Early Enrollment

We accomplished some big time stuff yesterday. Our kids are already registered (enrolled) in school for 2009/2010 school year. Two of our kids will study in Ateneo.  My goodness I didn’t know how much the high school tuition for the freshmen student until I was ready to pay at the cashiers office. I asked the guy at the counter how much is the tuition for the freshmen student for the entire year. He told me its Php60,474.05.  He then gave me the copy of it. My gosh, I can’t believe looking at it that the tuition for freshmen and sophomore were 60k. The junior student its 62k, the senior student is a little over 65k.

Thinking about it, by the time our youngest son (his tuition right now in grade school is almost 44k) would be in senior year the tuition could reach up to 100,000 pesos per year. Wow, that’s really something. Just looking at it right now even though the tuition is so high a lot of people still sent their kids to Ateneo. The thing is, its one of the best schools here in Mindanao anyway. Parents will really dig into their pockets to send their kids to the best school in town.

Our daughter Jean Jean will study in another of the good schools here in Davao. We wanted for her to study in Ateneo, but she doesn’t like to be in Ateneo. She studied there for 2 years and she’s not happy being there. I think too much pressure for her. She will be studying at Davao Wisdom Academy. Not too far from our house and we heard from some people that this school that she chose is good too. Its a private school and not that many students compared to Ateneo. One good thing for her to be there, the school is giving her a scholarship. She got a high score on the entrance exam and she was an honor student at her previous school. We are so proud of her. Honestly it will be good for her self esteem there. After we registered her yesterday, she seemed very happy and excited to be there. The tuition there is just 1/3 of Ateneo high school.

As you all know with the crisis right now that is happening in the world a lot of people really struggle sending their kids to school. Here some parents would even borrow money for their kids education. Back when I was a studying my parents would sell copra, corn and pigs for us to enroll. Still happens right now in the province. I also know some of my family would put their land as collateral just to borrow money for enrollment of their kids. It would be fulfilling for the parents if the kids study very hard and finish the degree.

I wonder if theirs a big decrease of enrollees this year because of the global crisis?

The gang who couldn't shoot straight

Back in the 70’s there was a movie called “The gang who couldn’t shoot straight” which starred Robert de Niro, among others.  Unfortunately, the Philippine National Police (PNP) may soon be called “The Police who couldn’t shoot straight.”

You see, recently, the 125,000 Philippine National Police officers were given a marksmanship test.  They were also tested on gun care, cleaning and handling.  Ninety percent of PNP Officers failed the test.  According to National Police Commissioner Luis Mario General, of the 10% who passed the test, most of them ranked as “novices” in weapon care and in marksmanship.

Furthermore, General revealed that nearly 50% of the PNP officers do not even have a service firearm.  In addition, General said that the high cost of training and of ammunition are to blame for the terrible results.

How can the PNP possibly be effective when only 10% of them can pass a marksmanship test, and most of those 10% can only barely pass?  Safety is one thing that I always hear from foreigners about.  Many people are hesitant to visit the Philippines because of safety concerns.  And, I would venture that the vast majority of those with such concerns don’t even know about these abysmal test results.

Personally, I do not feel that the Philippines is a dangerous place.  When compared with other countries around the world, I doubt that the Philippines ranks badly in terms of danger compared to others, and I personally have no fears about living here.  I feel as safe here as I have in any other place that I’ve ever lived.  However, even if the Philippines were the safest country in the world (which it is not, certainly), that would be no excuse for 90% of police officers being unable to accurately fire their weapon.  Nor would be an excuse for nearly 50% of police officers not even having a weapon at all.

Frankly, the excuse of ammunition being expense is a sham.  The Philippines should most certainly be able to afford ammunition for it’s Police force.  And, training too.  It makes me wonder, how about the Philippine Armed Forces?  Is their marksmanship training adequate?    I hope it is better than that of the police.

Fiestas, fiestas, fiestas…

Philippine Fiestas are very known. Are you a tourist, or are you an expatriate living in the Philippines? You shouldn’t really miss some of these celebrations.

