Once inside it only took a few minutes for our happy visitor to enter the baggage area. He was happy to meet his girlfriend and her family. After they hugged and kissed, we retrieved his luggage and off we went to his accommodations. As I suspected, traffic was very light, but I was surprised to see more traffic than last year.

After getting settled in, we all jumped into my car and headed off to Red Knight Gardens. I know this place well since it is where I play bridge twice a week and I know their restaurant would be open today. We had a nice breakfast. Towards the end of our meal, I realized, besides all four of them sitting in his room, there was nothing else for them to do all day with the city shut down. I sent a text to Elena and asked if it was ok to bring them all to the house. He brought us both some nice gifts for out past and current assistance.

I first drove them around the city and was nice not to get in any traffic tie-ups. We then came to my home where we all say and relaxed. Because of the shutdown, we had already planned to invite them for dinner. The girls have a brother in Davao and decided to go visit him for a while, but will return for dinner.

I let them know; I have little plans for the week and will be available if they need me for anything and to drive them if needed.

I know this is not much to tell, but what do you write when a city is closed.

Tomorrow I need to get up early. A friend I made through this site is arriving from America. His plane is scheduled to land early. His Filipina girlfriend, her sister and their mother are planning to meet at the airport too. Since the city will be in a closed condition and since I made his reservation at an Apartelle I know, I promised to pick them up at the airport and drive them to his accommodations.

It will be nice to meet in person someone I have only known through this site. This is a kind of opposite story of how he found this site. His Filipina girlfriend was a reader and then contacted me for advice about their online relationship and to assist in any thoughts I had about their meeting and future. I am not a psychologist or relationship counselor but with my time here, my experience and all the contacts I made, I explained to them things they need to understand with the different cultures and respect.

One time this American asked Elena and I to do shopping for a birthday gift for his girlfriend and her twin sister. We were happy to assist and Elena did the shopping. One-day the girlfriend’s mother and sister came to Davao to meet with us and collect the gifts. We had coffee and talked for a while. I was amazed how the mother discussed with me about some of the more controversial articles I wrote and being a Filipina told me my understanding of the people and culture was correct.

It is nice, meeting people who have followed my site and have asked for advice and then want to meet me when they visit. As many know, there is a more popular site about live here in the Philippines and the owner of the site has become a kind of celebrity being noticed in public and someone visitors want to meet.

A few times, I have been out and someone will come up to me and say “you are American in Davao.” After I get over the shock, I reply with a smile, “well there are many Americans in Davao” where they then smile and say they recognized me from this site.

With my plan to move back to the states, I set May because in April there will be three different visitors to come to Davao and have asked to meet with me and assist them in different things. One visitor has even offered to hire me for 2 days as a driver to take them to some of the local tourist spots.

I will write about these meetings, as long as the visitor gives me permission to do so and I will also report about this year’s Good Friday.

This year Good Friday is April 2nd. If you are planning to visit the Philippines during this time, tock up with everything you need. I would guess all the sari-sari stores will probably be closed too. Have enough food and beverages stocked up. And we need to pray cable and internet does not go down since there will be nowhere to report an outage.

Since nobody is working, there probably will not be any brownouts because there will be nobody to turn off the main switch.

Last year Elena and our nieces went home to Bislig for Holy Week. On Good Friday I went out to see what was happening, and the answer was nothing. I hardly saw a taxi, jeepney or even people on the streets. I was not able to find any place to have lunch.  It was nice to be able to drive round and learn more of the streets without the crazy traffic, but it was a little eerie.

I will try to report on how this holy week turns out.

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.

It was a lot of work and most of it was from my friend Louis who is a whiz in the kitchen and even helped me with one of my duties to make a pumpkin pie. He made the pie crusts and was here to assist me with the fillings.

This year we have no such plans. A restaurant in town is offering a Thanksgiving turkey meal including pumpkin pie. There is also plans for a joint anniversary and birthday dinner for some of our friends at the Marco Polo Hotel. Unfortunately, the Marco Polo is not offering an American Thanksgiving special at their restaurants.

