litter as she goes. I had shown her the house initially and she had returned with her Realtor. I just had a good feeling about Norma. My neighbors, who also know Norma, greeted me with elation when I returned home from signing the offer.

Also while I was in Beaufort, mail arrived from the law schools at UNC Chapel Hill and NCCU. NCCU admitted me, but UNC Chapel Hill put me on a waiting list. Besides my feeling that I had waited long enough for a decision from UNC Chapel Hill (4.5 months), they wrote that they might not reach a final decision until 24 August, almost two weeks after classes will have already begun at Elon Law. So, that was it. Decision made. Elon it is. The folks at Elon were courteous enough to give me a decision quickly (about six weeks), offered me a partial scholarship, have shown unwavering eagerness to have me join their community, and have been generally very on-the-ball with everything.

So, that's it! I've made my final decision about where to attend law school and after six days on the market, my house is under contract! Chris pointed out that the short time on the market and smooth negotiations were a further sign that selling my home is the right thing to do. Closing is set for 16 May and I have a lot of work ahead of me, both packing and finishing up projects with the house, so I'm gonna end this blog entry and get to it! :J

Law School Expo

I got in my car just before lunch-time today to drive up to Wake Forest University and attend a graduate and professional school expo to which several law schools had sent admissions representatives. When I got into my car, I discovered a nasty surprise.

My windshield was cracked!

Yes, again.

Yes, the new windshield that I just installed two months ago!

Grrr. Well, at least this crack is on the passenger side and not immediately in my field of vision as the other crack was.

So, I drove up to Wake Forest and parked in an area on the grass just west of the quad that they often use for over-flow parking. I made my way into the Benson center and registered. I dunno whether it says more about folks graduating from Wake Forest or about current trends in graduate schools, but about 95% of the 75 or so schools there were law schools. Several others were MBA programs (including UNCG).

The first person with whom I spoke was Karen Britton, the representative from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK). I asked her many questions about the school and city and found her answers very helpful, both in particular about her own institution and about the law school admissions process in general. UTK didn't immediately pop into my head when I originally thought of where I might like to attend law school, but the low application fee attracted my attention and when I looked more closely, I found that I might be a strong candidate. Karen mentioned that many of their students work as summer associates at firms in Nashville, which is also the largest market for their graduates, something that weighs in UTK's favor with me.

Diane Finger of Wake Forest U was interested to hear about what had led me to consider a career in the law and told me about an upcoming admissions information session. Megan Jordan of Elon U answered yet more questions about accreditation from me and explained why their brand-new law school is well-positioned to earn ABA accreditation. Melissa Fruscione, whose e-mail message tipped me off to this event, spoke of how much Notre Dame U has to offer as an institution and a community. Cristi Head of Virginia (UVa) was rather encouraging and gave me an application fee waiver (worth $70) when I voiced my reluctance to even apply in light of my numbers and UVa's reputation (a top 10 law school).

I also spoke to Anne Richards of George Washington University and, finally, Mweni Ekpo of UNC Chapel Hill. (Mweni was constantly surrounded by a crowd and I wanted to make better use of my time than waiting.) I picked up a brochure from U South Carolina and signed their mailing list, but there was no one at their table at that moment. Everyone to whom I spoke answered my questions sincerely and candidly and took their time; I never felt rushed, even when I pounced on Mweni just as the expo was wrapping up.

I saw representatives from Columbia U, Vanderbilt U, Stanford U -- big names among law schools. There were folks from Charlotte and Charleston, two new private, for-profit law schools that are opening in those cities. There was even a representative from Chapman U, a medium-sized, private university in Orange County, California, that my friend, PJ, had tried to sell to me! NC Central U was conspicuously absent. I was disappointed to see that there was no representative from Samford U and WVU, two schools that are on the outer ranges of my radar, but about which I'm interested to see more information.

Going into the expo, I felt that I had little chance of receiving a fat envelope from Georgetown, UVa, or Vanderbilt but I felt relatively safe in applying to UNC Chapel Hill and WFU. Much of what I heard confirmed some of my suppositions, but I now fear that UNC Chapel Hill and WFU are "reaches" for me, too. I must admit that this is a little disappointing. I had hoped to receive a bit of encouragement, but that was as much as I received -- a little. Many to whom I spoke agreed that much would depend on my personal statement and other materials with which I supplemented my application.

Application fees are expensive (as much as $75 for the schools on my long list), so I'll shorten my list quickly and won't go out on many limbs. I will apply to UNC Chapel Hill, WFU, and Elon because those are my top picks. I'll apply to NC Central U and UTK because I think that I'd be a strong candidate. I'll apply to UVa because I have a fee waiver. Then, I'll wait patiently by my in-box to see what avenues open themselves to me. :J

Today's Linguistics Lesson: The Philippines

In a recent e-mail conversation about my trip to the Philippines, a friend made a perfectly innocent remark related to linguistics. Any of you that knows me well can imagine that I couldn't NOT respond in detail to his wondering "aloud".

Barry wrote:
I wonder why it is that Philippines is spelled with a "Ph" and double "pp", but Filipino is spelled with an "F" and a single "p".

I replied:
Philippines (noun form) and philippine (adjective form) look very Anglo to me, while Filipino (masculine adjective) and Filipina (feminine adjective) are clearly Hispanic. In the local Tagalog language, the name of the country is Pilipinas. It's interesting to note how they mix the languages. Spanish had an obvious influence on the language during the ~400 years that the archipelago was a Spanish colony. Common words borrowed from Spanish include "sapatos" from Spanish "zapatos" ("shoes"), "mesa" ("table"), "pero" ("but"), "gwapo" from Spanish "guapo" ("pretty/handsome"), and "kumusta" from Spanish "como está" ("hello" or "how are you"). Code-switching (speaking part of a sentence in one language and part in another) into English is rampant in everyday conversations on the streets of Manila. Tagalog and English often combine more closely still to produce what the locals call Taglish. Tagalog is a Melanesian language (closely related to Malay, Bhasa Indonesia, and Chamorro; less so to Samoan and Hawai'ian; and distantly to Malagasy) and, absent loan words and code-switching, sounds very foreign to me, indeed.

