When I am at the mall to get out of the house I usually, have coffee at one of the kiosk coffee bars. At one of them, I have become friendly with two of the young men that work there.

The other day, as I was sitting there with a book to read and kill some time, I was able to learn more from one of the employees. At that time, the coffee bar was quiet and I was the only customer.  The one employee usually comes to my table and likes to talk and joke with me. In the past I had learned he was 25, a graduate of Criminal Justice Degree from the University and waiting to take his Board Exams. That day I learned he was married and had a son about to reach his first birthday.

He was telling me he was sad, his sons first birthday will be at the end of this month and he cannot afford any gift or party. I made him smile when I told him; at one year old a child does not understand birthdays and save for the child’s second birthday.

I asked him if his child has been baptized yet and again he looked sad and told me no, since he cannot afford the Church costs and the party to follow. You might be wondering why they need a party. I think here with such poverty and depression, families need a party and celebration to lift their spirits.

While we were talking I learned he earns the minimum wage of 265 pesos a day, which is approx $5.70 USD. However, after his taxes and deductions he take home about 150 pesos ($ 3.21). With this amount, he has to pay for their boarding house room, 1000 pesos a month, and their food and substance.

I was thinking, how a family of three could survive on such little money. I do not know, but they do. The fill stomachs with the cheapest rice and a little piece of fish or vegetable. Well they do, because they have no choice. With all this difficulty to this man, and many like him, most are open and friendly and do not beg for tips or gifts. They open themselves and offer a friendship for no other reason then being nice.

When I first moved here I was amazed how many times a day many Filipinos eat. They normally have three meals a day. Every meal has a large amount of rice and usually some small amount of a protein or vegetable. Then mid morning and mid afternoon they have a snack. Many times this is a carbohydrate. Bread, noodles, or even both, then again in the evening some more carbohydrates or a banana.

Rice is high in Carbohydrates but little in protein or minerals. Then the poor can only afford the cheaper rice with lower quality and nutritional value. The government has instituted a fortified rice adding iron. This is because of the poor diet many Filipinos are anemic. However, what about the needed vitamins and minerals.

I have heard of many poor families that live on one meal of rice a day and if lucky flavored with a little soy sauce. That meal is mainly carbohydrates and salt. The reason for so many Filipinos suffers from high blood pressure this one. Then add the fried foods and high fat of the meats and you are looking at strokes and coronary problems.

With this insufficient diet and lack of available medical care for the poor, there are more problems for the poor working class.

With the business owners looking to maximize profits and lower costs, the easiest way to save is by taking advantage of the labor force. In the States, many companies think in preventive medicine for their employees since the healthier their employees are the less downtime and delays to get their tasks done. Here in the Philippines, most employees do not receive sick pay and if an employee is absent too often, they are easily replaced.

There are some employers that pay better, help feed their employees and show the needed respect to lifestyle, but from what I hear, these are few. To improve a country and its workforce the people need to be considered.

Looking at China, Viet Nam, Cambodia and how they are getting foreign investments and becoming more industrialized, I hope and pray someday the leaders of this country can learn from example and find ways not to exploit the people but to assist them.

The two areas the comments was the Filipino sense of humor or lack of any in the way we joke or tell jokes. The other area, which there was a few comments, was the language problem and communication.

Marcel, who lives in Canada, mentioned that his Filipina wife, when she has another Filipino at their home would talk in Tagalog.

Steve, who now lives here in Davao with his Filipina wife and 5-year-old daughter, mentions when there are Filipino visitors in their home, his wife will have conversations in Bisaya ignoring the fact he is there.

Ian, who also lives in Davao, has the same problem.

For me, it is the same. I live with my wife and three nieces. Currently our nephew is home from his Marine Engineering job and is here with his girlfriend. Unless someone is talking to me, Bisaya is used extensively. When I ask what they are talking about, I am usually told something vague. Or “it is nothing.”

