Look Closer

I was riding a jeepney through Taft Avenue one recent weekday afternoon when I noticed a laminated poster hanging from the back of the driver’s seat. I didn’t pay much attention to it until a female college student, who was observing me as I looked at the poster, approached me and asked, “Good afternoon, sir. Would you mind answering a survey?”

“I don’t mind at all. A survey about what?”

“That advertisement for the National Museum,” she said, pointing to the poster. I looked closer and saw that the ad had a picture of Juan Luna’s famous oil painting, the Spolarium. There was also some colorful text (in both English and Tagalog) that provided information on the masterpiece as well as the hours one could visit the National Museum, which is located on Padre Burgos Street. According to the ad, visits – with the exception of group tours – are free of charge.

After examining the poster I began answering the survey, which the student had printed on two sheets of bond paper, clipped on a board. I realized that she was a student of the University of the Philippines, Manila campus, and that her project was to determine the most effective communication tool to promote the country’s repository of natural and cultural heritage. Riding the jeep all day, she was coordinating with a group of Dapitan Street-Taft Avenue route drivers.

It was on an evidently low budget that the poster was produced. It was too small to be noticed by passengers in the rear of the jeep. And the printing would surely fade out in time. Still, the presence of – and rationale behind – the poster made me appreciate the student’s noble efforts to bring light to one of the country’s finest – and, regrettably, overlooked – tourist attractions. Having been to the museum only once, I was suddenly terribly interested to go again. And I was made to think of other places close to me which others will fly hundreds of miles over just to see. Intramuros? Rizal Park? Casa Manila? Quiapo? My mind raced with these thoughts.

There are to be no unanswered questions now on which place to visit next, how much it would cost, and what else there is to see in Manila. Oh, how true it is, that sometimes all we need is a simple nudge – or a young idea – to make us look closer.

It’s leap year, so let’s take a leap!

Hi Everybody! It’s Friday morning, February 29 here in the Philippines, and I’m in the mood for something a little different today. How about you, are you ready for a change to celebrate “leap day,” a day that happens only once every 4 years?

For something different, what I would like to do is ask you a question and see what your view is. I give my opinions here every day, let’s turn it around today and see what you think.

You know, I live here in the Philippines, because I like it here. There are a lot of things that I enjoy about living here, and I can’t even imagine going back to live in the USA again. That being said, though, not everything is perfect here. There are things I would change about the place if I could.

However, instead of telling you what I would like to change, I want to know what you would change about the Philippines to make it a better place to live? So, don’t be shy, leave a comment with a few suggestions of changes that you would like to see in the Philippines. Whether it be some huge grandiose societal change, or something very simple, this is your change to let your voice be heard!

So, the mic is now open, and I’m waiting to hear from YOU!

The life that one’s thought!

I got a forwarded email from somebody. I Think it really was intended to be a joke email, but when I read about it, it has meaning. It is about the perceptions of the Filipinos towards Filipinos or families that lives abroad. That everybody that lives there is filthy rich and that you have a tree outside that bears a lot of $$$. It was written in Tagalog. A lot of it was really true. I translate some of it.

Here’s some sample:

1. That when you live in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia that you have lots and lots of money.
2. That you own a few credit cards you are cool and have money then.
3. That if you own a nice house and a nice car then you are really rich.
4. That when you are sending them a nice picture that you went for a vacation to Disneyland, or Disney World, or Six Flags or some other nice place it shows you can afford everything.
5. That you can come to the Philippines to visit once or twice every 2 years.
6. That you can help once in awhile to the other siblings when they are in need.
7. That you could help send some nieces and nephews to school.

Some people just don’t realize that we have all of the stuff that we have because we work so hard. Yeah we have nice house and car, but we have a loan that we are paying every month. We can go for vacation because there is some stuff we have to cut down and try to save for the vacation that we are dreaming of. Yeah, we are earning dollars but we are also spending in dollars too. This is really the reality here. I know there are some that are well to do and not relying on their families abroad, but the majority are really waiting for the money that would be sent from abroad.