The hybridization of the Philippines' linguistic culture is most obvious in what they call their money. The Tagalog word for their basic monetary unit is "Piso", which divides into 100 "Sentimo". The "English" words for these units are "Peso" and "Centavo", respectively, which are direct borrowings from Spanish. BTW, "Sentimo" looks very much to me like the old French monetary sub-unit, the Centime, 100 of which made 1 Franc.

It's worth noting further that Tagalog is one of about a dozen major languages (of a few hundred in total) spoken in the Philippines. The standardized, national, written language, which is based on Tagalog, is called Filipino. The National Language Institute gave it this name in 1987; before that time, the written language was called Pilipino from 1961 and Tagalog before that. The 1961 name change was owing to continued development of a national language that borrows from a number of indigenous languages.

I heard less Taglish and code-switching in Legaspi City. For example, when Edith, our tour guide, spoke to Joe Joe, our driver, she never said "yes" or "no", she always used the Tagalog or Bikol "oo" and "hindi". By comparison, I never heard "oo" and "hindi" in Manila.

Chris noted the absence of the F and V sounds (voiceless and voiced labio-dental fricatives, respectively, to us linguists) from Filipinos' everyday speech. They use, instead, the P and B sounds (voiceless and voiced bilabial plosives, respectively). Good examples of this phonetic adaptation include two common loan words from English, the Tagalog words "trapik" and "drayber" which correspond respectively to the English words "traffic" and "driver".

And, yes, there are loan words of Filipino origin in English: boondocks, yo-yo, and amok to name a few.

Wikipedia has several articles on which I based much of this entry and that would make good further reading.

• Tagalog Language
• Languages of the Philippines
• Philippine Creole Spanish

Enjoy! :J

Manila Trip - Part 7

Another early morning caught us unawares as Chris' fancy new phone cock-a-doodle-dooed us awake at 5 AM so that we could get to the airport for our 7.30 AM flight. Last night, I heard Jun tell Pacholo at Club Mwah that we had to leave early to catch a plane to "El [unintelligible]" and Chris had told me that this was to be a charter flight, so I had a few clues about our destination, but it really was still anyone's guess as to where we were going.

Even this early on a Saturday morning, there was some traffic, but we made our way to the airport quickly enough and found the Island Transvoyager office and checked in. A small-ish plane with two propellers sat on the tarmac beyond a leafy patio. Going through security screening, checking my bag, and receiving a boarding pass seemed a bit ridiculous, since I felt like I was preparing to board a flying taxi cab. (Did you know that "taxi cab" is short for "taximeter cabriolet"?) We waited in the lounge and enjoyed an iced tea (Nestea, which I now crave.) until a staffer came on the PA to announce that boarding was imminent, so we should take advantage of the restrooms on the ground since there's no lavatory on the plane. I began to regret my iced tea. A smartly-dressed womon walked out of a nearby office and conducted the standard safety information routine right there in the lounge. She mentioned that the cabin of the plane isn't pressurized. What had Chris gotten us into? At the boarding announcement, we headed out of the lounge and walked the twenty feet to the plane, stepped on the door, and entered. I sat. I buckled myself in. I tightened the belt. We took off. As it turned out, the ride was quite smooth and comfortable. We flew fairly low, but that just let me take in a bit of scenery and shoot some photos from the plane. About 90 minutes later, we landed at El Nido airport (ENI) on northern Palawan where we were greeted by musicians. We were shown to the arrivals lounge, where we enjoyed refreshments and browsed in the gift shop before boarding a Jeepney that took us to the dock. We transferred to an out-rigger boat and rode for another hour... to paradise.

Absolute paradise. We glided over topaz-blue water past giant limestone boulders serving as islands that were lushly covered with greenery. Great clouds piled up in the sky trying to mimic and out-do the limestone islands. A string of cottages came into view and we had arrived at our destination, El Nido Resorts' Lagen Island. The resort was a cluster of cottages lined up along the edges of a lagoon and nestled in a tropical forest, centered around a large clubhouse, pool, and restaurant. Sheer limestone cliffs hundreds of feet tall provided a dramatic backdrop to this fantastic scene. I was at a loss for words. How had Chris found this place? How had he managed to arrange such an elaborate get-away? What had I done to deserve such an unimaginable voyage?

Staff helped us off of the boat at the docks and led us to the clubhouse where more musicians greeted us and a staffer oriented us to the resort and its facilities. The resort generates its own electricity and processes its own sewage. Bacuit Bay, in which the resort is located, is a protected natural area. They asked us to please use the biodegradable soaps and shampoos that they provided, instead of our own, to minimize the introduction of foreign chemicals into the waters. Rubbish is shipped back to Manila for recycling or disposal. All activities (snorkeling, boat transportation to local sights, kayaking, hiking, banana leaf hat-making, tours, an intro SCUBA dive) and all food (three gourmet meals per day) were included. I couldn't decide if I was dreaming of myself in an episode of Fantasy Island or Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous!

We kayaked through Big and Small Lagoons of Miniloc Island, explored caves, had a picnic lunch on a semi-private beach, swam in waters hotter than a Jacuzzi tub, marveled at exotic sea shells and aquatic life, enjoyed a sunset cruise on the bay, took underwater photos and fed fish while snorkeling, and ate like kings. I had an introductory SCUBA dive near the resort dock while Chris snorkeled above me. Others explored the dozens of dive sites around Bacuit Bay, went deep-sea fishing, hiked a nature trail to one of the island hilltops, and went bird-watching in a mangrove. The staff were invariably friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and efficient; one activities coordinator could ask us once what we wanted to do each day and it immediately seemed as though even the landscaping crew knew what we were doing when. There was no schedule except our own; the staff were ready to accommodate us whenever we felt like undertaking a new adventure. We quickly became acquainted with some of the other guests: couples from South Africa and Geneva as well as some young, American ex-pats working in Manila). Every meal included sushi and smoked fish; rice; fresh fruit juices; and an array of foods from Asia (sushi, bok choy, kimchee), Europe (pastas), the Philippines (garlic rice), and North America (fried chicken, Cocoa Puffs). Did I mention the desserts? These people know what to do with chocolate! There was a dense chocolate torte one night and a memorable flourless chocolate cake the next, besides heavenly cookies. Yum! I cannot say enough good about El Nido Resorts. If you can find the time and money to go there for a week or more, it's well worth the effort that it takes to get there!

