Wasting My Time

I love walking down to the Bay of Bogo and sit on the dock of the bay!  Its a lazy place, often a nice breeze  even when there is nothing but still heat elsewhere. At night, often one can see  lightning in the distance which adds to the beauty of the scene.

There is a song I use to listen to regularly, its a melancholy song but I think of it often when I go sit on the dock of the bay.  I’ve turned it into something happy though, kind of an in your face to some of the folks that tried to keep me down..  In the end, I won.

Sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
I’m just sitting on the dock of the bay
Wasting time

Sitting On The Dock Of the Bay. Otis Redding

Sitting On The Dock of The Bay

Seems to be a lot of Filipino winning the battle of life too as there are so many down here.  There are lovers trying to get some privacy in the wide open.  There are vendors selling their snacks.  A Filipino can’t be far away from their snacks.  There is music, sometimes, but not usually, too loud.  The music may come from a  young persons car, motorcycle or boom box. The wharf is about a half a mile long and wide enough for two cars to pass begins with a police outpost, the town disco and a double row of videoke bars

For me it is a productive waste of time.  A great place to recharge your batteries and prepare for the laid back pace of the Philippines.  :-)  Here are some guys playing basketball at the entrance of the wharf.

There are two main gathering places in Bogo City that I’ve noticed.  One is the town plaza or park.  Why there are not more pinoy there I don’t know, the Filipina are everywhere and they are often looking.  They are always looking good. 

The other location is the Wharf at Bogo Bay.  There is one  in the heart of Bogo, there is another on the outskirts.  The one near the center of town is the one everyone goes to. They go just to hang out.  There are always people there.  At sunset there are quite a few.  I’ve spent quite a few sunsets there myself.

I haven’t seen a sunrise, I need too do that but I’m not much of a morning person.  At least now that I’ve gotten used to all the confounded roosters in Bogo.  They used to wake me every morning.  Eventually though, I got used to them and they don’t bother me any more.  I don’t even notice them unless I make a point of it.

I’ve taken Juliet, my Philippine monkey there a few times.  We got her balut and she loved it.  I haven’t taken her lately, she’s a bit naughty.  Just last night she stole a neighbors cell phone!

The people like to gather around and watch her.  The balut is often quite warm when one first buys it.  Too hot for Juliet to handle comfortably so she’ll start spinning it in her hand causing the Filipino to laugh.  Once she grabbed my hand towel to help her avoid the heat.

Some of the guys want to touch her and get to close and I tell them mama-ak unggoy.  Monkey bite!  They often look at me as if the don’t understand but they always back up.  She might bite but probably not.  I don’t know if I’ll ever take her back down there.  She needs the stimulation but she may just be too wild to risk it.

The best thing to do down at the wharf is to watch the girls!  One huge problem in the Philippines is a serious shortage of girls in a bikini!  Girls here generally do not dress as provocative as American girls.  Still there are plenty of very pretty Filipina down by the wharf.  A single guy could likely do very well for himself there.  Though the plaza is a better place for this kind of activity.

One of the best things about both of these places, is that they are free.  In the Philippines, one doesn’t have too spend money to have fun.  We westerners seem to feel we must spend money to enjoy ourselves.  Its not true!

So, if you’re in the area, stop by and we’ll go do something productive.  We’ll waste some time together, we’ll watch the ships roll in and then watch them roll out again and better yet, we’ll probably find a few Filipina to watch too.

Fire The Nanny Or Just Beat Her?

Seems like a lot of life happens right on my front porch.  Its a bit interesting how many stories I get while sitting on my porch.  In a land, a long long time ago, people used to sit on their front porch with their family, especially on Sunday afternoons, and watch life go by.  Many of you have been to that land, it was the 1950’s in the USA and of course somewhat into the 1960’s and there are a few hold outs like me.  The Front porch in the USA  leaves a lot to be desired these days.  I still remember sitting on the porch with my grandfather, this was a normal pattern way up into the late 1980’s.  Air conditioning probably had a lot to do with that pastime coming to an end.

