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How Do You Cope With Living in the Philippines?

August 16, 2010 By Philly 9 Comments

This article kind of pairs up with the “slow down” one I wrote recently  It’s mainly an expanded answer I gave to an interesting comment I received from a reader … keep those cards and letters coming, folks.

Here’s an interesting comment from faithful reader, Dave from Texas:

… More and more frequently I think about leaving the rat race and retiring. I could easily live on my savings until age 70 and collect SS at the maximum rate for the remainder of my life. Some questions I’ve been asking myself are:

1. Will I be able to adjust to shopping Filipino style: going to a store and spending excessive waiting periods to complete my transaction. The horror stories of mall shopping in the Philippines can be sobering.

2. Will seeming bureaucratic inefficiencies drive me to insanity? Reading about what should be a simple process of paying bills or renewing immigration documents is somewhat intimidating.

3. Sorry this is not in stock. I take for granted I can get just about whatever I want today. I rarely have to go to more than one store to find it.

I guess I can get used to the crowds, beggars, various forms of pollution – litter, smog and noise. I can even get in the habit of carrying my own TP. I suppose one could always hire a “professional shopper/line waiter. It’s one of the advantages of a third world country – low cost of labor.

How do you cope with things like these Dave?

Well the short answer is, I just do *sigh*.  Looking at your concerns objectively and one by one, let me say in general I’ve experienced frustrations like many of my Philippine frustrations back in the USA … in some cases, maybe worse here, in other cases, the frustrations are  just more noticeable because they are ‘different”.

Mall Shopping:

In the US I am well known for avoiding malls like the plague.  In the Philippines it seems quite the opposite.  I visit our local SM City on virtually a daily basis it seems.  Not that I like the place any more than any other mall, but here I find different things are a lot more important>

Convenience.  Almost every store I ever want to go to, from buying some plumbing item for the house, to buying myself a new package of underwear, to getting a haircut or a manicure to buying fresh flowers for the table and a fresh salad to accompany whatever Mita is cooking for lunch is there …no searching, no wondering where to go, just follow my well-worn path down a couple local streets.  Also the local branch of my bank, BDO is in the mall, so I get 7 day a a week, 10 hour a day banking hours, even on all holidays except Easter and Christmas day.  Also, when you have a local branch available like that you don’t have to live in fear of an ATM outage when you’re short of cash … just step up top the counter with your passbook in hand (you do remember passbooks, don’t you?) and withdraw, just like we all used to do back in the pre-ATM days, if needed.  Hard to beat.

Every other store I visit always has plenty clerks readily at hand and is never crowded in the morning when I typically go.  I also buy regularly from several small kiosks in the aisle of the mall … people know me on site, ask about my health, my wife’s welfare, where my two little nephews are whom I take with me often, etc.  It’s just like home there.

Parking:  A big consideration.  Many places in the Philippine shave no place to park, or else the parking lots provided are a cruel joke.  here I can just drive in and park in am ample, well-patrolled parking lot.  If I want to I can have the car washed right where it sits while I shop … and in addition to the regular security patrols, SM provides a basic theft prevention service … when you drive in you get a ticket from the guards and you must produce the receipt or your registration and proof of ownership before you can drive out.

If I chose to drive into the city, I zip right through the dedicated ‘Easy Pass” only lane … it’s great how no one else seems to want one of these great gimmicks, and when I get to the city mall I’ll have acres and acres of basement parking … but with a fee of 30 Pesos all day … about $0.66 USD cents at today’s rate.

Exercise:  Let’s face it, it gets hot here.  One reason I go to the mall most every day is mall walking along with whatever shopping needs doing.  An hour’s walk around the perimeter of both floors is about 3,000 brisk steps (or 2.6 km) in air conditioned comfort.  there are lots of free-standing gyms and fitness centers on local streets as well, and a swimming resort along the road to our local mall I am ashamed to say I have never checked out. 

Mall horror stories?  Not from me, YMMV.  Unlike the malls in the US, I love going to the mall here. (also, I live near family.  If I really didn’t want to go to the store, I could easily send a niece of nephew, they’re always up for a trip to the mall).  Everything needed to live without the mall is within easy walk of my house as well … or at the press of a few keys to text.  There are 6 or 8 sari-sari stores on every block, a bigger grocery store 2 short blocks away, a dozen food delivery places, filtered water delivery, delivery ladies who come buy with fresh fruits and vegetables (and fish and meats to order) several times a week.

