Jewels in Asia
Lately I have seen some nasty things said by Westerners about the Philippines. Many times out of ignorance toward the Philippines. Often from shallow people that have no idea about what is important in life. Most are suffering from severe self esteem and slamming others help them to feel better about themselves.
Sure there are problems here but what really matters in life? Is it things that matter? They are nice to have. I know I miss all my electronics that I had accumulated through life, most of them now gone as I sold them before I left. Others in storage and may be there forever. I’m not sure what kind of shape they are in now. I heard there were leaks in the room where my stuff is at. So what, those things matter almost none at all. I had $15,000 in audio video toys and they didn’t make me happy. Having no one to share them with was lonely.
Is it your job? Wow, I had a fairly prestigious job, it feels good that I achieved it. I miss it sometimes, so many years later, sometimes I still have dreams about it. When I was young, I
Singing Filipino At Our Door
had to prove to myself that I could do it. It was a government position and many people hate what I did, not prestigious to them at all. But for people within the industry it is and I was very honoured to reach it. I don’t think I’d be alive now if I was still doing it. I retied, I think 7 years ago and boy was that the right choice.
Priceless Filipino
Two things are important, the rest, I don’t think matters much. People and God. The people of the Philippines are the value of the Philippines. Most are very good people. You’ll hear how they will rip you off, extort money from you, rob you and do everything they can to get money out of you.
Yea I’ve met some people that are constantly trying to get money out of me. They become someone in my past in a short time. Filipino are mostly a very proud people. Most are too proud to take money from you for anything other than work.
And geesh most work very hard, for very little income. Filipina seem to want to show how strong they are, at least the ones I know. I’ve watched some road improvements underway in Bogo, wow that’s hard work. A pick axe and shovels in the hot blazing sun.
Most important though, it is just hard to find a rude Filipino, a mean Filipino,or a hateful Filipino. I’ve seen Westerners talk of how the pinoy will stare at you. Well, if you say hello to them, they will give you huge smiles. They may offer you a drink, this is what friends do here in the Philippines. If I drank every time someone offered, I’d be one polluted kano (white guy)!
I’ve had one landlord not deliver what was promised, put me in a different apartment, smaller with limited aircon. That was probably the worst I’ve been treated here. It was a nice place except it was smaller than it was suppose to be and only the bedroom had aircon. I made due for about six weeks though. I’ve paid more custom duties than I should have, when I first got here. The first two months was kind of difficult for me.
Then either I got smarter or I stopped running into so much bad luck because the people have been great. My current landlord gets under my skin at times. Everything has to be her way but then she did co-sign on our furniture when we first moved in. Without that, I might still be sleeping on the floor but I bet I would have aircon! LOL That will be paid off by the end of the year, then I can get some more but for cash only.
The Philippines is an amazing country because of the amazing Filipino that make it up. If you’re not finding that to be true, you’re doing something wrong. First smile, say hello and be polite. That’s the culture of the Philippines, if you can’t deal with that, you’re better off not coming here.
Tagged with: Expats • Filipina • Living In The Phlippines
Filed under: Living In The Philippines
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Great outlook, Rusty! The people here really are great to deal with!
Thanks Bob.
And thanks for commenting.
Seems to be hard to get people to talk when I get all philosophical.
another wonderful story rusty. thats the gift that you posses that makes me read your stories over and over again. you have the amazing ability to put into words the exact things that you are feeling in your heart. i was looking forward to meeting you and having dinner with you in july but it looks like i will not be able to make it until a few months down the road due to the pending military issues that i have right now. however, i will be writing to you and bob every now and then to get some much needed advice before i actually do come there. mindanao bob and you both have wonderful information on your sites. so, until i can make it there please continue with your wonderful stories because i am an avid reader and enjoy them so.
rick
Awww, that sucks. hope they are not about to send you to another war zone and that you get out of there before North Korea goes completely bonkers, well it may be too late.
Keep in touch and let us know how things are going.
I thought about sending you an email cause I haven’t heard from you in so long!
I’ve met a few rude people and a few scammers but you meet those kind of people whereever you go not just in the Philippines. The vast majority of people I have met have been quite friendly and helpful.
I think most of the people who have a lot of problems with the local people bring it upon themselves by their attitude. I have very rarely had any problem with people I treated politely and with respect. There are exceptions to every rule but that is just human nature.
I’m trying to recall rude people. Well, sometimes when I’m walking the group mentality thing sets in and someone makes a fat joke.
It is also my experience, that Filipino are quite blunt. Not rude in their culture.
I don’t remember the specifics about all of them either because it doesn’t happen often and I would rather remember th nice people I meet. They are out there though just like everywhere.
I just have not seen Filipino acting like a jerk. Other than those few that make comments and then laugh after we walk by. You know, see a group of people talking, as you get close they stop. Once you pass they snicker or laugh. Duh, like I don’t know they are talking about me or Jessie. Even driving, they are pushy and loud (horn) but that’s not rude, that’s just normal combat driving here.