When I ask a question, I get a one or two word answer such as “OK”, “maybe”, or such. When I complain, I am often told, “we are not in America, you are in the Philippines.” With all the talk of the respect Filipinos have for elders, it does not apply if it directly affects them.

My nieces are either attending, or has graduated college for nursing. They have had English in school for many years. They can read English and can write their reports in college in English too. They watch English movies and TV shows. However, with this knowledge, they will not use it in front of me. To me, they will not use the energy to think and talk to me.

This is not just in my home; it is in most mixed marriages here. I know, it is their country, their language and we chose to move here. To me it is interesting; when I visited here before my move, most would talk to me. Now I am here, it is over.

If you move here and just live with your partner, there is not much choice, but if her friends or family visit, or if you hire a domestic helper or if family members move in the use of English will diminish greatly.

Now some readers express their interest of learning the local language. If you choose Bisaya/Cebuano, you will understand the language most here speak, but what about local TV. Most TV shows are in Tagalog. I sometimes wonder, if the communication is to keep us out of the loop or just because they are not willing to communicate in English around us. What if you learn Bisaya and then visitors speak Tagalog, you are in the dark again.

I know there is an inherent shyness from Filipinos talking in English. They are afraid their pronunciation might have errors or they do not speak clearly. I will tell friends and family to try. If they cannot find one word to express a thought, we can find the word. I am patient; I just want to see them try to communicate with me.
Because of this isolation and from what I have heard others in the same situation, many expats spend much of their time at home in the bedroom. Most have a TV in there and their computer.  I know of one expat that eats his meals in his bedroom too. I eat with the family, but the only English spoken at the table is from me.

For me, this situation is moot. I cannot change what has been since I moved here. If you are moving here to live with a Filipina, either a wife that has been in the states or someone you plan to marry here, try to make this problem understood. It might end the plans, but if you cannot accept this life, it might end because of it.

I am hoping in the future when my nieces go abroad to work, or marry and move out of the home, things will change. I also have lived an isolated life in my past so I am used to it. I do notice I am out of the house during the day more than in the past so I can be with friends and be able to have conversations.

In America, most homes have no fence around the property and if they do they are an open picket fence type. If you go to visit someone, you walk up to the front door and ring the doorbell or just knock on the door.

Here, just as I had seen in some parts of Europe, homes are secured by a masonry or metal wall or fence with a large gate. Many times these are solid and very little visibility to the street.  Some keep them locked all day or some just at night.

If someone is coming to visit, sell something, deliver something or just to beg, they will just stand in front and just call out “Ayo Ayo.”

If I go to a friend’s house, it is not like in America and you let yourself in the gate and go to their door. You just stand there and call out. You just have to hope the TV or Karaoke machine is not so loud where they cannot hear you.

The bad part is in many areas there is no sidewalks and some streets are narrow. Some there is even no room to park and you have to park down the road. Then as your waiting to be let in, you need to watch out for vehicles.

In the home, unless you live in a gated subdivision, many times you have the street vendors calling their wares as they walk down the street. There are also people with bicycle-powered carts buying corrugated boxes and metal or plastic junk for recycling. Many meal times the beggars come around calling for spare food.

With that, and from the beggars in the street, another term you need to learn is “Wala” and” Kwarta.” Wala mean no or none and Kwarta means money. So if a street beggar comes to the gate for food, you just call out to them “Wala” and hopefully they will go on their way. Out on the street a wave of the hand and a “Wala Kwarta” usually will get them to move on. If you are in front of a business or the Mall, and that does not work, catch the eye of a security guard and they will get them to move on.

One other word good to know and will make many Filipinos happy to hear is “Salamat” (Sa lam at) which means “Thank You.” By using a word in their language shows a Filipino you can and respect their language.