All told it’s way, way more convenient than all the freeway driving I had to do in the US for shopping on a regular basis.  And although I have a car and enjoy driving, I don’t need one at all … tricycles are available by texting or waving my hand from my front door to go anywhere local, and a walk (or tricycle ride to the major Jeepney stop two short blocks away will give me access to a 40 or 50 cent ride to Metro Manila.

These are things to consider when you are going to live somewhere long-term.  I’d hate to grow old in the US, because you HAVE to have a car, and (as will come to all of us someday), when that day comes you no longer are safe driving, you’re essentially ‘dead’ … a huge burden on other people to get you places.  Some cites are still blessed with senior ambulatory services, but I don’t want to live out my life as a pitiful old fart waiting for the city “short bus” to come get me … and in today’s budgetary climate, how many cites are cutting these services, drastically.  Here, I take care of my own needs, I don’t live as a ward of the city and a burden on other taxpayers.

Bureaucratic Inefficiencies:

Paying Bills:  Well it is true this used to be an issue.  But I just paid my monthly cable TV bill today .. 550 pesos … about $12.22 USD … includes the ‘big three’ movie channels, ESPN, the big news channels and Discovery and Nat Geo, along with a couple dozen other channels I never watch … and I realized it’s the only monthly bill I now have that I have to leave my house to pay.  My rent I pay over the fence to my next door neighbor.  Electric, Internet and my BDO credit card I pay on line via the bank’s excellent online bill pay system.  I carry the BDO Philippine Master Card just for the purpose of things like grocery shopping, hotels, larger restaurants, etc., so I don’t have to carry wads of pesos around with me.  It costs 75 Pesos a month and it’s well worth it.  I normally visit the bank once a month to deposit a US dollar check from my US credit union and transfer dollars to my pesos account for the upcoming month’s needs.  The cable company is the only one who hasn’t gotten on the direct debit bandwagon, so I stop at a local Bill Pay Center that’s on the way to the mall … takes 30 seconds or so for the guy to take my cash and issue a receipt … done and dusted.  When I had a car payment, that came directly out of my pesos account monthly, and when my annual car insurance is due, they send a bill, I pay that online as well.  Not much hassle in bill paying, pretty much the same as when I was paying bills back in Colorado.

Bureaucratic Inefficiencies:  Oh yes, we have them, but really I don’t see much hassle factor.  You do have to be flexible though … which goes along with the “out of stock” situation.  Example, in January when my license plates needed renewal I drove to the local LTO (Land Transportation Office) in our town, backed my car into a stall in the adjacent emissions testing center .. there was no one waiting .. and stood with the emissions tech next to my license plate while the boss snapped a picture to prove the test was done with the owner present.  this is part of a huge program the LTO is vigorously pursuing to stamp out ‘fixers”.

Then I went to Window One and asked what form to fill up … I mean you go to Window One at every motor vehicle department I have ever seen, except when I lived in Japan .. it was Window 0 first there ;-) .  Filled up the form, handed it in in Window two, sat on a bench in the shade and chatted with other drivers there about where I came from in the US, how much did it cost to get license plates renewed in the US, how I found Filipino driving, etc., and waited for the guy in Window Three to call my name.

When he did, he handed me a sheet to show my charges … about P3,000 since it’s a nearly new car still, then I went to Window 4 to hand in the bill and my money.  Went back to sit on the bench until my name was called from Window 5.

Rebewing registration or license Philippines In a few minutes the Window 5 guy called me, handed me an OR (Official Receipt) and said, “No renewal stickers, sir, out of stock,  Come back in 30 days.  You are legal to drive with your expired stickers and this OR.”

So I guess that’s pretty inefficient, apparently they forgot to order stickers.  But, all in all, no big deal.  I was in and out in under 30 minutes, and second week in February I drove over again, handed my OR directly to the guy in Window 5, he handed my back the OR and my shiny new “2010” stickers.  The second trip, including sticking on the stickers didn’t take 30 minutes … about par for the course.