Having lived in the States for 10 years I really did experience some of those expectations from my distant relatives. They are the ones who asked something from me. I’ve never heard my Dad, Mom and siblings ask for money. They tried their very best to support their family here. Now we are sending some nieces and nephew to school. We have to let them work for us too instead of just handing them money. Bob and I were already burned by one of our nieces. We treated her like our daughter, but she just really slapped us back with dishonesty and vices. So now Bob and I decided that we don’t just give, we let them work a little before giving free stuff or money.

I do hope with the internet and TV now that people would get a glimpse of how the other people live their lives in the West. Its not the perfect image that they are thinking. Oh well, I might have thought the way these people think before I went to the States too. We just have to open our eyes I guess. It’s not too late. What do you think?

Japanese Language Speakers in Davao City

In pursuit of its objective of promoting cultural exchange through Japanese Language Education in the Philippines, the 2008 Nihongo Speech Contest was held on Saturday, 23 February at the EDSA Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City. The speech contest, in its 35th year was one of the major events of the 3rd Nihongo Fiesta, which featured the National Bento (packed lunch) Competition, the Japanese Taiko and a lot more cultural performances, contests, exhibitions and demonstrations.

I was luckily in Manila on the day of the speech contest and I was able to watch it. In the contest, there were 17 people who delivered speeches and all of them performed very well. And what the most made me happy was the result that there were three Davao People out of a total of 4 winners in the contest.

The Winners will take part in an all-expense-paid week-long study tour in Japan.

Von Voyage!

Philippine-German Relations (XX)

I lived in Berlin almost 25 years. Together with my wife we did join also the Philippine Community. During that time I “met” Jose Rizal for the first time.

Rizal went to Berlin on October 30, 1886. He stayed at the first class Central Hotel, Room 294. In his “Reminiscences and Travels”, Rizal wrote:

“The hotel is beautiful and first class. It is the hotel which has the largest numbers of rooms. I occupied number 294. The heating system is by steam. The bed is good but I think it is meant that the rug should be covered with cloth to prevent its being worn out and it is crafty to require the guests to take breakfast at the hotel, otherwise one mark is well regulated; the dining room is large… .” (page 125).

Realizing that his stay in this hotel would drain his pocket (as Hermogenes E. Bacareza writes, p. 70), he looked for a cheaper one. At Jaegerstrasse 71 Rizal found a pension for 30 marks a day without breakfast. He occupied one of the rooms at the fourth floor, which became the historically significant place, for in this house Rizal wrote the final portion of his novel “Noli me Tangere”. Since long time I am happy to get the English and german version of it.

(To be continued!)

What is a Balikbayan Box?

Over the time that I’ve been writing this column, there have been plenty of occasions when I have mentioned “Balikbayan Boxes.” The other day, I got a note from a reader asking me exactly what a Balikbayan Box is. Well, I should have cleared this up much earlier, the thought had not occurred to me that some people don’t know what such a thing is!

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!

More information on Citizenship

As I told you a couple of weeks ago, we went down to General Santos City for our annual Check-In with the Bureau of Immigration.  This is required for all foreigners that live here with a Resident Visa, you must check in once per year, in either January or February.

During this visit to the BoI office, I had an opportunity to sit down and talk with the local BoI Commissioner for General Santos City.  Feyma took care of all the paperwork for the check-in, so I was free to have the discussion while finishing the check-in.  I was able to gather a few very interesting facts while we talked.

Feyma and I have been pondering for a couple of years now whether we feel that Feyma would be best served to file for Dual Citizenship.  Basically, this would leave her US Citizenship intact, while restoring her Philippine Citizenship as well.  One of the main reasons why we had thought about doing this was because one of our kids, Aaron, wants to attend Philippine Science High School, which is a special High School which is specifically for students who are gifted in the field of Science.  Aaron has a good chance of being accepted at Philippine Science High School.  However, there is one catch.  You see, anybody who attends Philippine Science High School must be a Philippine Citizen.

