Belinda fell into bed and was fast asleep in no time. She was completely exhausted. When she woke she was co fused as to where she was and what day or.time it was. She rubbed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. Slowly she began to remember. "Oh yes. I am in the hostel in Manila Phippines. Wpw! I made it!" She felt.exhilerated. She checked the time and realized she had only 50 minutes before she had to be at headquarters to pick up her final itinerary, plane tickets, etc. She grabbed her back pack, locked her room and sprinted down the stairs. Grabbing a banana and a water bottle, she took out the door looking for a jeepney.
Belinda found the sounds and smells a bit overwhelming again. The trip to the headquarters took 30 minutes. She paid and got down. She went into the building and looked for Mr. Smith, who was her direct report. She read off the signs and found the suite number: 101. Belinda made her way down the long hallway and entered the suite. Mr. Smith was there standing beside a desk. He smiled and greeted her. "Belinda, so good to meet you in person. Welcome! We have a little change to your itinerary though."
"Oh? ok. May I ask why?"
"Mindanao has a bit of unrest right now. Marshal law has been declared and ...well... we will have you do intensive language training on Cebu with a teacher and a host family first. The new semester doesn't start for 6 weeks so taking 3 weeks for intensive language training should work out nicely. Hopefully by then things on Mindanao will have settled down."
"Sounds fine with me." Belinda smiled.
"Great. You will leave for Cebu in 2 days. That should give you enough time to overcome your jet lag some and get acclimated to the heat." He laughed, "As if one can ever truly acclimate to this heat."
Belinda chuckled. "It is quite humid and warm compared to my hometown stateside. But Manila is a lot bigger, louder and well... smells a lot more than I expected."
"Yes, it does. I still haven't adjusted to the smells and the busyness of this city and I have been here for 3 years now." Mr. Smith laughed again.
Belinda smiled. She liked Mr.Smith. She trusted him already.
Mr Smith dismissed her and she decided to walk part way back to the hostel. She knew walking around Manila alone as a woman, let alone a white woman was not exactly smart but she really needed to stretch her legs. She was about 4 blocks from headquarters waiting for traffic to allow her to cross a road when she was bumped into by a teenage boy. He tried to grab her backpack and run but Belinda had strapped it to her backwards. She was jerked sideways and backwards but maintained her balance. The boy looked surprised then ran away up the road. Belinda just shook her head and decided to pick up some snacks for tonight in her room then grab a jeepney back.
Belinda saw a small grocery looking store and decided that was as good a place as any to pick up a few things.
She was hoping the cashier spoke English when she checked out because she knew almost no Pilipino or Tagalog, the languages usually spoke in Manila.
She picked up a basket and walked through the store. She decided a couple of bananas, a mango, some boxed juices and a couple of granola bars and 6 water bottles should be plenty. It was only two days. She approached the cashier and her items were scanned. She decided she best try to use what little she had looked up, "Magkano?" The cashier, a young Filipina who looked to be about late teens or early 20s, smiled and replied in English,"Pesos or American dollars?" Belinda smiled.back and said, "Dollars,please?" She paid the girl and took her bag and went to the curb to Gail a jeepney.