Our stay at the resort turned out to be a fitting final flourish to the trip of a lifetime. But, a final flourish it was. We returned to Manila on Monday evening. Chris went back to work on Tuesday and I spent most of the day putting photos on Flickr and packing. I'd intended to go to the mall for a manicure and to buy some final souvenirs, but a torrential rain kept me inside all day. I nervously watched the television news talk about terrorist bombings that had taken place over the weekend on Mindanao and follow up by reporting that Manila was under a red terrorist alert; police had information that terrorists were in Manila and preparing to carry out an attack in the capital. Yay. At about 7 PM, Chris returned and delivered me to the airport for my 10.30 PM flight. I said the sad, but inevitable goodbye and walked inside the terminal. As a guard was wanding a hand-held metal detector over me, I turned and saw the van pull away in the dark and rain from nearly the exact spot where it had warmly greeted me on a bright, early morning nearly two weeks before.

I checked in for my flight, paid the P550 (US$11) terminal fee, and completed an immigration departure form. Rather than read my passport and type the information into a computer as the arrivals officer had done, the departures officer placed my passport face-down on a small flat-bed scanner and pressed a key; a light flashed and that was it. Due to the red terrorist alert, I had to go through multiple screenings to enter the terminal, move between the check-in and gate areas, sit down at the gate, and board the plane. My bag was x-rayed twice and searched twice. I removed my shoes and emptied the contents of my pockets twice. Three small tubes of toothpaste were removed from my bag, including one from a sealed container emblazoned "Philippine Airlines". I wasn't complaining. I bought a few more postcards and gazed longingly at the offerings of Goldilocks bakery before boarding the plane. The trip back east seemed quite short compared to the westward flight. Once again, PAL took good care of us, feeding us four times, showing us three movies, and providing us with little extras to keep us comfortable. I slept for most of the flight across the Pacific Ocean. I cleared US Customs without a fuss, had a bite to eat in the airport, and slept again for much of my flight across the US. Upon arriving in Charlotte, I found my car in good condition, got a bit lost leaving the airport, but found I-85 quickly enough. I stopped in China Grove to deliver to Chris' sister some gifts that he'd sent back early for her children, then made my way home, where I was greeted by three ecstatic animals and the scent of cat urine. Ah, home again! :J

Manila Trip - Intermission

Chris put up some pics on Flickr that he took of our our various excursions during my visit... to Tagaytay/Taal, Legaspi City/Mayon, and El Nido (including my first SCUBA dive). He also has many snaps of his first visit to Palawan when he stayed in Puerto Princesa and visited the Underground River and other sights around Manila.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris0871/

I also found a group on Flickr called Only in the Philippines with interesting shots from around the country.

Have a look and enjoy! :J

Manila Trip - Part 6

There was little rest for the weary after our return to Manila from Legaspi City -- we had another flight to catch early the next morning to our next destination, which was still a secret to me.

Fortunately, there was some rest. Chris and I decided to visit The Spa, an establishment across the street from his hotel in Podium mall. As soon as we walked in, our sinuses were opened by the aroma of eucalyptus oil warming by the door. We approached reception and selected our services from the menu -- a manicure for Chris and a pedicure for me. I'd had my first pedicure ever at a resort near DC while attending a friend's wedding at Memorial Day of this year and quite enjoyed the experience as well as the results. The staff led us into a quiet room with terry-cloth upholstered, over-stuffed recliners and offered us cups of ginger tea -- an elixir! An hour later, we were filed, clipped, and polished and only P650 (US$13) poorer for the experience! By the way, Chris' Filipino friends think that this is an exorbitant amount to pay for a manicure and pedicure; they claim that P200 (US$4) is more on-target!

After our spa treatment, we headed down a couple of levels to Banana Leaf Asian Cafe, a cool pan-Asian restaurant with an impressive menu and very tasty food! The menu featured lots of curry, seafood, and fried rices from Hainan, Malaysia, Korea, and other cultures in eastern and south-eastern Asia. And, by the way, the name of the restaurant comes from the fact that they serve one's food on huge banana leaves instead of plates!

After dinner we grabbed a cab and headed over to one of Chris' favorite haunts in Manila, Club Mwah. I'd heard great things from Chris about this night club and disco and seen lotsa fun pictures from his several visits here with colleagues and visitors from work. Chris clearly felt at home from the moment that we walked in; his posture and gait were more confident and about half of the staff greeted him by name. This place is fabulous! I felt as if I'd walked into The Birdcage! The manager/owner, Pocholo, greeted Chris and showed us all around, introduced us to his partner (also named Chris) with whom he co-owns the club, and chatted with us for several minutes as he told us about some of the celebrities who'd visited -- ambassadors, politicians, and corporate executives, even Imelda Marcos! Chris' friend, Jun, a travel agent, joined us shortly and took some great pics of us that he shared. The show was simply amazing. They performed routines to Gloria Gaynor's I Am What I Am, Jailhouse Tango from Chicago, and something from Miss Saigon, among many other numbers. At the end, the two main hostesses and Chaka did an interactive comedy routine with the audience, introducing various groups to the rest of the club. They even put us in the spotlight at one point!

It was a very fun evening that ended far too soon. We left shortly after midnight so that we could rise at 5 AM and catch our 7 AM flight to... somewhere. Stay tuned! :J

Manila Trip - Part 5

Chris worked a compressed week, putting in his 40 hours in three days, so that we could take off for a few adventures in the latter half of the week. He arrived home at about 3 AM on Thursday morning and, like me, arose groggily at 5.30 AM. We dressed quickly, caught our car, and arrived at the airport for our 7:00 AM flight on Philippine Airlines (PAL) to Legaspi City.

Legaspi City (also spelled "Legazpi", though the S dominates locally) is on the Bicol peninsula, near the southern tip of Luzon, the largest of the more than 7,100 islands that make up the Philippines, and is home to Mayon, a well-known, active volcano highly regarded for its beauty due to its nearly perfectly symmetrical cone. I was excited about the prospect of visiting Mayon when I learned our destination (Chris kept many of his plans secret until the last minute.), especially since we'd just visited Taal several days before and because Mayon had just erupted a couple of months earlier.