What I do want to write about one of the reasons we celebrate Thanksgiving in most American homes. The holiday was originally created to celebrate how the Native Americans helped the starving Pilgrims who had traveled to a new land to leave a country with no freedom of religion at that time.  The Native Americans brought foods to share with these strange people who ended up at their shores.

To me, it has a common link to my life. I moved to a country because it would have been difficult to remain in America due to the loss of job and low prospects of finding reasonable income to survive well and to bring Elena to join me there.

Instead, just like the Pilgrims, I moved to a strange land with different customs, lifestyle and language. With this, I am thankful for many things. I came and married a wonderful woman. Her country, her friends and her family accepted me. Even though I have a small savings to help support us, Elena and her family help us too. We are not rich, but we are able to live decently.

Since there are many foods that my family eats that I would not enjoy, at those times Elena has learned to use the local foods available and cook them in ways I enjoy. Elena also has shown me there are many foods here we all can enjoy.

I am also thankful for the home we live. It is not a modern home and has its problems but it is ours. We plan in the future to save and purchase or build a nicer home, but for now, it is a plan and a dream.

I have met many Filipinos and consider them as friends of mine.  It is not the close friendship but there is a respect when I am at their home or they visit mine. I have also met many Expats from many countries. Some have become good friends and some are in a level of respect and friendly attitudes to each other.

With my open and friendly attitude, I have met and enjoy seeing people at the malls, shops, and markets. I am often stopped by a Filipino who I had met in the past and they always stop me to say hello and ask how I am doing.

I am also thankful for my health. With the changes of climate, conditions and lifestyle here, I have not suffered any medical problems. I have actually lost weight and in a better physical condition than when I first moved here.

I am also thankful for this site. Through it, I have developed a readership that visit my site and enjoy my commentary about life in the Philippines. Through this site I have helped and been helped by some of the reader. Some have moved or visited here and I had the pleasure to meet in person.

This site has also taught me about the internet and the difficulty to make an income from it. At first, I thought this site would provide me with an income to improve our life here. Once I found out this would not happen, I did not give up. American in Davao has become part of me, and even though difficult to keep thinking of content to post the three times a week, I have not given up.

Most of all, I want to say “Thank you Elena and the whole Libres clan for giving me a new and wonderful life with new reasons to be happy and thankful.”

I wish all my readers, no matter where you live or if you celebrate a “Thanksgiving Day” a wonderful life and many things for you to be thankful.

This year was a special treat. Our nephew Peter, who is currently a 4th Marine Engineer, was home on his vacation. It was also special since on October 23rd was his 26th birthday. To celebrate his birthday, besides dinner and cake, that next Sunday the whole family spent the day on Samal Island at the Blue Jazz Beach Resort.

In the past, we have gone to two other beach resorts but nothing like what Blue Jazz offers. From the moment you arrive by boat, you see the upper scale facilities. The main beach area is shorter than the others are, but you see the two free pool areas. They have a lower semi-circular pool at beach level, which is fed by a horizon edge pool above. Around the upper pool are umbrella covered tables and little nipa huts that are for rent.

As we walked past a beautiful round covered bar area, we saw the covered seating areas. There are pavers and clean sand areas as you approached these tables. We all sat down and in Filipino tradition, a grill was started and food was prepared for our early lunch.

Well this time the family went overboard on food. The grilled pork ribs and small tuna. There was also shrimp, chicken, kinilaw, salad, tortillas, and of course rice. We relaxed while all was prepared and then the feast commenced.

During our lunch, two girls dressed as a mime and clown stopped by to invite us to their Sunday family activities at one of the pavilions. Later they came back with someone in a Tweety Bird costume.

Later a few of us walked up to their water slide and pool. Along the way, we passed the overnight rental units that looked very neat and accommodating.

The water slide pool is only 80 pesos per person and the first use of a floatation tube is free. I have never used a water slide, and at first was hesitant to try. However, with a little prompting from the attendants and Elena, I grabbed a tube and climbed the hill and steps to the top. As I sat on the tube and laid back for the ride, the attendant pushed me off with the words “Super Fast”.