This was mostly all done in English by the way.  My wife was with me on the first trip and did get into the conversation quite a bit, though.  And while I am grateful for her assistance, I’m resolved to do it all on my own next time.  I’ve learned the hard way that taking family ‘helpers” along, or worse yet, paying “fixers”, often gets things all screwed up. It’s not that they don’t mean well.  In fact, it’s often a case that they try to do too much for you, sometimes asking special favors that annoy people and build up that hidden resentment against the foreigner throwing his weight around. 

I mean truly, if you go on your own, what’s the worst that can happen?  You get treated like you don’t know what you are doing by a rude clerk?  Well, you don’t know what you are doing, and rude clerks are a hazard of life world-wide.  It’s part of paying the tuition of life.  Just learn from the experience and next time you will know what you are doing.  You can’t learn to surf by reading a book, and you can’t learn how to live in the Philippines unless you learn how to fend for yourself.

Now with the Bureau of Immigration?  Never had a problem.  Just remember to wear shoes, long pants and a proper shirt, fill up whatever simple forms you are asked to, when the cashier calls your name, pay, when the immigration officer walks out of the back room with a handful of passports and calls your name again, go collect the passport and leave.  You also can use a licensed agent for visa renewals, most travel agents are accredited, so it’s possible to almost never visit the BI.

I just read some very cogent similar advice from a foreigner whose been in the Philippines a lot longer than me.

Forget about the 2 words "WHY" and "SHOULD" or you get constant headache trying to understand why things happen like they do in places outside your own country, especially the Philippines. Acceptance is the preferable attitude. There are too many things for you to question, so it’s better for you not to start. So just relax and enjoy the positive aspects of your surroundings with a sense of humor.

Anyway, David (and others), hope these thoughts may help you a bit with the idea of what you will need to adjust to here.  There’s another article I wrote with some good illustrations on these points … dealing with the inefficiencies and keeping you cool by deciding what you really want in the first place here.

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Snowbirding in the Philippines

January 2, 2010 By Philly 7 Comments

I’ve written before about “Making a Soft Landing in the Philippines“.  It’s the start of a new year and a new decade and sadly, many of you reading this and thinking about the Philippines are still in tough times.

I read about the weather in the US … and my dear wife, the Unofficial Cook, views the streets in our former home town, Colorado Springs via the city’s traffic cams … when they aren’t iced over or obscured by blowing snow.  Hard times so far as I am concerned.  Why so many people chose to continue living in conditions like that, with utility bills the way they are, completely boggles my mind.

A reader just a day or so ago wrote to me about his “snowbirding” plan for the Philippines.  He’s thinking about taking summer work in Alaska (believe me, there are always jobs there in the summer … if you want to work, that is, instead of getting paid to surf on your employer’s time).

Then, when the snow flies, he’ll come back to the Philippines where he plans to have his family living, and enjoy these months where the weather is nice here and the US and Europe are suffering through one blizzard and cold snap after another.  He plans to clear about $20,000 USD per season and just live on that the rest of the year.  If he and his family are good budget managers I see nothing at all wrong with the plan … it’s eminently practical.

There’s more than one US fellow I’ve corresponded with here in the Philippines, doing that exact thing.

Other snowbirders are couples more my age who already have a pension or investment income and live here in the Philippines while the weather is bad in the US, and then go back ‘home’ for 4 months, 5 months, six months or whatever suits them, to take advantage of the summer months in the US when the weather is bearable.

There are many ways to do this without a conventional J*O*B. (Just Over Broke).  I applaud them for being rebels.  Breaking the government/media propoganda line that says your worth is in your job, and if you don’t have a regular job, by definition getting paid, on average, one-third of what you are actually making for your employer, then you are somehow a failure.  Friends, that is nothing short of patent bullshit.

Your personal worth is in your talents and what you can earn for yourself and your family … in a great many ways the folks in the US who have lost their jobs … and (this part is important) those decide to make something of themselves on their own … as opposed to the drones who sit on the sidewalk outside the unemployment offices and moan about what the government doesn’t do for them, are the lucky ones.

