Well, I had two updates and stories about my first week and a half written on my iPod Touch when my blog application decided to fail me so I think I’ve lost them. Without my computer or a decent Internet connection it’s very difficult to try to salvage them. So unfortunately you get the distilled quick version.

First, here are some details of what this tour looks like. Or if you are unfamiliar with what I’m doing let me start there. I am in the Philippines for a few weeks working as a technician for a Christian performance tour group, part of Youth With A Mission (YWAM). During the week I am a part of the Island Breeze team. We’re doing two school assemblies Tuesday through Friday. School assemblies are simplified performances at local schools for anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand kids. During these shows I manage our basic setup and run sound.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday our the full shows. On Thursday we setup all the tech, but unlike other tours I’ve worked with, we are primarily overseeing not lifting. This first week I helped with the Friday show, and then for Saturday and Sunday went to the satellite location to be the audio engineer and tech producer of the shows there. These are the same as the big hub shows with smaller tech.

This coming week, if we can get the gear, I will be producing the live video feed with a few camera operators for the hub shows while someone else takes over the satellites.

So things are very busy. Monday is our day off which is why I am able to get Internet.

As for the Philippines, I love being back in the islands! Yes it’s hot and muggy and you just have to deal with it, but the people, culture, food, sights, sounds, and smells are incredible and I had missed them!

We are staying at a Catholic convent. Yep, with nuns. They are an amazing group of people! There are about 10 nuns and they serve their hearts out for us. They are hilarious and not what you would expect: full of surprises! For example, they have a karaoke machine!

Also, because of some political and rebel issues, and the fact that we are foreigners and half of us are white, we have been given a large police and military escort by the government. Each of the three performance teams always travels with a detachment of about 7 or 8 police officers… the kind of police you find that have to deal with rebels: camouflage and M-16 machine guns. At the big shows there are also some military from the area that run security for the venue. While it is a primarily unnecessary precaution (don’t worry, Mom ), it makes me feel both safer and unsafer. Having a convoy of a police escort can draw attention.

It feels like we’ve been here more than just a week and a half! I think I’ve already done