How about the Ati-Atihan in Kalibo (Aklan), the Pahiyas in Lucban (Quezon), the river fiesta in Bocaue (Bulacan), the Carabao Fiesta in Gapan – just to mention a few among many.

Every little “barrio” has its own fiesta. Hospitality is being found every where and highest bid.

The month May is just around the corner. May is indeed the month of celebration in the Philippines. More then 400 years of Spanish colonization in the Philippines had left behind many Catholic traditions, as I could learn, for example, from the US-historian John L. Phelan.

One of the most colourful feast celebrated in many towns and barrios is the “Flores de Mayo” (Flowers of the May). The purpose of this tradition is to honour the Blessed Mother – who is suppose to be the model of virtues and love. Young children in the village swere encouraged by their parents to go to church to pray and to offer flowers to the Statue of the Blessed Mother during the month of May. On the last Monday of May, a big procession is held on the streets of the towns and villages. Girls and boys are dressed up in fine clothes carrying flowers and symbols of the Blessed Mother’s virtues and hopes.

I remember that celebration. We always enjoyed doing this celebration of a Philippine tradition in Berlin, while being members of the Philippine community there for almost 15 years.

A “Hermana Mayor” acts as coordinator of this much awaited event and organizes the musical bands and the participants of the procession. The statue of the Blessed Mother, decorated with flowers, is also brought around the town during the procession.

Flores de Mayo is indeed an appropriate contribution to the cultural traditions of the country Philippines, where I decided to live for good. I hope, that the spirit of this tradition will remain forever.

Tourist or expatriates – join “Flores de Mayo”. It’s an undisputed, unforgettable event.

Happiness, you can't avoid it!

Over this past weekend, I was reading the blog of a friend, Nomad4Ever (aka Chris).  Chris and I have had only limited contact with each other, but I consider him a friend.  We both blog along the same topic, or very close to it.  I know that Chris regularly reads this site and comments here, and I read his site regularly as well.  I hope to meet Chris in person someday, and as I said, I consider him a friend.

Chris has been living in various spots in Asia over recent years.  Over the past 6 months, Chris has been living in Goa, India.  In his most recent blog entry, Chris talks about “The best, the good and the ugly” of living in Goa.  One of “the ugly” things that Chris related about Goa was the bad attitude, grumpiness and such of the people of Goa.  From the way he described it, you rarely see a smile on the face of a local resident there, and they don’t treat foreign visitors very well.  His description, while I believe what he says, was quite depressing.

Frankly, the Philippines is quite the opposite.  Here, happiness and friendliness is everywhere you go!  It’s hard to go out of the house without seeing a smile on somebodies face.  Even in the face of severe adversity here, people grin, bear it, and simply enjoy their lives.  It is, frankly, very encouraging, and happiness is contagious, so just going out around town, you can hardly help but be happy yourself.

As I mentioned, one of the things that Chris said about Goa is that foreign visitors are not treated very well.  Here in the Philippines, while there are some cases where you are treated as a “walking ATM” machine and such, in general I find that foreigners are treated very well here.  Oh, you hear complaining from some expats here about the treatment they get, but I find that it is usually a lack of understanding of the culture here that leaves some foreigners feeling mistreated.

In my 9 years of living here, I can really only recall one time where somebody was downright hostile to me.  That was one time when I was visiting Tawi Tawi, a place where few foreigners go, one man told me I should not be there, and I should leave the country.  He was rude, and his comment left me feeling bad for a while, but he is the only person that I recall being hostile toward me.  Have others said things that angered me or made me feel badly?  Yes, of course, not not really super hostile.  Most of the time when I’ve been left feeling negative about an encounter with a local person, it was due to a lack of understanding on my part.  Or, sometimes I get upset when I think that somebody should do something the way I expect it to be done, but as I’ve said many times on this site, we cannot expect 90 million people to change to please us, it is us who need to adjust to accept their ways.