I have written on this site for over two years now. At first, it was about my family and my adjusting to life here. I would fill the article with photos. When you first move here, everything is new and different.
Over time this site and my writings has become more about the culture and life here for an Expat. But, it is difficult at times to think about new subjects to discuss. I have even gone into areas I felt were too taboo to discuss and have been surprised to get positive comments and rarely arguments from my feelings.

Now, I ask my readers to help. If there are things you would like to know about, information to share or just questions about me, my life here or life here in general, please let me know.

One friend and reader asked me to discuss the Filipino sense of humor, since many times our jokes are not appreciated or misunderstood. I looked online for Filipino jokes, but most I could find were in tagalog and I did not get them translated. If you are a Filipino reader and have jokes that are funny to the Filipino, could you send me them and I will post them in an article and discuss the differences in our sense of humor. Send them through the Contact Me form on the top of the site so I can see, and edit if needed before posting.

I thank you all for following my little site and continuing to read, comment and show appreciation. At times I even get a few donations to help support the cost and time spent here sharing information to you all.

There are many sites with the subject of living, retiring or just visiting the Philippines. Some of these sites make it look like it is the best place to live with no problems attached. They make it feel as you walk off the plane sexy native girls in bikinis will put flower leis around your neck and if you wish, offer you a night in Heaven with them.  Other sites makes it sound like the worst place to live and the only reason they are here is because they could not afford to live in their home country and were forced to move here.  Neither of these scenarios is correct. There are good parts to living here and parts that are that are very different from life we are used to.

Even in the States if you move from one coast to another or even across the State, there are differences. I remember after I moved to California from New York friend berating me for saying often “in New York this….” or “in New York that…” He was right. I was so used to things, life and foods in New York, I had trouble getting used to the differences. Again, when I moved to Florida from California it took time to adjust. With so many people in Florida are from New York, I again got frustrated with things that were not really “New York” style.

You need to remember this is a Third World Nation. There is a lot of poverty. In addition, this is an Asian country and most of the culture has developed with an Asian mentality. It is true this country was under the Spanish rule for many years, and then by America but the main influence is Asian. For many centuries, the Chinese were here and the old Chinese families own much of the bigger corporations.  There is also a large Japanese and Korean influence here.

Many of the hard good products here are manufactured in China. In addition, as most of we know there are many products we would consider substandard.  There are “rip offs” of known products, especially cell phones that look just like the real object. They are much cheaper but unfortunately, they do not work as the original or last.

Even with known foods turn out to be different. Most bread here has sugar and is sweet. Beef and pork are tougher then we are used to. This is because in most of the world pigs and cattle for meat are the males. Also at a young age, they are castrated so there is not testosterone to toughen the meat and the animal is smaller. Here they are hogs and bull meat. These animals are raised to their maximum size and because of this; their muscles are stronger so the meat will be tougher.

Being a nation of many islands fish is the main food protein source. In addition, rice is the main food staple. Most Filipinos eat rice at the three main meals a day. It is not a side dish or about a cup of rice, it is a huge pile of rice on the plate. Pork and chicken are eaten often, but the chickens are small. About pork, Filipinos love the fatty parts and because of this most of the pork, you see has a thick layer of fat.

Clothes in bigger sizes are hard to find and for some reason I do not understand, the size you see is smaller than in the US. I am not talking about small, medium or large. I am talking about things like slacks. In the US, I wore 36-inch waist. Here I need a 40-inch size. I have wide feet. Not only is it difficult to find a size 12, it has been impossible to find a wide or E width.
Traffic is something to get used to here. I have a friend riding with me the other day. He told me he had owned a car and had driven his whole life, but he would never attempt to drive here. Many foreigners hire drivers so they do not have to bother.

So, where are the good parts to living here? Well we all know, the biggest reason is the cost of living.  Even though some items are actually more expensive here, over all the cost of living is cheaper.  Where in the states can you live in a city area and have a nice two to four bedroom house in an upper scale gated community for around $85,000. Where can you go out for a nice steak dinner for $25? Where can you play golf with a golf cart and a caddy for around $30?

