At times, I am surprised that there are so few accidents with vehicles and pedestrians. There are crosswalks painted on the roads and in some places, the lane markers have blinking lights in them at crosswalks. Unfortunately, drivers do not follow the laws or the signs posted.

The only place I ever see any manned traffic control for pedestrians is at a school crossing. A uniformed person will stand in the middle of road and stop traffic to let children cross. Most of the time this person’s authority is respected.

There are some pedestrian “flyovers” which is a bridge over traffic for people to climb the steps and cross above traffic. Because these are covered, you will find many beggars and peddlers crowded on the stairs and raised walkway.

The way most of the people cross the street except at intersections with traffic lights is just to cross. They look for a possible gap in the traffic and just cross. At times, you see people crowded in the middle of a four-lane road waiting to scoot between cars to get across.

In some ways, it reminds me of crossing the street in New York City. I used to joke, with the Right on Red and others jumping the lights, it is safer to cross the street in the middle of the block then at intersections.

Best advice is, be careful, be quick and look both ways. Caution is the safest way to live in most cases here.

In America and I would expect in most Western countries meeting and courting is similar. First, there are many ways someone meets the opposite sex with the thoughts of finding a mate. It can be through a friend, at your employment, in a social event or a dating site online.

Fist I will talk about the direct contact. In most cases, your first meeting will be face to face. You might be out in a bar or social place. Your eyes meet and you find a way to start a conversation. You talk, joke and try to find something in common to carry on a conversation. Once you find this easy conversation and some common interests one will offer their phone number and possible arrange to go for coffee or a meal.

If all goes well on the first meeting, you will offer to go out again. This basic dating will continue for months or even years. Each will invite the other to their home for a meal or an evening and can eventually upgrade to meeting each other’s family. At some point, intimacy will come into the relationship. You might spend nights at each other’s home or go for weekend get-a-ways.

With all this dating and courting, you get to see how each other reacts to life’s situations. How they control anger, happiness and how they are in private, social and family situations. You see how they handle their finances and how they live their lives. Over time, you will decide if this person will be a good fit for the long-term relationship. If not and you remove your “rose colored glasses”, you will end the relationship and start all over.

Over time if there is a strong compatibility is developed and the two decide to either cohabitate to save on money or decide to marry. If you are young, this is a natural step.  If you are in your 30’s, 40’s or older there can be other complications. What if you have children from a previous relationship, if this is the case there are things to look at. Do you get along with your mates children, do they respect you and willing to treat you as a parent figure. Who does the discipline and are you both willing to give up part of your power to the other.

One thing I have learned while living here, Filipinos are not caught up with appearances as we are in America. In America, some look for hair color, height, weight and figure sometimes even eye color.  You also have to remember, Filipinas either are looking for a foreigner or not. I have not heard of many that had no interest in a Foreigner husband and then met one and fell in love. If a Filipina wants a foreigner, she will sign up for many of the online dating sites.  Their whole plan is to find a foreigner to marry and improve their lives. Some only want to relocate to another country and somewhat the foreigner to move here. A few do not care as long as they find a foreigner.

Now for the courting to a Filipina from an American or European man.  In most cases, the man has met a woman or many women online. You start with emails and chatting online. You might have sent gifts or sent money to improve her life. Finally, you decide you need to meet this woman in person. You take your vacation and fly to the Philippines to meet.  You will only come for one to a few weeks. You both show the best of yourself.

In many cases, the woman is not a virgin, and if she is, most times she is willing to give that special gift to you.  With the Filipina culture and to treat a perspective husband well, she will treat you like a King. She will be loving and caring, as you have never experienced. If you visit her home city, she will show you all the sites, even if you do not find them interesting, she will be proud of her city.

In the Philippines, public display of affection is not looked upon well. If you are touching and kissing in public, it will make the woman feel cheap and others to think of her as a whore. Holding hands or arm around shoulders is fine.