As I think it over, I can’t think of anyplace in the world where the people are so happy, carefree and always wearing a smile more than in the Philippines.  There are a lot of problems in the Philippines, but the people and their attitude is certainly not one of those problems.  Given the amount of “stuff” that Americans have, we are certainly a rather grumpy bunch of complainers much of the time!  Living in the Philippines is a happier experience, in my opinion.

I hope that Chris finds a happier place to live for his next stop in his travels.  Maybe he will make it to Davao one of these days!  If so, I’ll make him write a guest column or two here on LiP!

Did you get that, Chris?

Philippine Tourism Improvements on a Budget — Part 3

Let me start this installment with a couple updates.  I was in Manila for a few days on business and I noticed a program promoted by the DOT that runs two shuttle vans on hourly routes between major hotels and tourist attractions in Manila.  It’s run by a company called Busina and uses the somewhat catchy slogan, “Sakay na” (Ride now!). There’s a good write-up on it here.  This is an excellent step  in the right direction, and as I have been advocating, it’s a private enterprise venture that pays its own way.  Good work.

Another piece of current news is that Manila’s main airport, NAIA has finally gotten around to putting a free, regular shuttle service between the four widely scattered terminals in place … see the article here.  This of course is not a self-supporting venture, but considering the distance between terminals and the traffic congestion this will save alone, it should be well worth the cost.  Hats off.  Now, if someone could just answer the mail that would assure me that situations that happened to Bob’s mom back a year and a half ago have been corrected, I might not only take my hat off, but leave it on and salute.

I think the situation with late night passengers being left to fend for themselves is still occurring, but I can’t be sure … because just as Bob wrote back with this situation came to light, people at the DOT and elsewhere still don’t answer their email.

Mr. Secretary?  If you are still reading, here’s a suggestion for something that will improve your count of foreign visitors dramatically, if you chose to take advantage of  it.  It’s dirt cheap and it has proven effective all over the world of business … not just in tourism:

1. Insure that every person in your department whom you expect to answer public inquiries has an email address.
2. Have a staff person send each of those folks and email with a request to respond  by the next business day.
3. Fire all those who don’t reply to their own cabinet secretary.
4. If any of the non-responders can show the email didn’t work, fire the non-performers in your IT department.

Simple. cheap, and effective.  It’s all about accountability.   People who feed at the Public Trough owe a response to those who pay their salary.

Of course a bit tongue in cheek, because given the current state of email communication there won’t be enough employed individuals left to process the termination paperwork for the rest … but perhaps you can read past the implied humor and see the potential for your department.  If a person is considering travel to the Philippines and sends your department an email query … after all, your department is supposed to be an “authoritative source”, is it not? … don’t they deserve a timely answer?

While you are at it, you might consider putting an accountability monitor to work on all the many and varied businesses whom your department “accredits” and allow to display your DOT seal.  In the year of 2009, there is absolutely no excuse for any hotel or other tourist attraction/destination not to have an email address and not to respond to queries.  Email accounts are free, and checking email, even without a computer (using an Internet Cafe, for example) costs only a few pesos a week.  I think it’s very counter productive to your goals to “accredit” businesses who won’t even respond to customer queries.   Again, this requires essentially no monetary outlay, just the application of rules of common courtesy in support of the work that your employees are already being paid to perform.

When prospective tourist gets no answer, what do you think the odds are they will continue to pursue their travel to the Philippines?   I’ve personally had a role in a total of two independent tourists visiting the Philippines in the nearly three years I have lived here.  Not many.  There are many more friends and family I would love to encourage to visit, but quite frankly the way tourists are treated, especially in the first hours  of their arrival, keeps me apprehensive.  The only people I’d even consider inviting here are those I have a close enough relationship with that I would personally go to the airport to pick up myself, because there is no one on my list I dislike enough to subject to the NAIA “gulag” experience alone.