Recently I was browsing on my old friend Don Herrington’s site www.livinginthephilippines.com (not to be confused with my good friend Bob Martin’s site, www.liveinthephilippines.com

(yeah, there’s a little bit of competition there, but both these fellows have a lot to offer … I also see a guy recently publishing www.living-in-the-philippines.com (note the annoying, hard to type hyphens) … not a whole lot of original thinking going on there, but that’s another story).

Anyway, I was struck by this article by Don, Why the Philippines and Why Now?, (scroll down the page that opens to read the full article, pleasee) especially the following snippet …

Some have been snow birding in the Philippines for years: hiding from the cold. Now some are “economy birding,” waiting for the warmer economic climate by hanging out in the Philippines. Here is no sin to be unemployed. (my emphasis) They enjoy living here and all the beauties of the country for a fraction of the cost of the more “developed,” countries…

Don has it exactly right here … this is one of the things about living in the Philippines I like, and didn’t even realize I would like.

In the US, much more than you may realize, you are not judged by who you are, but by what your work is. If you lost your job, there’s an unspoken but hidden stigma that surrounds you and your family, anywhere you go, that cries out “loser“.  Does not matter the why and the how of the situation, you don’t have a job, you must be less worthy than the average “wage slave”.

Good Read
Creative Commons License photo credit: TheeErin

And heaven forfend you be “retired”.  That means, especially to the average 30 or 40 something executive or legislator, your life is over, you are physically and mentally unfit to contribute anything, and you are, worse than that, a resource hog, a ‘snorrer” who is sucking the life out of the young who feel they have inherited the earth.  As one of my old former governors (ask me sometime why Colorado sucks) was famous for saying, “The elderly have a duty to die.”

In the Philippines, who cares if you have a job?  Occasionally in the past, some of my neighbors have asked, in passing, what I am doing with myself.  I tell them I’m retired and their faces lightsup with a little respect for the 40 years I put in to earn this status.  They never turn their head and spit ;-)

Thinking of Living in the Philippines?  It has its ups and downs, but it is sure different than living in the USA in terms of how you are judged and treated … for sure.  Living here is a bit like the old US Army tag line, “Be all that you can be”, rather than “Is your job important enough that I should even acknowledge you?”

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Marriage, Nationality and Divorce

December 22, 2009 By Philly 33 Comments

By Atty. Rita Linda V. Jimeno

The story of Rosanne in my column last week triggered numerous reactions from readers that merit discussion. As a jump-off point, we shall encapsulate Rosanne’s case.  Her Filipino husband who used to be loving and conscious of his familial obligations, abandoned all his duties toward her and their children when, as a result of his prolonged employment abroad, he found a new love.  He then divorced her and married his lover with whom he now has two children.

We said that there is a gap in our family law because while her husband is no longer married to her, she remains married to him, an incongruous situation which our family law offers no solution to… Read Full Article Here

I’ve had a number of on-line conversations lately about folks in the same or similar situations as the lady described in Attorney Jimeno’s article.  There is always a lot of discussion when a foreigner and a Filipino marry, often centering around where the marriage should take place and where, or when (if ever) they could divorce.

A couple facts (from my lay knowledge only, of course).

The Philippines recognizes US marriages and the US recognizes Philippine marriages.

Thus where the couple marries has makes no difference in legality within the Philippines.

Desperado's
Creative Commons License photo credit: markhillary

The Philippine Family Code resembles the US law of the community property states.  If there is no prenuptial agreement (commonly known as a Marriage Settlement in the Philippines) all the couples property becomes community property, so those with significant assets, children of previous marriages, etc. should really seek competent legal advice before saying “I do”,

Once a couple marries they can not be divorced in the Philippines.  The Family Code does not allow it.

(A notable exception, if the marriage falls under Sharia (Muslim) law, there may be a legal (recognized by the NSO) divorce alternative available.  This is way out of my area of expertise.  Those of you of the Islamic faith or married to one of the Islamic faith, must seek guidance from someone competent to advise under the Sharia Law).