So, it was our thinking that Aaron (AJ, as we call him) would become a Philippine Citizen if his mother (Feyma) re-acquired her Philippine Citizenship.  However, a while back, I was thinking about this, and realized that Feyma was a Philippine Citizenship at the time of AJ’s birth, thus he should rightfully be a Dual Citizen already.  Just to confirm this, I asked the Commissioner.  He told me that it is indeed true that AJ is already a Philippine Citizen, as well as an American Citizen.  However, the law of the Philippines is that you are treated as what you declare yourself to be.  By filing for a Resident Visa for AJ, we declared him to be an American Citizen.  Thus, while he is legally a Dual Citizen, he must take steps to retain his Philippine Citizenship now.  That step is to simply go to Manila, to the BoI headquarters and to file a paper stating that he considers himself to have retained his Philippine Citizenship.

So, if you have kids who are in the same position as mine, and you decide to move here, you are better off to simply move here without applying for a Visa for your child.  That way, he retains both his Philippine and Foreign citizenship in the eyes of the Philippine Government.

I also asked the Commissioner about the procedure for Feyma to apply for Dual Citizenship.  His advice to me - don’t apply for Dual Citizenship in the Philippines.  It is riddled with problems, and takes a long time.  He said it is best to just forget about the Dual Citizenship, or to go back to your home country to make the application, where it is done much quicker and more efficiently.  At this time, Feyma has decided not to apply for Dual Citizenship, as we really don’t see any advantages in doing so.

Happy Days!

For Americans of my generation, or a little older or younger than me, we surely remember the old TV show “Happy Days” with Ron Howard. Happy Days was set in the 50’s and included characters like Fonzie, the ultra-cool motorcycle rider, along with the oh-so-regular Cunningham family. How could we forget Happy Days? One of the places where Richie Cunningham, Fonzie and the gang liked to hang out was always “Al’s Diner.” Well, I got a surprise the other day when I was walking through the streets of downtown Davao when I looked up and saw a place called “Al’s Diner.”

The outside of the place was all painted up in Red, White and Blue American style motif, and it looked very inviting. There was a big sign out front saying that it was the home of the “GIANT BURGER.” Unfortunately, on that particular day, I had already eaten lunch, so I made a note to go back and see what the place was all about. Sure enough, 2 or 3 days later, I went back to Al’s Diner for lunch, along with Feyma and our oldest son, Chris. When we went inside, we were surprised that it is really an all out American decor in the place, the food is American, and the music they play is 60’s American music too!

We each ordered a Cheeseburger with fries, and we also ordered a “Sloppy Al,” which is like a Sloppy Joe sandwich. The burgers were absolutely great! The cheeseburgers we ordered were said to be (on the menu) 1/4 pound patties, although I felt they were not quite that big. I would recommend ordering the double cheeseburger if you go give it a try, which has two patties. But, the flavor was authentic American flavor for a hamburger. We all loved the burger. The “Sloppy Al” was pretty good too, although next time I’ll be sticking with the Cheeseburger, it was better.

It was funny, because the menu at Al’s Diner has all kinds of information about Al, the owner of the place, and he is not American at all. Al is British! But he does a nice job of making it an authentic American style place with American food. The waitress there said that we just missed Al, he left right before we came in, but I promised the waitress that I would be doing a write-up about the place in my column, and that she should tell Al about it, so he could check it out. Al’s also delivers too, if you call them up and order.

One nice thing about Al’s too is that Al donates 50% of his profits to provide computers for Public Elementary Schools in Davao! That’s very generous, and I plan to do my part to keep him earning those profits!

Al’s is located on “Crooked Road,” right next to NCCC Express, which is right between Rizal Street and San Pedro. If you are not quite certain where that is, it is within walking distance from Claude’s Cafe de Ville here in Davao. For delivery of food from Al’s Diner, you can call 222-5555 in Davao, or Cellphone (0915) 770-5985. Tell him that Mindanao Bob recommended the place! Try it! I think you’ll be happy that you did!

