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Find Yourself A “Jo Jo” – Skilled Labor in the Philippines

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I’ve told the story before. When we moved into our house in Valencia, the toilet in the master bedroom smelled. It worked perfectly fine, but to quote Willie in one of my fave Xmas films, Bad Santa, it “smelled like a bum’s nut sack.”

Our landlord knew a guy and within an hour or two “Jo Jo” arrived to take a look. He said it was probably a bad seal and while he could start replacing seals and hope to find the issue, we’d probably be best off just replacing the toilet. The landlord was willing to pay for the new toilet, if we paid for the labor; that is the landlord was willing for me to buy the toilet and deduct the price from next month’s rent. I agreed.

A new toilet was purchased and Jo Jo, with the assistance of our next door neighbor, went to work. Now I have replaced a toilet or two in the US with mixed results. This time I was happy to have someone else do it. I will admit that at 65, schlepping around a new toilet has lost some of its charm. A couple hours later Jo Jo  was done and announced he would check the work the next day after the caulk had dried.

I contacted a couple expat friends and asked for a recommended price, since as is typical in the Philippines, Jo Jo would not name his price; “Whatever you wish to pay, Sir,” was his response to the question. My friends recommended 300-400 pesos (about $6-$8).

When the work was done I gave Jo Jo 300P and my neighbor 100P to help. My neighbor was reluctant to take any money but I insisted. In addition, Janet provided the workers with a “snack” – typical in the Philippines.

A month or two later we had a couple of minor electrical problems. The last thing I really wanted to do was deal with electrical problems in the Philippines; I mean it’s 220 voltage and I am clueless. But I procrastinated. A couple of the issues were 13 feet up and I have enough trouble on the ground nowadays. Finally I suggested to Janet, “Let’s see if Jo Jo can do it?” Janet texted him and he said he could come over the next morning. I took that as a sign he was happy for the work and the amount I had paid him the last time had been adequate. He came over and we had him fix 3 or 4 minor issues. Took him an hour at most. I handed him 300P and he went away happy.

Ever since we moved into the house the water pressure has been poor. Now, a lot of this is the water service in Valencia which isn’t very good. Of course our water bill averages about $1/month so I guess this comes under the category of, you get what you pay for.

But I had noticed that some faucets flowed well and others did not, which with my very limited plumbing knowledge told me that there might be clogs in some pipes. In particular, our bedroom shower had gone down to a trickle. “Let’s call Jo Jo,” I suggested authoritatively. He told Janet he could be there 7:30 the next morning. The next morning was a Sunday so this confirmed that I had been paying him well enough.
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He showed up at 7:30 on the nose and went to work. The main line had plenty of water so that wasn’t the issue. So he checked all the house lines. As I expected many of them had clogs and corrosion. Unlike in the US where a plumber would recommend thousands of dollars worth of replaced pipes and hardware, he cleaned the problem areas and within an hour we had decent water flow. I happily handed him 300P. A busy guy, he passed on the snack. I took the best shower I’ve had in a month!

The point of all this isn’t just that labor is inexpensive in the Philippines; that’s a given. It’s just that your thinking begins to change.

In the U.S., Home Depot and Lowes make billions. is this because guys love to spend their weekends replacing toilets? I doubt it. It’s because over the last generation or two the cost of calling a professional is beyond the budget of the average American.

Some guys reluctantly pay the pros. Others reluctantly give Home Depot their money and try to complete their Honey Do list. And still others find workarounds for problems and just plain procrastinate. While I have done all three strategies when I owned an older home in the U.S., procrastination was my favorite.

In the Philippines, those hard choices are unnecessary. Someone will happily help you with your home problems, fix your flat tire, clean your house, take care of your kids, etc. And the cost by Western standards is modest. Car wash? I have it done regularly, both inside and out. I never paid for the inside detail service in the U.S.; it’s too damn expensive. My haircut with tip costs about $1.

My point is, you’re giving people work that they are happy to have and the cost is very affordable. So there’s not much of a need to procrastinate. What am I gonna do with my time, now that I have no reason to piss it away?

 

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Shopping Tips (Half-Baked) in the Philippines

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Now that I have lived in the Philippines for a grand total of nine months I thought I would tackle the prickly problem of shopping in the Philippines, getting the stuff you want, preferably at a decent price. Now, I am a guy so my notion of shopping is not the same as Janet’s. By all means let’s ask her to write her own take on shopping here in the Philippines. I mean I have no idea where to buy the best shoes here but since this is the Philippines, I am sure there are many places.

Typically guys are interested in food, tools and guy stuff so that’s what I’ll focus on.

Tip #1: “Get it while you can!” If you see an item in a store that you want or that you know you’re going to need or even vaguely might need within the next decade – buy it – now. There’s no guarantee it’ll be there in a month. In fact if it’s an unusual item I can practically guarantee it won’t be there in a month. I have learned this lesson the hard way – over and over. I was in my local hardware store and saw  bar clamps. Now every woodworker knows you can’t have enough clamps, so I made a mental note. Well you guessed it; a month later when I went to buy a couple bar clamps they were gone. I’ve had the same experience multiple times. There’s no sense asking store personnel when they will get more. They will just say, “We’re out of stock, Sir.” “When will you have more?” Get real; they have no idea. Their job is to sell what’s in the store not what’s not in the store.

So listen to Grace Slick and – “Get it while you can.”

Tip #2: Pay it! As a corollary to Tip #1 – just pay the money. In the US when I saw something I wanted, I would go home, check online to see if I could get a better price somewhere, call a couple stores to make sure it was in stock, etc. Don’t do that here in the Philippines because if you do by the time you get it together to go back to the store, the item in question will be – repeat after me – “out of stock!”

