Nov 30, 2013
The problem with labels is that they don’t tell the whole story. Anytime you try to put a label on a group of people you are being short-sighted or possibly worse. Unless the label is so broad that it serves no purpose.
I fall into the trap, too. I hear my self saying, “everyone here is …”. It’s a lazy way of trying to get your point across.
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Nov 23, 2013
Some things are so common here in the Philippines that you quickly forget that it was different where you came from. As I was told today that the brewed coffee I was ordering at one of my favorite coffee shops was “not available, sir”, I realized that I wasn’t surprised. No, quite the opposite. I no longer expected a coffee shop to have brewed coffee, and quickly ordered something else.
There was once a time I would have questioned how a coffee shop that prominently displayed “brewed coffee” on their menu, and which I’d ordered many times before, could not have it available. No more. You see, I am adapting.
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Nov 16, 2013
For most of those moving to the Philippines and desiring to learn a new language, the choice is fairly clear. Depending upon where you will live, either Cebuano or Filipino (Tagalog for the purposes of this article) is more prevalent. This is especially true in the larger cities. If you wish to live in a remote province, then you very possibly have other choices. I wish you luck with that. Unless you are one of those talented people that picks up languages without trying, you aren’t likely to get much in the way of reference material with anything but Filipino or Cebuano.
If Davao is your intended destination, then the the river gets a little muddy.
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Nov 9, 2013
This post is about carbon paper. But it’s not really about carbon paper, it’s about the perception I have of how fast the Philippines is progressing.
Let me just say that I hope the Philippines continues to advance, sooner than later. I’m (mostly) all for that. I’m just having a difficult time believing that things, the economy in particular, are as as great as they keep saying. Maybe I’m missing the point, and maybe the point is that they are just trying to build up public image and esteem.
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Nov 2, 2013
When I was a child, holidays were pretty cool. There was always something special – fireworks, candy (Easter, Halloween), gifts, great food, etc. Even if it was a holiday for the adults, Mother’s and Father’s day, there was usually cake or a nice meal to enjoy. As I got older those things mattered less.
During my early working years holidays were a break from the monotony of work. That three-day weekend to party and recreate was looked forward to with every bit the anticipation as those childhood years. When I got later into my working career, the holidays became more about a much needed rest. I still looked forward to each and every one, but mostly so I could slow down and relax, if given the opportunity.
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Oct 27, 2013
I’ve often been told it takes at least five years to fully adjust to life in the Philippines for a foreigner such as myself. If true, I’m about 23% of the way there. At times it seems I’m doing just fine, others not as well. But if I’m being honest, that was true before I moved here.
In regards to adjustment, “I have Good Days, Bad Days” as one of my guitar heroes, Coco Montoya, likes to say.
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Oct 19, 2013
Given that I have a number of visitors that come to my site searching for Mindanao Maps, and the fact that Mindanao has been in the news so much recently, both locally and internationally, I thought I’d share some of the more useful and interesting maps of Mindanao that I’ve collected.
I don’t own any of these, of course. I’ve gotten them all from the internet. In a couple of cases you can go to the site indicated on the maps themselves and find larger versions. I put up what I thought were large enough files for them to be of use and to not overload the server too much.
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Oct 12, 2013
I first visited Davao in 2006, if my memory serves me correctly. I’ve been told I’m wrong, but I honestly don’t remember any traffic lights at that time. There must have been very few if, as I’ve been told, there were. Traffic flowed very easily, as what I recall. It wasn’t even that hard to cross the street then.
I moved here just over a year ago. Things had changed a lot in that time in regards to traffic. The proliferation of vehicles and intersections with traffic lights had increased drastically from what I had seen six years early. That pales compared to what I’ve seen in the last year though.
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