"Anything is possible"

Pay attention, dear readers, to the quotation marks engulfing the title of this blog post. Yes, dear readers, that is a direct quotation. Allow me to explain!

If you recall from the last few posts, this past Friday was my first basketball game cheering on the San Beda Red Lions. Welp, being as it was my first Filipino sporting event, and would promise to be a game filled with action and eventual success, I decided to bring my camera with. During the summer I did quite a bit of research on quality, reasonably priced Digital SLR cameras, and opted to go with the user friendly Nikon D3000. So, the majority of the pictures from my experience have been and will be taken with my Nikon. I digress...I brought it with to the game, hoping to capture the magic and domination that is Bedan Basketball, but as Matt and I were walking into the arena, with the Prior of the monastery, no less, I was stopped by the police officer/security guard at the door. Well, dear readers, I'm still working on my tagalog, and to this point I only know words for foods and 'bahala na', which means "Whatever will be, will be!" (Look for a post with that title as time progresses). Regardless, none of the tagalog I know is what she was saying, nor does any of it help with a police officer. 

Thankfully, Father Prior Raphael (aka Father Ralph (possibly one of the ninja turtles (I'm not kidding, he's INTENSE (but he's a softy on the inside)))) came to my aid and reasoned with the woman. Apparently cameras are NOT allowed at those sporting events. Who woulda known!?

Throughout the exchange I was stuck halfway in the door, halfway out, with the woman holding onto my camera bag and me holding it as close to me as possible. I wasn't letting go. Finally, after a minute of heated conversation, he finished talking, smiled, and she let go and said, "Have a good day, sir" (but rather sternly, not kind at all). Once I was finally in the arena Father Ralph took Matt and I directly to the Administrative Office of the arena, and again a woman stopped me once inside and I assume she was telling me (again in Tagalog) that I couldn't have a camera. Again, Father Ralph handled it for me, and a minute later I was handed a pass that said, "MEDIA"! That's right, I had become a member of the media somehow during the few short moments I had been at the arena. Needless to say I ABSOLUTELY accepted it and frequently asked Matt where his MEDIA pass was, only to be reminded that I was the only one who'd received one. Point: Corey. As we left the Administrative Office, regaling at the fact that Father Ralph had really outdone himself with this one, he turned to Matt and I and said, "Anything is possible". Matt and I chortled at that, but as time has progressed since the basketball, we've found that quote to be especially fitting for our time here in the Philippines. Everything that we've sought out to do or see has already been seen to by them. They just continue to make sure that we're absolutely comfortable.

We won, by the way!

On that note, as many of you know, Matt and I were treated, again by the monastery, to a great adventure on Saturday night. What adventure, what event could it be? Oh, dear reader, if I didn't know any better I'd say that you were channeling the finesse of one Laurence D'Olivier! Well, I'll tell you! It was, in fact, SUPAFEST 2010! That's right, 4 hours of Sean Kingston, Kelly Rowland, T-Pain, and Flo Rida! IN MANILA! UN. BE. LIEVABLE! And for those of you out there that would assume that it was in fact 4 hours of Autotune taking a giant dump in our ears, it was, in fact, not! There was hardly any autotune at all, thank goodness! Sean Kingston was AWESOME, and had a full band to back him up, Kelly Rowland was surviving (get it..the Destiny's Child Song) off of her Destiny's Child fame, T-Pain did a LOT of dancing, and Flo Rida...well..he actually kinda sucked. He started a half hour late, just kept GOING ON AND ON AND ON, was FLAT all night, and ended every single, I kid you not, EVERY single song with the sound of glass breaking. Three outta Four ain't bad, though!

Matt having fun!

Sean Kingston!

 

Guess the song!

T-Pain!

Also, as promised, Matt and I finally began working! On Thursday we sat in on a few classes to see what they were like, Friday we talked with the Department Chair of the College of Liberal Arts and planned out this week's lectures, this morning we met the professors, and this afternoon we started lecturing! That's right, I have FINALLY earned my title as Special Guest Lecture Professor Friend. My first lecture was for a 4th year (seniors) General Poli Sci class. All of the students were management majors finishing up their general requirements for graduation (in March). My first topic was a brief study of comparative politics between the Philippines and the U.S., namely looking at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches as well as Elections and Voting. All in all it went fantastically! Oh, and the professor was sick today, so I was the prof! Holler! I'll have another 5 lectures this week, and then on Thursday or Friday I'll get another topic to research over the weekend for next week's lectures. That's right, folks, the honeymoon has ended and we're finally starting to earn our way here (to the relief of most, I'm sure). No worries, though, because Matt and I still have a lot of mischief to accomplish and incite, and our friends in the monastery have many adventures and excursions planned for us.

But, alas, good luck, dear readers, and enjoy the week!