In addition, many would like to hear I have failed. Well life is not easy but I am surviving. It has been hard but rewarding too. I work many hours and when I can, I work six or seven days a week. It is also difficult only being able to see Elena over the internet. Even with the reduced visitors, I will not engage in the dishonest practice of “long hauling”, driving on the traffic clogged Strip or even short changing.

In addition, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, my apartment was robbed. I know it was an inside job, but cannot prove it. My TV’s, cameras, and two laptops were stolen and about $1500 in cash. The worst part was, even though they did not take my desktop computer, they stole my external hard drive, which had all the photographs from my last 3 years. All my photos of my live in the Philippines are gone except what I could get back from my web site. The cash included the moneys donated by friends here and readers of this site.

Now for some good news

Tuesday December 21, I received in the mail a notice from USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The notice was to let me know our petition for Elena’s Spousal Visa was approved. This was so exciting I called my mother and brother and sent text messages to hurry Elena online to tell her. We are now on the last legs of a long journey.

On Thursday, December 23, Elena held the party for the kids at Agdao. As I heard and saw from the photos, it was a huge success. Each child had a Jollibee lunch, a gift bag with a shirt, a doll for the girls and a toy car for the boys and some candy. For most of these children, they have never experienced being inside or having a meal at Jollibee. They also received the ingredients to make spaghetti to bring home for their family to have a real “Noche Buena” (Christmas Eve). On Friday morning, Elena will return to Agdao to give out a roast chicken to each child to bring home. A huge part of this is from a reader who had taken our cause to heart and donated $350.00 to the kid’s party and $100 for Elena to give to the family of Angelica, the little girl I wrote about a while back.

All I will say is I will keep this generous mans identify secret unless he wants to let his name be known.

About a week ago, another driver told me, the new hotel Cosmopolitan was offering a free night with $150 credit for food and drinks in any of the restaurants and buffet for two to  taxi drivers who call a special number. Well I got through made my reservation. I only wish Elena was here to experience this night. Cosmopolitan is a hotel, condominium, casino at the City Center here in Las Vegas. I went Wednesday night December 22. It was wonderful except I was alone and Elena was not here to share it.

The room was on the 17th floor overlooking the lake and fountains at the Bellagio. The room was a Studio configuration with a larger bathroom including a separate toilet room and a large walk in shower. Then the main room was divided into a living room and a bedroom. There was two large LCD TVs and with the remote you can turn on, off or dim every light in the room individually or all per room. There was a terrace with a small couch and ottoman.

I invited a driver friend to join me for dinner and he came with his girlfriend. We went to the STK steak house. I had a 24 oz porterhouse steak for $65. It was so good; I even bit off the remaining meet off the bone.

While walking around I took many photos, but want to share this: a ceiling painted like an eye over some tables.

The next morning I went to the breakfast buffet, which was wonderful. I had a bagel loaded with lox an omelet, bacon and a fruit crepe on my first plate and some pancakes and French toast on my second plate. I made myself stop there so not to get sick.

I worked Christmas day and as the rest of the past week, it was dead. I have not had a good week since before Thanksgiving except for the week the National Finals Rodeo was in town.

It has gotten cold in Las Vegas. The mornings are as low as 31 degrees F in the early morning and up to only high 50’s during the day. We have had some rainy days too and luckily, I have two drivers who will give me a ride. With the Scooter, I create my own 40 mph wind chill so I bundle up well and still get cold riding to work in the early morning hours.

To all my readers who have stayed with me, I hope you all had a wonderful and Merry Christmas and wish you all a Safe, Happy and Prosperous New Year.

I have put all photos of both events on Picasa, so  you can click the links below to see them. There are a few videos of the room at Cosmo and the fountains at the Bellagio.

Click to  see all the Kids Party Photos

Click to see the photos at the Cosmopolitan

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus! by Steve in Davao

First, I want to say thanks to Bruce for allowing me to use this site to tell my story. I have followed your site for several months now and enjoy the information you provide.

Well, it’s Christmas morning in Davao, Philippines. This is our first Christmas here and with all the differences, there are as many similarities, as well.

First, of course, we are celebrating the birth of our Christ. Happy Birthday, Jesus!

My five year old daughter, Patty, still believes in Santa Claus. She makes out her wish list and we send it to the North Pole for Santa’s approval. On Christmas Eve she puts out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

She asked me on Christmas Eve.  “Daddy, does Santa know we moved?”

“Yes Patty, Santa knows everything.”

“Daddy, will he find me in the Philippines?”

“Yes, Patty, He knows where you are, now time for bed, so Santa will come.”

We got up on Christmas morning and Patty headed down to see if Santa had eaten her cookies and milk. He had!

“Dad! Santa was here! …. He ate the cookies and drank the milk!” …. “Oh, look, presents!”

“Dad, we don’t have a chimney, how did Santa get in?”

