There may be some ranting and raving here.  BEWARE, you’ve been warned.

I feel some strong emotions coming on.  I can’t quite tell which direction they will come from, just that they are definitely coming.  Being safety conscious, I believe it best to don our hard hats and be prepared for whatever comes our way.   You never know about emotions – among other things, they could be very friendly or very unfriendly.

While waiting for their appearance . . . .

Five Favorite Quotes

I’ve always liked to read and repeat quotations.  I’ll share a few with you.  I cannot take credit for these quips and, having forgotten their authors’ names, I likewise cannot provide them with proper attribution.  Some may sound familiar, some strange – all are true when you really think about them.

1. “The pioneers take the arrows.”
2. “Some days your house burns up, other days your house burns down.”
3. “You don’t have to taste a Carabao Pie to know its ingredients.”
4. “Lord give me strength to resist testing with my foot that which I can detect with my nose.”
5. “It’s prudent to lock the gate after the horse gets out – that’s when the jackasses try to get in.”

DO YOU have any quotes that you would like to share?

1.  Pioneers – Regardless of how knowledgeable and how well prepared pioneers are, they are always the first to encounter the difficulties and dangers of their endeavor.  Pioneers discover that they cannot foresee and prepare for everything.  They need to press on and handle new difficulties as they arise. Those who follow most often enjoy the benefit of a safe and easy way while following in the pioneers’ footsteps.  The pioneer’s rewards, after taking increased risk, are always greater than those acquired by followers later on.  Don’t fear taking a risk.

2.  Burning Houses – Some days appear to be nothing but disaster following disaster.  Nothing goes right, no one provides help, and all appears to be lost regardless of any efforts to save the day.  Those days do happen and you cannot prevent them – only endure them.  Don’t worry, tomorrow will be a brighter day.

3.  Carabao Pie – If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and acts like a duck, chances are it is a duck.  There are many methods of observation that certify your investigation as valid and its results as true.  Sight and smell can help determine ingredients of that pie.  During discussions or political speeches, the sense of hearing coupled with logic can often duplicate the results of a taste test.  Let others eat heartily.

4.  Foot Test – Whether in a minefield or in a cow pasture, it’s always good to find your way by other than tactile means alone.  The same goes for any endeavor in life that, to you, is uncharted.  Having “stepped in it” a number of times myself after ignoring this quote, I know that opportunities to take that step are infinite in number.  Keep your shoes/slippers/flip-flops/feet clean.

5.  Gate Locking – Yes, the horse may have gotten out but that gate serves a dual purpose – keeping things excluded as well as things enclosed.  Whenever you have a “could of, should of, would of” moment, there are any number of others willing to help point out your error and offer their opinions of how you could have avoided it.  Lock those braying, discouraging jackasses out, corral your horse, and get on with life.  Life may be difficult at times – there’s no need to listen to others reminding you.

Mixed Emotions

The emotions have arrived.  The good news:  they are not dangerous, so you can remove and stow your hard hats.  The bad news:  they are difficult to describe further – mixed emotions.

“What is bringing this on now, Paul?” you may wonder.

With the end of February (this being written at month’s end), so too comes the end to the Laoag City Fiesta.  During the fiesta – February 3 through 27 – we were hosts to relatives from the San Francisco area who came to celebrate with friends and family, both San Franciscan and Laoagueño.  They graciously invited us to accompany them to every official event.  We provided a place for them to stay.  To say the last few weeks were fun and all consuming would be an understatement.  We met so many wonderful people and found that a considerable number of them were our relatives.

Our relatives/guests had to fly back to San Francisco the other day.  Our house now seems so empty without them.  Even our dogs continue to look for them, but they’re gone.  It’s a bittersweet time for us here in Pasuquin.  We’ll see them again, but we sure hope that time passes a little bit more slowly when we do meet.  Perhaps we’ll stop in San Francisco for a few days when we go on vacation later this year.

If any of our new found relatives and friends, as well as our wonderful visitors, happen upon this article and read it, here’s a shout out to you from “back home”!

Later, I needed to withdraw in my normal pattern. The ATM refused to give me money, saying the bank has temporarily shut my account from any withdrawals. Crap! Oh well, I contacted my mom about it and she got it resolved thankfully. Thanks mom. Lesson learned though, is that, the bank will protect you from anyone who steals your card. That is a major good thing. The con to this pro, though, is that internationally you are frequently withdrawing, and it might come in abnormal patterns sometimes. So I guess you’d have to make sure to clarify where you’ll be at.