How To Deal Your Nanny

Since, I’ve become a bit addicted to these wonderful Filipino hand made cigars, I’ve been headed out to the porch more often.  I could smoke them inside but I don’t want too.  They stink things up badly.  I’m going to write about those cigars soon, either here or on heyjoe.com  I’m not sure which.

I live in what used to be a family compound.  It is still known by that family name.  We don’t have a street address, we just use the family name, such as the “Yap Compound.”  Its not really Yap, I just don’t care to give GPS coordinates to my home.   Someone might mistake me for someone that has something to steal. HaHa

I rent the main house in the compound but there are six buildings in the compound.  They’ve been converted into rental units and one into a boarding house.  So we see a lot of what is going on in the other homes and I’m sure they keep up with me, its a pastime in small town. 

The other day I invited a friend over for a couple of beers and a smoke.  He’s headed to Subic to teach English to Filipino and Koreans and wanted to wish him well.  While we were out there, we got a bit of a surprise.

There’s a cute little 17 year old over there, yeah she’s cute and totally off limits so don’t even go there!  She is working as a yaya, the local term for a nanny.  She takes care of a five year old while mom is working at the local Gaisano.  The other day mom came home to find a bruise on her son’s cheek!

The language got a little loud with sounds like “he’s just a baby!”  That was followed with a flurry of fists!  Mom decided to exercise some fast Filipino style justice.  I didn’t see the yaya for a couple of days, I figured she was gone for good.  I think she’s a family member though and she turned back up.  She’s working for her aunt or ate (big sister) we think.  That probably made this form of justice safe.  Police here don’t like to get involved in family matters of this type.  Sometimes the Barangay captain will get involved, mostly though that’s when a kano is beating his wife or girlfriend.  Kano, stop doing that, her family will show up and “bash” you.  That’s the word many Filipino use for that circumstance.

On a side note, guys stop hitting your women!  No matter how insecure you are there’s no excuse for it.  I put women beaters and child abuses on the same level.  STOP DOING IT!

I wanted to share a bit of my Cebu Experience and some Philippine culture with you.  I’m sure the girl and the aunt are back on good terms for now.  She is 17 though, there will probably be more trouble.  I saw her running through the complex with paper on fire last night.  I guess she needed some fire so she borrowed some from a neighbor.  Just the kind of thing a 17 year old would think was a great idea.  I’m glad my house is concrete!

I hear there’s often a lot of drama in the average Philippine family.  I’ve only had limited contact with Jessie’s family but didn’t see much of that there.  I’ve seen a little though.  Do you have any stories to share or thoughts about this one.  Always love to hear from you, yes you too Roy.  :)  And don’t forget to come visit me at Living In The Philippines.

You May be a Child Abuser!

Yes you!  There is a law in the Philippines that states, in short, anyone that is in the company of a child under the age of 12, or a minor who is 10 years your junior then you can be arrested and imprisoned.  There are two exceptions, if your interaction with children is required because of legal, moral or cultural reasons then you are exempted from the law.  The second exemption is if you’re related to the child by blood or marriage to the 4th degree.

In The Company of Children!

The law in question is Republic Act 7610.  It sets up various conditions which qualify as child abuse.  While it is aimed at sexual abuse that is not the only type of abuse it attempts to protect children from.  The entire act includes protection in extreme poverty or conditions created by war.  The part of the law that I find alarming is quoted below:

Any person who shall keep or have in his company a minor, twelve (12) years or under or who in ten (10) years or more his junior in any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor, beach and/or other tourist resort or similar places shall suffer the penalty of prison mayor in its maximum period and a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00): Provided, That this provision shall not apply to any person who is related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity or any bond recognized by law, local custom and tradition or acts in the performance of a social, moral or legal duty.

Any public or private place.  While the law lists several locations, those are just examples.  The law includes any place be it public or be it private.

