Ruminations on day three of Tom and Tom's Excellent Adventure

Following 30+ hours of international travel, and two very hectic days of scurrying around Cebu, tying up loose ends and acquiring the last of our needed supplies for our mountain dental clinic in Paril, we awoke this morning to a glorious tropical morning sunrise over the Bohol Strait. The vista from our hotel room incorporates the northern extent of the green Punta Engano peninsula and the range of aquatic shading from the lightest of aquamarine to the darkest cobalt blue. To the west are the mountains with their building morning cummulous, that casts an even darker shade of green. Further east lies the islands for which the strait is named. Spectacular! Breath taking! After the frenetic pace of the last few days, it is difficult to just kick back and enjoy the ambience, so we have to get out and tour around the grounds of the resort and the surrounding semi-urban environment.The grounds are immaculate, with an attention to detail that is not often seen in our part of the world. The grassy areas resemble golf greens in their carpet-like appearance. There is the spectrum of tropical plants, and flowers with their myriad fragrances, a visual and olfactory feast. This place is where it is impossible to take a lousy photograph, even with the cheapest camera, simply because the colors are so bright and the scenery so visually interesting. It has become our custom to go to the executive lounge first thing, to catch up on email, and have a first cup of coffee, converse with Joseph the concierge, and then go to breakfast down off the main lobby. For a person who only has breakfast on weekends(and sometimes, not even then), this is a rare treat. Served buffet style, there is literally anything that a reasonable person could desire, in the way of breakfast cuisine. Marvelous! Wonderful!

One of the contrasting things that I have noticed during our stay here at the Hilton, is the enthusiasm that the service staff and management have manifested for our comfort. These folks are genuinely friendly, and go out of their way to be sure that every need is attended to. This morning we were joking with some of the wait staff in the cafe where we were dining, and discovered that they were students from local colleges and technical schools serving an internship in hotel operations. What a cool concept! It never occured to me that there would be a need for such a thing, and further that an organization like the Hilton would have a relationship with the schools that would facilitate on the job training, but it makes perfect sense. My experience in American Hotels runs the gamut from surley hotel personnel who act like you are really ruining their day by just showing up, to grudging service that hast to almost be grovelled for. It is incredibly refreshing to be treated as we have been here in Cebu. The hotel's General Manager, Harald, (the top dude) paid us a professional courtesy visit this morning to inquire as to our expectations and the level of service experienced so far. Can you imagine? Laura, you must have made a hell of an impression! Later we met with Eunice, the Event Planner, to make final arrangements for our group's stay, and again, what an incredibly competent and genuinely caring person she is--wanting everything to be just right! She met with us at lunch later, to discuss the ISLP, and it gave us an opportunity to learn about each other's culture and background. Tom J. asked her what, I thought, was a very simple, yet profound question. "Eunice, is there anything that you would like to know about life in America that you haven't been able to ask about?" She was very thoughtful for a time, and then with some hesitation, asked about the "problem" with Muslims in our country after 9-11, how "we" got along with them, etc. This gave us an excellent opportunity to talk a little bit about just what it means to live in the very diverse culture that we live in, and how everyone can get along. Next she inquired as to "race relations", and we were able to discuss that. We assured her that, indeed, in the past, there had been pockets of very difficult race issues, and to some extent, there remains some to this day, but in our estimation, things were a whole lot better know, race relationship-wise than they had been in the past. I told her how my mother was nurtured by local black lady who served as her "wet nurse", because my grandmother was unable to nurse her, and that, in that community and time, nobody thought anything about it. We spent some time talking about how incredibly diverse our society is with the unbelievable mix of ethnic and religious, and cultural groups that make up our society and what life is like in the US. She asked about gun ownership and violence............... You know, technology, as embraced by the media has not served us well. Her impression, no doubt, like the impression of much of the world, of American Culture and values, and indeed, of individual American citizens, has been colored and distorted by what passes for entertainment beamed by satellite throughout the world by greedy, financially driven corporate institutions, bent on making as much money as they can, to the expense of the society that spawned them.

One of the great things about our program, is the chance to correct the misperceptions that the media has brought about. In our daily interaction with the "local folks", we can get to know them as individuals, and they can get to know us as Americans. By our conduct and the care that we manifest for their circumstances, we can show them that we are not as we have been popularly portrayed. And, by our wanting learn about their concerns and culture, we can make the point that we are fellow human beings trying to make our world a better place for us all.

As I write this, the group should be arriving in Seoule. Tom J. and I eagerly, (no kidding!) await your arrival in Cebu. Man, are we gonna have a great time!

Submitted by TC