Anyways, I wanted to share some photos. Just a few. Here, on March 16 every year, is Araw ng Dabaw (Day of Davao). It is basically a celebration of the foundation of the city. The city of Davao had been existing before it was considered a city, until the Philippines wanted to clarify a claim of the city since Japan owned most of the farms and such. So, I went out in the morning, before noon, and took a few photos. Around noon I headed to my girlfriend’s house to let her work on something on my computer, so, I didn’t stay for the whole thing. What I saw was basically like a parade; marchin’ bands, firefighters, floats… but there were differences. The floats had a Filipino flair to them and there were many political groups marching through. Here are some photos:

(Boy scouts of the Philippines)

(“Anak ng Dabaw”; something about them reminded me of back home in South Carolina, USA)

(A very strange display; following the odd float thingy, there were girls and boys dressed in a punk rock style dancing)

(One of the many marching bands that walked through)

(These people followed after a John Paul 2 College float, so I assume they were a part of it. The float was amazing, and these who followed it had an awesome display of outfits.)

Lately, though, for six months or so, I haven’t been able to carry my little camera with me, because the battery was dead and would not accept a charge.  Oh, I made a bit of an effort to buy a replacement battery for the camera, but could not find one locally.  Really, though, the only thing I did was ask at SM Appliance center, where they sell Canon digital cameras, and they did not have a battery, so I put the camera aside and sort of forgot about it.

Last week, I needed a camera for a job that I was doing.  I also have a Canon Rebel XT Digital SLR camera, which is what I use for most of my photography needs.  However, this particular job required a smaller camera, the SLR was just too bulky.  So, I thought about my Ixus and decided to make more of an effort to find a battery for it.  I really didn’t mind even getting a generic battery for it, I really didn’t have a need for the original Canon replacement.  So, with that in mind, my first stop was to head down to some of the shops in Uyanguren, or Chinatown here in Davao.  I spent an hour or so checking out those shops, but could not find any camera batteries at all.  I found plenty of shops selling knock-off cellphone batteries, but no camera batteries at all.

Next up, I decided to run to SM City, because there are a number of shops selling digital cameras there, surely one of them must have a battery for this camera!  It was a common battery after all.  At the first shop I went to in SM, I asked the shop manager, a nice man that I had dealt with before if they had a battery for the camera.

Oh my, that is an NB4L battery, which is our most popular seller!  Sorry, we are out of stock, but should have more next week.

Oops, I needed the camera that day, so I couldn’t really wait for next week.  As I began to leave, the manager said:

We do have the generic equivalent, though, if you are willing to take that.

Bingo!  That is what I was actually planning to buy anyway!

So, I paid for the generic replacement battery, which was P1,475, about $32.50 for the battery, and was on my way.  The price seemed high to me, but I needed the battery, and was just happy to have found it.

This morning, out of curiosity I decided to do some checking to see if I could get a price for that battery from some online retailers.  I looked on Amazon and I looked on eBay.  The price was similar in each place.  Generic replacements for that battery (Canon NB4L) ranged from $0.99 up to $5.00 on Amazon’s online store!  One place had three replacements for $5.99, or about $2 each.  But, there were lots of offerings from Amazon for $0.99.  Imagine, I could have bought more than 30 batteries from Amazon for the price I paid locally?  And, on Amazon, these $0.99 batteries showed a picture and they were China made knock-off batteries that were the same as I bought locally!  Same text, same markings on the battery.  97% lower in price.

A few years ago, when I bought my Rebel XT SLR camera, I ordered some extra battery packs from Amazon.  I wanted to be able to carry 3 or 4 batteries with me when I went out shooting photos, so I never ran out of juice.  Those generic batteries were $5.99 on Amazon.  I had them shipped to me here in the Philippines.  The customs charge was over $20 for three batteries valued at $5.99 each.  So, customs was more than 100% of the value of the batteries.  Wow.

Why are things like this so expensive here in the Philippines?  These particular batteries are from China, and the Philippines is much closer to China than the USA is, so it can’t be shipping charges that are bringing the price up so much.  Are merchants here just profiteering on the products?  Are they unable to negotiate as good of deals as the US companies can?  Maybe the US companies are buying much larger quantities, I don’t know.  But, when the exact same item is $0.99 in the USA, or $32.50 here, something is just not right.