Tip #3: Don’t get too excited when you find something you like in stock. The first week we were in Dumaguete we went to Robinsons Supermarket for our first major grocery run. I took the opportunity to go up and down every aisle, trying to get the lay of the land. I spied something in the refrigerated area and called to Janet. “They have Philly cream cheese here!” I was shocked and delighted. I have been a Philly fan since I was a kid and it was the only cream cheese I put on my bagels for 60 years. Now, I had no idea if I could get any kind of bagel in Dumaguete, but I bought a container of Philly and went home with a smile on my face.

Eventually I did find a bakery with at least passable bagels and made consistent runs there. Within a couple months I ran out of my Philly cream cheese. “No worries,” I told Janet. “I’ll get more the next time we go to Robinsons.” Ah, when will I learn? No Philly to be found in Robinsons, “out of stock” and who knows when it will return.

The moral? Buy an extra tub of cream cheese!

Tip #4: Patronize your favorite places and buy out the store. Speaking of the bagel place I found, it’s a nice bakery and once or twice a month I run down there. At first I bought a bagel or two cause that was my routine back in the US. I’m slow but learning. Yesterday I stopped in and asked “How many plain bagels do you have?” I’m just a simple kano, so plain is my favorite. “Five, Sir.” “I’ll take them all!” I announced. Janet was out of town yesterday and when she called to check on me she asked, “What did you have for lunch.” I was too embarrassed to tell her I’d feasted on bagels and non-Philly cream cheese all day, so I just said, “I made a sandwich.”

Tip #5: Ask around. Now while it’s true that often store clerks don’t have a clue sometimes if you ask, “Do you know where I can get X?” they will in fact tell you exactly where you can get it. The same with your neighbors or relatives. My neighbors seem genuinely happy to help the poor hapless kano, who clearly doesn’t know his ass from Tuesday. Also ask your other expat friends. They might know where to get stuff. This works best if you’re asking about beer.
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Tip #6: Go online. While they are not Amazon, I have had good success so far with both Lazada and Aliexpress. Now, they are unlikely to have Western brands, unless the brand is distributed in Asia. Prices can be all over the map, especially if a Lazada item is International; that may mean it is actually being shipped from the US, and you’re going to pay big time. But since so much is Chinese-made now anyway, you can find lots on these two sites.

Tip #7: Ship it from the US. If the item is light weight and not too expensive it might be worth it to have it shipped to you. As a guitar player I like several high end brands of strings. Not only can I not get those strings in a store in the Philippines, I could not get them in a music store in Portland. I found that my two favorite string etailers were happy to ship to me in the Philippines and the basic USPS shipping charge wasn’t much more than shipping in the US. The only down side is that it took about a month to get to me. Also PhilPost charges 112 pesos (a hair over $2) for customs charges for international orders. What’s weird about this charge is whether the item is a $5 item or a $500 item, they still charge the same 112 pesos.

Tip#8: Send yourself a balikbayan box. I know lots of expats who buy items, have them sent to a relative or friend and fill up a balikbayan box. The shipping of a BB box is a flat rate and cheap. I have a Filipino woodworking online friend here. When I saw pics of his workbench I gasped because I recognized that he was using a very high end, expensive, drool worthy bench vise. I got excited “Are they distributed in Asia?” “No – I got it from the US.” I’m thinking, ‘The shipping must have cost a fortune.’ But he added, “My brother sent it to me.” Ahhh!

So consider the BB box strategy.

Tip #9: Broaden your pallet. If you are the type that needs all your Western food items, your grocery budget might get expensive. Many of those items can be found here but you’re gonna spend anywhere from a little bit more to a  lot more. Fortunately for me, there are very few things (other than Philly cream cheese) that I am picky about. I don’t care if it’s Heinz ketchup as long as it’s red. I don’t need Grey Poupon (and yes, you can get it here). There are several stores that cater to expats and sell foreigner food at foreigner prices. I am happy those places exist but rarely go. So find substitutes. Do you really need that Australian steak? Learn to love pork and chicken!

OTOH, about a month ago I was in Hypermart (the other major grocery store here in Dumaguete) and was shocked to see a gallon jug of Martinellis apple cider. It’s been my fave for 40+ years. Even back in the US it was expensive and I only got it as an occasional treat. Treetop was good enough for my thirsty kids.

Anyway, I looked at the price on the jug – 400 pesos, which is almost $8. My darling wife said, “It’s your favorite. Treat yourself!” And so, remembering Tip #1,  I did.

 

 

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A Tale of Three Lawyers

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A couple of years ago I wrote a blog piece entitled, A Tale of Two Pigs. Now, I don’t want to make a comparison between lawyers and pigs – that’s not my point – well, not entirely. But still A Take of Three Lawyers seemed like a good title.

Janet has wanted to buy a lot for her parents to build a simple house on for as long as I have known her. The story of how she socked away the cash and found the lot is a good one, but one for another posting. This one is about the legal system in the Philippines; or at least about three lawyers we sort of employed.

Seven months ago she found the lot and made an offer which was accepted quickly. Easy, right? Hmm – not quite. The seller provided her with some, though not all, the required documentation. I knew enough about the Philippines to know that a lawyer was a good idea to review the documents. I asked around, got a recommendation and contacted the Attorney via Facebook, which is where most lawyers apparently conduct their business here. He asked me to send the documents as attachments on FB Messenger. I offered to email him real, honest to God, Word documents, but somehow he couldn’t handle that. Nonetheless, he reviewed the documents, made some recommendations which sounded lawyer-like and we told him (via Facebook) that when the time came we would contact him about creating a final contract and deed of sale. I never received a bill or request for money, nor even an idea of what his services cost; in fact I never heard from him again. This is not totally unheard of in the Philippines, but still by US standards, where entering an attorney’s office and breathing the air required payment, it struck me as odd. Janet and I discussed the situation several times over the next couple months. Certainly I figured I would get billed at the end of the month or contacted in some manner. It never happened.

Months went by. The seller was dragging his feet. The documents he still owned Janet were coming in slowly. The seller was complaining because other people he had sold property to had not required legal irrelevancies such as the title to the property or proof that he’d paid his property taxes. We were being unreasonable but still he agreed and one by one he gradually sent us the documents.