If you are a single man in the retirement age, where can you find a girl and have a relationship from an age of their early 20’s to 30’s? It might not be the exact relationship you think of in the States but you both get what you are looking for. You just need to set your needs and boundaries.

Is living in the Philippines a total paradise? No, but where is there a paradise.

Originally, we played on Wednesday from about 10:30 am until about 2:30pm. We would break for lunch. The location we play is an apartment complex with a restaurant. We use one table to play and then move to another table for lunch. Now we are usually playing on Wednesday and Saturday and at times play to 5:30 pm.

As I stated, in Bridge, you are part of a team and you bid for the contract. A bid is a code, but a code everyone knows. You cannot make up secret codes only known to your partner. Not as in Spades where each player gets a point for each trick won, in Bridge only the team takes wins the contract counts tricks. The bidding tells your partner and the other team approximately how many points you have in your hand and which suit you want for trump. There is also a No-trump bid where there will be not trump. A bid means you will win 6 plus the number you bid, so One Spade means you will win seven tricks. In addition, the different suits have higher value than the others for bidding. A Club is the lowest, and then comes Diamonds, Hearts, Spades and then No-Trump. Spades and Diamonds are major suits and Diamonds and Clubs are minor suits.  If you bid one Club, then next player can bid one Diamond. After one No-Trump the next higher bid is two Clubs. As I stated a bid of One means you will need to win seven tricks and a bid of two means you will need to win eight tricks to complete contract.

The bidding convention, or rules and meanings of the bidding terms have changes over the years. Now most play “Modern Standard American” bridge. In this version, to open a bid you need a

That is the easy part, the confusing thing is some bids do not mean as they sound. First, after you look at your cards you need to value your hand. To do that you count high card points, an Ace = 4, a King = 3, a Queen = 2 and a Jack = 1. To open, or the first of your team to bid and not pass, you need a minimum of 13 points in your hand in most cases. If you have a long suit of 7 or more in that suit and have 5-9 points, you can open the bidding for your team.

Once you open, when the bidding comes to your partner, he can do a response bid to let you know if he has any points, the approximate points and if he likes your suit, or wants to let you know if he prefers a different suit. This is all accomplished with a bid. For instance, I have 13 points and five cards in a major suit or 4 cards in a minor suit I can bid one of that suit. Now if my partner has 3 or more cards in the suit I bid, he should reply with a two bid in that suit unless he has opening points and wants to let me know he has a different suit he wants the contract.

If this all sounds confusing, it is a first. Over time and playing a lot, you get to remember and understand the bidding. It takes time, but it is fun and an enjoyable hobby. For me it is almost an addiction. I downloaded Bridge tutorials and then bought Hoyle’s Card Game, which has Bridge. Now I can sit for hours at home playing Bridge.

In the two years living here, I have seen dry hot days and then there would be a break with heavy rains. This would happen all year long. Elena told me to her, the rainy season is January and February. I remember a visit here in the end of July and seeing rain for many days and the muddy streets.

Usually here, when it does rain, it is in the evenings or late at night. There are many times I have been woken from my sleep hearing the pounding on the roof of a heavy rain downpour. By morning, the sky is clear and the only remaining sign is the wet streets and many puddles.

Well in the past week or so most days were cloudy and rainy. The good part is it really cooled the temperatures. The bad thing is when the sun did come out the humidity rose since all the moisture in or on the ground would evaporate and add to the moist normal air.

I remember having to go out and our poor helper, with a little umbrella is out by the street, waiting for a break in traffic to open the gate for me to backup the car. Then you need extra caution in traffic because many Jeepneys drive around with bald tires.

The other day it was raining pretty steady from when I woke, later I was driving around town and the rain stopped. I looked up and noticed nice blue sky with just a few wisps’ of clouds. Within ten minutes, the clouds filled back in and the downpour started again.

