Orientation

Most people, when starting a new job have an orientation time.
That's usually when the company will go through all the office policies (how much vacation time do you get? what's the dress code...), tidbits on office culture (what do people do for lunch? do people drink coffee or soda?), and learning all kinds of things about the company and organization. You've have probably gone through an orientation of sorts at some of your places of work.

Well, when working with our organization, we also go through orientation, too. Along with all the basic organizational and office-life orientation, we often get orientation to the country and cultures where we'll be working. The orientation is usually developed for each different work location. My friends, Heather and Jeff, just moved to Nairobi. They have been going through orientation for working and living in that part of the world.

This week I've been going through orientation here in the Manila. There are a few other people who also arrived in the last week or two so we get to go through this together. It's been a busy week so far and it's been a lot of fun.

Monday we met different folks who work in this area. They shared tips with us on things like safety and security, Filipino culture, and health and wellness.

Today visited the Bureau of Quarantine. We had all of our medical records, lab reports and x-rays checked out to make sure we are in good enough health to be permitted to stay in the country. Having passed, we got our passports stamped with the Quarantine stamp of approval. It was great to complete another thing on my "Things-To-Do" list.

The rest of the day we had a chance to be introduced to some of the country's history. While I had come to the Philippines before, this was my first time to really tour some of the historic landmarks (at least that I can remember?).

We visited Fort Santiago, the San Agustin Museum, Casa de Manila, the Manila Cathedral and the American Cemetery. We did a whirlwind tour of these spots. We got to see so many beautiful locations and yet so many of those places have become landmarks because of some incredibly sad and tragic moments in history -- moments that have also served as reminders of hope and inspiration to people. I'd like to back to some of these places again some time to spend a little more time reading and discovering AND to take more photos. So many beautiful spots here. (Click on the image to see a bigger version. Or, check out my flickr site.)

Tomorrow we'll take care of obtaining our driver's license and we'll visit the Ayala Museum.

OH!! We passed by "Agoncillo Street" on the way to quarantine this morning. Must remember to find it again to take a photo of it. :)