Let me detail for you just one current example.  Not long ago my son paid us a visit here in the Philippines.  I “pre-briefed” him on the flimsy, difficult to write on and overly complex arrival form he would have to fill up on the airplane.  When he got to the part about “Address in the Philippines”, he found he had forgotten my address and misplaced the piece of paper he had written it on.   When he got to the Immigration kiosk the BI officer told him, “No address, No entry” and sent him off to a windowless interrogation room, exactly as if he was suspected of a crime.  Another official, came in and told him he would be held until the next flight out to the US and denied entry since he had no pre-arranged place to stay.  Nice welcome on his first visit to your country, diba?  If there is a law that a visitor must have already arranged for a place to stay, I’m not aware of it … and if such a law exists, I would submit it, at the very least should be made known in advance.  I have personally entered more than 10 other countries in my years of travel and not one other one has required me to enter an address for my stay.  I have also perused all the data I can find on the Bureau of Immigration web site and any other official sources I know of, and I see no requirement to have a pre-arranged address listed as one of the criteria for entry of visitors to the Philippines.  Is this some secret law, classified for the protection of the security of the Republic?

My son was detained like a criminal for nearly an hour … while I paced the prison-like waiting area outside wondering what might be wrong .   For all I know he’d still be incarcerated for the “crime” of not memorizing his father’s street address … except that a helpful fellow from the airport janitorial staff … nor your staff nor anyone else from a government agency … came in to clean the room, asked my son what the problem was, and advised him, “Oh just write down ‘Manila Hotel’, that will work, they don’t really care, it’s just that the DOT requires something on the form”.

My son did so and immediately was released, with smiles all around, as if the BI officer knew the ‘address’ was a fabrication, but his mission was complete because there were words in the box on the form rather than a blank space.

Proper way to treat a visitor in your view, sir?.  Yes, I know, you don’t run the Bureau of Immigration.  But I ask you, as a cabinet level official, is this the way you want visitors to the Philippines treated?   Can’t you and your BI counterpart  sit down and make a gentleman’s agreement on modifying this  situation?  It wouldn’t cost a peso and it might just gain the Philippines many more pesos in tourist income.

Thanks for reading, sir, and good luck with your efforts in attracting tourists … convince me that the Philippines actually wants tourists and I might get busy and send a few your way.

The group dynamic in the home

Do you remember in late 2008, and the early part of 2009, I wrote a series of articles about SIR?  SIR means “Smooth Interpersonal Relations” and it is the basic tenet of Philippine Culture.  SIR is what controls the way that society in the Philippines functions.  One of the tenets of the SIR system is called “In Group.”  In Group is all about how Filipinos like to associate into a group.  They like to hang out as a group, and individuality is not only discouraged, but rarely practiced.  In Western Culture, we tend to value our personal time, hanging out by yourself gives you time to reflect.  Individuality is a big part of our culture.

One of the things that makes culture an enjoyable subject for me to study is how the dynamics of culture affect my family.  Because my kids are a mix of Filipino and American and have lived in each culture, watching how the deal with cultural issues is an interesting lesson for me.  While my kids have now spent the vast majority of their lives living in the Philippines, the fact that they live in my household gives them a daily dose of Philippine and Western Culture.  So, watching how their personal culture blends the two is always interesting to watch.

One cultural difference that I have never discussed on the site until now is sleeping arrangements.  In Philippine society, a lot of people sleep together.  For example, if you have 4 or 5 kids, they often all sleep in the same bedroom, even in the same bed together.  If cousins live under the same roof, they are also part of the sleeping group.  On the other hand, in the West, sleeping arrangements are normally quite different.  In the United States, generally each child has his/her own bedroom.  Sometimes, if there are not enough rooms, two kids might share a bedroom, but these days it is more the norm that each child has a bedroom of his own.

Another difference in sleeping arrangements in Philippine Culture compared to Western Culture is the sleeping arrangements when there is a baby, or a young child.  In the USA, when you have a baby, you generally have a Nursery, or a bedroom specifically for the baby.  In the Nursery you will have a baby crib, a special bed with rails where the baby will sleep.  In the past 20 years or so, there are baby monitors, little radio transmitters that you can use.  The transmitter will be in the baby’s bedroom, while the parents will have the receiver so that they can hear what is going on in the nursery.  If the baby wakes up, you can go get the child, or go and get him back to sleep again.