The couple may:

  • — Obtain a legal separation under Philippine law.  This can settle support, visitation, property disagreements and the like, but it is not a divorce, and neither party is free to marry again.
  • — Obtain a legal annulment,  If this is granted under Philippine law the couple are then both free to remarry. (Note, this has nothing to do with annulment within the Catholic church — two separate issues)
  • — Obtain a divorce outside the Philippines.  If this is done, the results under Philippine law vary depending on the citizenship of both parties and also who files for the divorce.
    • — If both parties are citizens of another country the divorce is recognized by the Philippines
    • — If one party is Filipino and the other a non-Filipino then:
      • — If the foreigner files (is the “petitioner”) then the divorce is valid and the Filipino becomes free to re-marry.
      • — If the Filipino files and the divorce is granted then the Filipino partner is still considered married under the family code and may not re-marry within the Philippines.

Bottom line:

If you are a Filipino who was ever married in the Philippines and who now wants to remarry, start now getting your ducks in order to be able to begin the annulment process.  Your previous marriage will not just “go away”.  To my mind, this also applies even if you are outside the Philippines currently and living under another country’s laws.  You may want to return to the Philippines someday, or you may want future children to be able to enjoy their Filipino birthright without the legal stigma of illegitimacy.

If you are a foreigner, intending to marry a Filipino who was previously married and is now legally separated or effectively abandoned by a former spouse, be aware s/he may very well still be married under the laws of the Philippines.  Grit your teeth and do the right thing at the right time … ignoring these legalities may prove more costly farther down the road than acting on them now.  Or so Philly opines.

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Living in the Philippines — Reading is Different Here

August 21, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

I’ve been trying to tell you that there is much more to the decision about living here or not living here than dollars and cents.  You have enough money if you have enough to eat three squares a day and own a computer and rent monthly Internet access.

But things are very different at a unique, person to person level, and there are only two ways to deal with the differences:

  1. Make an active effort to learn how to meld “your way” and “their way”.  (because there will always be ‘two ways’, trying to make one or the other ‘change’ is not only wrong, it is impossible)
  2. Bumble along for the rest of your years, mystified, missing out on things and wondering why things are always going wrong for you.

Jessphotoshot090607_152
Creative Commons License photo credit: AIfred

It’s really just that simple, folks.  If you, as a westerner, are going to live here in the Philippines … or any other Asian country for that matter, you are going to have to make some subtle changes.

Here’s a couple excerpts from an article my wife just linked me to.  The headline is a link to the whole article, which I recommend you read … it isn’t very long:

Westerners read faces differently from Asians

LONDON – Westerners “read” facial expressions differently from Asians, paying more attention to the mouth than their oriental cousins who focus heavily on the eyes, a new study suggested Thursday.

And the oriental “neglect” of the mouth can lead to more mistakes in interpreting a person’s emotion, said the study, describing how feelings can be “lost in translation.”

“We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions,” said Rachael Jack, from the team at Glasgow University who carried out the research.

“Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect the mouth. This means that Easterners have difficulty distinguishing facial expressions that look similar around the eye region.”

…

“Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation,” it said.

Interesting.  I wonder if those folks in Glasgow got many hundreds or thousands of pounds to determine that here in the Philippines, it’s all in the eyes.  As Yogi is famous for saying that he didn’t say, “You can see a lot just by observing”.

Something interesting I’ll throw out as an observation.  Notice how the whole article is written with the slant as to how this is a “failing” or Asians.  It never mentions the corresponding “failing” of Westerners to recognize common Asian methods of expression.  I’m sure the author wouldn’t want to think of him/herself as a racist, but how else do you explain the total one-sidedness … “Asians neglect” to read Western expressions centered around the mouth, but Westerners look at all regions of the face equally.  Why wouldn’t you write, “While Westerners neglect the obvious Asian signals around the eyes” or language like that?

Doesn’t seem one sided to you?  Ok, fine, but remember it anyway.  If you learn to read the eye properly here in the Philippines, a whole lot will be revealed to you.

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Philippine Maps Just Got a Whole Lot Better

March 15, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

One of the things that has troubled me for years about living in the Philippines, learning about living in the Philippines, helping people move to the Philippines, etc., has been the near complete lack of decent digital maps for the Philippines.  It’s very hard to “point” someone to any kind of digital map online, and many of the ones that exists are inaccurate or out of date.