Heck, even my stalker was polite. LOL She’s not been seen in town for a long time though. She’d act like she didn’t notice me but I’d make sure she did and say hello to her. She’s speak then. I don’t know how she thought she could walk right past me and I’d not notice her or think that I’d be fooled that she didn’t notice me.
Good stuff, man. I’m looking forward to those friendly smiles. My trip is less than 3 weeks away now, so I’m glad my new passport finally arrived in the mail yesterday. Looks like I’m just about all ready to go. How are things in Bogo lately, Rusty?
Things in Bogo are lazy, and I’m even lazier. I’ve been a hermit lately.
Remember, you should say hello first then you’ll get the smiles and frienly Filipino otherwise they may assume you’re just another American jerk.
That three weeks may drag by. Hope you find time to squeeze Jessie and I in between all those girls.
Yeah, I’m surely going through Bogo. When I bought my plane tickets, I promised myself that the one part of my trip that is a must for me is the Bogo & Bantayan segment. I was originally planning on doing Manila-Cebu-Davao, but now it looks more like I’ll be doing Manila-Davao-Cebu, but either way I’m definately gonna swing by Bogo for a couple of days. I’m also looking forward to spending at least 3 or 4 days in Bantayan.
So, where are Christine and Terry? I guess they must be busy lately.
I hope nothing changes your plans regarding Bogo.
I’d offer you a place to stay but I have no extra bed.
Christen was in the Philippines, I’m pretty sure she’s home but I’m not sure. I thought I noticed her IP in the logs but I’m not sure it was really hers.
Still lots of visitors but not a lot of people commenting.
Terry was on vacation but she’s back. She may be playing soccer mom, she does that a LOT!
Hopefully they’ll both be back. Christine was suppose to come see Juliet while she was here but I didn’t hear from her.
There’s no way that I’m going to miss the Bogo – Bantayan part of my trip. Trust me on that. one. I’m hoping that my friend from Cebu made it ok on her trip to Bantayan this weekend with her mom to attend her brother’s wedding. She was very nervous about the travel because of the nasty storm, Since I’m going to the Phils during wet-rainy-nasty storm season, I’m sure I’ll get to experience plenty of that first-hand
Sorry I haven’t been lighting up the message boards much, but I’ve been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off trying to get everything ready for my trip. Also, the sweetie I have been talking to who lives in Davao has been ill in the hospital for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been sweating that out because I am very fond of her. She’s the girl who has been teaching me the language, and I’m looking forward to spending time with her on my trip.
I’m planning on flying to the Phils without checking a bag. Wish me luck on that one
Hospital for a couple of weeks? That doesn’t sound good. Hope she’s okay. I don’t know your girl at all but its common scam for Filipina to meet guys online adn tell them they need money for a hospital.
you mentioned you had several sweeties you were going to meet. If all of them show up, I’ll be surprised. If none of them do, i will also be surprised. Just keep your options open and don’t count on a girl on the other side of the earth. Now this is one of those do as I say things, not as i do. I am use to seeing these Filipina love things going bad more often than going well. When they go well, they can go VERY well. I have no doubt you can find a great girl here though. Hopefully, you’ll be one of the lucky ones. I was.
I wouldn’t count on a lot of rainy weather. Well, you’ll see more of that in Manila. Less in Cebu and still less in Davao. I think your friend in Cebu was worrying much more than she needed too. Seems like we did get some rain one da over the weekend. I went walking on Saturday though so wasn’t then. It rained most of one day or threatened too. In Cebu, there is not a massive difference between the wet and dry season. In Manila there is.
I think you were talking about teaching English here a while back. A friend of mine got a job doing that. It pays only $300 a month plus room and board. Not sure it worked out for him, he may have just ended up stranded in Subic. He has no income so he would take anything. I hope he is okay.
The 2 girls I’m going to see, one in Davao and one in Cebu, actually know each other and are friends now because of me. They both joined Facebook because of me, and it actually took weeks for the only 2 Filipino people on my Facebook friends list to discover each other on there
I knew it was only a matter of time before they contacted each other on there, and I was thinking that it could turn into a total debacle for me, but since they already knew about each other because I’ve been honest about that the whole time, it was no big deal. The whole time the girl in Davao was quite ill in the hospital, the girl in Cebu showed genuine concern and always began our chats with questions about her and also reassurance that she would recover and be ok. Truly sweet girls, and it’s funny that I no longer care about stuff like getting laid there anymore, because now I’ll be quite happy just knowing that I’ll be creating great memories with some great people. You were right when you commented that one of your favorite things about the Phils is the fact that even though most people there are poor by our western standards, they still are positive and happy and smile a lot 
$300 per month plus room and board actually sounds totally decent to me. It would be a way to keep me busy when I live there. If I don’t do something like that, I plan to do some volunteer work for somebody like the United Way or the Red Cross, for that priceless feeling of altruism.