In the meantime, Janet was working on reacquiring her Philippines citizenship. It required her to get a document notarized. It was the beginning of January and we stopped by several lawyers’ offices (most notaries seem to be attorneys here) only to be told that the lawyer in question was not currently licensed to be a notary since it was the beginning of the year and he hadn’t gotten around to being relicensed for the year. If only we could come back in a week or two they’d be good to go.

Finally in frustration, we discovered that the City of Dumaguete actually provided inexpensive notary service at City Hall. We went there, met with a young attorney who recommended we change our document. She was fast and inexpensive. Janet liked her and decided that if the real estate deal ever went threw she’d like to use this lawyer to do the paperwork.

While there still remained several fits and starts and lots of drama, we were getting closer to having everything done. We went to see the young lawyer in her home office to draft a deed of sale with a couple contractual clauses Janet wanted. At the end of the conversation I asked the lawyer how much the work would cost. “Whatever you think is fair, Sir.” I had heard this type of phrase before when dealing with service providers in the Philippines but still I was surprised to hear it from a lawyer. “I have no idea of what legal services cost in the Philippines, so it would be great if you could give us an idea,” I responded. Actually I did have an idea of what legal fees cost in the Philippines; at least I knew what the other lawyer had charged us – nothing. Finally she agreed that she would think about it and let us know when we came to get the documents.

The next week we returned to pick up the documents. There was some talk as to whether Janet should sign the documents right then and there since our young attorney was also a notary. But she recommended that Janet sign at the same time and place as the seller. She thought that was safest and we agreed. In the end she quoted a price for her services which seemed reasonable, we paid it and happily left, confident that we now knew a trustworthy, competent lawyer in Dumaguete.

The next day we traveled to Southern Cebu to meet with the seller. He knew an attorney/notary, perhaps the only one in the area, that we could go to and sign the documents.
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The lawyer began to review the documents. This surprised me. OK, actually it annoyed me. We were there to get the documents notarized, not reviewed. I began to fear that this guy was going to charge us for legal services not just the notary services we wanted. In the end he recommended a relatively minor change to the document, and went into his office to handwrite the change.

We waited and waited but finally the signings happened, the docs were notarized and the lawyer returned with the final work in hand, a look of triumph on his face. I asked how much we owned him. He quoted a figure. “What!” I said. “For notary services?”

“You’re charged a percentage of the value of the property,” he explained, though I didn’t buy it.

“You didn’t create the deed or contact and in fact the lawyer who did, charged us less to do all the work that you are charging us.”

I sat and stewed while Janet and the seller determined who got what and who would do what now. I knew that by American legal standards the amount was chump change, but I felt like an idiot. Why didn’t I ask him right away what the charge would be? The answer to that was that based on my previous experiences with the first two lawyers, I wasn’t going to get a definite answer anyway.

I stewed some more. Could this be the famed “long nose tax” that so many expats complain about? Maybe. More likely, I thought the seller had taken us to a friend to soak us, and quite possibly get a piece of the pie for himself.

I calmed down, paid the guy, and took Janet, her mother and a brother and sister to 7-11 for ice cream and a San Miguel for me.

The ice cream tasted great in the hot sun. The San Miguel went down really well. And then I reminded myself that we had paid a grand total $105 for the services of three lawyers. So, life can’t be all that bad.

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The Return Flight From Hell

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Janet and I had just spent a delightful vacation week in Krabi, Thailand with our friends Pete and Cathy. We had a great vacation but were ready to return home to the Philippines.

Now vacation is a bit of a misnomer because let’s face it – we’re on permanent vacation. Let’s call it a vacation from our vacation.

From Krabi we had a layover in Singapore before our flight to Cebu. I promised Janet a nice dinner because after all, the Singapore Airport had to be like the country itself – rich and modern.

The Krabi Airport was neither rich nor modern. We wanted lunch and there were two restaurants. One had almost nothing to sell and the other one was a Subway, which made me happier than Janet.

The gate area at Krabi Airport makes the average bus terminal look sophisticated. So much noise that it was impossible to determine what the announcements over the intercom were saying. Nonetheless we finally got on the plane and took off. The flight was a bit late, meaning that our 2 1/2 hour layover was down to 2 hours; still plenty of time for a meal and exploring the Singapore Airport, or so I thought.

Like most international transfers, we were forced to first go through a security search; no problem – we’re used to it. The airport, as expected, was beautiful and modern but signage was lacking and we could not figure out where our flight was. I had promised Janet that nice meal, as soon as we found our gate. It took me 10 minutes to find a modern machine which scanned my ticket and told me where the flight would be; Terminal 4. We followed the signs to Terminal 4; it was at least a 10 minute trek. Now we approached the turn leading to the terminal and two employees stopped us.

“You must go through Immigration before you can go to the gate,” one told me.

“Why? We’re not coming into the country – we’re just transferring flights.” He was adamant. “OK, where is immigration?” I asked. Let’s just say it wasn’t close by.

The line at immigration was long and we were still questioning why we have to go through Immigration at all. Janet asked an employee whether we have to go through Immigration and is told that no we don’t. We leave the line and go back toward the gate – another 10 minute trek. As we approach, the two men again stop us. For seven months in the Philippines I have managed not to lose my temper despite a 3rd world infrastructure. But here in beautiful, modern, 1st world Singapore I am losing it. “We were just told we didn’t have to go through Immigration! ”

“Yes, you do,” the guy said and handed us a sheet of instructions on what to do for an Air Asia flight. As we storm off heading back to Immigration, I heard him say, “We value your input.” The last thing he wants to hear is my input.

Back in the line at Immigration. It moved quicker than expected but now I am trying to figure out what time it is in Singapore and how long we have until the flight. I explained to the Immigration Officer that we were told that we had to go through Immigration. He looks at me like I am crazy, shrugs and starts to process me. “How long will you be staying in Singapore?” he asks. I know better than to lose it with an Immigration Officer but I did chuckle.