Our tour guide, Edith Batalla, and our driver, Joe Joe met us at the airport. (A note about our driver's name: Reduplication is a common feature of Tagalog and other Melanesian languages and is often used to pluralize or to intensify words, so Joe Joe could be Joe Sr, Joe Jr, or Big Joe.) Edith took us on a complete tour of the towns and sights around Mayon and we completely circled the volcano. We visited Cagsawa (site of a town that Mayon buried in an 1814 eruption, only its bell tower survives), Naglagbong Geothermal Park and a ceramics factory in Tiwi, the Mayon Planetarium, and took in the view from a picnic shelter within the "permanent danger zone" on the slopes of Mayon. We also drove over numerous river beds that crews were clearing of ash and debris with which Mayon had filled them just weeks earlier. Edith delivered us to hour hotel at about 3 PM and provided us with some suggestions for dinner. Our accommodation for the evening was the Pepperland Motel, a large, Moorish-looking edifice the color of an egg yolk. We made our way to our room and lie down for a nap, but we ended up sleeping through the night and awoke at 6 AM.

Unfortunately, I didn't completely sleep through the night. Instead, it finally hit me; I got sick. I made several trips to the bathroom that night and produced something akin to a lumpy purée of motor oil and spinach. Like Mayon's, my own eruptions subsided quickly, though I felt queasy for much of the next day.

Having missed dinner (but being no worse off for it), we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and set out for the second part of our tour. We went to Ligñon Hill and visited a Phivolcs volcanic observatory station on its slopes and then took in the view from an events hall at its summit. Edith showed us Legaspi City's port area and Lion Hill, as well as the hillside Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (further evidence of the colonial-era connection between the Philippines and Mexico). I took some good photos of local flora at the Shrine; I now know where all of our tropical house-plants originated! We wandered around Pacific Mall for a couple of hours before Edith and Joe Joe delivered us to the airport for our 3 PM return flight to Manila.

PAL flies between Manila and Legaspi City only three times per week, so in order to return the next day, our return flight was on Cebu Pacific Air. I had never heard of Cebu Pacific and was a bit anxious about the return flight, imagining the airline equivalent of steerage with naked children and poultry running amok. You can imagine how pleased I was to board a brand new Airbus 319 (just three months old)! Cebu Pacific seems to be the Philippines' equivalent of the United States' Southwest Airlines, a fun-oriented, low-cost carrier. Cebu Pacific cabin crew often engage the passengers in karaoke and name-that-tune contests, though we were not so privileged on the 45-minute flight back to Manila. The flight was comfortable, on-time, and quite enjoyable. I look forward to flying Cebu Pacific again!

While we were waiting for our flight, a man walked in followed by two other men who were hunched over under the weight of an enormous icon of the Virgin Mary. This icon eventually occupied a place of honor in the floor of the front row of the plane and burdened two other now-hunchbacked men upon her arrival in Manila, where she attracted a sizable crowd of admirers and was eventually met by a small parade of several cars and vans adorned with blue and white balloons.

Unfortunately, Mayon was shy and kept its summit covered by clouds during our entire stay in Legaspi City. Edith explained that Mayon and the clouds that often cover its peak have been anthropomorphized by myth into a young, beautiful heiress (Mayon) whose father insisted that she marry a man of his choosing rather than the good and handsome, yet poor boy that she truly loved (the clouds). To escape her father's wrath and marriage to someone whom she didn't love, she took her own life. Upon learning of the heiress' demise, her enamored did likewise. She became the volcano and he the clouds and now the two are said to be making love when the clouds come and cover Mayon's tip for days at a time, flaunting their affair for all to see. So, rather than shy, I should say that Mayon was quite flagrant during our stay. I'm sure that Mayon's recent eruption was a feminine tantrum and the clouds were just soothing Mayon's temper for a perceived wrong!

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit Mayon, but I can't say a whole lot about Legaspi City. If you live in Manila and are bored one weekend, it might be a fun over-night trip, but I can't say that I was impressed enough to spend a whole weekend there and I think that Chris would echo my sentiments. Mayon is definitely the highlight of the area, though I'd have to say that chocolate-covered pili nuts are a close second! The area is also known for its whale shark watching.

I can say that Edith proved herself thoroughly knowledgeable about her home province of Albay and region of Bicol. I commented that she must've been a life-long tour guide, but she countered that she'd changed careers just four years ago, having previously been a professor of American Literature at two universities in Manila and Legaspi City for more than twenty years! If you do find yourself in Legaspi City, look her up! :J

Manila Trip - Part 4

The last few days have been kinda slow. Chris has been working a compressed week to put in his 40 hours in three days so that we can take off for a trip later this week. We were talking about the schedule for the rest of my stay and it came out that he has not one but two plane trips planned for us before I leave! He hasn't said where we're going, but I suspect that we're whisking off to Legaspi in southern Luzon and to Palawan. Time will tell!

So, I've been amusing myself by being a mall rat. There are several malls within walking distance of the hotel, three of which I can see from my window. From what I've read and seen on maps, I'm convinced that there must be well over a hundred malls in Metro Manila.

I walked Podium mall one evening in just a couple of hours. It has five levels, but the complex is quite compact. The shops are higher-end places like Lacoste, Columbia Sportswear, and Victorinox Luggage. The merchandise is as expensive as it is in the States, if not more so. I bought a map of the Philippines in National Book Store and some toiletries in Watson's Drugs.

Another day, I explored half of SM Megamall. Now, this is an enormous place! Chris has lived here for two and a half months and says that he still discovers stores. This used to be the Philippines' largest mall until this past May, when Mall of Asia, now Asia's largest mall, opened in a relatively undeveloped area on Manila Bay at the southern end of the EDSA expressway. SM Megamall also has five levels and is divided into two buildings, which are actually connected on four levels by a connector that stretches over Doña Julia Vargas Ave. In addition to hundreds of shops and restaurants (including a Jollibee on nearly every level -- more on that shortly), a bowling alley, an exposition hall, an anchor SM Department Store, a dozen-screen cinema, and an SM Super Market. Level 4 of building A is mostly art galleries, while level 5 has a lot of doctors' and dentists' offices. There's an area of small electronic stores (where I was glad to find a new charger for my mobile phone), a couple of hardware stores, many hair salons, and a car dealership. BTW, SM stands for "Shoe Mart", which is how the large company that SM has become got its start.