In Philippine society, the baby normally sleeps with the parents, in their bed.  This can be the case for years.  Even a kid 5 or 6 years old might still be sleeping with his parents.  This can put a cramp on the “adult activities” of the parents, if you know what I mean.  When we had young babies in the States, we always had a hard time working out the sleeping arrangements.  Of course, Feyma wanted the baby to sleep with us, while I was more in favor of the baby sleeping in his own room.  Feyma usually won out on those arguments, though.

Living here in the Philippines and having children now ranging from 17 years old down to 9 years old, the kids like to all sleep in the same bedroom.  There are two beds in the room, and the kids split up between the two beds.  They seem to be more comfortable being in a group arrangement, the way the Philippine Culture is, than if it was the Western way.  There have been times I have suggested to the kids that maybe we would split them into their own bedrooms, and I have always been met with resistance when I suggest this to them.

It is certainly a different way of sleeping from what I grew up with.  When I was a kid, my brother and I shared a bedroom for a number of years and it is always something that we fought against.  We wanted our own bedrooms with our own privacy.   The day came when we had that, and we were happy.  With my kids, though, it would seem that they are in no hurry for that day to come though.

It wil be interesting to continue watching the situation and seeing if they want to have their own bedrooms as they become older.

A very busy week (and infuriating culture clashes)

Long story here. I’m still trying to sort out everything that has happened over the last week. You see, we have two guests here in Quezon City right now. One guest is our son Juanito’s birth mother. The other guest is Rebecca’s 13 year-old cousin.

Juanito’s birth mother has stayed with us for five days. This can present some problems further down the road with Juanito’s citizenship, but, hey, I’m telling this story in a very public forum and I think you will agree that Rebecca and I did the right thing. We have been rudely introduced to some very serious cultural issues this week. In addition to writing this story for documentation, I am writing this article because there are other expats who may encounter these very same issues.

As I wrote at the beginning of this year, Rebecca and I started adoption proceedings for our son, Juanito. He has become a very happy baby and our attorney assures us that everything is proceeding smoothly. Juanito’s birth mother is Rebecca’s second cousin (I won’t give her name… She has been through enough already.) She is a teenager, and the family couldn’t afford to keep the baby, so Becky and I stepped in. We love Juanito as our own son, and think of him as our blood. Rebecca is an absolutely wonderful mother. I think that Juanito is very lucky to have a mama who cares so much about him.

Juanito’s birth mother, if you look at her, appears to be, and acts, around 13 years old. She just turned 18. Two years ago, she met a boy in her hometown and, like many teenagers, they weren’t careful, and Juanito comes along. Her town is actually more of a village… a very rural barangay of Aparri, with no paved roads or running water, and barely any electricity. News travels fast in such a place, and she was immediately teased (quite cruelly and unfairly, I might add) by her classmates as soon as she began to show. It doesn’t help that this young lady is quite pretty and gets a lot of attention from the boys. Thus, her local reputation was sealed.

When we agreed to adopt Juanito, we promised Rebecca’s Uncle that we would send her to school, so at least she would have a chance in life. We are keeping that promise. We made no promises to send money anywhere, and worked closely with Father Carlos, the judge, and the DSWF from day one.

There are maturity issues here, and we made arrangements for her to stay with another aunt in Bulacan while she is in school. This aunt taught Catholic school for 40 years and will not put up with any nonsense, especially boys. We felt that having an older, experienced woman around would be a good influence and would help her succeed. Because Juanito will be eligible for American citizenship, we need to be absolutely certain that this adoption is legitimate and completely above the board. That is why she cannot live with us.

So, we agreed to provide for her schooling. I promised:

1. Full tuition (The bill is being sent to me directly. She wants an IT degree. 100% her choice.)

2. All books. (We took her directly to National bookstore).

3. Rent and Board. (I’m paying her keep with Becky’s aunt).

4. Uniforms.(Next week, Becky and her Aunt are buying.)

5. A small stipend for toothpaste, jeepney, etc. (We are giving her 1,000p per month, along with shampoo and other things from our last balikbayan box).