“Santa has magic, Patty.” I replied.

With that, we opened gifts. Mom took lots of pictures, and we laughed and had a great morning.

Now was time to get prepared for Christmas dinner. Annie’s sister came to help cook. Soon her   Mama and Papa and numerous cousins arrived to help and it was chaos in the kitchen.

They made baked ham, Lechon (roasted suckling pig), grilled fish, beef vegetable soup, spaghetti and garlic bread and, of course, rice, rice, rice. Side dishes included tropical macaroni salad, Lumpia (spring rolls) and Pancit Canton. We also had Mango float, birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. What a feast.

We expected around 10 to 15 people to come to our home and they did come, with friends! Everyone wanted to see an American Christmas. We said a prayer and thanked our God for the gift of His Son. We then handed out gifts to everyone (we always buy extra, so unexpected guest will have a gift, and this year it paid off). Dinner was announced and we headed to the table to eat.

The meal was ample and delicious. I’m still full today and everyone took home doggie bags. A good time was had by all.

We had a special honor this year. When we came here in November, we carried money donated by a Church in Ohio, to help build a Church over on Samal Island. We got a phone call on Christmas Eve, telling us, the Pastor and his congregation will dedicate their new building on Sunday, December 27^th. Unfortunately, we cannot attend this week, but will make the trip next Sunday, for services. We are so blessed to be a part of this project. Thank you Jesus!

As we adjust to our new life here, we find that living here is not so different than life in Ohio. Sure, the tropical weather is different and we miss the snow (a little). Driving here is a real trial (we are from a small farm town), but, all-in-all we are getting accustom to being here and finding comforts we didn’t expect. I even caught a college football game on Christmas day. The friends we are making and Annie’s family are a great comfort.

Thanks again to Bruce, for letting me write here, and we wish all your readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Steve in Davao

Well my brother-in-law, who has fruit stands in Kidapawan, sent a text Elena that they would not be here until late afternoon Christmas day. Therefore, dinner was to in the evening. Because of this, the lechon was ordered to be picked up at 6pm.

Mid morning, I asked if anyone in the family would like to watch a traditional American movie “It’s a wonderful Life” with James Stewart. As always, not to insult, many said yes so I dug out the movie and had it ready. Well with a house full, only two decided to come watch. After the movie, I drove Elena to the mall to buy more provisions because there is never enough and something is always forgotten.

Mid afternoon, a few of us sat to play a card game. While playing the group from Kidapawan showed up with extras. It turned out my sister-in-laws family lives in Davao too so they were all heading over there and returned about 4pm. At 5:45pm, we jumped in the car and drove to get the Lechon. We got there we were told they were waiting for the delivery from the location that cooks them. We waited and waited. Finally, at 7:00pm a motorcycle pulls up with four pigs in their cardboard wrapper showed up.

When we got home the women start cooking, the rest of the family moved into the Sala (living room) for Karaoke. Here in the Philippines most Filipinos love to sing no matter if they can carry a tune or tone def. In addition, the speakers have to be turned out so the whole neighborhood can enjoy the serenade.  Because of this, I retired to the bedroom, closed the door and started writing this article.

Finally, I was called into for dinner. There was the lechon, spaghetti, pancit, lasagna, and of course kilos of rice. For desert was macaroni fruit salad, maja blanca which is like a thick pudding made from coconut milk, macaroons and brownies.

After dinner, the singing started again so off I ran to the bedroom. If you ask why I do not sing, I am a bass and my voice is so deep it sounds like Lurch from the Adams Family. Once the dishes were cleared, we all went into the sala for the gift exchange. Last weekend it was decided to do a “Secret Santa” gift exchange. In America, the way a “secret Santa” gift exchange is works is with the recipient’s name on the gift and not knowing who gave the gift. Here the way it works it the person who bought the gift has their name on the tag and they dance around and then hand the gift to the person whose name they drew.

Then I received extra gifts from my nieces and nephews who live with us. I was surprised since last year I did not receive anything from them.  I knew what I was getting from Elena since I was with her to try on for fit when she bought them.

This is the third Christmas I have had with my new family and each year has gotten better then the past. There was more communication and love then I had experienced. Now comes a niece’s birthday on the 30th, New Years, Elena birthday on January 6 and our oldest niece’s birthday February 1. Then I can relax for a while.

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy and Healthy New Year.

P.S. if anyone is curious about my funny looking mustache, I suffer at times with alopecia and that area of the mustache fell out and is starting to grow back.

Public school is free, but there is no free lunch program at most schools. Also all the material for school projects has to be covered by the family. Because of these expenses, many children never attend school.

Even though we usually only have two girls assist us, over time we have gotten to know more of these children. As Christmas approached, Elena and I decided to do something nice for these kids. We talked about giving some of the kid’s gifts, but we also wanted to have a party for them.  One problem we faced is where and how.

