I get a lot of questions from people asking about cellular phones here, and most of the questions make it pretty clear that most foreigners don’t understand how cellular phones work here in the Philippines. Because of this, I thought I’d write a column about cellphone use in the Philippines, billing and such. Back in […]
Rediscovery
In this busy world where we are always on the run, sometimes we lose track of things. Sometimes we forget and leave our cellphone somewhere. Other times we forget where we put our car keys. Frankly, we can lose track of anything. Sometimes we even lose track of who we are. I think that it […]
A Pinoy Christmas
For me, there is no better sign that it is Christmas time than hearing Jose Mari Chan singing the song “Christmas in our Hearts.” I find it a very special Christmas song, and it really makes me think about the Philippines. I have been a fan of Jose Mari Chan since my first visit to […]
Something special about the tropics
There is just something special about living in the tropics. It’s different here. Pleasantly different. I live in the heart of the City. A residential area not far from downtown. I can walk for 5 to 10 minutes and be at a mall. However, from my desk, in the office, which is in my house, […]
SIR: Tigpataliwala
It’s Tuesday, so let’s get back to my SIR series! For today’s installment, let’s look at a different area of SIR, Tigpataliwala, or the “Go Between”. The go between is critical in the day to day functioning of Philippine society, so it is important for us foreigners to learn about it and understand what it […]
Monkeys and Pigs
I must admit, I am a little bit worried about food safety in the Philippines. There was some troublesome news last week that brought this to my mind. Around mid-week last week, it came out that three piggeries in Luzon were found to have Ebola Reston in their pork! It seems like it’s been a […]