In some cases, if she is young, especially if she is going to travel to a city to meet you, she might bring her mother or a family member as a chaperone. If this is the case, show her and her chaperone with respect. You will be expected to cover all costs for both. As I mention many times on this site, set your boundaries. You will look at as a Rich Foreigner. Even if you are poor in your country, you still have more money than she does. Many Filipinas will ask you to take her everywhere, eat at best restaurants and purchase her items from clothes to new cell phones. Look out for this, the more she asks for, the more it will show it is your wallet she wants and not you.

If you are already living here in the Philippines courting is not much different. Most women you meet that are interested in dating or marrying a foreigner are looking for a better life. In addition, many will see you as a way to go out and have fun without any expense. I have heard of many men who make a date and she shows up with 4 to 6 friends. They will order food and drinks and leave you with the tab. Again, set boundaries. If she asks to bring a friend, tell her you are not willing to be the sponsor to feed all her friends. If you agree on one extra person and she shows up with many, my best advice is to give her taxi fare and leave. If she really were interested in you, she would not have lied. If she is looking towards you as the banker, you did not need her anyway.

Then they made the Express Line fee mandatory. Recently they added a new fee, Express Line for Processing and a Express Fee for Certification. Both are 500 pesos.

Once you received your residency, you also had to apply for an ACR I-Card (Alien Certificate of Registration). This is similar to the U.S. Green-Card. As always, there was forms, and many photocopies of all papers plus 1×1 and 2×2 photos. Recently the ACR card program was added to any alien at their first 59-day Visa extension. Now, if you come to the the Philippines for a visit and you plan to stay longer than 21 days, besides getting a Visa extension, you have to apply for your ACR I-card.

A friend here is planning to return to the U.S. permanently or at least for some years until he reaches retirement. He is younger than I am and feels he needs to go back and earn a living there since it is almost impossible to make an income here without huge money to start a business. He is leaving in less than a month but needed to receive a one-month Visa extension. He had to pay the extra expense for a card he will no longer need.

I have had my residency for over a year now and the only time I needed to show my ACR I-card was at the Bureau of Immigration when I filed for the Yearly Audit.  So now everyone needs this card to fill their wallet but there will be more room there after you pay the fees.

Below is the Current Fees for Visa Extensions from the Bureau of Immigration Web Site, but do not count on these amounts to stay stable, they always find ways to increase them.

The man and his family live in a small home down a walkway from the street. He does not have a welding shop. Instead, he has an empty lot with a canvas tarpaulin over the welding machine. There is also a covered area with a wooden table and grill where, in the evenings, his wife sells vegetables and grilled fish.

He is a nice looking man and his wife is very sweet. They have enough ability in English to communicate well. I left my item and headed over to my friends house to spend some time while the item was being welded.

On my return I had the pleasure to meet is little 10 year old daughter Angelica. This little girl has an extremely good knowledge of the English language and is outgoing and talkative that we sat and talked for about an hour. She is so respectful that she used “Sir” many times in a conversation.

I was so surprised of her use of English I inquired how she is so competent. It turns out her father understands the need for a good education and even though they are in the lower income status, they scrimp and save to keep Angelica in a private school.

Angelica informed me in her school, Immanuel School of Davao, all students have to speak English except in Tagalog/Pilipino class. If they are caught speaking Tagalog or Bisaya any other time, they get a “stick” (demerit) and once they reach ten sticks, they have to pay a one-peso fine.

I also found out there is a small internet café in her neighborhood where she does her research and assignments. To prove she was a little girl at heart, she was shy to tell me she gets in trouble and punished since at times she plays online games at the café.

While talking to her, her inquisitive nature was refreshing. She asked me who my favorite American inventor was and at that moment, all I could think of was Thomas Edison. In her perfect pronunciation she replied “Oh Thomas Alva Edison, he is my favorite since he invented the light bulb.” She then asked me if I know where Marie Curie was from. I told her I was not sure but thought since she was referred to as Madam Curie, I would guess France. She stumped me when she asked me what radiation is.