Therefore, all of her financial costs have been completely removed. Her only task is to study… Nothing else.

So, she rode with us on the way back to Manila last weekend, originally intending to be dropped off in Bulacan so she could get used to her new surroundings before school starts. She has never stepped foot outside Cagayan province before. Well, we weren’t 200km along our way before the arguments between her and Rebecca started almost immediately. The maturity issue. Rebecca doesn’t want to burden her Aunt in Bulacan, and she was being instructed in her responsibilities in the house. Rebecca asked me, “Let her stay with us a couple of days so that I can make certain that she will succeed in school.” I reluctantly agreed, because both Rebecca and I want her to have a good future. Some day, when Juanito is older and wants to know where he came from, we want him to be proud that she made something of her life.

Unfortunately, the arguments got worse. Rebecca caught her flirting with a security guard at the mall when they went to buy books. All hell broke loose. Rebecca had the “Manila is not the province, people will hurt you here. Don’t talk to strangers.” speech. The next day, a relative forwarded an SMS to Becky that said there were complaints that we had not given this girl any money. I was working in my office and I hear people screaming in Ybanag (I have never heard my wife yell like that.) I come down, and Rebecca says, “Just give her the money and get her out!” I got my wife calmed down, and had a private talk with the girl.

I got the story. More than I ever wanted.

It seems that she has been disowned by the family (Her grandfather, Becky’s uncle) for bringing shame to the family. On to of this, her mother was telling her to “get all she could from us” and send it to her in Saudi Arabia. Finally, before coming to Manila, she was given five pesos and told not to come back unless she got money from us. She is frightened and alone. She was deceived by her own blood. They just wanted to get rid of her. I gave her a hug and let her cry a bit. I told her that Rebecca wasn’t being mean, but she was trying to help her. I then talked to Rebecca and patched things up between them. Becky knows it wasn’t her fault. Becky understands this money conflict because she experienced it herself. They went to the salon together and got makeovers. After this blow up, I don’t think that I have seen Rebecca so close to another person. She has some growing up to do, but being in Bulacan will remove her from the situation. After all of this went down, another relative called her and told her to send back a SIM card with 30 pesos credit remaining on it. I told her, “You tell them to come to Manila and they can have it back. No wait… give me the phone. I’ll tell them!” I don’t think we will get that visit.

We verified her story through other family members. Needless to say, I am really quite angry. Not at her, but towards the family. You see, I didn’t care what the school cost. Both Rebecca and I sincerely want her to have a fighting chance in life, and that means getting an education. We feel that we are giving her an opportunity that very few people up there ever receive. She knows this. She is grateful. The demands from her own blood caused the conflict. I told her that she does not have to do anything but study… We will make certain that happens. She told us that she is never going back there until she is a success, with her OWN money. It has been a difficult situation. We advised our attorney and the judge about what happened. The adoption is ironclad. The family have no rights to the baby, and cannot use this against us as blackmail.

We have taken steps to ensure that any money goes for schooling, room, and board. All bills come directly to me. We set up a bank account for her for her monthly stipend. We told her to tell no-one about this account, especially family. We bought her a year’s worth of new clothes so she can dress properly (She had no underwear without holes in them (according to my wife) and only 3 t-shirts and a couple of pairs of shorts. All of her worldly belongings fit into a large ladies purse. ) Her Aunt in Bulacan will manage the daily expenses and she knows what has happened. We have also made arrangements to help her find a job in Australia or Singapore when she graduates… Far away from family. We told her to let us know if she gets more pressure, and Becky and I will deal with it… These issues can be solved, but we have to know about them. I feel that we’ve done all we can. The rest is up to her. We can’t take the classes for her. She goes to Bulacan later today, and both Rebecca and myself truly want her to do well. I hope she uses this chance we’ve given her.