Does it surprise you?  I knew that electronics were expensive here compared to US prices, but this amount surprised me.

Sidenote

Gusto ko maggreet sa akong buotang maestrang bisaya, si Bebe Metillo kay nagbirtdey sya miaging dominggo!  Malipyon kaayo ko sa mga leksyon gikan kang Bebe, kay maayong maestra sya!  Happy Birthday, Bebe, sorry this is a few days late!

My mind hearkened back to my younger days in Boston, when my Father would broach the very same subject every two years to my Mother. My Father liked new cars, my mother, not so much. My brothers and I would bet on which excuses he would use this year, like, the engine knocks, the transmission, pings, or our favorite, we need more room. We liked that one as he always bought an Oldsmobile Delta 88, and they were always the same size in the 50’s and 60’s.

Fast forward to my house, 2010, my wife heard my sorry excuses for needing a new car and broke them down one by one. I said it’s a 1996 Honda, and that V-TEC engine is not as strong as it was, her answer was to rebuild the engine. So I pointed out that the automatic transmission she loves so much slips a bit on the way up the mountain. Again I hear, rebuild it. I then played the hole card, “the truth”; I’m tired of sitting in the same seat driving the same car year after year. “Re-upholster the seats” she said.

She went to town the following day and I sat outside under the mango tree, listened to some tunes and enjoyed an Ice cold beer, and quietly pondered my navel.

Upon her return I noticed that my car looked different, she had aftermarket headlights removed and a brand new original set installed. Here’s why, the fancy dancy, aftermarket lights looked cool but would not light up the road, when you hit high beam this blue halogen strobe light would come on. My son-in-law loved it. She also replaced the grill with one that was easier to keep clean custom type. She then told me she ordered a new stereo that would play Flash Drives (USB) to be installed the 1^st of March.

Then she said, “Oh Mahal, I called the Honda dealer and they said less than P100, 000.00 to rebuild both the engine and transmission. She found an upholstering guy that will re-do the interior for about P 20,000.00 Then she asked the cost of the new car, I responded P900, 000.00. See my love, I just saved us P800, 000.00 and we can now work on the house. Since the house had a tag attached to the gate I thought, “Pretty much like a car?” The work on the house began then.

1^st. job- Repave walkways on the side of the house, and 70% of the backyard with red dyed cement with a design cut into it.

2^nd.Job- Rebuild the fishpond. (Added Later)

3^rd. job- Rescreen the Man Cave/Dirty Kitchen. (Keeps the bugs out of the beer)

4^th job- Re – sod both front and backyards with new grass. (Grass story next week)

5^th. Job- Tile the upper level (The 02 level) of the outside of the house. (Again no need to ever paint again)

6^th. Forget any and all discussion about my car, as it fell off the list completely.

Next week I’ll up-date on the work completed.

Give me some money, you bastard.

May the seed of your loins be fruitful in the belly of your woman (Boom Shanka),

John

This is the letter I wished to write, shamelessly copied from the Britcom, “The Young Ones”. (Neal was writing to his bank manager.) But, I don’t like burning bridges beyond cinders, so I let things die.

Something unexpected happened at the beginning of the month… I resigned from my job. The reasons were complicated, and I really don’t want to get into things in a public forum. Essentially, there were problems occurring that called into serious question the ability of the company to perform on certain contracts. And, they missed payroll (Hence, my demand for money). Needless to say, things got nasty (And, I really don’t expect they will pay me what is owed… If you burn a bridge, burn it well!)

Now, I was unemployed a grand total of one hour. After a very brief moment of consternation about the future, I got on the phone and made some calls (This is the Philippines, after all, and getting a “job” here paying anything near what I was used to earning is extremely rare to non-existent). Fortunately, for what I do, a border or location is irrelevant: I can live anywhere and still work.

I was hired by Simulation Tech, Inc. (STI), my former company’s partners in Korea, as Product Manager, Emissions Control Systems, based out of their Singapore office. However, I will still be living in Manila. Strangely, because I am paid from Korea, and will have to pay Korean taxes, I will hold a Korean work visa also. So, I am now an official  ”multi-national” expat, or “Pan-Asian”. (American, Philippines, Singapore, and Korea).