Later, while talking with her father too, I asked her if she had and profession dreams. She looked to her father and then told me her father said she should become a lawyer since she liked to talk so much. I laughed because the same was told to me when I was a child. I looked at her father, told him that his daughter is very intelligent, and would probably find her way, as she got older. It is best if she found a profession that suited her intelligence and interest. It is best to have a profession that you enjoy and not what others want you to be. Both Angelica and her father smiled and agreed.

This week I needed something else welded and returned to their home. I also brought a box of Pop-Tarts for Angelica. I also went online and printed out a short biography of Marie Curie and a description and definition of radiation.

As soon as I gave them to Angelica, she sat at a table and as she ate, a pop tart for the first time was very engrossed in reading the information. Later as she thanked me, she said of the two gifts, the printed information was the best of all since she could use it for her schooling.

Angelica also informed me, her father only allows her to speak Tagalog or English since those are the only two languages used at her school.

I am so impressed with this little girl and the dedication her parents have for her education. I told them that if Angelica ever needed assistance with studies or computers, they are welcome to call me or visit my home.

I hope this is not an isolated case and there are other families here that put education as a priority in their live over even substance.

In the beginning, we try to give the best impression to this person. Maybe a friend introduced you to this person and told you about their interests and hobbies. You try to keep conversations on subjects the other person has an interest. You try to show your best manors and grooming. Over time, if the relationship continues, you get comfortable and your true self becomes more exposed. Sometimes the relationship ends up in trouble or ends. It could be weeks, months or even years.

Even if the relationship turns into cohabitation or marriage, over time our differences can become a problem. I have heard different excuses, such as “we have grown in different directions” or “he/she is not the same person I first met.”

I have even had friends that had a vision of the person they think they can change the person into and see that person with that vision or conception. I remember when a female friend told me her boyfriend is not the same as he was when they met. I told her he is the same, she was not able to change him to the person she envisioned him to become. She thought for a while and then agreed with me.

If you were lucky, and this problem occurred before you moved in together or become married, all it becomes is a breakup. You go on with your life and start over.

Over the past 15-20 years with the internet, many of us tried the internet dating sites. We sign up, answer questions, fill out a profile and even post a photograph. Most of us try to be honest, but we will tend to tell about how wonderful we are all our great accomplishments and about our caring and warm personality. We do not discuss our weaknesses, faults or personality flaws. Some even deceive and use old photos when our bodies were thin and firm.

After you make a connection, you send messages and emails to each other. Eventually it goes to phone calls or voice and video chat. How many times we see the other person on video or meet in person and they do not look at all like their photo on their profile. Again, no big problem, you either disconnect the connection, or if you met in person, you finish your drink and dinner and go home and delete the person from your speed dial.

Now to discuss international meetings since this is what many of the readers here are experiencing. With the difficulties, finding ladies in our home country more and more are looking at ladies from Asia or Europe. Many Caucasian men, me included, find Asian ladies exotic and beautiful. We have also heard how Asian women through their culture are taught to take such good care of their man.

So we go online and visit all the sites to meet a beautiful and in most cases young lady. As soon as you add your profile, you mailbox will be filled with hundreds of ladies interested in you. At first, you will feel so special, so many of these beautiful ladies want to get to know you better. Over time, you will find a few or even one lady you want to get to know better. You email each other and then move on to one of the instant messaging systems such as Yahoo. You will hear how this young lady is interested in an older American or European man since we are more reliable, mature and responsible than most men in their country. This is true but in many cases, it is more and never said. Why do you think these women spend a big part of their meager budget to spend hours in an internet café?

As I have written many times, here in the Philippines it is very difficult to earn a wage to support yourself or your family. Many Filipinos need a lot less to be content. They are not used to the large houses, central air conditioning, or even modern conveniences such as a stove. However, from watching movies or television they see how we live in our country. Then many hear about how a friend’s life has improved when they move to America or Europe. Some have friends or hear about a Filipina who is living with a foreigner here in the Philippines.