The other guest is another cousin of Becky’s who came to “help” during her school break. We told her we will buy her books for the new term (She’ll be here a month.)  We’ll give her some money, too… She really wasn’t expected to do much, but she has really surprised me! For only 13, this little girl is certainly mature… She does a much better job than our maid. She also has never set foot outside Cagayan province. So, we had two young ladies with us this week, who experienced the following for the first time ever:

1. Ridden an escalator. (It was like Disneyland to them!)

2.Visited a mall (They were completely overwhelmed).

3. Been to the movies (They had fun.)

4. Been to a salon (They told Becky they felt like film stars.)

5. Gotten brand new clothes (The smiles were a reward.).

6. Eaten Pizza (They didn’t like it.)

7. Eaten wasabi (They didn’t like it.)

8. Slept with air conditioning (They didn’t like it.)

9. Prayed at Quiapo (They were crying.)

10. Been to Divisoria market (They were overwhelmed. Probably the biggest palengke in the country.)

Seeing these new experiences to them was a real eye opener. Sometimes I forget how far behind provincial life is, compared to the city. In closing, I can’t neglect a new picture of Juanito… I’m a proud papa!

Pondering lifestyle changes

Well, it’s Monday morning here in the Philippines.  I hope that everybody had a good weekend.  I know that I did!  On Saturday morning, I had some work to do, and after I got up, I took my laptop into the office, hooked it to all of my desktop peripherals and sat down to work.  It was still morning, so it was cool in my office, at least I felt cool.  I put the ceiling fan on, but left the air conditioner off.  I rarely feel the need for air conditioning in the morning, at least until mid-morning when it starts to heat up outside.  I generally leave the windows in my office open overnight, and by morning it is quite cool in there.

As I sat there, getting ready to do some work that I was behind on, I was thinking.  Life has sure become different from how it was when I lived in the States.  I noticed a lot of different things on Saturday morning as I pondered the thought.

Firstly, sitting there in my office with the windows open, I couldn’t help but hear all the work being done next door.  The house next door was recently sold, and is being converted to a school, a Montessori Pre-school.  There are plenty of workmen modifying the house, the yard and just about everything there.  It’s rather loud.  People hammering, cutting, radio going, general sounds of a construction area.  Yet, I was sitting there at my desk with the windows open, all of these sounds hitting me, and I was still concentrating on my work.  Oh my, how different this was from living in the States.  Houses there are further apart, and not as noisy as you would expect a house in the Philippines to be.  Here, noise is a constant.  Somehow, I have adjusted to it.  It can still be irritating, but not like it was to me before.  If it was too irritating, I could have closed the windows, maybe put on some soft music, and probably muted out the sounds from next door almost entirely.  Yet, I didn’t do that.  I just enjoyed the clean, fresh air blowing in the windows, and ignored the construction noise.

After a while, I decided to make a cup of coffee.  I have a pot to boil water in my office, and a selection of coffee beans that I can use to make coffee.  Another thing that I have near to my coffee making area is a thermometer on the wall of my office.  I glanced at it, and it was 84F degrees in my office.  That’s about 29C.  I felt it was a bit chilly.  Not cold, but certainly not warm either. The breeze blowing through the windows, combined with the air movement caused by the ceiling fan made me feel quite comfortable.  If the breeze picked up a bit, I could feel a bit of a chill on my skin.  After glancing at the thermometer, I realized that if it was 80+ degrees in my house when I was in the States, I’d be sweating.  I would be very uncomfortable.  Yet, here I was comfortable, slightly chilled in fact.  What a change!  I wonder how I’d feel if I lived in the States again, especially during winter.

As a few hours passed, and I had pretty much completed my work in my office, my mind continued to wander, thinking of changes that I’ve experienced in my life.  A thought came to me about my work life in the States.  On the last job that I held before coming to the Philippines, I worked 12 hour shifts.  It was a job where I had to be on pretty constant alert, always pay attention to what was going on.  Now, I work if I want to.  And, to even call what I do “work” is a bit of a misnomer.  I mean, generally work is that I write a few articles for my websites.  I have a cup of coffee or a glass of juice.  If I get the desire to surf to a few websites to see what is going on, that’s part of my work.  It is certainly a lot more relaxed and a lot less stressful than what I came from.  No doubt there.  What a nice change in my life.