STI, www.simulationtech.co.kr, is a much larger company, and they manufacture the Emissions Control equipment I have been selling for two years. Most of my customers and clients came with me, and my job duties are essentially the same, although I will happily have a bit less travel, and I have a substantial team backing my efforts in Korea, Singapore,  and the UK. That is one thing that is true about sales: If you are a salesman, your client base is based on relationships developed over time. It is your most valuable asset. STI is truly a pioneering company, and has some of the brightest scientists in Asia researching maritime pollution control.

So, I’ve just completed my second week at work, and hit the ground running. Unfortunately, I had much of my private business going to the company address in California, and it proved very difficult changing certain things from abroad, especially since I had to change phones, email accounts, and so on. I just returned from my second business trip representing my new company (to Taipei), and am really excited for the future. All my major clients are now customers of STI, so I lost very little momentum.

If you move to the Philippines and work a job, you need to be prepared in case that job disappears. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very well prepared. Like many executives, I became the “job”, and never seriously gave consideration to other offers I received over the years, sometimes for substantially more money. I trusted people more than I should have (In sales, you have to have a substantial amount of trust, particularly high-end industrial sales). A cautionary tale, and a mistake that I will not repeat.

So, in the upcoming weeks, I may be slow in replying to comments, and so on, due to this transition. However, I will try to respond as quickly as possible.

Here in Davao, at least in my neighborhood we have been having two hour brownouts around two or three times each week.  It could get much worse, the longer we go with no solution to this problem, though.

A few days ago I read a news article that really made my eyes open wide.  It said that if it starts raining here in June, which is when Summer here ends, then the power situation in Mindanao will be back to normal in December.  What?  December?  Well, basically, that would mean that we went through nearly an entire year of regular power interruptions here in Mindanao.  That’s a long time.  When I read that, I decided that it was time that I come up with a strategy that would help make life a little easier, even with no power, especially if things tend to get worse in Davao, as they undoubtedly will if we go another 3 months before it starts raining significantly.

One of the things that is important to remember is that when we have brownouts they don’t cover the whole city, just selected areas of the city at any given time.  So, if there is no electricity in one neighborhood, you don’t have to go far to find a neighborhood where there is electricity.  So, with a little planning, you can actually come out OK.

My first strategy is that I put off doing things that I need to do, until there is no power.  For example, if I need to go to the mall to purchase something, or go to a friend’s house to assist him with something, I try to wait until there is a brownout at my house before I do that.  Firstly, if you go to the mall, they certainly have power, because the malls have generators that they turn on when the power on the grid is interrupted.  So, if a trip to a store is needed that day, I just do my work in the morning until the power goes off.  When the power goes off, I take a shower (which also helps you stay cool!), then I go to the mall to take care of my business.  When I am at the mall, I can buy whatever I need that day, enjoy the air conditioning at the mall, do some roaming around and such until I have killed two hours and the power will be back online at my house.  I find this to be an excellent way to deal with brownouts.

If it happens that I need to keep working while there is no power, my next strategy is to take my laptop to a coffee shop that has WiFi Internet Access.  If I do this, I can continue getting my work done, have a couple of cups of coffee, maybe see some friends and say hi, and generally just get out and enjoy two hours while still working.  This is not my first choice, though, because I prefer to work in my home office, and also, if there is a brownout, I like to get away from my work for a couple of hours and stimulate my mind by doing something else.

Another strategy that I have not tried yet, but plan to is to go get some exercise while there is no power at home.  I used to go swimming every day, 5 days per week, but I have gotten out of the habit.  If there is no electricity, preventing me from working, why not get back into the good habit of getting some good exercise by swimming?  Not only will I stay cool, but will also be doing something that I should be doing anyway!  I have to get started on this in the coming week!

Generally, for any of us who are experiencing these too frequent brownouts, it’s not great, but we can turn it into something good by using the down time to do something else with our time that is still productive.  In the past, I would just go sit down and wait for the electricity to return.  I would be hot and sweaty, and would get upset about the fact that there was no power.  However, there really is not a lot that can be done quickly to get the power situation turned around, and really there is not a thing I can do about it anyway, so why not turn a bad situation into something good, or at least better?

Now its a quick step into the time machine for me to pick the highlights of 2008, and now we are in 2010, it seems such a long time ago. Back at the start of 2008, I wrote a humorous article about the driving in the Philippines, and the lack of rules. I find it crazy, but the law chaos somehow makes the roads work.

