Both of these situations are caused by settings in your MessagePad's Extras drawer. To ensure that telephone numbers are properly displayed, follow these steps:
1) Tap the Time Zones button in the Extras drawer, then tap your location on the world map.
2) Tap the I'm Here button, then tap X to close the window.
Also, be sure that the Country blank in the Personal and Locale Preferences is set to your home country.