So, suppose you hire a yaya to help take care of your children, she would be in the company of your child.  Does the law apply to her?  I think it certainly could.  Let’s say you move in with a Filipina and she has children, are  you in violation of this law.  Probably yes.  Is her annulment complete?  That’s a scary can of worms.

The Philippines legal system seems to still be rooted in common sense though and that’s what will likely keep this law from being abused in most cases.  At this time, there appears to have been two arrests under this law.  Both have occurred in the last 30 days and both occurred on Bantayan Island in Northern Cebu. (editor’s note, there is also a case of a foreigner - a UN Doctor - who has been charged under this law in Makati)

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is responsible for seeing that this law is enforced and the child are protected.  In one of the cases mentioned above, two of the children he had been in the company of have since claimed Eric Rohn had touched them inappropriately.  So I suspect which law they prosecute him under will change.  He has missionary status so he might have met one of the exclusions.  If these two girls, age 11 and 15 stick to their latest story, I’d say his days as a free man are over as he is 69 years old.  The other individual is Preston Kuntz.  So far, the 12 year old girl he was found alone with at a resort on Bantayan Island has stated that Kuntz has done nothing inappropriate.  The girl’s parents have been charged with a different crime, a more harsh crime than Kuntz but they continue to say he was just a friend of the family.

It appears the DSWD is using the law mostly in an attempt to gain more evidence and to get the children out of immediate danger when there is not enough evidence to charge them with more specific acts.  I think the lawyer’s statement sheds some insight into how the department views this law:

Lawyer Irene Cabales of the Children’s Legal Bureau said they would want to test Republic Act 7610 that prohibits anyone, especially foreigners, from having minors under their custody.

I doubt that they would arrest a yaya without some other indications that there was a problem going on.  I think you can reduce your potential risk by not being with children unless their parent or other relative is there but the law doesn’t actually say that.  Again, I’m relying on my observations that the Philippine legal system still exercises common sense in most cases.  I doubt a lawyer would tell someone to rely on that though.

It doesn’t matter if the parents of the child want the accused to be punished.  The State has an obligation to protect the children from the accused and their parents or anyone else that is not taking adequate care and protection of them.

One of the safe guards built into the law is that it limits who can actually bring charges under such an act.  In the Philippines, many laws allow for any interest party to bring charges against someone else.  For example, an individual brought charges of bigamy against politicians in Cebu even though he was not married to them.  He was a political rival.  On a side note, that man is now dead.  Shot in his front yard while talking to his son and wife.

It is important to know, that you don’t have to be alone with the child.  If you’re actually found to be alone with the child, then the penalty goes and up and its considered attempted child prostitution with possible life sentence!

I find this law to be alarming.  While only certain entities can actually charge one with violating this law, that will not prevent extortionist, competitors, estranged spouses or others from going to  authorities and accusing someone of being in the company of children!  In the two cases I know about, much more was suspected but it doesn’t actually have to be.  Being an American, I’m accustomed to laws being used to the letter of the law, even twisted to create new law and common sense seemingly often tossed out the window.  That makes this seem like a law ripe for potential abuse.  You should keep this law in mind as you go through your daily life in the Philippines.

Let me hear your thoughts.  Am I over reacting?  Am I under reacting?

Also Follow Me at Living in The Philippines

I will Deport You

Expats living in the Philippines, as tourists must get their visa extended every 59 days.  I usually try to stay clear of Bureau (BI) just to make sure no one upsets me.  Today’s visit to BI was a perfect example.  Well, I would have never done what this expat did.  What he did was next to insanity.

A Visit to Immigration

On a side note, when I went to Bangkok a couple of weeks ago I walked up to  the immigration window on my way out of the country.  The woman was behind a glass that had only a small opening to slide your papers through.  I don’t remember even that but there must have been something or I couldn’t have given her my passport.  The area is huge, with high ceilings and noisy.  Lots of echoes.  She told me something but I couldn’t hear her.  When you can’t hear someone, most of us will raise our voice and after I walked away, I realized I had.  She kept talking and I couldn’t hear her and she made no effort to help me.  Very frustrating.  I guess she realized I couldn’t hear though or it could have gone badly for me.