Walking the malls has given me some insight into a few particular segments of Philippine culture. I have noticed that men aren't extremely shy about adjusting themselves, picking their noses, or whipping it out for a pee in any old corner outdoors. As such, there are steel stalls scattered about the streets with the words "Male Urinal" emblazoned upon them. Interestingly enough, wimmin are more discreet about such things and, unfortunately, are not accommodated in the same way -- there are no "Female Urinal" cottages that I've seen.

Mall corridors are peppered with food kiosks, which sell all manner of foods. Among their offerings are hot dogs, which are usually wrapped in a waffle (kinda like a corn dog) and described as "American style." Mexican food and doughnuts are available everywhere, in kiosks, carts, and storefront restaurants. Taho is a traditional Filipino treat that I tried from a cart in the mall; it's made of tofu, turbinado syrup, and tapioca balls and served warm; I wanted to be able to say that I'd tried it and now, I can. Of course, all of this walking and shopping worked up an appetite in me, so I ducked into Jollibee, a fast-food chain that features a Filipino interpretation of American fast food. Hamburgers are available on buns made of bread or sticky rice (which McDonald's also offers). Fried chicken is served with mashed potatoes and gravy or rice and mushrooms. Breakfast includes pancakes, eggs, choice of sausage or corned beef, and, of course, the traditional garlic rice.

I'm very much enjoying myself here and am beginning to feel quite comfortable. I think that if I were here for an extended stay, like Chris, I could adapt and fit in quite quickly, a statement as much about my host country as about me. :J

Manila Trip - Part 3

Saturday started out with a bit of an adventure, as did Sunday. Sunday's was fun; Saturday's wasn't.

The training group that Chris was observing had finished a sequence of modules and was having a graduation party of sorts in a neighborhood resort with pool and bar not far from the office. Chris' colleagues wanted for me to attend the party, so I caught a cab to meet Chris at his office, which is in a Robinson's mall in Cainta. I packed a few things for the party, grabbed my mobile phone, a map of Manila, and some cash and headed out the door. Chris had mentioned that such a trip would cost about P200 (US$4). The hotel doorman offered to have the hotel car drive me ("It will be safer."), which would've cost P1,000 (US$20), but I elected for the cheaper cab. The doorman hailed a cab, took the cabbie's license and wrote down his name and registration number, then described to the cabbie where he understood that I wanted to go. I was off! I sent Chris a text message to let him know that I was on my way. I knew where I was going, so I followed along in my map for a while. Shortly, I noticed that the cabbie turned off of the street that'd've taken us from near the hotel to Chris' office in a straight shot. I paid close attention, but began to get a little worried. I worried a bit more when he turned off of this large boulevard onto a two-lane street that wound through a neighborhood and past a derelict freeway interchange that was intended to cross the Pasig River. There were still a lot of cabs around and I could tell where we were, so I figured that the cabbie knew a less-congested route. We ended up on another major boulevard that crossed the river and finally arrived at a destination -- a different Robinson's mall in another part of Cainta.

"Here you are, sir, Robinson's Cainta," the cabbie reported.

I didn't recognize the place and I knew from following the map that this wasn't where I wanted to go. "Is this Ortigas Avenue?", I asked somewhat rhetorically.

"Yes, sir," he replied, without hesitating to think about or acknowledge what I'd asked.

"No, it isn't!", I snapped. "This isn't where I wanted to go," I deadpanned as I handed the cabbie the map and pointed out my intended destination. The cabbie's eyes grew wide as he studied the map. I sent Chris another text message to report that we were lost. The phone rang shortly and Chris reported that one of his colleagues, Rio, was going to talk to the cabbie and tell him how to find where we needed to go. The cabbie took the phone and began speaking in Tagalog; I could tell that he was just as panicked as was I and I figured out that this is where the doorman had told him to take me. He handed the phone back to me and Rio reassured me that the cabbie now knew where he was going. I continued to follow along on the map until I was delivered to my correct destination just a few minutes later, aged and wizened from my experience!

I went inside the building and helped Chris for about an hour put together some things for a game night that we were to host on Sunday evening. About an hour later, we left for the resort. Our driver, Dante, whom Chris knows well, zig-zagged about the neighborhood where the resort was located for about 30 minutes before we found where we were going. The others followed about an hour later, then the food arrived an hour more later and was served just as we had to leave to arrive at another engagement. We scarfed down our barbecued tilapia with rice and hit the streets again.

We cabbed back to the hotel, changed clothes, and grabbed another cab that would take us to the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a large auditorium complex on Manila Bay, where Noel, a friend of Chris', was performing in a Tchaikovsky opera, Eugene Onégin. We travelled south on the EDSA expressway and turned north on Roxas Boulevard. We found the CCP complex and continued on through about a half-dozen more intersections, looking for one at which we could legally U-turn, a situation that amused me, considering how traffic works here. We u-turned and passed the CCP again. Frustrated, we stopped the cab and walked a couple of blocks to our destination. Inside, we dozed intermittently during the opera, but awoke when we heard Noel singing. After the performance, we greeted him in the lobby, then hopped in a cab for our next destination.

This driver was serious about getting us quickly to Mall of Asia for dinner and a concert with The Von Trapp Children. He sped up, braked, swerved, honked and wove his way through traffic in much the same way as do all other drivers here, though he was more determined in his pursuit of as many fares as possible. We walked about the mall, had a nice dinner, then made our way to the concert hall to see The Von Trapp Children, descendants of the real family on whose story The Sound of Music is based, who still tour and perform! It had been a long day for both of us and we slumped in our seats as we waited for the concert to begin, which it finally did 40 minutes late. We enjoyed about 45 minutes of singing until intermission, at which point we left. We were disheartened at the long taxi queue, but it moved quite quickly and we were home and in bed less than an hour later.