With this dream of such an improved life, many of these ladies will tell the man in emails how she will treat him and take care of him. They will tell you how they enjoy every hobby the man mentions or tells him how exciting it would be to learn his hobby so they can do these things together.

Is this much different from dating in your home country. Not really, we try to be what the person we are interested in dating is interested in doing. The difference is you never get to build the relationship as you do if the lady is in your own city. There is the old saying that “Long distance relationships do not last.” Now you are starting on a relationship that is half way around the world.

From most of the relationships between a Foreigner and a Filipina, I know or have heard about, most of these ladies are from a poor family located in the Provinces. I have spoken or joked with ladies who have a better job living in the city, if they were interested in a foreigner. Most of the time they look shocked and say no. This is because they feel they can have a good “Filipino” life and do not need a foreigner husband to support them.

So now, I have discussed how we meet. What is the next step? You take your vacation and fly to the Philippines. You stay in a nice hotel and have the lady meet you there. You have a wonderful week or two. You eat in nice restaurants, you spend the day visiting places or you go shopping and buy your lady gifts that to you are not expensive but they could never afford. By the end of your vacation, you are on a cloud and so sad you have to fly home.

Think about all your past relationships and how wonderful they were in the beginning, and how they ended. If you are honest, you can see it was the fault of both. The truth about you comes out and the same of your partner.

I am not telling you to give up your thoughts of finding a Filipino for a wife, just think about the amount of time needed to really get to know someone. Visit more than once. Tell about your moods, your lifestyle and ask questions about hers and her needs and dreams. If you are planning to bring her to your country, tell her about life there, the weather and the lifestyle. Even in America life and lifestyle is different depending where you live.

If you are planning to move here, visit the city you plan to live. Get to know other foreigners and ask about their life. Once you are here, build the relationship slowly. Set your boundaries and explain your needs. Learn as much about the customs and norms. As I have written, the Filipino culture is so different from the American or European culture. One boundary you need to discuss is the ladies family. Does she expect you to support any of her family or does she expect to let members of the family live with you?

I knew my wife Elena for about three years before I moved here. I visited her three times and the last two I stayed in her house. With all this, once here there were things or personality traits I never knew about her and some she did not know about me. We have worked out most but no relationship or marriage is perfect. The best part is we love each other enough to get through the problems.

I also found the following report  online:

Mindanao hydroelectric power plants reduce capacity to 50%
By Lino De La Cruz (The Philippine Star) Updated February 14, 2010 12:00 AM
ILIGAN CITY , Philippines  – Hydroelectric power plants in Mindanao have been forced to reduce their capacity to 50 percent since Feb. 3 due to the low water inflow into Lake Lanao and Pulangi River because of the onset of El Niño, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said.
Eugene Bicar, NGCP Mindanao system operations head, said power load shedding throughout Mindanao will be enforced the whole month of February as NGCP projects that power supply will remain below comfortable levels.
This is due to the unavailability of the Agus 5, Mindanao coal-fired power plant Unit 2, the Iligan diesel-powered plant, and the Western Mindanao power plant in Zamboanga City, which has reduced its output from 90 to 80 megawatts, Bicar said.

To address the power shortage in the short term, Bicar said the preventive maintenance of the Agus 5 hydroelectric plant’s Units 1 and 2 must be fast-tracked and the repair of Kibawe 138 KVA lines must be completed as soon as possible.

He said the commissioning of the Maramag-Bunawan 230 KVA backbone project would also help in strengthening the network interconnection of the Mindanao grid.
At the same time, Bicar urged the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. to resume the operation of the Iligan diesel-powered plant and to contract additional power generation from embedded generations like the diesel plant in northern Mindanao.

Two-hour rotational blackouts are now being implemented, as power distributors in Mindanao are assigned load allocations to maintain under the curtailment plan.

I remember in the States the talk of El Niño and it causing changes of the weather pattern. An El Niño condition is when there is warmer than normal water surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and in the opposite La Niña is a cooling surface temperature trend. These surface temperature changes affect the weather patterns all over the world. It can cause increased or decreased hurricane activity and cause flooding rains or  decreased precipitation causing draughts.