Today, a guy in Mandaue City, part of Metro Cebu City was at BI trying to get his exit clearance which requires a 2*2 inch picture.  He had only a 1*1 and the BI officer told him she needed a 2*2.  He responded with “its all I have in a raised voice.”  The officer continue to tell him that she had to have a 2*2 and continued to insist he didn’t have it.  Soon the officer told him not to raise his voice to her and the expat asked why not.  She reminded him he was in immigration to which he said “so what?”  What a dufus!  Her reply was I will deport you if you continue.

Now he understood! He replied with asking where he could get the required picture.  She told him and he left.   He was on the verge of getting thrown in the Mandaue Immigration Jail!  The exit certification he was attempting to get is required after an extended stay.  I think you need it if you are here for more than six months.  I could be mistaken about the time table.  If anyone knows, please correct me.  The point being, if you have been here that long you should already know better.  Based on the way this guy was acting at BI, I’d guess his time here will be limited.

I’ve heard other stories about pushy Americans in BI, often over their dress code but this guy took stupidity to a new level!  Its a lesson in how to get thrown out of and blacklisted from returning to the Philippines.

I Hate Asia

I recently did a “visa run” as my 16 months in the Philippines were up.  After asking around, it became clear that Bangkok was the place to go for a visa run on a budget.  Bangkok is a modern city, except for the elephant in the street and the Chinese looking signs, I could have been back in the USA.

There were skyscrapers reaching into the sky, flashy lights, tons of traffic and people.    There were 7/11 stores, a McDonald’s every time I turned around and guys in suits talking about increases in profits and how to get more of them.

There were even more pretty girls than here in the Philippines, only problem is, there are so many white guys there that I didn’t get the same kind of attention there that I get in the Philippines, well not in the large numbers that I do here, especially in Bogo.

I did run into a bit of a problem though.  The cabbies in Bangkok will try to take you any place other than where you want to go.  Worse, if you don’t know where you want to go, they will take you any place that’s not close to where you are.

There are a ton of empty cabs in Bangkok, they are easy to get.  Never had to wait more than 30 seconds for one.  Each trip though, was a battle of one kind or another.

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Filipina Love

Love in the Philippines is in some ways like the USA.  In other ways, its a mine field of withered hearts and a bunch of jaded middle aged white guys with  empty pockets.

You can find romance and even a relationship in the Philippines. Romance might be easier to find than a relationship, not sure which will cost the most. :)  Love is likely more expensive but its far more rewarding, Right?  I never tried romance but I’m happy with that.  BTW, romance is a code word for another word that I’m not going to use. 

The Filipina

You gotta love a country that calls ladies of the night “Guest Relations Officer” or GRO..  The Philippines loves these kinds of polite terms.  Another of my favorite is the term used to indicate squatters.  That term?  Informal settlers and there are quite a few.  I don’t make fun of such people but the term is down right funny.  At the same time though, it shows a serious side of the polite Filipino culture.

I met a girl online and it worked out!  Now, I met many others, one of which is now stalking me and her boyfriend too.  Geesh.  My favorite though is one of the girl that I met on Filipina Hearts.  Within 10 minutes she asked me to send her $100USD because her poor dying mother needed oxygen.  Now I’ve seen quite a few sob stories but this is my all time favorite.  Most just their light bill paid or money to finish their education!

Some of these request are genuine but it is impossible to know which ones are and which ones are nothing more than a scam.  Sometimes the scammers even work with their husband, boyfriend or mother!