Attention: Classic Music Lovers!!!

A couple of days ago I got a call from Evelyn Magno, one of the  incredible Four Pianists on Four Pianos. During my time as radio host with my show “Classics at Night” they have been FIVE. Nevertheless, Evelyn Abellera Magno, Inday Montero as well as Mila Jocson and daughter Daphne will be back on stage here in Davao City on March 8, 2008 at the CAP Auditorium at 6 p.m.

Not only Davaoenos are great fans of classical music, as I could experience during my radio shows AND wonderful and unique performances i.e. with these blessed pianist ladies.

What can we expect on March 8? Of course, again a great mixture of Mozart’s “Sonata in C major”, Milhaud’s “Scaramouche” (taken from the movie of the same title from the 1960s with Stewart Granger), Frimal’s “Donkey Serenade”, Lecuona’s “El Ante Escorial” and de Falla’s incredible “Ritual Firedance”. No piano concert of these ladies without Pinoy Classics: Belda’s “Prelude”, Estrella’s “Ang Maya” or de Guzmann’s/Canesco’s “Pilipinas Medley” - just to mention a few.

Yes, you will love it. As I know from Evelyn Magno: there are still tickets available. Check it out and call any member of the Ladies of Charity Davao or even Evelyn Magno (Davao City 082 - 227 3667)!

SEE YOU THERE!!!

What would your mum do?

Last week I came out and wow what a wonderful response from across the world, and especially here in my new adopted country. So thanks for the nice words .

Now that I am living here in the Philippines I sometimes am amazed at the contradictions in the attitude to sexuality.

This beautiful country is predominantly catholic and therefore it is amazing to think that in the main being a gay man here in Davao city is more acceptable than in my home country in the UK.

Do not get me wrong I love the UK, and if I wanted to go to certain areas of London I could “mix” in the gay crowds, but thats not me. I have always realised that being in a selective group of any description is not protective but is insular and I knew that I wanted to move in all areas of the community be it gay straight,black,Asian whatever.

I have met many friends here who struggle with the “gay” aspect of the Philippines, as unless they are totally effeminate they call themselves bi-sexual as a sort of safety net. As if its better to say that and not the word gay, however foreigners who are “gay” are not thought of in the same way.

The catholic influence is in all aspects of this country even in Big Brother who have a CONFESSION ROOM, where the rest of the world calls in the diary room.

I have been honoured to meet families of friends here who accept me as a gay visitor, but it does seem that any gay conversation is not included amongst the family members.

One of my well educated friends has been given “pills” to help cure him, even though his sister is lesbian and that seems more accepted, imagine the pressure he must be under and the pressure of his parents to instigate such a thing. Today he was asked to leave the family home because he would not take the cure of medication!!!

I am glad to say that I have NEVER had any problems in DAVAO with being gay, infact the only problem has been with the first world ex-pats, and most of my Pinoy friends gay or straight, boys or girls are just happy to share company in a bar and the sense of fun is more important then your sexuality.

Having said that , as mentioned above, its ok for me to be gay but if my friends who are Pinoy are gay it seems to be a problem, as I have met friends who beg me not tell their other friends or their parents, even to the fact they sometimes use false names when out with me.

I respect what they ask, I might no agree but I remember my own challenges when I was young and coming out to mother dear, she kept asking me when I was getting married, the word being “GAY”, was being polity ignored.

Now my mum is cool with it, I have been out for two decades now and always tell my boss es and new friends, that way its dealt with day one, and then we move on with life.

I admire some of the people I have met who despite no money and big parental and family problems they still deal with the hiding of their gayness, and outwardly always smile.

I am so glad to say that myself and Steve have managed to be like surrogate parents to some people here and they come and talk their hearts out to us, they know we are sympathetic and listen, but rarely give advise on such matters.

Its a different culture and a different time, what was good for me may not be the same for the Philippines.