a fight tommorrow, a night yesterday, and the relative present.

It rained yesterday for about two hours. It was the first rain I've seen since I arrived. You might think that it sounds pretty good to if you are reading such from Canada's far west. However, we all know how refreshing rain is after a long dry time without. Here the Philippines has been experiencing a drought. Ironic, since you might have heard about the weather here back in September. It made international news for the opposite effects that a drought would.

Tomorrow a national icon takes to the boxing ring. Manny Pacquiao is what I thought Wayne Gretzky was to Canadians. He's the great one in his class, lends pride to his people and puts his name on any product he chooses. (I still like to say, "breakfast of champions" aloud while I eat Cherios(c).)
However, I've discovered that Manny "PACMAN" Pacquiao is something more than Wayne. Apparently the streets grow quiet when he fights. He holds power that no one else I've heard of seems to have to unite this entire and diverse populace at one time- which is interesting.
Aside: I heard lots about the olympics in Vancouver. That overtime Can/US game was probably one of those uniting moments for Canadians.
So Manny is more like Hockey to us, I guess.

I caught a news minute on a commercial break yesterday. Third item on the news minute was about the rain. The first was about how Manny Pacquiauo was suiting up for his fight on Sunday. The second item was about a power outage in some certain area and how the residents wouldn't have to worry: they would have power for the Pacquiauo fight.

I thought this was humorous.
"Island time" exists here too. There's about six clocks around the house i stay in, and they vary from pretty close to a quarter hour away from each other. Today at the Child Care Centre we checked our schedule against the clock in the kitchen because we supposed that the cooks clock was the most important one to go by at the moment. Mier went to check its time.
"Same as in here" she says, returning, indicating the clock in the office,
"11:24"
I can't help but notice that the clock "in here" says 11:22. But I'm not going to say anything.

Last night I was sent out with a few of the team to look for a child who is a friend of the ministry, who was working on the streets. She sells to cars stopped at lights and that kind of thing. There's no pretending its not a dangerous job, a scary job. A really vunerable kid. After we had found her and checked in with her we came back. I came back feeling like I had just seen a scene from Slumdog Millionaire in real life. It's real. Ironic; that night Lorrie offered to lend us Slumdog Millionaire. We're going to watch it tonight. "I've been to India" Lorrie notes (and i know she does not mean she passed through Mumbai for a week on a tourist visa). "That movie smells like India."
Nice way of putting it.

That's a worthwhile film actually, for understanding Manila a bit more. The opening scene for example, where the kids are running away from the police through the streets... That, is very close to what a lot of Manila looks like. Mind you, there are other parts too. If you take a holiday here you will see them. And if you don't wander out of the high rises you might take home an impression as lofty and badly founded as they are. But on the first and second stories life in Manila carries on. Alive, dynamic, and ready to meet you eye to eye.