788 replies to this topic

[Macman]

Dixon Cox wrote

he did requests too, mine was always to fuck off.

You know, as strange as it sounds to us, DC, I think you're right about them feeling that they're sharing their joy. Angel said as much to me when I was bitching about the loud karaoke music next door. You are also right on the other front: it's their country, after all.

Actually, Ant, we just got back from church, and I gave a little more than usual. Maybe subconsciously I felt that I could hasten the building process, and thus put an end to the loud fund raising.

Jayarr, the driving is going well. Angel had her best day today; no stalling out, no hesitation, very smooth shifting and stopping. She's really getting the hang of it now.

[petesie]

Mac said;

"Angel had her best day today; no stalling out, no hesitation, very smooth shifting and stopping. She's really getting the hang of it now."

Great...but how's the driving..?

[Macman]

[Macman]

I keep running into more and more myths about the U.S. These are believed by educated, intelligent people. One of them, a golfing buddy of mine, has spent a lot of time in the States, so naturally people believe what he says. I can't remember them all, but here are a few:

"95% of American senior citizens go frequently to gambling casinos, and lose a lot of their savings." I have no idea what percentage go to casinos, but there are not a hell of a lot of casinos in the country. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say it's more like 4 or 5%, and a lot of those go just for fun. They spend very little. It's a damn big country, and not many have immediate access to legalized gambling facilities.

"Almost all Americans over the age of 50 have heart bypass operations, and they have them because they eat too much fat." First of all, it's certainly not "almost all", and secondly, I doubt if there are any people that eat more fat than Filipinos.

"50% of American doctors are from India." I googled it; it's 5%.

Angel's friend, who has been staying with us said the following:

"The air in New York City is so polluted that no trees can grow there." I don't know how many of you know NYC, but the number of trees there is astounding. Besides the parks (Central Park, Battery Park, Brooklyn and Bronx Botanical Gardens, Prospect Park, Pelham Park, Van Cortlandt Park to name just a very few), but even Harlem, which is considered a "ghetto", has trees on almost every street.

"All American men cheat on their wives." I told her that probably a lot of men do, though certainly not all, but asked whether she thought Filipino men did or didn't. She said they don't. When I mentioned this to Angel and to my golfing friends, they all laughed. They all agreed that Filipino men probably have a bigger percentage of cheaters than the U.S.

I know I'll hear many more tales of America by the locals. Whatcha gonna do?

[thailover57]

Mac, agree on the casino comment. but, I saw a lot of seniors in the parking lots of convenience stores scratching tickets. One guy had his foot to the pedal on his car and didn't realize it. If he had put the car in gear there would have been many deaths. As for smog, when I was in Cebu, I could barely breathe - never a problem in the US.

Did I tell the story about the warehouse and the mango? Don't want to bore everyone.

Good to hear the stories. Thanks Mac

[Macman]

You know, TL, you have a good point about those scratch offs and lotto purchases. It's actually disgraceful. The various municipalities are trying to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor with more and more of these games. Only the desperate are dumb enough to believe that they have a chance with those things. Many a man went to jail for that type of gambling before the states decided it was a good deal for them. They were only able to push them through by saying that the money would go to schools, which is a total misrepresentation (long explanation that belongs on some other forum).

I don't think you told me about the warehouse and the mango. I'd like to hear it.

[thailover57]

Okay, I'll share, but if others want to check out it's okay.

My company put in lotteries all over the world. I was in charge of Retailer Training (the people who sell the tickets). Cebu was one of my first jobs. They had the training center at a warehouse for me to teach these people. Aircon in the room- good so far. Down the left side of the room was an open crack the length of the room. Do you want to guess what it was? It was the sewer line. The stench was UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! Solution? Tape Mango air fresheners to the Aircon. To this day I can't take the smell of Mango!

On a side note, Lottery has been described as a tax for people who are bad at math (and that is true).

[Macman]

See, TL, there's always a solution to any problem.

Yesterday we went to Angel's uncle's house for fiesta. It seems that the name of their church parish is San Lorenzo Ruiz, and yesterday was his feast day. When that happens, the people celebrate by cooking a lot of dishes, and having people stop in to celebrate. There were a ton of people there (relatives, friends, the children's friends, etc.) I mentioned to Angel that this could get quite costly, especially since they do the same thing for their own birthdays. In the case of her uncle, that's 5 birthdays in the family, and 5 celebrations, plus the saint's feast day, Christmas, and I don't know what else. Angel says that the feast day luncheon not only honors the saint, but is a way of sharing one's blessings with less fortunate people. That's a nice thought, and the food was great. (There were no mangoes served, TL).

While we were there, the owner of the subdivision came in. He introduced himself to me, and after we chatted a while, he asked if I was in the market for a house. It turns out that he had just had one built across from Angel's uncle's house. He took me for a tour, and it was a pretty nice house and very spacious; kitchen, dining room, living room, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The master bedroom was huge. The lot was 350 square meters, at PHP 1,500 per square meter. The house itself was PHP 1,000,200 (why the 200 pesos, I have no idea), for a total, house and lot of PHP 1,525,200, or about US $35,250. I was kind of interested, but Angel's aunt told me that I shouldn't do it. She said she'd move if she could, but she's stuck there. It was a combination of the neighbors, the road into the place, and the parking situation, if you have guests come by.

We're not ready to buy, anyway, since it's only been 4 months that I'm here, and we agreed to give this relationship at least a year before making any big decisions. It's good to get an idea of the market though. We went to a big developer (Camella Homes) the other day to check out the model homes. They are basically town houses. They are decorated very, very well, and of course that makes you want to jump right in, but it's not for us. First of all, they are relatively expensive (PHP 1,800,00 to 2,200,000 for the ones we would like). Secondly, a number of people have told me that they are located in a flood zone, and thus have many water problems. The kicker was that my friend told me that they come in their most basic state; the models look great, but if you buy, the floors, ceilings and walls are all unfinished. Definitely not worth the money.

[petesie]

Nothing wrong with looking Mac... ;-)

At least if you decide to buy at a later date then a lot of your homework has already been done.

I suppose the legal stuff in regard to what you can legally own is similar to LoS?

[Macman]

I'm not sure how it works in LOS, but I can't own property here. If we were married, which obviously can't happen, I think an alien can own something jointly, but I'm not even sure about that, Petesie. If we get to the point down the road where I would consider buying a house here, I'd have to put it in her name. That's okay with me, because I would want to leave it to her when I die anyway. I have made provisions for my family in the U.S. apart from that, so I would certainly feel the need to take care of Angel too. Of course, as I said, that's pretty far down the road. I say that, but the way time flies at my age, it'll seem like next week. I tell young people that life is like a roller coaster. It climbs that first big hill very, very slowly. You don't really hit the top until you reach 40, and then - Holy Shit. Hang on. It picks up speed as it goes, and the momentum almost crushes you against the seat the deeper into the dive you go. This particular roller coaster only has one hill unfortunately.

[petesie]

Good on you for thinking of your loved ones when the ride is over.

In Pattaya the Roller Coaster usually ends at the edge of your balcony...

[Macman]