Sunday morning came early, though not quite as early as we'd thought it would. Dante, the driver, was to meet us and three of Chris' work friends at the hotel at 6 AM. When we awoke, the clock rudely reported that it was 6:20. We sprang from bed and began to buzz about getting ready. The phone rang; it was Jane calling from downstairs; she, Karen, and Lara had arrived, but Dante wasn't there yet. We readied ourselves and shot down in the elevator. Dante called to report that he'd just finished repairing a flat tire. We hit the road by 7 AM and made our way down the ESDA, past Mall of Asia, past the airport, and out of Metro Manila on the South Luzon Expressway into Cavite province. We drove the Aguinaldo Highway through Bacoor, Imus, and Silang. The terrain became more mountainous as we approached Tagaytay and then crossed into Batangas province just before arriving in our destination, Laurel, about two hours after setting out. In Laurel, we stopped at Natalia's Guest House, where we arranged for transportation across Lake Taal to Volcano Island and then up to the rim of Taal Volcano. A twenty-minute boat ride landed us on Volcano Island, where a twenty-minute donkey ride took us to the rim of Taal. That was the first time in my life that I'd ever ridden any sort of equine transport! The scenery was undeniably breath-taking and I took many photos. By the time that we returned to Natalia's, we were quite tired, even though we'd done nothing but ride all day -- van, boat, donkey! We lunched on grill-roasted tilapia from Lake Taal, stir-fried vegetables, rice, iced tea (quite popular here), and bananas. A sleepy-two hour drive returned us home to the hotel.

Jane, Karen, and Lara, who'd accompanied us to Taal, stayed on in anticipation of a game night that Chris had planned for some of his colleagues. We assembled the cards that we'd use for game play -- cutting, pasting, and laminating. Jane and I walked to the grocery store in the SM Megamall for drinks and snacks. John arrived at about 6 PM and Dianne arrived shortly afterwards. Chris ordered dinner from Yellow Cab Pizza and we set upon playing Scruples and having a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I enjoyed a Red Horse (strong Philippine beer) with my pizza. Though Chris intended to stay up through the night to get back on his work-week schedule, I couldn't keep my eyes open and lied down for a nap at about 10:30 PM, shortly before our guests left. It had been a fun weekend and I was completely worn out!

Manila Trip - Part 2

After Chris met me at the airport, we went back to his office to collect his belongings and tie up some loose ends. All of his work friends had said that they wanted to meet me and I was interested to see where Chris was working, so I had planned on making a trip to his office eventually. As we drove through Manila, I was struck at how much it conjured up memories of Mexico City.

Indeed, there are many similarities between the cities. Each was the capital of a Spanish colony; each city is a cosmopolitan, urban jungle in the midst of what are essentially third-world countries; each suffers under terrible pollution that would choke a Californian; and each has traffic that would fray the nerves of even a Parisian driver. Their respective countries have much in common, too. Each country was christianized by the Spanish and now has a Catholic majority; each is now closely allied (politically, culturally, and economically to varying degrees) with the United States; there are great economic disparities and extremes of rich and poor; each is doing a respectable job of maintaining a democracy and is working hard to modernize infrastructure, as well as economic and political institutions.

While driving along, I saw the naked superstructures of huge billboards that are sprinkled throughout the city. During typhoon Milenyo that passed through Metro Manila just a couple of weeks ago, one such billboard fell onto a bus and killed 40 people, causing an outcry against these billboards that clutter the skyline, so the billboards themselves were removed, leaving the bare superstructures.

Traffic here is quite something to experience. There are cars, buses, jeepneys, motorcycles, bicycles, and people streaming everywhere and all mixed together. There's clearly a system to it and it works; I've not seen an accident and Chris has only been in one light fender-bender. The key seems to be that people drive slowly and make liberal use of the horn to communicate their presence and intentions.

We arrived at Chris' office and checked through security (as we will do for every office building or shop that we enter). We arrived just as Chris' shift of trainees was leaving (which felt like class change in a small high school) and as we walked through the hallway, literally every second person chimed, "Hi, Chris!" He is clearly quite popular and well-respected. We encountered a crowd of Chris' work friends and he made the rounds of introductions. They all knew exactly who I was and exactly what I was doing here and were very excited to meet me. Chris had just a few loose ends to tie up in his day, so the crowd (Diane, Lara, John, Karen, and Jane) took me to breakfast in the office cafeteria and we had a fun and lively conversation. Karen bought me a flan to sample, which tasted different and somehow better than the Mexican and Spanish flan that I've had, and I had a surprisingly tasty instant coffee from a machine. We talked about their experiences at work (They are a contract call center for several American companies, though this bunch works exclusively on the United Health account.), American culture, Philippine culture, my work, and their interactions with Chris.

Chris can be very quiet at times and some here thought that he was a snob until he came to work one day and related to them something that had happened to him at his hotel. He returned home one morning (after his over-night shift) to find missing the stuffed turtle, Ruga, that I'd sent with him. He was very upset and chatted me up, starting out with "I have some distressing news!" After learning that neither his office hadn't been bombed and he hadn't been mugged, I encouraged him to ask the front desk about Ruga. He marched down and did so, then went out for errands for a couple of hours and when he returned, Ruga was back in place! Yay! Karen explained how this story finally revealed a big part of Chris' personality that they'd not yet seen and endeared him to them, "That's when Chris became Chris to us!"

The next day, we went out to the SM Mega Mall for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and to do a bit of grocery shopping. Lunch at the Mexican restaurant was tasty and interesting. Vegetarian items were mostly absent from the menu, but cooks are accommodating if asked. Pinto beans aren't available here, so there are no refried beans as we know them in North America; they put whole kidney beans in my taco, instead. I had a side order of guacamole which was unlike any guacamole that I've had in North America; it tasted like it was made with a mayonnaise base and perhaps had an avocado passed near it. Chris mentioned not having notice avocadoes in the grocery store. Mind you, the meal was tasty and filling. The salsa was good and the margarita was strong! I felt the need to clarify that by commenting on the differences that I see, I'm just making observations on how others interpret things (cuisine, in this instance) differently from how we, ourselves, have interpreted them in the United States. It's not a pale imitation of the authentic, just a different perspective.

