Typhoon Glenda...thoughts on the aftermath

It's not often that I consider the blessings I have as an American. While I'm generally a positive person, I can't help but complain about my life in the states. I have a great life! I live in a beautiful town, 15 minutes from the beach. My job is a 10 minutes drive from my wonderful apartment. I am surrounded by people I love and who love me and I'm a phone call away from my family. My mother flies me home 4 times a year. I've had opportunities to see places that many have not. I have expensive THINGS that I take for granted. Speaking of things I take for granted, I don't appreciate my electricity enough, or my internet. I don't appreciate my roof nearly enough and I have never considered the roads I travel every day.

Experiencing a typhoon in the Philippines was an eye opening event for me. In the hours approaching the typhoon, all we could think was "why are we at work?" I can't speak for everyone on my team, but I wanted to be in my hotel room, with my belongs, where I felt safest. I wanted to be in a place with reliable communication so I could stay in touch with my loved ones. The safety of my hotel, in the middle of it's concrete jungle, was all I could imagine. I also couldn't imagine being one of the agents and NOT being home with my family as a category 3 typhoon blew through my home. After discussing the options with some agents in the class, we quickly discovered that was not what they thought at all. "We're used to this." "Life goes on." "I couldn't get there anyway with the flooding." "It's actually safer here." "I live alone, I would rather be here with people than alone in my apartment." My mind was blown! There are certain people that work no matter what it looks like outside: Medical professionals, law enforcement, the people that are needed in the darkest hour of a typhoon, and call center workers. WHY?!?!?!? I don't get it. It has to be work ethic, but I really don't understand it what's so important that these workers, who work for American companies might I add, feel they have to be at work and make sacrifices so they can service Americans.

Below are some pictures of my birds-eye view of the typhoon. As you look at them, please remember that my experience from 18 floors up, was nothing compared to my friends on the ground level. Many of our agents never made it home that morning. They slept at work or they slept in dorms. Some of them attempted to get home and got stuck in bus station bathrooms for 4 hours. Of those that made it home, one doesn't have a roof. Almost none of the agents had power for days.

 Fallen tree...yellow people braving the storm to unsuccessfully move it. Shame I didn't grab the camera quickly enough to catch the man with a big orange cone on his head.

  Please note the positioning of the crane throughout the storm.

Pretty windy, check out that flag!

 Everyone has such a sense of urgency. Why? The ice truck cut the jeepney off from the outside lane to make a left hand turn. Guess what happened...Accident. Bet he's glad he did THAT!

 All that cardboard looking stuff is actually a wall, but don't worry, it was fixed within 2 days.

                                      The calm after the storm...found my mountains again =)