I met Jessie in an online video chat community.   We were friends for a year.  We talked all the time while I was still in the USA.  I think that was very important, starting with a friendship but there was always a bit of a spark there.  Mostly we just avoided it.  Jessie didn’t want a man, she was done with those.  I wasn’t looking, already been burned by one Filipina and my friend told me, “Rusty, back away from the Filipina.  LOL

If you’re going to try a Filipina dating site, you need to keep your options open and your heart well protected.  She may have been lied to so many Westerners that she doesn’t believe a word you say.  In most cases you can’t count on her loyalty despite how much she tells you “I’m all yours!”  The Filipina love that saying.

Some of them mean it but some are fooling themselves and many of the guys that plan to come to the Philippines are doing the same.  They don’t always set out to rip you off but when the time comes, they may not be able to follow through.  Jessie nearly chickened out.  When I came here, I didn’t know if she’d be here or not.  And she was afraid that I wasn’t really coming, even while I was on the plane.  We’ve both seen guys pull that, claim they are on the way and get held up in customs or something.  In one case, we knew the guy was in Manila, with another girl.

So this broken promises go both ways.  This guy even took out a six month lease on an apartment and the girl had already moved in!  Come on guys, don’t do the Filipina that way.

Before I actually got here, I heard wonderful things about Filipina.  What I heard consistently is Filipina know how to take care of their men.  Seemed a bit chauvinist to me but I have to say, its true.  Jessie has me so spoiled it just isn’t right but I love it, I must admit. She doesn’t even like the maids to cook for me, she wants to do it.  I suggest to her that was going to far though.  Especially after grease popped and hit her in the face the other day.  Mighty pretty face to be doing that to it.  Just today, several people confused her for Miss Mandaue!

I find her to be totally exotic and beautiful but I’m in so I’m sure I would no matter what.  And she spoils me in every way.  Now she is Filipina and her thinking is different from mine in many ways.  She’s not insanely jealous but that’s quite an exception among Filipina.

Jessie is extremely loyal.  She thinks I’m handsome which is amazing to me.  I actually believe her too.  her idea of handsome needs some work.  Actually, I believe she’s in love too.  If you come here and find a girl and treat her like you should you will have found yourself a real treasure.

Now Filipina have their way to get what they want.  Rather than argue with you they may just keep quiet and do it their way.  At the same time, Jessie says I’m the boss, I set the rules.  I poke fun at her from time to time about that.  At least, she means well but I think she’d do anything I asked of her short of hurting her children, which I would never request anyway.

One should not interpret this as a submissive Filipina.  There is nothing submissive about this woman.  She’s a strong willed Waray-Waray.  One night some Filipino was messing with her at a disco and the next thing I knew, she had her stun gun out!  She didn’t tell me exactly what happened, I just saw the stun gun.  No more trouble from that guy.  The point is, Jessie honours me with her yes, she gives this and any other way the yes would be meaningless.

So don’t let anyone tell you you can’t find a Filipina online, you can but you’ll find many more that want you for one thing, cash.  It might be a good idea to hire an expat to check her out for you.  I will do that and there are others that do it too.  Not sure if Bob does it.  You’d have to ask him.

If you’re going to try to find a girl online a good place to start is Filipina Heart.  Click the button at the end of this post.  Most Filipina will have free accounts so they wont be able to answer your advances unless you get a paid account.  If you do, you will find Filipina to chat with you, some very pretty ones too.

I’d love to hear your Philippine love stories.  Ladies, I’m sorry I kind of left you out of this but I know most about the perspective of looking for a girl.  And I did try to portray your side of this and the pitfalls that Filipina encounter as well.

Let me hear from you!

Rusty

Follow me at Hey Joe, Living in the Philippines!

Cursed!

Black Magic in The Philippines

I think most would say that Filipina and perhaps Filipino in general are far more superstitious than Westerners.  My girl friend  has a superstitious saying about so many things.  The other day we found 10 peso in the street.  She picked it up and said she had to put it separate from her other money.  When I asked her why she said “that’s what they say.”

Another Filipina told me she had a dispute with a landlord so she put a curse on him and he died.  I tried to pursue this and she wouldn’t talk more.  I wanted to know when she had him cursed and when he died but she quickly went quiet when I asked for details.