We browsed through several shops in the mall and were invariably greeted with a "Hello, Sir!" from every sales clerk within earshot (and some beyond, I'm sure). As we browsed through the mall's flagship SM department store, sales staff greeted us and then hovered next to us as we looked at clothes, rice cookers, dishes, toys, and other merchandise. I realize that they're just being helpful by making themselves available, but I found it very annoying and impossible to shop.

The grocery store operated much like any grocery store in the United States. The mix of merchandise was quite similar, though there were many tell-tale signs that we're in Asia. There are an abundance of fruits that I just don't see in the US -- big, spiky melons that look dangerous to touch; limes the size of kumquats or pearl onions; something called dragon fruit that looks like a pink puffer fish. A lot of it wasn't pretty -- it was scraped and scuffed with black marks and some of it was wilted. Hey, it's still edible! Maybe chemical pesticides and fertilizers aren't as common here as in the United States, so it might be even more edible! There was a whole aisle of ramen-type noodles and another whole aisle of instant sauces and gravies, yet only one small section of breakfast cereals. Cranberry sauce nestled among the spaghetti sauces, sold in bags. I purchased a bag of something called "banana catsup" that is made without tomatoes, yet is somehow red. Fish and shrimp-flavored items abound and I bought a few shrimp-flavored chips and crackers and something called "Yummy Flakes", as well as some pumpkin seeds roasted black (quite good) which seem quite popular, some fried peas, and a can of fish soup. Whenever I've travelled abroad, I've always found grocery stores to be quite entertaining places.

In the days ahead, I'm looking forward to a game night with Chris' friends from work; a trip to Tagaytay to explore the Taal volcano and its crater lake; and a trip to Palawan, a large and mostly undeveloped island in the western Philippines. This trip is shaping up to be the adventure of a lifetime and I'm so glad to be here! :J

Manila Trip - Part 1

Tuesday, the day that I left for my trip to visit Chris in Manila, started early and ended late... Thursday morning late.

I awoke at my usual time... about 7 AM. I showered and dressed, finished packing, took care of a few last minute things, and hit the road shortly after 10 AM to drive to the Charlotte airport. Along the way, I stopped in Salisbury and met with Chris' Dad and sister to pick up some things that they wanted to send to him. Traffic was good and parking, riding the shuttle, checking in, and going through security all went quite smoothly and I arrived at my gate with time to spare before my 3.30 PM boarding.

This left me with plenty of time to read, people-watch, and to think about what lay ahead of me and behind me. Granny had passed away on Saturday evening and I'd missed her funeral while I was driving to the airport. I made my travel plans several weeks ago when Granny was still in the nursing home and her short-term prognosis was decent. Even after she entered the hospital, she appeared to have stabilized in the days before my trip; it seemed likely that she'd pass away while I was in Manila and quite possible that she'd hang on until I returned. I think that I'm OK with missing the funeral and I think that my family is, too. I made a point to be present for the family viewing and visitation on Monday because I knew that I'd be absent on Tuesday. Pops and all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins seemed very excited for me. My cousins in Charlotte, Billy and Jenny, had both agreed to drive me to the airport, but now couldn't. I decided to just put my car in long-term parking, which I think is for the best, since my return flight is set to arrive at 6.30 AM and who would've wanted to meet me at the airport at that hour!?

I flew from Charlotte to San Francisco on US Airways, which took 5.5 hours and was a pleasant enough experience. An airline friend made sure that I had a seat on the exit row for plenty of leg room and clued me in to the in-flight movie and café choices. The flight attendant in my section grew up in Kernersville and lives in Pfafftown, both suburbs of Winston-Salem, so we had fun chatting about home. Though I'd wanted to see the movie, The Lake House, I chose not to purchase headphones and taught myself to work sudoku puzzles instead. En route, the pilot pointed out Memphis and the Mississippi River and made another announcement about our impending landing while we were over southern Utah.

Upon landing in San Francisco, I quickly found my way to the international terminal. While walking, I noticed the outdoor scenery through the airport's large windows. I was impressed with the area's beauty -- hills stretched out in every direction and were lovely, despite the fact that they're covered with homes -- and took a moment to appreciate the bustle of Bay Area California -- a freeway runs close enough to the airport so that I could nearly identify license plates and more than one rail transit system was evident. As I checked-in for my flight on Philippine Airlines (PAL), I noticed that nearly everyone on the plane was Filipino, all but about a half-dozen of us. As I looked about, I noticed that about half of the Filipinos were Filipino-Americans, carrying blue US passports. (Filipino passports are green or red.) Nearly everyone had 18-inch cube boxes packed (and I do mean PACKED) with goods. Addresses written on the side of the boxes were almost invariably in Metro Manila -- Quezon City, Makati, Pasay, and Mandaluyong, among others.

I was hungry and had some time to kill after checking-in, so I found some food and had some dinner -- pesto bowtie pasta and cheesecake. I began thinking of whom I could call to pass the time, but realized that everyone at home was likely in bed, so I thought of whom I knew on the west coast. I could only find one such number in my phone, so I called my friend, Kelly, and caught up with her. When I hung up with her, I went to the restroom and had almost finished when Chris called to check on me, but he was kind enough to hang on while I raised and buttoned my pants.

I made my way to the gate, where the staff had us form one line so that they could tag our bags. The unorganized crowd slimmed into a rough line, then the staff announced that we should form two lines to have our bags tagged. Collective groan. We approached in turn and placed our bags on the scale and the staff attached a PAL tag. Signs declared a strict limit of one carry-on bag weighing no more than 7 kilograms or 15 pounds and one small personal item, claiming that this is a regulation of the FAA, though I doubt that last assertion. Nevertheless, I had little problem boarding with my two bags that weighed a total of 24 pounds. I know how much they weighed because the ticketing agent weighed them for me.

The flight was great for the most part. They fed us three meals, served us several drinks, and showed four movies (two in English and two in Tagalog) and several TV shows. In contrast to US Airways, which charged for food and headsets, everything on the PAL flight was included, even cocktails! I suppose that when you're gonna be on a plane for that amount of time (16.5 hours), they want to keep you quite happy. I was expecting a refueling stop in Guam, but the plane stopped in Honolulu instead. When Chris flew over on Northwest, they stopped in Japan and made everyone deplane with their carry-on bags; in contrast, we were not allowed off of the plane and couldn't make any calls.