For the past several years now, Google Earth and Google Maps

(A tip, some folks have been confused over this in the past.  Google Earth and Google Maps are two separate services.  Google Earth requires a download to your computer, Google Maps is a service available right from the Google Home Page, just select “Maps” from the menu bar at the top.)

have done stalwart service in bringing us some great “overhead” imagery … satellite photos and also photos taken from aircraft), but, fascinating as they are, a photo is not a map and vice versa.  recently I noticed some activity on Google Maps that seemed to provide a lot more “real map” detail.  Today I read an article that gave a lot of background on what’s happening here (thanks Mita) Google launches Filipino-made Google Maps | ABS-CBN News Online Beta 

Google maps Philippines 2009_before

google maps philippines 2009_duringHere’s about the best you could do with these maps before the  latest update efforts.  And here’s how some of the metro areas have already been updated.  No matter if you love or hate Google, this is a great service.  I used to contract out map work for a living and I can tell you for sure, this is millions of dollars worth of work being given freely to the world by the folks at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California.

If you aren’t yet familiar with Google Maps, especially the small ones embedded in web pages, here’s about all you need to know.  Zoom in or zoom out using the plus-minus buttons in the upper left corner, pan (or move the map center around) with the the upper left arrow keys, or by left clicking and dragging the map with your mouse, and select map view, satellite view or terrain features with the buttons in the top right corner.  Down at the bottom left should be a hyperlink that will let you make the map full screen.  Overall, a pretty decent user interface.

Now that Google maps has become even more useful, you can easily make your own map of places you are interested in, automatically in road map, image or terrain map format, save it, or even embed it in another web page with one click.  Some may be interested in a couple of my earlier Google maps articles:

The mapping details aren’t yet up to US or European standards, but they are getting there at a very impressive rate.  Next stop (I hope) will be live traffic displays like Google has for major US metro areas. (Hey, I can dream, can’t I?)

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Can You Disappear In The Philippines?

October 28, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

The shortest and most accurate answer to this question is yes.

Now, of course, that begs a couple other questions.  Do you want to disappear in the Philippines?  Some people are hesitant even to visit the Philippines because they are afraid they’ll disappear without a trace.  This is pretty rare indeed for a foreigner, but it has happened.  Indeed, like the proverbial “perfect crime” it may well have happened more times than we know … if the person really did disappear without a trace.

I don’t worry much about this happening to me at all, because I live here in the full sense of the word.  I have family here, government records (both US and Philippine), rent and other bills to pay and a number of foreigner friends who know something about where I live and what activities I’m engaged in.

Now of course the other side of the coin is, what if I wanted to disappear … say to avoid legal actions pending against me?  I certainly don’t advocate this and I often counsel people in my layman’s view that any legal action is not like wine … it does not improve with age.  I recommend, and say, don’t do it.

That being said, I know personally there are many foreigners hiding from the law in one form or another here in the Philippines.  The chances of them being discovered is actually pretty slim.  If you don’t commit a crime here in the Philippines there are few, if any people who really care who you are or what you are doing.

The first time I came here, back in 1999, a lawyer friend offered me a way to defray some of my travel costs.  He offered to pay me for proof of a fellow American’s physical address in a town near here.  Ideally he wanted a photo of the gentleman entering or leaving his house which clearly showed the house in enough detail for a process server to take action.   At issue were thousands and thousands of dollars in unpaid child support.  This guy had left his ex-wife and children in the US and run off here to hide.

Much as I would have liked the money and as much as I hate the very thought of guys who run off on their kids, I opted not to pursue the issue any further.  I’m a stranger here, this guy was less of a stranger, and who knows what friends he might have made … or even bought here over the years.  There are thousands more like this fellow I have good reason to believe.  I even know of at least one American who is legally practicing as a licensed private investigator here.  Since we “kano” stick out like sore thumbs I am sure this guy doesn’t have to work too hard to track down a lot of subjects.

But it’s not for me … again … you never know who is connected to whom, and walking around watching my back all day and night is not relaxing for me.

There are many other Americans here virtually unknown.  One fellow I know hasn’t had a Philippine visa in well over 20 years.  He’ll likely die peacefully in his home someday, surrounded by literally dozens of foster children and grandchildren whom he has sent to college and otherwise helped along through life and nobody from the Philippine government is going to demand a visa in order to issue a death certificate.

Having lived in a number of counties as well as my own USA, it’s a cinch decision for me that is I did want to disappear, the Philippines would be the place to do it.