It is strange because a few months ago I talked about all the rain we were receiving but overall there has been a decrease of rainfall on Mindanao. Since there is a Power Grid where electricity is shared all over the island, decreased rainfall has significantly lowered the lakes and rivers. Not like in America where a winters snow pack is monitored for the summer water levels, here it never snows so an average rainfall is needed all year long to supplement the lakes levels.

I also found plans for a new hydroelectric to be constructed starting this year but will not be online until 2014. So far, now let us do our rain dances and pray for many flooding downpours. For Davao, I hope the rains fall further away where the lakes and rivers are and less In Davao.

Looking into this I have found different articles online with different reasons. One is that one of the hydroelectric generating systems are having low output since the lake that feeds it is well below normal levels due to low rainfall. Others have blamed it on maintenance downtime at other generating plants.

Well it has started. Monday I was at a friend’s house and he mentioned there was no power. Eventually the power came back on after an hour. Tuesday morning at my house, the power went off late morning for a half hour. Then my friend lost power Thursday morning for an hour and we lost it that evening for an hour. It looks like each day, or every other day they will turn power off for an area to reduce usage.

I hope the power company will then want to charge more for their loss of income like the Florida utility company wanted. After Hurricane Wilma ripped through Florida, many power lines were knocked down. Many areas lost power for a week or more. The power company then asked to raise prices since all the income they lost from customers when the lines were down.

I think it is also because of the fact as cities grow; there is no forethought to expansion of the services until they are over taxed and then they realize the need for more. It is like zoning. Even though Davao City is like a county in American definition, most of the population lives close to the downtown areas due to transportation. Many roads are narrow and the major roads are mainly two lanes each direction. Many of these primary roads need to be expanded but cannot because the buildings are in the way. As the city was being developed, there was probably not any thought to expansion.

To widen the roads buildings would need to be trimmed back. To keep structural integrity it would be easier to demolish and rebuild. Who would pay for this, the building owners could not afford it and neither could the city. So probably, the roads will stay the same.

I have heard of thoughts to limiting the personal vehicles on some kind of system to limit vehicles on a schedule use. Maybe license plates with odd numbers can only drive on odd days. One thought I had was reducing all the jeepneys and replacing them with busses and specified bus stops. But then you are putting many people out of work. Someone mentioned raised commuter trains but with the narrow roads and all the power lines crisscrossing all the roads, this would be another nightmare.

The next few years will be interesting how the city will cope with its growth.

First is inflation. I have not tracked the price increases in the two years I have lived here but one item I remember is gasoline. When I first moved here, gas was about 30 pesos per liter. Today it is 43.80 pesos per liter, which is one peso less than it was in the past few weeks. From what I could find, the inflation rate in the Philippines is about 4.6% whereas the U.S. is around 2.6%.

Then since most Expats live from the payments of their retirement, pensions and investments you are at the mercy of your home countries conversion rate to pesos. When I visited here the conversion of the U.S. dollar was at 50 pesos. When I moved here, it was down to 40 pesos to the dollar and lately it has hovered around 46 pesos. Not only does your dollar goes less far once converted to pay your expenses, the imported products you like to buy to make it feel more like home gets more expensive too.

Your lifestyle here is going to be based on that conversion. Some people predict there is the possibility of the conversion to drop to 30 pesos to the dollar since the U.S. dollar value has been dropping in value. As the peso drops, you get less for your dollar after exchanging it to pesos.

Some Filipinos like to see their peso get stronger. However, what does that end up doing to the country and all the people living here? Well, look at this, 14% of the GNP is OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) remittance. The OFW administration requires the OWF to be paid in U.S. dollars. As the peso gets stronger and the exchange conversion gets less all the families get less pesos each month. Then manufacturing and importers are paying more from products purchased from America. Then exported products will return fewer profits.