Back upstairs, passed our two friends and outside to get a bus to Terminal 4. We all crammed onto the bus, but hey it’s modern. Frankly by this point I’d rather be on a Jeepney in Manila. Another 10 minutes.

According to the instructions we were handed we had to go through Air Asia’s document control, despite the fact we already had our boarding passes. At least 10 minutes. Finally the lady says “You don’t have to be here. See it says on your boarding passes, ‘Go directly to the Gate.’ Apparently in Singapore their concept of going directly to the gate is different from mine.

To no surprise there was no way to go directly to the gate. You had to go through machines and scan your boarding pass. After scanning my pass the machine said “Go to Immigration.” Now I’m ready to lose it. I find a guard who looks at our boarding passes and lets us through.

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At least a 10 minute jog to the actual gate. We had made it but had blown all our time; no dinner for Janet; a muffin would have to suffice and a promise of whatever food was on the plane.

After boarding the plane and getting ready for the flight – suddenly the lights went off. No big deal; it had happened to me before, but Janet was scared. They came back on in a minute. No one seemed concerned that there was no announcement from the cockpit.

A few minutes later the lights went off again. Now we saw ground crew come on and enter the cockpit. Not a reassuring sign.

Again the lights come back on and we try to relax. But yet again the lights go out and this time stay out for about 10 minutes. Janet is worried and I am assuming that soon we will hear an announcement that the plane has a problem and we have to get off. Janet said that she was sure they had another plane for us. I told her that that was highly unlikely.

Surprisingly the flight attendant announced we would soon be departing. I was still waiting for an announcement of what occurred but it didn’t come. Janet went up and asked the flight attendant. He tells her something about the engine not powered and since there was no power the captain could not use the intercom and speak to us. Engine problems is not what you want to hear when you are about to take off.

People are nervous and a 30ish woman leans past her husband and asks me if this is “normal.” Apparently I look like a wise old world traveler, which I sort of am. “No,” I said. “Not normal in my experience.”

The flight attendant passes and I asked for an explanation. He said something like they were rebooting the system. Now as a former Software Engineer this should be reassuring but rebooting the engine did not sound so good to me.

Getting ready to taxi Janet asked me to pray. This did not sound like a bad idea to me. As a Buddhist, I chant – so that’s what I did, under my breath.

From that point onward the flight was uneventful. There were no meals to speak of but I wasn’t very hungry anyway.

For the last few days Janet has hugged me alot and proclaimed it was nice to be alive. Yep, it’s nice to be alive and even nicer not to be in the Singapore Airport!

 

 

 

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Rude Foreigners

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So we’re sitting in the USSC store in Robinsons Mall waiting to get served. We filled out a little form and got a number. Yes, in the Philippines there are still places that you “take a number.” Turns out our number was to be the last one called before the employees took their lunch hour. USSC must be rare because a lunch hour is almost never an hour in the Philippines.

Several people walked in afterwards and were politely informed that there would be no more service until after lunch. Then an elderly (defined as older than me) foreigner walked in, was politely informed of the upcoming lunch break. He got pissed off, yelled, threw out an F-bomb and stormed off. There was no reason for the tantrum. He was treated politely and told he could come back after the break.

This is behavior that Janet and I witness pretty regularly in Dumaguete and most of the time the offender is a foreigner.

Now as it turns out that while Janet and I were the last to be served before the break and therefore the office was empty by the time it was our turn, we were missing a crucial document to finalize our business and were told if we brought it in that day, we would be served right away without needing a number or waiting.

We returned a couple hours later. In the interim we had talked about the rude foreigner. As the USSC Clerk was finalizing Janet’s business I decided to ask a question or two. “Do you often have rude foreigners?” I asked. She smiled at me. “Only one today, Sir.” I laughed. “Well I know who that was. His behavior was ridiculous.”

“If he comes back, I will of course treat him respectfully,” she said. “But he did say the f-word.” She and the other clerk had heard and would not be forgetting. Clearly she considered it part of the job, but it also stung the employees there.

A few week ago we were in the bank. Simultaneously there were two rude foreigners. One cut ahead in line since his concern had to be handled immediately. It wasn’t. He stormed off, returned about five minutes later to vent again at someone else.

In the meantime another elderly (aka, older than me) foreigner was sitting next to me making a request of the banker that would never be granted in any bank in the Western world. When he was politely informed what would be required to meet his request, he grumbled, cursed under his breath about the lousy country and terrible customer service.

We observe behavior like this a couple times a week at least. It saddens me for what I realize is a foolish reason; that it reflects badly on me. It doesn’t of course but I feel like it does.

Now going back to the experience at USSC, while conversing with the Clerk about rude foreigners, she admitted she was worried that I was going to react similarly when she told us we would have to come back to finalize our business. I laughed but felt bad. “Of course I wasn’t mad. Now my wife? That’s another matter.” Janet playfully hit me.

My life wasn’t over after all! To my surprise there were plenty of http://cute-n-tiny.com/tag/mac/ online cialis treatment options at my disposal. It is generally advised that you do not have to go out and run a marathon either. online levitra prescription Plus, buying generic viagra smoking can purpose several health problems consisting of heart disorder, high blood strain, low testosterone, and so on. bad lifestyle has already a toll at the sexual fitness of millions of men. In the old age, men used to suffer from ailments like weak immune system, low sex drive, low semen volume or no semen at all and then order generic viagra inevitably it moved on to not being able to prevent or slow its growth is attractive. In the car on the way home Janet and I once again talked about this. Now the point isn’t that Filipinos never get mad or never behave rudely – of course they do. But the rude behavior from a minority population (the foreigners) is hard to ignore.

For over two years in the US Janet worked in a supermarket. She had rude customers every day. It was a big part of her indoctrination into life in America. She quickly learned to give it back as much as take it. My wife is sweet as can be, but has a quick tongue when mistreated.