Sunday we were out for our weekly food shopping. Lucky for us, the rain stopped just as I picked Elena at church the rain stopped and we were able to shop at the public market without rain. We came home, unloaded, relaxed a little and off to the mall for the rest of our shopping. While there a light rain would, start and stop but when we were to come home, the rain turned back into a real heavy downpour.  Elena mentioned to watch for the flooded streets on our drive home.

I was greatly surprised, in front of Victoria mall where it usually gets flooded was clear. I just do not know if the drainage was fixed or the rain was not as heavy there.

Again, this morning, I woke up and looked at the sky and I saw clear blue skies with a little cottony wisps of clouds. About ten minutes later I looked out, the blue was gone, and the nice white clouds were turning gray, so I am looking for another day of some rain.

They say every cloud has a silver lining, when it rains here, the air cools and the dust and dirt outside and on the car gets washed away. For those who use  public transportation, these rainy days can make traveling difficult. Many taxi drivers hide because they do not want to take fares to flooded areas.

Now this is not the main reason for this article, but I want to explain a little history.

I had dreams of making an income from advertisements on the site. I soon found out, this is a difficult way to make an income online. Most readers of blogs come to read and do not even notice the ads. I then put the “Donate” button on the sidebar and then on the bottom of each post. Some readers have been kind and I do receive a donation at times, but this is not enough to support myself, my family or really cover the time and costs of this site.

I have mentioned my architectural experiences in articles and had a few who have inquired about me doing design, full construction documents for permitting and even managing construction. I have done a few designs and then never went further. I have wondered if my free designs were giving to someone else or not, I never made any money for my time.

I started this site mainly to journal my life as an American living in Davao, hence the name American in Davao.  At first, many of my articles and photos were about my family and my life. Over time, I have developed to write more about how life is here for a Foreigner in third world country.  I try to tell the truth and not “sugar coating” what observations or advice.  There are many wonderful parts to living here, but there are difficulties too. I have tried to assist people to understand how to conduct themselves here and how to be careful in different situations. Many times my wife Elena has assisted too.

Over time, I have had many comments or direct emails asking for advice, information or even assistance. I have helped visitors find accommodations, helped locate restaurants, doctors and shopping. I have had many emails from future Expats-to-be or from men with online girlfriends who were planning to move here and I have offered any assistance I can give.

Last month I was surprised when I received an email from an International Relocation Service. They had a client company sending a representative here to Davao to open a branch office. I was offered the position as a consultant to assist this person find acceptable accommodations such as a furnished house or apartment, obtaining a bank account, services and a list of restaurants, entertainment, attractions and activities.  I would be paid for expenses, mileage and an hourly rate for a preset number of hours.  The hourly rate was good even if I was in the states.

I accepted the offer and then started trying to locate high-end furnished rentals. This was no easy task. It is not like in the states with magazines and classifieds listing all the apartments and houses for rent. There are some websites that individual real estate agents have, but sometimes they do not have decent descriptions, places shown are already rented or the furnishings are not what would be desired. I felt it was my responsibility to visit as many as I could before this man arrived. I did not want to embarrass myself by bringing him to a location and discovering there was problems.

In addition, many real estate agents do not want to show a property to someone in my position with the fear I would steal the business and they would lose their commission. I did locate a few on my own and found some to be below the standard needed and one that was great. I also planned to show him a place that would be good for a temporary   residence until we could find something better.  To make this long story shorter, we found a place he liked and with my wife’s help, we negotiated a good price.

During this process, I received an email from a man planning to come here in the near future and asked, from reading my site, if I offer any services.  I told him I could offer myself and car for transportation around town, help him find accommodations and local attractions he might enjoy. I told him I would not help him find women or clubs where he can find women.

This man replied he was coming to meet his online girlfriend and offered to pay me to drive them to different attractions in the city. He stated he did not want to ride Jeepneys or has to worry about hiring drivers and/or taxis where language could present a problem.