By the way, I saw an interesting article on the subject of Disappearing in the Philippines while researching … a blog I wasn’t familiar with before .. Untwisted Vortex.  A worthwhile read, I thought.

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The Ber Months Are Here

September 9, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

What in the world is a Ber month? Oh, that’s simple. It’s a shortcut term for what passes for winter here in the Philippine northland. It’s slang for any month with a "b e r" in it.

I’ve mentioned in the past that "night is the Philippine winter", based on the fact that the average swing from peak day to minimum night temperatures is typically wider than the swing from, say, peak June to peak December temps, but there is a winter of sorts.

You can find a lot of weather details for most cites on my dedicated time and temp page, or at Weather Underground.

It is cooler in the evenings when I take my daily walks to momma and daddy’s house, and the days are getting shorter … it’s now quite dark by 1\6 PM, instead of 6:20 or so when it starts getting pretty dark in the summer. That’s right, the length of the days here vary only slightly compared with North America or Europe .. or the populated parts of Australia for that matter.

20051031151936-0
Creative Commons License photo credit: César Rincón The other way you can tell that the "ber" months are here is, it’s the Christmas season. Yep, I was at the mall yesterday and all the music had changed to Christmas carols. The Christmas season here is a serious thing, you need to keep it in mind for planning. traffic, especially around malls will build slowly but surely … by December it’s near impossible. Likewise, lines in the bank … get there early, for sure.

This is also a great time to visit and now that school is ‘in’ in the US, air fares are good … just don’t plan on flying anywhere from 15 December until 15 January or so … that is the highest of any high season demand.

But it’s much drier now .. tree leavers often start to fade and change color, even though the temperature never gets anywhere near freezing … it’s the plant’s reaction to the change of day length. The air is much drier, there are more breezes and soon the mall ladies will start wearing their silly little Santa hats … mandatory, lang.

They say there are really no "seasons" here in the Philippines, but "they" are wrong. Welcome to winter ;-)

Popularity: 62% [?]

Filed Under: Culture, Live There

Philippine National Anthem

May 21, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

The Philippine National Anthem is something I never expected to see a lot of interest in on this blog.  After all, I’m an American and a guest here and also, in common with Japan and a number of other foreign countries I have lived in, the Lupang Hinirang (Philippine National Anthem) is seldom heard here.  In fact I can clearly remember the last time I heard it played on the TV … in Las Vegas, Nevada upon the occasion of Manny (Pac Man) Pacquiao’s last fight against Erik Morales, where the Mexican, Filipino and US nation anthems were played during the opening ceremonies. However, this is one of the most searched for items on the blog, so here it is, for all those who wanted to know, in Pilpino and in English.  The English version is always good for an argument or two, because there are words in Tagalog/Pilipino which don’t always translate directly … one of the reasons that English is still one of the Philippine official languages. 

By the way, I do not believe the common rumor among foreigners that to become a naturalized Filipino you have to be able to sing the anthem … I believe that is just an urban legend.  But, then, again, I haven’t applied for naturalization, yet. 

LUPANG HINIRANG

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Bayang magiliw

Perlas ng Silanganan,

Alab ng puso,

Sa dibdib mo’y buhay.

Lupang Hinirang,

Duyan ka ng magiting,

Sa manlulupig,

Di ka pasisiil.

Sa dagat at bundok,

Sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw,

May dilag ang tula

At awit sa paglayang minamahal.

Ang kislap ng watawat mo’y

Tagumpay na nagniningning,

Ang bituin at araw niya

Kailan pa ma’y di magdidilim.

Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati’t pagsinta,

Buhay ay langit sa piling mo;

Aming ligaya, na pag may mang-aapi

Ang mamatay nang dahil sa iyo.

Beloved country,

Pearl of the Orient,

The heart’s fervor,

In your bosom is ever alive.

Chosen Land,

You are the cradle of the brave,

To the conquerors,

You shall never surrender.

Through the seas and mountains,

Through the air and your azure skies,

There is splendor in the poem

And songs of beloved freedom.

The sparkle of your flag

Is shining victory.

Its stars and sun

Forever will never dim.

Land of glory, the sun of our affections,

Life is heaven in your arms;

When someone oppresses you, it is our pleasure

To die for you.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Filed Under: Culture