I was seated in an aisle seat, next to a friendly Filipino chap named Gerry. We talked a bit, but not a great deal. It was a nice flight for the most part. I slept fitfully and for only about 4 hours. About an hour before we landed we hit a patch of bad weather that shook the plane hard. At one point, we dropped sharply and would've come out of our seats if not for our safety belts -- quite like a roller coaster. That's when Gerry started vomiting. I saw him fidgeting with his air sickness bag, then throw it to the ground in disgust. Then, he yanked the case off of his pillow and threw up into it. He had spoken at length with the other two Filipino guys in our row and one of them began to rub Gerry's back. I unwrapped my blanket and handed the plastic wrapper to Gerry; he dropped his pillow case into it and promptly threw up again. I picked up the flight safety card and fanned him. He was sweating profusely and leaned forward against the seat in front of him to try to regain his composure. By this time, the other two guys in our row had done likewise, also overcome with nausea. They certainly weren't alone, as I heard hurling all around me. When the turbulence calmed, Gerry made his way to the lavatory. The crew served breakfast and the others in my row ate, which made me think that Gerry's vomiting caused their nausea. The smell of food permeated the aircraft and I hoped that Gerry wouldn't return anytime soon, lest the odor cause him to vomit again. But, he did. And, he did. I'm just glad that he didn't throw up outside the bag or on me and that I didn't get nauseated. I concentrated on my customs and immigration form to take my mind off of it.

We landed and everyone applauded, certainly at least as much for the simple fact that the flight was over as for the pilot's skill in flying and landing the plane. I walked off of the plane and up the jet-way and followed the crowd to immigration. A clerk took a copy of my immigration and customs form, entered the info from my passport into the computer (a Dell), then stamped my passport. I was in! Yay! Faces were pressed against the terminal's outside windows watching for loved ones. I found the baggage carousel and then turned to look through the window (really, one whole wall of the terminal) for Chris. I saw him standing at the covered driveway and waved; he saw me and waved back, so I blew him a kiss.

I waited at the baggage carousel for quite awhile before it even began moving. An announcement said that technical problems were causing a delay in off-loading our bags -- sounds like someone lost the key! I found that my mobile phone was working, so I called Chris to say hello and tell him what I'd heard. I waited a bit longer. The conveyor finally started, but there was no sign of my bag for quite a while. I called Mamaw to tell her that I'd arrived safely. I waited a bit more. I counted three trips that one set of bags made past me. While I was preparing for my trip, I was very concerned that my bag would be lost. My airline friend told me that inter-airline baggage transfers are prime opportiunities for lost bags. I packed strategically and put in the checked bags only things that I'd be comfortable losing. I carried-on things that I absolutely didn't want to lose -- medicines, camera, and nicer clothes. I was carrying medicines for both myself and Chris, as well as several food products and some gifts from Chris' family. After about 45 minutes, I saw my big, brown duffel break through the rubber curtain and snake its way toward me. I picked it up and prepared to face Customs. I was a bit concerned about how this might go, considering that I was carrying prescription drugs and many foodstuffs, but the clerk just took my form, glanced at my bags, and waved me through the outside door ten feet away. That was it! I was here! Yay!

Chris greeted me with a big hug. After 10 weeks apart and the longest flight of my life, he was even more handsome that I'd remembered and a very welcome sight in a country that I'd never visited, twelve thousand miles from home. I didn't think about what the next two weeks would bring, but just concentrated on the moment -- of finally being in the ground and with my Sweetie. :J

Lisa and Kelly's Wedding

I travelled with my friend, Jeff, over last weekend to DC's northern Virginia suburbs to participate in the nuptials of our mutual friends, Lisa and Kelly. Some might recall our travelling to Tappahannock VA around the end of April for Lisa's bridal shower.

Jeff and Lisa were classmates during their undergrad days at WVU. I met her at the wedding of another of their mutual WVU classmates (Sherry) in Charleston WV in 1998. At that time, Lisa was thinking about her career plans; we talked about her interests, her education, and her previous jobs and I eventually convinced her to come to library school at UNCG, where she and Jeff ended up being classmates again! I became quite close with Lisa during her five or so years in NC. I got to know Kelly during his time in NC, too, and was sad to see them move back to the DC area.

When Kelly finally proposed marriage after a six-year courtship, Lisa asked me to be a part of their wedding, acting as Master of Ceremonies, a glorified logistics person and wrangler of flowers and caterers. Jeff was one of her bridal attendants, which resulted in quizzical looks from a very few. I found little strange in that arrangement, since I was a bridal attendant for my friend, Donna, at her wedding in Kansas in 1994.

It was a fun weekend spent catching up with old friends, making new friends (Hiya, Debbie, Corky, Molly, and Shane!), and enjoying good food and drink. (Lisa is every bit as much of a foodie as am I.) The whole affair was very elegant and classy while also being simple and uncomplicated -- not extravagant. Have a look at some photos of the occasion in my Flickr account and enjoy! :J

High Country Get-Away

Chris treated me to a get-away in the High Country this past weekend (13-16 April). He rented a cabin near West Jefferson, which we used as a home base from which to explore the area. We spent Thursday driving, settling into our accomodations, and orienting ourselves to the area; we made our way through an antique mall and visited the only cheese factory in NC. Friday found us breaking fast at Shatley Springs Inn in Crumpler before spending the rest of the day hiking at Stone Mountain State Park near Traphill and ending up with dinner at Todd Mercantile in Todd. On Saturday, we wandered about Valle Crucis and visited Mast General Store before back-tracking into Boone for lunch at Angelica's (a fantastic vegetarian restaurant). Chris showed me some of his old stomping grounds from his student days at Appalachian State U and we visited the Moses H Cone mansion on the Blue Ridge Parkway, then headed "home" to finish the day with dinner at the Mountain Music Jamboree in Glendale Springs. We sadly packed our things on Sunday and made our way down US-321 to Chris' grandma's house in Patterson (near Lenoir) for Easter dinner with some of his family before heading home for good.

I put a couple of photos of myself from the weekend in my Friendster profile, but more are available in my Flickr account; both are linked in My Favorite Links on this page. Enjoy! :J