So why we asked ourselves did this all bother us so much; we both were used to it in the US. And that I suppose was the answer. In the US witnessing or being confronted by rude  people is a daily event and we realized that here in the Philippines while it does happen, it’s uncommon enough to be more noticeable.

One more story, not that I am trying to prove anything. Early that evening we went into the grocery store. The cashier is ringing up our items. The Filipina behind us in the line asked “where’s the divider” – the bars you put to keep your items separate from someone else’s. In my modest experience, most stores in the Philippines do not have these dividers. The clerk looked at her with that deer in the headlights look. “There are no dividers,” I said. The lady huffed.

I handed the clerk my debit card – my debit card from our Philippines bank account. Now debit cards here are not quite as reliable as in the US. Sometimes it goes through, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes the clerk has to put it through as a credit instead of a debit, and sometimes you’re just best off having cash.

The woman behind me spoke up in perfect English. “You have to select credit for a foreign debit card,” she announced. I turned to her and politely said, “It’s not a foreign debit card.” The clerk continued to struggle with my card. The woman behind me announced again, because clearly the clerk was too stupid to have understood, ” You have to select credit for a foreign debit card.” I turned back to face her again but less politely and repeated, “It’s not a foreign debit card.”

The clerk continued to struggle with my card and mumble apologies. And once again the woman stated her view, “You have to select credit for a foreign debit card.” I finally got it. The woman may have once been a Filipina but she was clearly now an American. I glared at her and snarled, “It’s – not – a – foreign – debit – card!” Janet calmed me down. “Just pay cash,” which I did.

So you see, it’s not just foreigners who are rude in the Philippines. It’s Fil-Ams too 🙂

PS: Based on further thought and a few of the comments I have received I wanted to add something. Now this may be splitting hairs, but here goes. I think there is a difference between inconvenient/ annoying behavior and rude behavior. You’re driving down the road. A little old lady is slowly crossing the street and you have to stop and wait. It’s annoying. You drum your fingers along the steering wheel. But she’s not doing it to personally harm or offend you. OTOH, if you stick your head out the window and yell, “Hey old lady, get the “f-word” out of the damn street,” – well that’s rude behavior.

 

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Making Friends in the Philippines

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Now that I’ve live in Dumaguete for about 6 months, I can’t help but look at my life and realize I don’t know too many people here. Some of it is logistics; we spent the first few months getting settled, finding a rental house, filling the house with stuff, buying a car, etc.

But the truth be told, I am just not that social a person. When married in the past, somehow most of my single friends faded and I developed married friends, aka friends of the wife 🙂 Divorce happens, and the friends stayed with her 🙂

When I was divorced I was too busy raising kids and futilely trying to date. So the last thing I worried about was guys to hang out with.

When I married Janet, I was more concerned that she meet people she could befriend and we ended up as part of a large community of Fil-Am couples. While I thought I was doing it just for Janet, one day I woke up to discover that I actually had a bunch of new friends, several of whom I actually liked!

Here in the Philippines, while making friends hasn’t been a top priority, it has been on my mind. Drinking buddies aren’t hard to find here and I actually have a nice group of guys I meet with once a month to share  a beer or two (OK, more for some) and swap stories and problems. There are several popular hangouts for expats in Dumaguete, and you can go to those places at nearly any time of the day or night and find guys drinking and talking in a variety of languages. But I never was a bar guy and don’t intend to become one in my dotage. Now I am sure many of these guys are good people, but if you’re slamming San Miguels at 10:00 AM you might not be my type and at 10:00 PM I’m probably in bed, so I’m not your type.

Also I’m married, so creating couples friends is as important or more important that making individual friends. Janet and I have gone out with other couples on occasion; sometimes there’s a connection -sometimes not. The juries still out.
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Then there was my stated intention before I moved here that I wanted to have Filipino friends; maybe even more Filipino than expat friends, I thought. It still hasn’t happened but then I am barely social with people who speak my own language. Oh, people in my neighborhood are friendly and say hello when I am out and about walking, but I haven’t yet converted that into anything more. Perhaps I should start hanging out at the local Sari Sari and share a beer. I say this seriously; I know several guys who do this. Ultimately it’s clear that this sort of effort is on me. Despite their friendly nature, Filipinos are shy around foreigners and so if I really want friends I will have to make the effort.

And then there’s the family. Janet has a large one and we see them often. I do consider them friends but there’s a language barrier, a cultural barrier – and yes, an economic barrier.

Now, none of this is coming from a place of loneliness or sadness. I have tons to do and never get bored. And let’s not forget I have a very cute wife 🙂 Next week we’re meeting some U.S. friends and that should be fun and we have a ton of other American friends who know there is a guest room if and when they come to the Philippines. But still it would be nice to expand the friendship base to a few more people here.

BTW, I don’t have my normal photo that’s relevant to this blog piece displayed at the top, because when I searched Google for “Philippines expats” it mostly showed images of people I know 🙂

 

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Philippines 3rd Happiest Country in the World

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So Janet and I are in the bank January 3rd conducting some business, which meant a little waiting. There are two foreigners in the bank getting more and more upset. One is pushing though the line demanding that his issue be taken care of. The other’s an old codger (that is an even older codger than me) sitting next to me. He’s mumbling under his breath what a rotten place this is. But I can hear his request and it’s never gonna happen and wouldn’t happen in the US either.

At the same time I’m reading the paper and come across this article: http://beta.philstar.com/headlines/2018/01/03/1774178/philippines-3rd-happiest-country-poll

Once again the Philippines is ranked among the highest countries in the world for general happiness. Of course there is nothing objective about the poll; nothing quantifiable. They simple ask people all over the world the question, “In general, do you personally feel very happy, happy, neither happy nor unhappy, unhappy or very unhappy about your life?”