Later in the day, Feyma and I were watching a movie on our TV set in the bedroom.  I turned on the air conditioning.  After about 5 minutes, I felt too cold, so I turned it off.  Ah, it made me think more about the thoughts I had in the morning regarding temperature adjustment.  One thing I hear from a lot of foreigners who come to visit Davao is that they feel they could never adjust to the weather here.  Believe me, you do adjust, though.  I know that I use the air conditioning a lot less now than I used to.

You know, life is good.  Changes keep things interesting.  Living in the Philippines, even after 9 years, there is something new almost every day for me to discover and learn more about.  I’m happy with where my life is now.  How about you?

Guess who I met in immigration?

It always surprises me who you will meet when you walk around my city of Davao. I have met so many people from many nationalities, who all share the common link of being adventurous and maybe a little more interesting then their own country stereotypes… I think I include myself in that category.

Whilst waiting patiently in the Immigration office at Davao, I got talking to an American gentleman who when talking to the officials had a very pleasing and respectful manner, that’s why he caught my attention.

When we started talking he told me what he has been doing for work and it blew my mind as this man was part of MY CHILDHOOD. Let me explain.

For the last thirty or so years he was an animator for many high profile cartoons that had engulfed me.

HE MAN, SCOOBY DOO, JOHNNY QUEST

He worked on many Hanna Barbera cartoons too, not sure if he did my favourite THE FLINTSTONES.

And get this , he even worked for the Disney studios as an animator doing Mickey Mouse, however not on screen but for merchandise.

I so wanted to talk to this man for longer, but he was on his way out of the office and then back to the US.

After he left I started to list in my mind the cartoons throughout the years that was part of the baby boom era.

Funny who you meet in the Philippines..who next?

Cursed!

Black Magic in The Philippines

I think most would say that Filipina and perhaps Filipino in general are far more superstitious than Westerners.  My girl friend  has a superstitious saying about so many things.  The other day we found 10 peso in the street.  She picked it up and said she had to put it separate from her other money.  When I asked her why she said “that’s what they say.”

Another Filipina told me she had a dispute with a landlord so she put a curse on him and he died.  I tried to pursue this and she wouldn’t talk more.  I wanted to know when she had him cursed and when he died but she quickly went quiet when I asked for details.

Another Filipina told my girl friend that a mutual friend had been cursed and that something was wrong with his face.  It was basically rotting she said.  Now that seemed pretty impressive to me.  I tried to find out when her friend first found out about the curse, was it before or after the pinoy (man) started having problems.  Pretty easy for someone he did wrong to claim they did it as an act of revenge.  The man has a reputation as a player and the word is someone got angry for being made a fool of.

I’ve seen stories of “quack doctors” in the Philippines.  An expat told me his girl friend went to see one when she got sick.  The guy chanted a few things, did some odd things with animals and after a long illness, a few days later the girl was well again.

A couple of nights ago, our toilet seat fell and the noise it made didn’t make a lot of sense.  It just didn’t seem right.  Jessie is convinced it was the ghost of the old woman that lived here for many years.  As she was explaining, I must admit I had a few chills going up and down my back.

I don’t know what to make of all of these things.  Of course I’m skeptical but I wont totally dismiss it.  Maybe this is such a strong part of the culture for very good reason.  As a Westerner, I tend to think that Christianity and black magic should be mutually exclusive but that’s not how people live here.

I’d love to hear more stories along these lines.  What experiences have you had with Filipino and superstition?  I think I’ll go listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s version of “Superstition” now.    I’ve seen enough things in my life that I don’t dismiss the supernatural at all.  That doesn’t mean I believe it all either.  I just know that I will steer clear of it, no matter how tempting it is to put a curse on someone.