Did you know the law here states that if you have an accident, you do not move the vehicle until police arrive, even if the vehicle is BLOCKING traffic. If you move it aside to assist the traffic flow, you will be fined.

I looked at several points for that article, here are some

1. Do not use any of your vehicles mirrors when driving. Apart from checking your hair these are a complete waste of material and have no use whatsoever.

2. Do not use your indicator lights. These are a complete waste of material and have no use whatsoever.

3. If, on the very rare occasion, you suddenly remember you have an indicator, make sure you always use the opposite one for the direction you are turning e.g. use the right hand indicator to turn left, and the left indicator to turn right.

4. Do not bother checking that your brake lights work. They are a complete waste of material and have no use whatsoever.

See the full article here

I spoke about my lack of excitement of eating Rice five times a day, and In February I came out of the closet too.

What a combination of articles. Many of my articles mention the lack of sleep that I use to suffer from, as the Sun is the alarm clock, and I still cant get used to so much noise at 5am , but everybody is up , and I am the one who is not. Noise is just something that is part of life here.

I also have to say that the western understanding of debt, is not the same here in the Philippines, as many times i have lent money out, and it never comes back, and the people ,including friends, seem shocked that even though they agreed to repay,that I still expected it. Not just small loans, but larger monies too. I wrote an article called  They wont pay..is that the Pinoy way!!

Also in 2008 I tried a few podcasts too, here is one about OFW from a guy called Ronnell

And a guy called Ryan talks about his hard life

With Bob Martin and my friend Migs, we took a two day tour around Mindanao, and I urge you to look up the two articles, which include video, called “A trip into danger pt 1 and pt2 .” A fantastic experience, and I would love to do it again.

I did article about Pinoy Tv, Customer service or the lack of it, the use of car horns and my first time in the Philippines. All of these plus many more can be found by clicking the pages below, and you might find it great bed time reading, well it should put you to sleep. I also did an article about the “white skin”, products that Pinoys buy to look white, and its everywhere here, most of my friends try to be white, and yet Filipinos have some of the most beautiful skin in the world!!

Also look at the article “What is a lie”,this is so important if you want to live here, its a huge cultural difference, and you need to understand it. Next week we move to 2009.

King Henry 8th.

During this period of religious change the usual slaughter, looting and pillaging plus a few more fun things all took place in the name of religion andit took quite a few years for the whole of England to settle down and accept the fact that the King was now the Head of the Church! Henry the King, gave himself his divorce or chopped of the heads of the unlucky and unwanted brides and all who survived this period appeared to be quite happy with their lot or so it was written at the time! From this time on the religious aspect in England was never as strict again as it was when the Catholic Church was in charge!

As all this was going on in England, the Philippines were getting their first taste of the wonders of the Catholic Religion thanks to the Spanish who were in the process of colonizing this wonderful bunch of islands for King Phillip of Spain and of course God Himself!

Jesus on the Cross in our bedroom.

Over the years, the Filipino has changed this Catholic Religion around a bit to suit his own need which in my mind is a good thing because if you stick totally to the old scriptures religion does tend to get a bit boring to many!

Mama Mary in the Lounge.

My wife is a Catholic and the kids are brought up the same way which is fine by me but I have noticed many parts of the religion here which would be considered rather strange in many countries but not here!

On the celebrations of All Saints and All Souls, the population moves in mass from where ever they are to go and have a good night out in the cemetery with their ancestors! There is always lots of food and drink at these festivities and at the end, the cemetery looks more like a garbage dump but this is all prepared for and cleaned up very quickly! The drinking seems to be getting less as the years go by but this event is still very unfortunate for the local pigs who’s roasted carcases are in great demand for this and as with every similar event I suppose! If you were to go and feast in an English Cemetery then I am pretty sure that you would get arrested by the Police and maybe would be forced to have an evaluation by a shrink to see if you were still considered to be sane after such weird goings on!

Garden Shrine, Mama Mary and Our Lady of Lourdes.