Fiji once again was the happiest country. I too would be pretty damn happy in Fiji – who wouldn’t. At number two was Colombia. I’m sure there’s a joke here about happiness and cocaine intake; but I’m not gonna go there. And of course the Philippines was 3rd. Last year we were tied for 2nd with China, which this year dropped off the top ten completely. Not a good year for the Chinese economy, I suppose.

If you look at the list of the top ten there was only one 1st world country listed: The Netherlands. There’s a drug joke there too, but again – I’m not gonna go there.

The other countries in the top ten were 3rd world havens like Mexico (happy about Trump’s Wall, perhaps), Vietnam; Kazakhstan (Borat sure was happy), Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (love to go there); India (in no rush to go there), Argentina (proving that a collapsing economy has little to do with happiness). There’s a pattern here: poor places or places with a lot of dope seem pretty damn happy.

Of course poverty is not the only criteria for happiness. I mean, Iran was dead last and it’s poor as shit. Last year Iraq was the least happy. Now it’s 2nd from the bottom. Apparently cataclysmic wars are not good for general happiness; who knew.

Overall Latin America was the happiest continent. The US and Russia were literally tied with a score of +50; just one more proof of collusion between Trump and Putin 🙂
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So what can we conclude? Is it merely the old adage that money cannot buy happiness? I’m sure that’s part of it but it has to be more.

I just spent the holidays in Janet’s hometown of Alcoy, Cebu. The level of poverty there (as in many places in the Philippines) is beyond the experience or comprehension of the average American. And yet the people there rang in Christmas and New Years with joy and laughter. Janet’s siblings traveled from other cities to be there with the family. Again I have no real conclusions. In the US the holidays are blamed for misery, depression and an increase in suicides. In the Philippines; well there’s an increase in people who shoot off various body parts with fireworks; but other than that everyone seems pretty damn happy.

I may not understand their happiness but I’m doing my best to share in it. My wish for the New Year is that everyone do the same!

 

 

 

 

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Our 1st Car Accident in the Philippines

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Notice I said 1st. We’ll come back to that!

Just before Xmas, Janet and I took our car to the car wash behind Robinsons Mall. I get the car washed far more often than I ever did in the US. For one thing, driving through the dust and dirt makes a freshly washed car dirty in no time.

For another thing, the car washes in the Philippines are cheap. For that reason I have developed the habit of cleaning the car inside and out. I never shelled out for the complete in and out service in the US. If I wanted the inside done I’d do it myself with the vacuum. No way I was paying US prices for what was usually poor service.

But for 190 pesos I get the inside and out done by hand; no machines here. It usually takes at least an hour, so Janet and I drop the car off and go into the mall for shopping and /or lunch, which is what we did on the day in question.

As we were wandering the mall I heard the dreaded intercom sound that you hear regularly in Robinsons, “Will the owner of car X, license Y please come to…” This invariably means your car’s been wrecked; please get it the hell out of here.

But this time to my horror I heard, “Will the owner of the Blue Ecosport, licence number xxxx…” That’s all I had to hear. “Is that our car?” I yelled to Janet. We hurried outside, with Janet encouraging me that it probably wasn’t our car. From 100 yards away I could see our car surrounded by Security Guards. This is not a sight you want to see in the Philippines. As I approached the lead guard said, “It’s not that bad, Sir,” and then proceeded to show me the damage to the back of the car. “It is that bad,” I corrected him.

The “supervisor” of the car wash was there and immediately told me, “We will fix it, Sir – don’t worry!” At the time I didn’t get the whole story – just that the car wash attendant backed into something. The day we dropped off the car, being right before the holiday, was very busy and crowded and I remember asking the attendant if he wanted me to move the car or would he do it. My mistake.

I took it all in stride; what was I going to do at that point, particularly since they immediately took responsibility and said they would fix it. “Do you have a body shop guy?” I asked. “Yes, Sir.” We were given the manager’s and owner’s names and phone numbers.

I found out later that Janet was threatening them in Visayan. No one wanted the police brought in but Janet made it clear that if they didn’t do the right thing, that’s exactly what would happen. The Security Guard wrote up the incident and I signed. I joked with everyone and shook hands. What else could I do other than see how well or poorly they fixed it.

Since it was right before Xmas and we were driving to Alcoy for the holiday on the Roll on – Roll off ferry, I agreed to drop off the car after we returned.
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Now things weren’t too well organized once the repair process began. Took a day to coordinate with the man whose name and number we were given as to where and when to take the car. We dropped it off a few days before New Years and were told it would take about 3 days to fix. On the 3rd day Janet began texting the guy. Responses were glacial. “Maybe today, Ma’am.” Then, “maybe this evening, Ma’am.” It began to rain and Janet was advised. “We can’t put on the top coat because of the rain, Ma’am. Maybe tomorrow morning.” But that morning we were leaving for New Years. So Janet texted the guy, “We will pick it up Tuesday and expect it to be ready and perfect.” The simple response came back, “OK.” No Ma’am this time!

Monday night in Southern Cebu it rained like it would never ever stop. The ferries were cancelled but by the afternoon they were running again and we dashed back home. Janet texted the guy and got no answer. But the next morning he texted that the car was back at the car wash since they wanted to wash it before we picked it up. We were already out and about so we returned to the scene of the crime. It hadn’t been washed yet so we examined the repair closely.

Janet and I had discussed in advance what we would do if the repair was not perfect. What level of imperfection we would accept and what type of shoddy work would mean a call to the police. But all that was unnecessary. I’m no expert but the car looked great and I couldn’t tell it had been in an accident.

Interestingly Janet asked who had had the accident and fingers were pointed at the culprit. I was amazed that he still had a job. We had actually gotten the whole story before; the car had been backed into another car, which was more severely damaged than ours. That car was apparently un-drivable and the owner had yelled and screamed that he needed his car.

Janet yelled at them that if we let them wash it they better not put a mark on the car or the police would be called immediately. Under the category “these guys have cajones” the lead guy asked what about a tip, since we were not paying for the car wash. Janet yelled, “What about our inconvenience for losing our car?” I got to smile and take it all in.

