So today was another vocational day for me and my illustrious partner in law enforcement Natalie. Our hosts for the day were
And we were taken straight to the impressive looking QC Police HQ building. On arrival we were met by various assembled senior officers and as we were ushered into the conference room and sat on the stage facing the seated chiefs of staff with all their medals, braiding and scrambled egg on caps, I leaned over and whispered in Natalie's ear "this is going to be another crazy day!" After photographs we were moved and sat in the front row for a very informative power point presentation. All I will say is that two things struck me. The first was that the ads bled senior officers were extremely nervous and had no idea who we were and the second is that they love their acronyms. DID, CIDG, SSDID to name a few. I have no idea what they all stand for but suffice to say that often neither did they! On their running order Natalie quickly spotted that their was a section for "speech from guests" and so after a few minutes of head scratching I figured ad lib is always the best way so took the lectern and spoke for a few minutes on community, family and international goodwill. It must've been good as Natalie then took the mike and said "I've nothing left to say Dan has said it all!" It was all well received and the assembled team looked a bit more relaxed and after posing for pictures and saying thank you we were whisked off for lunch. Curiously Natalie had two rather pungent mushroom burgers in her handbag from a snack that was served by the QC Police during their presentation courtesy of me which she found about 4 hours later! Hee Hee.
Lunch was had and then we assembled as the infamous five with Dr Kate, (where's) Richard and Amy. Off to the ENR we were told which is the department for the Environment and Natural resources. After posing for photos we went into the office of the Chief of the ENR and I must say I found the whole situation quite bizarre. It is the equivilant of us meeting with minister for DEFRA etc and I must admit I didn't have any material prepared. Luckily I needn't have worried as I looked across the office and Richard had picked up a copy of the Atlas of the Philippines and was swotting up!!!!
The discussion with the chief was interesting, relaxed and informative. The most impressive project discussed is the national greening programme where they intend to plant 1 billion trees in 5 years across the entire country. This is native species and includes fruit trees to provide food and natural resources to the people. It wasn't want they were doing that impressed me but the scale, pace and how they go about it. Every govt worker is required to plant 10 seedlings per year NAND its manadatory! As such we decided to get hands on and planted our allotted 10 trees.
A quick transfer back and a quick change and my wonderful hosts Sally and Homer Cu took myself and Natalie out for an evening meal. This was supposed to be due to us visiting the Meralco electric company building where friends of the Cu's were performing in a dance show which we had all been invited to. Honer being his normal good self took the opportunity to spoil us (I think to spoil his Barbie doll Natalie really) and we were taken for Japanese food cooked in front of us whilst we sat. Many courses later and I threw in the towel and admitted defeat but at least I outlasted Nat and tried the wasabi!
Then we went of to see the dancing show at the Theatre. The Meralco building alone is amazing and I must admit that we were acting like giddy kids posing for pictures for Sally and messing about with the kids. The show was brilliant. I was falling asleep until the pole dancing girls came on. It's all about the art darlings and nothing to do with their scant attire!
After witnessing the 'angry dance' which has quickly become adopted as one of our signature moves it was time to go and after dropping the children off we were then whisked off to a posh bar somewhere near the Central Business District where we met up with Amy and her hosts. A few beers were consumed and Natalie was partnered up by Dennis to some Latino guy that had been dancing with his wife. Amy and I soon joined them on the dance floor and threw some shapes of our own finally to be joined by our hosts as well. Homer can dance surprisingly well once he gets going! It was all over to quickly and after posing for a few more photos with hosts (which resulted in a very interesting photo of Natalie and Amy!) It was time to go home. Happy times and the host families are brilliant.
No comments:
Post a Comment