My house is full of all kinds of statues which represent different aspects of the religion, we have a 5ft tall Mama Mary, a similar size Christ on the Cross, Several Nino Statues, A Black Nazarene, A Sacred Heart, Several Last Supper Carvings, Holy Water from Lourdes in France plus many more Pictures and Small Carvings scattered all around the property! Basically, you cannot go to many places on our property where you are outside the gaze of one of these Religious Icons mentioned above! My wife also puts food out for some of the statues which usually is gone by the next morning, courtesy of the local cats probably! I have no problem with any of this and really its quite pleasant to see many of our visitors actually blessing one of the statues and some give a small preyor also! Among the wife’s collection of religious items she also has the Lord Buda, the lucky Chinese Mirrors over the doors, the many armed Indian God, a Lucky Frog and she burns Incense every evening! I think that we are pretty well covered on all aspects of religious life especially with my favorite Saint which is San Miguel!

In our Dining Room.

At Easter or Holy Week time, the people participate in the Stations of the Cross where for hours they are outside in the hot sun walking from one station to another, this is really a show of sincerity because most people do not go out if it is hot let alone walk for sometimes miles in order to carry out this religious duty!

Farmer Nino.

Also at Holy Week you have the very few people who actually get crucified, nails and all for what ever reason they believe will do some good for either themselves of for others! Its not unusual to see someone wrapped in barbed wire being whipped as he staggers through the streets carrying a cross!  These practices would be most definite NO NO’s in most countries and would not be tolerated but here it is still a big thing especially further north in the country!

Sacred Heart outside our Bedroom Door.

In England the practice of worship is a usually quiet affair which only takes place in Church, with the exception of burials that is! The bigger Churches and Cathedrals usually have the main service transmitted on the TV on a Sunday so that the elderly people can still see the service without having to leave the comfort of their home. With the Church of England, the Vicar (Priest) can be a married man and have his own family so when it comes to actually advising newly married couples of what life is about he has some idea from practical experience of what married life is all about! Some Vicars have even been divorced and re married! Birth control is openly talked about both in the Church and more importantly, in the Schools. All British and European kids learn about birth control from an early age unlike in the Philippines where it is a Taboo Subject in most areas!

The Last Supper in our Dining Room.

I sell Birth Control items for men at my Hotel and have at times been asked, usually by the older ladies why I sell such evil things which stop you having babies as this is against Gods Will! I usually then try explain to them that Birth Control is not just to prevent pregnancy but as  the name suggests it gives the family the control which allows them to have their children, when they are old enough, when they are married, when they can afford to bring children into the world, when the mother is well enough to carry a child to birth, when they are really ready to start a family and other things! Most of the people I speak to on the subject tend to agree with me afterwards but do admit that the local Priests do not try to explain as they do not really know so they just say that it is sinful and against the Will of God and should not be practiced! The same ladies have said to me: How can a King or Queen be next to God like the Pope is! It sure is a hard sell trying to convince them that there are other ways of religion in the world!

In Europe, many parents make sure that their teenage children are using Birth Control items in order to try to make sure that unplanned Babies do not appear! This does not always work!

Jesus!

To me, its a great shame that the larger religions in the world do not try to modernize and update themselves in order to fit in with the times and this I believe is the main reason that the Church is not getting the support that it used to get from the younger generation. I am not saying that the Priests should wear Hip Hop gear and Rap out the service but they should try to find new ways of presenting Jesus and God to the population in a more modern way instead of doing exactly the same things as have been done for hundreds of years! In any business, change is always refreshing and and makes the topic more interesting! In Africa, Church is a fun event with modern singing and dancing and also the people are really true believers and know the bible from cover to cover! If the service is enjoyable then the masses will go without being forced.

As you may notice, I am not much of a church person but attend the usual Weddings, Baptisms and Funerals but maybe it the Church could do more interesting things instead of the same things every time then even I might start to attend more often! Maybe!

I took a taxi to the Bureau of Immigration across from the Victoria Plaza mall. I was confused at what to do when I entered the building till I just repeated the process of another white guy; walk up to the window. The man at the window looked at my passport and then handed me a paper to fill out. The guy at the window of the counter then requested 3 pages of my passport to be photocopied. So, I went out of the building to a building next to it that does copies. I asked how much per copy, and I swore I could’ve heard them say “175 pesos”. Thinking I need more money in my pocket, I told them to wait and crossed the street to Victoria Plaza mall. There, I withdrew from the ATM. I went back to the photocopy place and got the copies done. They then calculated my fee, and it was actually only a few cents. Whoops, I heard wrong. No need to have withdrawn then! Haha.