So just as we had done two weeks before we went into the mall, shopped a bit and had lunch. The intercom was silent this time and we picked up the car, which looked great. Idiot that I am I did give a tip. We hopped into our car and headed home, happy to have it back.

Now considering the driving environment here in Dumaguete what are the chances we will never had another  accident; probably zero. But at least we know you can get good body work done. Just hope it doesn’t rain and ruin the top coat.

 

 

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Our Philippines Retirement Routine

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Now that we are genuinely settled into life here in Valencia, Negros Oriental, I thought I would report about our routine. We spent the first couple of months scurrying around and getting what we needed and wanted but the last couple of months we’ve settled in.

A friend recently commented that he was envious of our life. There’s reason for envy and yet every life has routine and ours might be considered sort of boring.

From a retirement standpoint, it’s a joy not to commute. Over the years, that commute had grown to be the worst part of my working life. Now Janet and I have breakfast together. Nothing fancy; I’m a cereal or eggs person, but it’s nice not to be wolfing it down in my cubicle.

I usually take a morning walk. Whatever direction I take, I pass about 10 cows, having their breakfast, assorted goats, chickens, roosters, dogs, etc. Dumaguete’s a city but it’s a provincial city. The view on my walk is fantastic and I love the sense of a non-urban life. OK, I do have to remember that pooper scoopers for cows don’t exist and if they did there would be no laws requiring them here. So I step carefully.

I have an office/shop set up in our home’s third bedroom. On one side’s a workbench I’ve cobbled together. Despite being made only of plywood and 2x4s it’s pretty strong and should allow me to make, finish and work on guitars. On the other side’s the small table where my computer and peripherals sit. In between are my tools and guitar.

I’m getting everything together to start building guitars again and perhaps after the first of the year I’ll be ready. In the meantime I’ve been playing more guitar than I have in years and am enjoying it a lot.  For Xmas Janet bought me a digital interface. The quality of recording is a little bit better than the last time I recorded my guitar playing – on a cassette deck! Also got a nice mic, so expect to be spammed with recordings in the near future.

Just as I did when I worked (lol) I spend plenty of my time checking email, surfing the web, and looking at YouTube videos. Interestingly, now that I am here, I watch less and less of my fellow expat’s videos, though I still watch Bud Brown and Ned regularly. One thing I don’t keep track of is the political insanity and general divisiveness back in the US. I wrote a blog post recently that I have yet to publish because it took the uncomfortable position that so many people “back home” are nuts and my stress level is less not being involved with so much of the nuttiness. Of course people are nuts here too, but they still manage to smile and say “good morning,” so it’s hard to get too stressed about it.

We seem to go to the grocery store or public market more often than we did in the US, probably because I was dictatorial in insisting that we did our grocery shopping once a week back there. I could only deal with Fred Meyer’s so often. Here there’s a couple supermarket’s, the Valencia public market, and a mall within easy driving distance. It’s certainly harder to find specialty items here but if you keep your eyes open you will see them (or a reasonable substitute).

And yes we do drive a lot. While I still like the trikes it’s just too convenient to hop in the car; so in that sense we are still good Americans.

Since Xmas is here we spend plenty of time listening to caroling kids. It’s a month long event here and every evening and sometimes during the day they show up outside the gate. Janet made ice candy (like ice pops) out of mango and the kids love those, as well as the few pesos they get. Each small group seemingly has the same routine of songs. It’s like somewhere at the North Pole there’s a Philippines section where every kid is taken (Polar Express?) to learn their set to sing.
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As far as eating and drinking, we do plenty of the former and I do some of the latter. We certainly deny ourselves nothing and have had no problem finding enough good food and good restaurants to eat at. There are plenty of good restaurants in Dumaguete and while we haven’t been to them all, we’ve certainly been good customers at some of our faves. I’ve found enough Western food when I really wanted something; there’s a couple of good Italian places, one good Japanese place, a couple nice sandwich shops, a few decent burger places, and a couple of bakeries that are OK. Janet and I have always enjoyed restaurants and here you can really go out as often as we’d like without breaking the budget. We almost never spend more than $10 for dinner for the two of us, including my San Miguel, and often spend much less. BTW, for those interested, with the rare exception of an expensive meal, we’re strictly 20 peso tippers; you do the math. Speaking of San Miguel, I’m now a one beer at dinner kind of guy, which for me is more drinking that I did in the past.

I’ve lost a little weight but with no scale I don’t know how much. 5 pounds maybe? Could it be more? Not sure. It’s certainly nothing record-breaking since as I say I am not denying myself anything.

Now, as far as the budget, and no I’m not going to get into the debate about how much it costs to live in the Philippines. Nor am I dumb enough to publicly state what my income or budget is. What I will say is that we have had no problems so far sticking to our budget.  If anything we spend a little less than I anticipated when I made a tentative budget before we arrived. For example, while electricity rates are high in the Philippines my actual bill is about 2/3 of what I paid in the US. Why? Start with no dryer or dishwasher. And of course, no electric car. My water bill in the US was consistently hitting $100/month. Here? Last month’s bill was 23 pesos! That’s less than $.50. And garbage – it’s picked up free in Valencia. Janet and I pay about 600 pesos/month for our cell phone service; in the US we paid over $150/month and for that money had to deal with Centurylink, who six months later I am still fighting with over the final bill. But of course customer service is so much better in the US lol!

Our budget also includes my plan that at least monthly we would go somewhere. Now it doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy. We’ll go to a small hotel for a weekend or travel to an island we haven’t been to or an island we have been to and want to revisit. Or we’ll just take a couple days and go to Janet’s hometown. But the budget includes going somewhere out of Duma once a month. We will be doing just that in a couple days; going to Alcoy for Xmas. And the last week of the month and year we’re scheduled to go snorkeling at Apo Island, a short boat ride from Negros Oriental. In February we have something a bit more ambitious planned – so stay tuned.

