Along the way to the airport, or to the golf course, the Shangri-La Hotel, the posh subdivisions you will invariably pass by classic third world slums and whenever the pervasive traffic forces your airconditioned vehicle to a halt, you might be able to take a glimpse of how terrible the living conditions are of so many women and children.

You wonder how long these people have been struggling, whether they have ever even experienced substantial relief, if they still dream of better days. How much dehumanization can these people bear? Yeats wrote "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart".

I was astonished to hear inside an elevator chatter that was heavily accented with Santa Monica, California American English. Apparently, these young people are encouraged to keep on talking like Americans in between their breaks so as to polish further their communication skills.

There are hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working in "call centers". They provide technical support for Dell computers, travel advice for Expedia, billing inquiries for American Express, they "cold call" for innumerable mortgage companies as well as timeshare outfits.

This niche has allowed the country to earn quite a bit of money because our competition is relatively few, mainly India but if we don't watch it, other nations will try to take over with even better services at an even less expensive rate.

Nothing bad with this set-up. Just another reason why we need to continuously invest in educating the youth and teaching them skills that will enable them to compete in the world market.

The flight from Tokyo to Manila was totally full of Filipinos returning home for the Christmas holidays. Quite a number were coming from Canada. There was not a single unoccupied seat in the entire 747. There was a cacophony of dialects and I was able to pick up a lot of tidbits from my fellow expatriates.

What unified all of us was that we were striving hard in other countries in order to make life easier for those left behind. Coming home for Christmas is the one luxury we all try to give ourselves. My family and I will be spending our first Christmas in the Philippines in 17 years.

You see, the Christmas season begins at the start of the "Ber" months, meaning September 1 and it lasts until the old Epiphany day which is January 6. Christmas songs have filled the airwaves for the past several months now. The dollar exchange rate consistently improves during this season secondary to the influx of money that pours into the country from the untold millions of overseas Filipinos.

The temperature dips to the high 70's early in the morning causing sweaters to come out of storage. I look forward to watching my daughters experience this unique Filipino tradition.

Mea culpa. I have been remiss with my blog duties these past 2 weeks. My wife and I just arrived back a few hours ago from our Oklahoma sojourn. Our days in the panhandle were packed full and there was very little time to pause and post an entry. The 30 hour journey provided me with a lot of time to read, think and catch up. Most important was being able to give thanks to the many blessings that remain hidden in an unexamined life.

For 7 days, I started early at 6:30 am and resumed my gastroenterological responsibilities non-stop until 1 in the afternoon. Back to old times, Jody my trusted RN remarked. I really need these breaks, and revert to my subspecialty in order that I may see even more clearly. I am not making a lot of sense. Probably because I haven't slept in 2 days.

Haven't posted an entry in quite some time because in between I have been to Manila, Tokyo and Dallas and now I am back in my beloved Guymon, Oklahoma for 5 days. Talk about on my way home..... I wonder where this journey will lead us. I am now amongst my Oklahoma friends. We had a full day on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving, after lining-up in WalMart at 5 am and we also had another full day yesterday. It is so good to see patients after weeks of reflection. The feeling is akin to a pro golfer practicing a swing-drive early on a dewy morning after a month of inactivity.

I hope to be able to post a video one day and show you the idyllic lifestyle here in the Shangri-La of the panhandle.