At the market there is an area that features small eatery stalls. We found one with room for seating and could provide the usual snack for Filipinos, Pancit Canton. Pancit is like the Chinese food Lo Mein, with noodles, vegetables and pork. We also could purchase bottled soda there and we planned to bring loafs of bread. Snacks high in carbohydrates are usual here.

For gifts Elena went to Chinatown to buy blouses, T-shirts, small toys and candies to give to the children. Elena also purchased gift bags to pack items for easy distribution. One problem we faced was how many of the children could we invite. The market has many of these children and there are many poor beggar kids hanging around the market too. We probably know about ten of these kids, but the market is like a small community and they all know each other. Inviting one could end up with five. Because of budget and available room at the eatery, we decided on twenty children.

On Sunday morning, we went to Agdao for our usual weekly shopping. While there, Elena told the girls we know about the party and that we cannot have more than twenty children since we did not want to hurt the feelings of extras attending and not receiving a gift.

About 11am, we arrived back at the market and some were already waiting. We also had with us two of our nieces to assist with cameras to take photos and video of the party. Then Elena went into the market to find some of the others we know that were still working carrying purchases for a customer. Three little girls I have known were standing by the parked cars looking shy. When I tried to get them to join us, I found out they were Muslim and could not eat the Pancit since it contained pork. We finally got them to join us and at least they could have bread and soda.

Once everyone was seated, all the children stood and did a prayer for the meal. Then the food was brought out and everyone dug in for the feast. All the smiles, joy and full mouths these kids showed made us enjoy the party too. I wondered how often these kids could eat until they were full. Many made sandwiches filled with the noodles and filled their mouths and tummy’s with smiles and joking with each other.

As the party started, I saw this one little girl standing nearby looking so sad that she was not invited. Seeing this cute little girl looking so sad, I had Elena explain to her; even though we do not have, enough presents we wanted her to come and eat with us. The shy smile I received made me happy we did not exclude her.

After the eating was done and most of the food gone, all the kids started singing us Charismas carols. First, as they looked and pointed to us, they sang, “We wish you a Merry Christmas”. Then they sang more carols to us. While they were singing, my two nieces went and retrieved from the car two big bags filled with the gift bags. As the singing finished, Elena gave each child one of the gift bags. As each child received their gift, there were big smiles and big eyes.

At one point, I told the kids, and Elena translated to make sure it was understood, that it was our pleasure giving these children this party in thanks for the friendship they always show me at the market.

As the party broke up, most thanked us and many gave us hugs. A few even gave me a kiss on the cheek. The joy we gave these children to let them know we are happy we have become friends they not forgotten. We also wanted to make sure they had something to enjoy the spirit of giving for this holiday season.

There are many who we never used to assist us, but they always say hello to me. At times when I am waiting for Elena, some will stand with talk and joke to me or just keep me company. Some will sneak up behind me and poke me on the side as they pass by. At times, I feel like the Pied Piper as we walk through the market or to the car with five to ten kids walking with us.

They never ask for anything from us or beg with the usual sob stories. If we can use them at the market, they are paid. However, if not, they still show their friendship to us. Many times, we arrive at the market and cannot find our usual helpers. If I see one of the others, they will travel through the market to find our usual girl.

I hope this is the first of an annual tradition. I was thinking if in the future years, if we get donations, we can have more of these children to attend a party and besides the snack and gifts, maybe we can include a little money so they can pass the Christmas cheer to others in their family.

I hope you enjoy the video and the slide show of the photos we took. The video is long but I hope you enjoy it.

Sorry for the late posing. Had trouble setting it up.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well, through the Expat group, Friends of Mindanao I learned of and visited a wonderful and different concept for a well needed charity. This is Balay Sa Adunay Pangandoy or Home of Those who have Ambition.

There is a man, Dennis T. Mabayao who as a seminarian worked doing ministry work at the Davao City Jail and Rehabilitation Center. There he had an opportunity to meet many young boys who, for different reasons were in custody at this facility. Because of poverty and peer pressure, these boys were arrested and incarcerated for crimes, including stealing, drugs or even gang murder.

Dennis realized these boys, once their sentence ended would have no decent life. The pressures that drove them into a young life of crime would be even worse since they now have a criminal record. With this realization, Dennis had a dream that he put into action. With the help of a church organizations support at first, on November 3, 2004 he opened the home. They started with about 14 teen-aged boys, which is the capacity of their location. They were given the land and built a home for the boys.

These boys live in the home, go to local schools for their education and at the home receive spiritual and life skills training. The boys have strict rules of their schooling, studies, and chores at the home. They know if they break these rules, they will be asked to leave the home. Dennis is a kind and loving man but is strict to keep the boys on a straight road to a better life. Dennis had a radio show and an herbal supplement business, but gave this up to be able to have the time needed to run the home. With giving his life to the home and the boys, he expects the best in return.