Today I met a person who is somewhat new to the city. While we were talking about these services, he told me, if he had known about me before he moved here, he would have liked to have someone who could have assisted him finding an apartment, finding and purchasing furnishings and even getting services such as cable and internet. He said he would have had no problem paying me for my time assisting him.

Another friend I have made is planning to come visit his girlfriend he met online. Her birthday is soon and asked if my wife would assist him in buying her a present. He sent us the funds for the purchase. Elena was happy to assist. For this, he offered to take us to dinner once here and to bring both of us certain items we would like from the States.

Some people I have met through this site have offered remuneration, bringing me items from the states I might need, or just a nice dinner with my wife. All of these offers have been nice.  Even though I would like to earn a steady income, being able to assist fellow foreigners with needs, information or advice is something I am enjoying and will continue to do so. If there is a way to assist and earn, I am not against that either. From these few earnings and from the donations I have received it makes me feel it was the right thing to keep this site going and continue the time to write articles and answer comments.

It is also all my visitors to my site that shows me this site has a need and a worth.  Even though it is difficult to find items to write the three articles I try to publish every week, I will do so as long as I am able.

Thank you all for showing me my effort and work is appreciated.

Online I found statistics for 2006. In this year, the number of registered motorcycles was 2,409,363 whereas the amount of cars was 792,373. I do not know if this number includes public vehicles known where there is a miniature bus powered by a motorcycle welded in the middle or a sidecar that seats four to six passengers.

There are many motorcycles with a welded attachment on the side like a flat bed for delivering merchandise. I have even lately seen what looks like a small delivery truck from the rear and once you see the front, it has a motorcycle seat and handlebars and powered by a motorcycle engine.

Besides these modified motorcycles, many times you see a normal motorcycle with anything imaginable being transported. I have seen a rider, facing the rear, holding a large TV on his lap.

Thanks to a friend of mine, he allowed me to use some photos he has collected over the years showing a normal motorcycle delivering many different items. As you might noticed, not all or maybe any are from the Philippines. Many are from Viet Nam, China and other Asian countries.

I know this is not one of my in-depth and thoughtful observances, but something I hope you will enjoy.

Later it was reported to be a 5.3 level earthquake and 31 km south of Tagum. I am not sure the distance from Davao City.

I had lived in Southern California for 18 years and felt many earthquakes, but never experienced one where there were no high frequency vibrations and just a swaying feeling as if in a boat.

While looking at the new reports and views of all the destruction, I thought about if this could happen here in the Philippines. Yes, it can but it would need a bigger earthquake. As I heard from the report, many of the buildings are built with masonry block but no structural steel reinforcements.

Being in the Asian “Ring of Fire” an area from New Zealand through Asia to Alaska, there are many earthquake faults and active volcanoes. As we have seen over the past years there have been many earthquake activity in the Philippines, China and Japan. Recently there was a volcano activity on Luzon. It has not been much in the news so I think that threat has calmed down.

Regardless of where a natural disaster happens, it is a tragedy.  The loss of homes and life is something nobody wants to hear. It is even worse that some of these loss of life could be reduced with lower populations crowded into small areas with homes built on top of each other and such a density that would never exist in a first world nation. With good and enforced zoning laws and well-engineered construction technologies, many of these problems would not exist.

We have seen much destruction in the Philippines not too long ago when Luzon was hit repeatedly with Typhoons. Flooding and mudslides causing loss of life, homes and agricultural areas destroyed. Sound planning, construction, planting conservation and drainage could defiantly help. However, as I see in Davao, once everything is over built over many years, how do you tear everything down and start over.

Maybe with a natural disaster wiping out an area, once it is rebuilt it could be zoned and controlled to do better. I can remember where whole neighborhoods in South Florida were gone after Hurricane Andrew. From working in the architectural industry in South Florida after this tragedy, I saw how the building codes and inspections became more and more stringent.

We are to learn from our past. I hope this will be a learning experience for Haiti and homes and buildings will be constructed better for their future.