Another Filipina told my girl friend that a mutual friend had been cursed and that something was wrong with his face.  It was basically rotting she said.  Now that seemed pretty impressive to me.  I tried to find out when her friend first found out about the curse, was it before or after the pinoy (man) started having problems.  Pretty easy for someone he did wrong to claim they did it as an act of revenge.  The man has a reputation as a player and the word is someone got angry for being made a fool of.

I’ve seen stories of “quack doctors” in the Philippines.  An expat told me his girl friend went to see one when she got sick.  The guy chanted a few things, did some odd things with animals and after a long illness, a few days later the girl was well again.

A couple of nights ago, our toilet seat fell and the noise it made didn’t make a lot of sense.  It just didn’t seem right.  Jessie is convinced it was the ghost of the old woman that lived here for many years.  As she was explaining, I must admit I had a few chills going up and down my back.

I don’t know what to make of all of these things.  Of course I’m skeptical but I wont totally dismiss it.  Maybe this is such a strong part of the culture for very good reason.  As a Westerner, I tend to think that Christianity and black magic should be mutually exclusive but that’s not how people live here.

I’d love to hear more stories along these lines.  What experiences have you had with Filipino and superstition?  I think I’ll go listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s version of “Superstition” now.  :)  I’ve seen enough things in my life that I don’t dismiss the supernatural at all.  That doesn’t mean I believe it all either.  I just know that I will steer clear of it, no matter how tempting it is to put a curse on someone.

Deported!

I think the fear of being deported comes into the mind of any expat that has done any reading of local papers or the Internet. One of my first introductions to this was a Korean getting deported and blacklisted for hitting an immigration officer.

Always Show Immigration Officer Respect

To touch an immigration officer in any thing but a friendly way is just stupid! Getting angry with an immigration office is also stupid. It is 100% foolish to be anything but polite, even if you must disagree with one.

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When in The Philippines…

Wow, its been a busy couple of weeks.  Lots of fun, some headaches and a new PET MONKEY!  Yesterday I had someone deliver a monkey to me and it didn’t cost me a dime toward the cost of the monkey.

Monkey Rescue

A member of this site and my sites knew I lost a monkey a year ago.  It appears one of the children in the area killed it. I’ll never be certain.  His name was George and he is irreplaceable.  Our new monkey is  not going to replace George.  Hopefully she will just add to it.  We are working on building her a monkey mansion  to keep her safe.  I’d be happy keeping her inside but we’ve already had one battle with the landlord over the issue.  I don’t understand why.  She only says homes are made for people, not monkeys.  Bah!  If it was causing harm, I’d understand but its not.

She is very afraid right now.  She’s also skin and bones.  She really has not been taken care of very well at all.  She was captured by a farmer and taken captive for stealing corn.  Then they fed it corn.  :)  But just enough to keep her alive.  She’s been out in the elements chained to a bamboo pole for the last year.  When it rained, it rained on her.  She had no where to go.  Its probably a testament to her will to survive that she’s still alive.

She’s quite the handful, mostly because she’s afraid.  Its going to take some time to train her.  I say train because she’ll never be tame, she’ll always be wild but we’ll likely refer to her as tame.  We still have a bit of a way to go.with her.

Battle Of The Monkeys

There was a full fledged monkey battle in my bedroom today.  We let her out of her cramped cage and let her roam around with a short chain.  She didn’t want to let us get a hold of that chain.  She learned from the day before that if she lets us have the chain, we have control.

First my girlfriend, Jessie tried to grab it and the monkey charged her with teeth in full view.  The monkey doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she has done this several time.  It freaks Jessie out and scares the both of them.  The monkey already sees me as dominant, which is good but it also causes her to be fearful of me.  Dominant males can be real bullies in the wild.

When the monkey charged Jessie, it got my blood pressure up and I decided to have a talk with the pint sized monkey with a gallon of attitude!  She reminds me a bit of a Filipino.  That’s meant to be a compliment even though not all Filipino are small.  :I admire their feistyness.