Presently there are eight boys staying at the home. Two are college students, five high school students and one elementary pupil. They hope they can accept more boys in the future but now their financial resources are limited. The home can accommodate a maximum of 14 boys.

The emphasis of the home is on education and formation. They constantly monitor the boys to make sure that they attend their classes and do their assignments. At the home, the boys must be present for morning and evening prayer and do their scheduled assignments, such as cooking, cleaning, washing and caring for the pets and plants. This all helps to instill a sense of order and discipline to their character.

They regularly conduct group and individual counseling, life skills training lectures, school, and home visitation to observe their performance. They try their best to balance the programs and services so that they can achieve their objectives as stated in their manual of operation: “To provide education, to provide spiritual and human formation and to provide life skills training programs.”

These boys, without the home and the education would probably continue their life of crime, since they will be back in the “unwanted” part of the population. Many street boys who live a life of crime lose their lives due to gang turf wars or vigilante killings.

At the home, to earn income they thought of raising pigs but the location prohibited this type of business. They then tried growing vegetables for sale, but that was not a profitable enterprise. They now have large holding ponds breeding tropical fish and cages for the breeding of parakeets and lovebird pet store distributors. They also have a selection of plants and clay pots for sale, which were donated to the home.
Dennis and his dream are wonderful. Most people look at the cute little faces of the young children and their hearts go out to them, but the older children are ignored and forgotten. With the poverty, broken homes, many older boys end up in crime and then forgotten. Dennis is a man with a dream he turned into reality. He took these boys and gave them a chance to get their education and self-esteem back so they can become productive citizens with a future. However, this dream comes with a price. The support of the home and the feeding and schooling of these boys need the help of others to keep this dream alive.

If you would like to help, use the PayPal donation button on my site. Just leave a comment on the donation that your donation is for Dennis and his dream and the money will be forwarded to him.

alay Sa Adunay Pangandoy or Home of those who have ambition, registered in the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission as Non Stock, Nonprofit organization with SEC Reg. NO. CN 200827995

Please help Dennis continue his dream and give these and future boys a chance in life. Let us make these “forgotten” boys have something they will never forget, that there are people who care. Let us also give them a Christmas they never thought they could have and a future life with Dennis.

Help Dennis and Donate to his Dream

As time progressed and merchants wanted to extend the shopping season, the stores kept making it earlier. It was after Halloween when they started displaying Christmas decorations.

Now you will see Christmas displays next to the costumes and pumpkins for Holloween.

Even houses start putting up their lights and items earlier too, even though there are still a lot of traditional people who wait for Thanksgiving to climb up the ladders after checking every string of lights to make sure no bulb is out.

Here in the Philippines they start very early. Hence the “Ber Season” The Ber stands for the months ending in ber. So as of September the decorations start up and Christmas Holiday music is being heard.

Here at our house it was a little late. Elena did not put up our tree and decorations until the second week of September.

To follow with the Pinay mentality, HAPPY BER SEASON TO YOU ALL!

At that time Elena’s mom was still alive even though she was bedridden from strokes and Alzheimer’s.

When I arrived there was already a lot of family here and by Christmas day the house was full with 23 people. Linda who is Elena’s sister-in-law with 2 of her 3 kids Jun Jun and Nadem. Then there was Junior, Elena’s brother with his wife Lettie, 2 of their daughters Joy and Genevieve and their Son Juaren.

On Christmas Eve Elena’s Brother Bhong arrived with his wife Tita and their daughter Edna.
The children of Elena’s Sister Nene were already living here since they go to University of Mindanao for nursing. They are the ones I refer to as “The Girls” in other posts. There is Merliza (21), Mona (20) and Riza (17). They have 2 older brothers, Amar (25) who lives o his own here in Davao and Peter (23) who works as a Seaman.

So on last years Christmas with family and a few close family friends, Janis who is Amar’s girlfriend and Cecil who is Peter’s we had 23 people in a small 2 bedroom house.

This year it was just Elena, me, the 3 girls, Amar and Janis.

I had noticed the Tom Cruise movie “Lions for Lamb” was playing at the malls so I asked if everyone would like to go see in on Christmas day. We went to our favorite mall, Giasano Mall. Once there we notice all the movies are Tagalog movies, so we let the girls go and Elena, Amar and Janic decided to come home. One the way I stopped at a reasturant to get a pizza. Then we watched a DVD movie.

Once the girls got home we all went to Palace Buffet by Victoria Mall. It is an inexpensive restaurant but had nice choices and good tasting foods. After dinner we came home to open presents. They were all for me since I gave everyone money for Christmas a few days early so they could go shopping at the malls big Midnight Sale.

So, without family coming out of the woodwork like last year, we still had a nice Christmas with family.