So not much sleep on Sunday night, even though I was jetlagged. I attribute that to nerves and anticipation.
I must say the client here is taking very good care of us. They have a driver that picks us up every day from the hotel, as well as brings us back. Not having to worry about transportation take a major load off the mind.
We showed up at the client office around noon, and immediately went to lunch! Most of the staff here are working afternoon and evening shifts, to help support other offices around the world. So our normal work day this week will be from 12 pm – 10 pm, which definitely throws off the internal clock some.
Lunch was a restaurant with some traditional Filipino cuisine. I tried ox tongue! It was rather good. And I had a great dessert that was purple, that I can’t remember the name of.
After lunch we toured the client offices, where we met everyone that worked there, about 200 people. Again, everyone here in Manila is incredibly nice and polite. I’ve also picked up a couple of words in Filipino: “How Are You”, which sounds a lot like how you would say it in Spanish, and “Thank You”, which is “salama”. I’ve been saying “salama” a lot.
The rest of the day was spent in some process meetings, and then we started doing some Service Manager customizations. About 9 PM we stopped and went to dinner at a steak restaurant, that wouldn’t have been out of place in Tupelo.
We finally made it back to the hotel a little after 11 pm. It was a very tiring, but successful first day.