I grabbed the chain and the monkey went ape!  Screaming at me while baring teeth, though it scared me enough to get me drop the chain, I too went ape.  I screamed back at it with the same sound, I didn’t even know I could make and gave her a face full of my teeth!  When in Rome do as the Romans, when you turn your bedroom into a monkey zoo, then I guess its time to act like a   monkey! Its a good thing I have a prescription for xanax. I was in need of some after our exchange.  The maids were soon asking Jessie if everything was okay.  She told them Rusty and the monkey had an argument!

Actually I learned from my first monkey that communicating on his level worked wonders.  One problem is, the face they make for a threat display with their teeth is very similar to a sign of submission.  It has to do with the teeth being open or closed and I can’t remember which is which.

Our new monkey has its canine or fangs and she can do a LOT of damage with them. When we first got her she was very thirsty.  We gave her water in a plastic tupperware like container.  She drank the water and she proceeded to bite a very alarming hole in the container!  A real eye opener.

I knew I had to prevail in this battle of wills today or I would forever be below her on the social scale and that would mean real problems down the road.  I must be able to control her.  For her safety and those around us.

Jessie being smarter than me suggested we throw a towel over her and then get the chain.  This too was a struggle but it worked.  The monkey is not stupid though.  She grabbed a hold of it and tried to hide it from us!  Finally we wrestled it loose.

Then we put a much longer chain on her so she wouldn’t be able to do that again.  I took her for a walk around the house.  Much too soon to take her outside on my walks yet.  Again, I don’t have control over her yet because she doesn’t trust me yet.

To work on that trust, we spent an hour or two with her, grooming her and she loved this so much that her skin quivered.  I doubt that she had this done to her in the last year.  This is the way to a monkey’s heart!

Some how she hurt her leg in the battle, which I didn’t understand at all at fist.  She was limping a bit and I thought she was hurt bad.  I think when I grabbed the chain she pulled back on it and I pulled back but its hard to remember what you did when you have a mouth full of teeth in your face!  I think that she held on tight enough that it hurt her rather than let go.  I didn’t pull that hard.  Well I don’t think so, I was shaking after we got control over her so I guess the adrenalin was pumping.  I already love this monkey and would be sick if I did anything to hurt he.  I have to wonder if she might have an old injury there.  I still don’t see how she got hurt.

I wish she would eat more, when we first got her she huffed down several yellow bananas.  Monkeys don’t really care for yellow bananas but she was hungry enough that she didn’t care.  She also ate bread, something else they are not overly fond of.  Today she’s not too interested in bread and even less interested in yellow bananas.  She ate some orange and some rice but she didn’t eat like I think she needs too.

I hope I can get her to a vet soon.  I don’t suppose anyone knows a good monkey vet do ya?  :)  I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to name her but if you’d like to add your input, please visit RustyFerguson.com to add your input.

I’m pretty excited about my new daughter….  Wish us luck!  I really want to give her a better life that what she’s had.  She’s been with people too much, I fear certain that if she were to be released she’d end up dead.  I hope to get her a companion.

Clothing the Expat

Filipino are generally small in frame, that is stating the obvious but it creates challenges for many expats living in the Philippines.  For many expats finding clothes of the rack to fit them is next to impossible.  For the plus size expat it becomes completely impossible.

Most of my T-shirts from the US are even too hot to wear.  At least the nicer ones I bought from Big Dogs in the USA.  Big Dog’s also has some nice Polo type shirts that are thin and perfect for the Philippines but they are generally $70 each!  They often have sales though which made them half price.  Then of course, you have to ship them here driving the cost back up.

Before coming here, my friend told me she needed a dress for a wedding.  She had a beautiful dress made for P2000.  I couldn’t believe she got that dress for around $50.00.  It would have been hundreds of dollars in the US. Probably approaching a thousand dollars, certainly over $500.00

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