I went back in the Bureau of Immigration and sat down to fill out my paper. I didn’t have a pen, so I asked an American nearby for a pen. I sat at the table with him and he guided me on filling out the paper when I asked a question. I think I remember him saying he was from California. He had a Filipina girlfriend, and he seemed middle aged (not a senior, nor a very young guy). When he asked where I was from, he responded that he had been stationed in Fort Jackson in SC. I assumed maybe he was in the Philippines through military service or something. While I continued filling the papers, he rambled on about corruption and they’ll trick me for my money in anyway. I really didn’t know what to say (in a small partial agreement of some tricky people, but main disagreement of it being the Immigration Office), so I just nodded my head and pretended to listen. Later I told my story of why I was in Davao.

After turning my papers in, I questioned something I had noticed on my passport when I first entered the country in December. The Customs Officer marked 21 days instead of 59 days when I already had my visa stamped in my passport from the Consulate General in Atlanta, Georgia. The man at the window looked confused and took it to the back of the office and asked questions. I was then called to the back office and sat at a desk with one of the head guys. He told me that the Customs Officer made a mistake by writing in 21 days because he failed to see my visa. No problem, their mistake. Then he questioned me on where I got my visa. He said that it was used with a rubber stamp and that visas today are no longer rubber stamps, but has some elastic coating. He showed me an Aussie’s passport as an example. I sat there for awhile so they could figure out why it was rubber stamped. I guess they figured out Atlanta maybe didn’t update their visa stamp thing. They released me from the office and I sat and waited for a lady to call my lastname.

When the lady to the side counter at the window called my name, she calculated my fees. She told me to pay P8610 (I think $188). I had to go back to Victoria Plaza and withdraw more to pay that. When I came back, I payed, and waited once more. I saw two white ladies (an older one and a younger one) seeming to have a problem about something. I also noticed a group of Korean students my age come in. Most of the Filipinos and white people who were there before had vanished already.

They finally called my name and handed me some papers. It was done. They just told me to come back and pick up my I-Card later (still have yet to do that). I think I had been there for maybe 2 and a half to 3 hours. It was already past 4pm and I still hadn’t had lunch yet. Thankfully, a Chowking was just a walk away (as was the mall). Good food and a pleased stomach.

For most people who have had a connection to the Philippines, they know that a Balikbayan Box is a large box that you can use to ship goods to the Philippines cheaply. When you ship a Balikbayan Box, it comes to the Philippines as ocean cargo, on a ship, so it takes a month or two to arrive here in most cases. The great thing about shipping stuff via Balikbayan Box is that the weight of the box doesn’t matter! Whether the box weighs in at 1 pound or 500 pounds, the price of shipping is the same!

Generally, from the USA, it costs between $60 to $120 to ship a Balikbayan Box to the Philippines. More toward the lower end of that range these days. Back when we lived in the USA, such shipping was over $100, but it’s been coming down steadily. Shipping from the west coast of the USA to Manila generally takes a month or so, while shipping down to Mindanao where I live takes longer (because the box must make it’s way from Manila to points in the south).

Balikbayan Boxes are quite large too! Actually you can use any size box, but the large ones are most often used. A large Balikbayan Box is 24″ x 24″ x 18″ in most cases, and that can be shipped for the prices that I have listed above.

The things that are really great to ship in Balikbayan Boxes are very heavy items like books and such. The reason, as I noted above is because the weight of the box doesn’t matter in calculating the shipping rate!

Another thing that Feyma and I used to do when we lived in the USA was that we would always watch for really good sales, like seasonal clearances and such. Sometimes we could buy items for 10% of the original price when the store was really trying to get rid of the stuff. When we would find stuff like that, we’d buy it up, and throw it in a Balikbayan Box. As we found more and more bargains, the boxes would fill up, and when they were as full as they could get, we would send them off to Feyma’s family here in the Philippines. Nowadays, instead of being on the shipping end, we are often on the receiving end of Balikbayan Boxes, as my Mom will usually send a few such boxes during Christmas time.

I know your next question – how do I ship one of these boxes? Well, you need to find a company that specializes in shipping Balikbayan Boxes in your area. Check any Asian Grocery Stores that you might find in your town, often they will have flyers or signs for companies who ship Balikbayan Boxes to the Philippines. Do a Google search for Balikbayan Boxes and your City and maybe you will find a shipper! Don’t give up, though, such shippers can be found worldwide!

If you want to practice what it is like to send a Balikbayan Box, and test out how it works, feel free to send me one! Write me for my address if you need it! Just kidding, of course!