Well I shot down the slide going almost vertical up the sides of the turns and then felt my butt bump as the dips on the straightaway towards the bottom. Next was the splash into the pool. Wow, what a ride that was. After some laughs and jokes, Elena and I went back up to ride the double tube together. Again, as we were pushed off, the attendant pushed us off, he called “Super Doper Fast” and with the added weight, we were flying.

This time on the curves, we slide up the banked side so high I thought we would fall out, but with the centripetal force, we stayed on the raft. Then once the straightaway started, our momentum kept us going back and forth up the sides until the last part and the butt bumping drops started. Gee, that was so much fun and I cannot believe I had never ridden a water slide before.

After a while we walked back to our table, some went to shower, and change clothes before our trip back. We needed to watch the time since the last boat leaves at 5pm and if you miss it, you will need to spend the night. Therefore, by about 4:30 we packed up and headed for the pier to get the boat ride back to Davao. The ride back was also a thrill, the normal calm Davao Gulf was choppy and they had to slow the boat to keep everyone in their seats.

This is now the third beach resort I have visited on Samal and to me it is the best so far, my hats off the man who designed this wonderful place to relax and enjoy.

Two of Elena’s brothers arrived this morning and everyone went to the Cemetery of Elena’s mom. Each year they go to clean and paint the crypt and to place flowers. This is minor to how others celebrate. I drove some of the group while the others took a taxi. Many streets in front of the cemeteries were turned into One Way streets to control traffic. Because of this there were many traffic jams everywhere.

As we got close to the cemetery there were booths selling foods, drinks, flowers and everything else needed by the visitors. I was not allowed to enter the cemetery so I let everyone off at the entrance. Looking through the fence, I saw tent coverings all over.

This is how many celebrate the holiday. Some of the coverings are for shade, but many families spend the night and serve either vigil, or just party all night. Because of the commotion, a few years ago, the Mayor banned alcoholic beverages and karaoke from the cemeteries.

I am not one for cemeteries; I prefer not to be reminded of death but to remember my past relatives from good times when they were alive. For this reason, I let Elena and her family go without me.  Even with my beliefs, it is nice to see how past relatives are remembered and celebrated.

As I am writing this on Sunday evening a bad rainstorm has started. I am wondering how many have fled home.

In the Philippines September starts the Ber season. That is because the all the month’s end in Ber and that is what marks the coming Holiday season of Christmas. The stores are already displaying and selling Christmas decorations and you will hear the holiday music.

Soon the houses will be lit up with Christmas lights, Christmas trees will be set up and their decorations will be everywhere. But this is not the only signs of the upcoming holiday season.

There is something else that becomes noticeable that the holiday system is coming and that is the increased presence of the Lumad beggars. Lumad is the Cebuano or Bisaya word for the indigenous peoples of the southern Philippines. There is always a presence of these people, but the amount magnifies this time of year. Many of these people live in the mountains and highlands of Mindanao. During the holiday season many come into Davao by busses and trucks.

These people, the most noticeable are the females. They are in long loose skirts and T-shirts, darker completion and by all places there is a business or shopping. Many carry young children or babies in their arms and come up to you, tap you on the arm if you are not looking towards them and then put their hand out or they are carrying a plastic cup. They will motion to their mouths to say “I am hungry” or some know the word hungry. They will be at intersections and go from ca to car, tapping on the window and then motioning to their mouths or put their hand out. Some small boys will tape a few metal cans together and come up to your car and play the cans like Bongos and then put their hands out.

If you try to ignore them, many will continue to tap on your car window or your arm. No matter if you shake your head no, or say no or “wala kwarta” which means “no Money” many will continue to stand there.

It is especially bad when they see a foreigner; our lighter skin is like a beacon on a dark night. They will ignore all others and come up to you and start the routine. Many have no shame and will walk around with a baby in their arms, with their blouse raised and breast feeding the babies.

I can understand the poverty here in the Philippines and the lack of government support for the poor and unemployed, but this bussing in of the Lumad for the Christmas season to beg, and then bring them back to the mountains for the rest of the year has to be hard on these people and also on the City. The sidewalks and markets get full and so many in the streets with the heavy traffic makes a difficult situation and a danger for all.