I’m gonna fill my little 3oz travel bottles with Citronella Campsuds for bathing and also for hand-washing my clothes. I was just on the REI website looking at it, and I also noticed that they sell the no-rinse body bath stuff that the astronauts use. Maybe I’ll grab a little bit of that, too, and if I do try it out, I’ll let everybody know how well it works.
I got the Olympus Tough 8000, which is basically the same cam as the Stylus 1030SW, and I took a bunch of pics with it during my recent family trip to Hershey Park. If you ever get bored enough you can check out my photo galleries on my Facebook page. My name on there should be “joebogo”. I was pleasantly surprised at how well that little tough cam performed in terms of photo quality
How’s the pizza there lately? I haven’t seen any pizza reports recently, although I haven’t been looking very hard either
I will try to find your Facebook, you can find me by searching for my name I think or Fertilizer.
I hope things work out you you and the girls. If not though, you’ll find others.
I think this guy is an assistant. I’m not sure he even finished high school. he said his job would just to be converse with them. If you could get an actual teaching job, you’ll likely make more. It seems there are quite a few of these types of schools. Personally, I hate teaching, because I suck at it, at least in a class room environment. I do okay one on one. I don’t need to do anything that would take that much of my time. I will eventually make more money on the web.
The camera is very good for landscapes. Blues are much bluer and greens are much greener. I think the camera enhances it a bit. For people my Sony and its bigger lens is much better. I look forward to getting my cannon when I can. The size of the Olympus is nice too. I got mine at a great price because of the 8000 coming out. About half of the normal price. I need another battery but I don’t want to spend the money.
Dude, I see lots of battery deals for that battery, I believe it’s the same one as mine, the LI-50B model. Maybe I’ll bring you a battery if I order and they arrive here in time. It’s always nice to have an extra, although so far I’m impressed with the single stock battery that I have now. It lasted me through both days of that Hershey trip, including the botanical gardens and then the next day at Hershey Park. And I spent alot of time fiddling around with the cam on the long and boring car ride home, and I’ve messed with it here at the house since we got back, and it still hasn’t seen the charger since before the trip.
It’s great that you got a sweet deal on your cam, since the 8000 is basically just rebranded with all the same specs except that I think they tacked on an extra 2mp to a total of 12, although I’ll never notice because I doubt that I’ll ever do much shooting beyond 5mp.
I met with my PO today and he printed up my travel permit paper for me, so now I’m totally in the clear to go, and I feel much better without all that ‘what if’ anxiety i had before today. My honey is still in the hospital, but I know that she will get better soon if she just hangs in there. She’s a real sweetie, believe me. She’s having a pretty rough time lately, but I don’t want to disclose any of the details in a public domain like this.
I just saw in my email that you found me on Facebook. I’ll confirm the friend add right after I finish typing this.
My friend Jane from Singapore wants to fly to Manila to meet me and hang out with me there for a few days, but there’s that big swine flu panic going on, so lots of people from places like SG are getting quarantined lately, so if she gets too spooked she’ll just hang back and let her siblings show me around Manila and other parts of the Luzon region. I’m ear-marking about 2 weeks each for the Davao area and Cebu, so as long as you are in town when I make my way through Bogo, I’m sure I’ll run into you there. As soon as I get a local SIM card with a local Phils # upon arrival in the Phils, I’ll send you my new # via email.
Ok, I’m gonna go add you on FB now…
Where’s the belly-dancer at??
I don’t know where Christine is. I hope her family hasn’t given her a hard time about out flirting with the belly dancer. I’m pretty sure she’s home now. I’ll email her and see if I can get her to perk up.
You might be able to get my number off FaceBook. I’ll check and see or email it to you.
The batteries I’ve seen with Olympus brand anyway were around $45.00. That’s a good deal of money for me. Normally, that’s pocket money for two weeks. The battery does last a while but, I need to get my manual back out as I never get any kind of warning that its about to die until it has only a few minutes left on it. Ii see a battery indicator on it when I first turn it on but it always looks full. I need to get one of their memory chips for it as the panoramic mode doesn’t work with the mini disk. I shoot at 10mp but I may change to 5 myself. Takes less time to save to disk. I feel like I’m cheating myself if I don’t go with the best quality. As I understand it, it only matters for printing huge posters which I’m not likely to ever do. I have an 8Mb stick and even at 10mp it will hold like 9000 pictures!
I don’t get the response to AHN1, there are over 500 confirmed cases in the Philippines now. Keeping people out of here seems pointless. They now think that the disease originated in SE Asia. Just discovered in Mexico. They don’t know for sure though.
Christine is still in the Philippines, busy with family. I heard from her last night.
good effort, thumb upz.