Another worry in the future is available electricity here. Another site wrote an article that there is less availability of electricity in the Philippines. This is because of the increasing demand for electrical power throughout the country and scheduled moving brownouts might occur in the future to reduce electric consumption.  To fix this problem more power generating plants will need to be built. Who will pay for these new generating plants? Of course, the consumer. Here again will be an increase of cost to live here.

Even though it is cheaper to live here than in our home country, it is still not an easy ride here. With currency conversion rates unpredictable, increase in utility costs and inflation here and abroad life will get more difficult.

I am going to expand this to another article about starting a business and making money here. Look forward to it.

As I wrote previously, Filipinos need fewer comforts as most foreigners are accustomed to needing. Just as Americans are accustomed to things Europeans are not, such as Air conditioning. Most Americans are used to bigger homes, bigger rooms and each child in a house having their own room or possibly at the most, two children sharing a room.

Now back to class structure. Even though I have lived in the Philippines for over two years, I have not visited many homes of Filipinos. I have been in homes of a poorer and smaller size. These homes were of some of the construction friends I have.

One in particular is a small two-room home with a CR. Each room is about 10 feet by 12 feet. In this home, there are two adults and four children. I would say they are a poorer type family, but the man works and the wife has a small Sari-Sari store in front of their house.

When you are out about town, you see most Filipinos well dressed and cleanly groomed. They work in the mall, a restaurant or an office. What we do not see is their living conditions. The pride of Filipinos keeps them well dressed. However, at their break time you see them in the small Caranderias spending about 20 pesos for their lunches.
You also need to realize, I am discussing from my experience living in a city, I have little or no experience visiting the provinces where people farm for their existence.
From what I have found on my research, the top 1% of the population earned in a year is more than the bottom 30% of the population earned combined. Also more than 30% of the population earns less than needed to sustain a family.

Many houses are over stuffed with members of their extended family with only one or two income earners. They sustain mostly on rice and carbohydrates with little protein or vegetables. This is because the extended family is never turned away when in need.

You might be wondering when I am going to answer the description of the economic classes here, but for me, this is something I am not qualified to answer. All I can say is no matter how poor the masses are, they are mostly the kindest and welcoming population I have met.

In the two years I have lived in Davao, I have seen an increase in construction in both commercial and residential building. There is a big project coming in that will consist of a business park a shopping mall, condominiums, and hotel. There are other hotels under construction and the plan for two more malls.

There has to be a reason for this increase of construction and that is an increase of businesses and population. With this increase of buildings and population will hugely influence traffic.

Already traffic is getting bad. I remember in the past thinking I can get almost anywhere in the city proper in 10 minutes during off times and maybe 20 at peak traffic times, not any more.

Two day a week, I play bridge not too far away. I am not sure of the distance but with no traffic, I can drive there in approximately 10 minutes. If the game lasts to around 6pm, the traffic is terrible. One night there was an accident and it took me 45 minutes to get home. This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. One my trip home I pass two churches. At both with all the people coming and going to get their blessing the traffic was at a standstill. You see, when there is a location where many people need public transportation there is a huge lineup of Jeepneys. They will fill the right lane and as more jeepneys arrive, they will start stopping on the left lane. This causes drivers to take over the left lane of incoming traffic. It took me over an hour to get home.

What worries me is when that new business park, mall and condominiums are built, what will traffic be like then? The main road near me is J.P. Laurel. This road is the main road used from the north end of town to the downtown area. There are already two malls on this road and it is the same road where the two planned malls are to be built. All this added shopping and location for employment will add more jeepney and taxi activity.

I have heard the city government is now requiring new commercial buildings to include a traffic impact plan when filing for a permit. As crowded the city is, there is no place to add more roads or widen the existing. In my mind, the impact report will just say, “we will impact traffic, what do you want me to do?”

At least, I am not employed and can regulate my travel to the light traffic times. I just hope I keep in mind the traffic times.

One friend has his house on the market and is planning to move to the condominiums at the new center. He says living there with the new mall and restaurants planned, he only will need to go down the elevator and shop or eat in the complex and not have to drive anywhere.