OK, I hear you all saying; so while Dave does all these things, what’s Janet doing? She loves gardening and our small lot is getting filled with pots of plants and vegetables and flowers. She’s also done plenty of baking and has even sold some of her famous leech flan. Plus she gets to catch up with her family, which could be considered a full time job. I expect a small business might also be in her future. Once again, stay tuned.

So that’s the basics on our daily life. So far, it’s pretty much as I hoped it would be. Hope you all are having a Happy Holiday Season; we certainly are!

 

 

 

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Becoming a Filipino Citizen – Again!

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Now, dear readers, if you’ve been following this blog you know that some months back Janet was able to become an American Citizen! That process is expensive, complex and time consuming, but we considered it to be worth it, particularly because of the value of the blue passport we Americans take for granted.

However, one of the stipulations of becoming a US citizen is that you must give up all other citizenships. Therefore Janet was now an American citizen with all the rights and privileges that I have, but she was no longer a Philippines citizen.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Unlike the US, the Philippines does not require you to give up other citizenships. Therefore you can re-acquire your Philippines citizenship, without giving up your US citizenship, thus becoming a dual-citizen. And that was our plan.

Unlike in the US, the Philippines laws, regulations and bureaucracy are a bit less transparent, so it took Janet a while to try to determine what she had to do in order to re-acquire her citizenship. We stopped in the Immigration Office here in Dumaguete, and as expected were told that they could not handle such a request; it had to be done at the main office in Manila.

Calls to the main office in Manila went unanswered but finally Janet did get a response to her emails. So the following is what we learned.

The paperwork is fairly easy and you can download it here: http://www.immigration.gov.ph

What we were interested in was the Petition for Reacquisition of Philippines Citizenship Under R.A. 9225. The form itself is fairly short and simple. However, you cannot just fill it out and send it in. You must go to the main office in Manila.

So, after Janet had put her documentation together; standard stuff including marriage license, US passport and proof of citizenship, birth certificate, etc. we booked a flight and hotel and we were on our way. The Immigration office opens at 8:00 AM and we decided to arrive around 6:00. There were only a couple of people ahead of us but by 8:00 the line was at least 100 people. I’d therefore recommend arriving early. You cannot get an appointment no matter how rich or white you are. It is strictly first come, first serve.

The two couples ahead of us were both foreigners with Filipina wives. One guy, an American and nice enough, had lived in the Philippines many years and therefore thought he ought to impart his wisdom to me, the newbie. I smiled and nodded my head a lot, though as I say, he was certainly nice enough. The 1st guy in line was German and right out of central casting; think Sergeant Schultz, only a lot less funny.
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Once the doors opened (and they actually opened a few minutes early) we were hustled to a line that was essentially a triage area. Some people were there to get or renew visas and there were people there looking to do what Janet was doing. A lady, definitely the bureaucratic type (again think Sergeant Schultz, only less funny) checked Janet’s documentation, gave her a couple forms to fill out, told her to put it all in a folder and come back when she was ready.

Five minutes later we came back and waited, and waited and waited. Finally we were hustled into an office with an Immigration Officer, whose specialty was the re-acquisition of citizenship. She more thoroughly scrutinized Janet’s documents. Of particular interest is a document that Janet and I typed up. Essentially they require an affidavit stating that you have nothing bad hanging over your head under any of your past or current names. The document must be notarized, so Janet and I found a notary the day before,  a couple hours after we arrived in Manila. The notary literally had a desk situated in a restaurant and a couple hundred pesos later we were set. The Immigration Officer looked at our letter closely; later I understood why. Most applicants don’t have the letter and are sent around the corner from Immigration where a large area processes writing and notarizing documents. So, don’t worry; if you don’t have the letter, somebody will write it for you and have it notarized. We still had to go around the corner since they required the form itself to be notarized, for 100 pesos.

BTW, speaking of money, online we read that the fee for the re-acqusition was about 3100 pesos. When we arrived at Immigration it turned out that the fee was closer to 2500; I have no idea what the discrepancy was, maybe the notarization fees.

We returned back to the room to show the finalized documents to the officer. Sitting there was an elderly woman and her daughter and in typical Philippines fashion not only did Janet and the older women strike up a conversation but the Immigration Officer joined in. We found out that the lady’s husband had died, she had become an American citizen through marriage, all the husband’s money was being grabbed by his children from a previous marriage, that the woman was now broke and re-acquiring her Philippines citizenship to avail of some benefits she can get, if she’s a Philippines citizen. The woman’s daughter was stunned that Janet would re-acquire her Philippines citizenship, thus giving up the golden goose (aka the American passport). They all explained to her that Janet did not have to give up her American citizenship; that she would be a dual citizen. They all laughed and had a great time. Try doing that with an Immigration Officer in the US.

There were of course more lines, more approvals and finally Janet was in the payment line. After that she was directed to an office where another 5 women where waiting for exactly what Janet was awaiting; their dual citizenship. All were women and all much older.

Finally all 6 together were in front of an Immigration Officer (a 30ish man). I was looking on – the only husband – I suspect the only husband still alive. It’s not the 1st world so the officer one by one confirmed each person’s name and age. A couple were in their 80s (including the woman whose story we heard). One woman said she was 62. “You look at lot younger,” the Officer said. Janet confirmed her name and age of 29; she was half the age or less of any other woman there. It was obvious that the other women had deceased husbands and were looking to re-acquire their citizenship for whatever benefits Philippines citizenship gives.

They all raised their right hands and took an oath and were told that in 2-3 months (it is the Philippines, after all) they would receive confirmation that their petition was approved and we’d have to come back to Manila to get it.

But for all intents and purposes, our plan, which started five years ago with a K-1 Visa, went through two separate green card applications, an application to become an American citizen and now the application to re-acquire Philippines citizenship, was done. Don’t ask me what the total expense was, since I don’t want to think about it, but really in the end it’s all been worth it. Janet is a citizen of the world and has all the options possible. I’m very proud of her!