GeoffH

You think the thread has reached a... tipping point?

I’ll simplify it for you. It’s wrong in the US because the US people think it’s wrong and it's not wrong in the Philippines because the Philippines people think it isn’t. Your country your rules, their country their rules.

There is no such thing as absolute right or absolute wrong, they are societal concepts agreed upon by groups of people, ie by a society. It is entirely possible, in fact common for two different societies or indeed one society at two different time periods to reach a different consensus about what constitutes right and what constitutes wrong. Don’t believe me? Then explain different rules laws about abortion, gay rights, age of consent or... who should pay for a meal (even that has altered recently, 40 years ago a man was always expected to pay, now dutch is normal and woman pays isn’t uncommon). The Philippines is a different society to the one that exists in our home countries and it is to be expected that they will have different norms.

Interesting... I sat on our second floor balcony for a while about 4 months ago watching a crew of electrical workers running a new line down the street from a pole up our street past the front of our house to somewhere further down the street in the subdivision. They used what looked like new wire from a big reel (although the reel was half used when they started) and clipped it to existing poles and supports (and other bundles of wire) as they went along. Definitely no joins and all one piece.

People used to complain about the aussie accent being hard to understand (less so these days as with international media it's becoming international English that younger Aussies are speaking) but honestly... some of the UK regional accents are impossible for us non-brits to understand at anything close to normal speaking speed. A mate of mine is a Geordie (we still get in touch occasionally) he's got a real accent but his older relatives were almost unintelligible even when they were trying to be understood (let along when they went full Geordie). Is a non-local allowed to say... "A Geordie is just a Scot with his head kicked in!" It mightn't be PC but I still find that hilarious 30 years later

I thought it was Kuripot? (There is a good chance I'm wrong but I'd like to know either way if anyone knows)

I'm sort of wondering how come (according to the photo) the 'poor woman' could afford a boob job and the 'rich one' couldn't... honestly to me the left photo looks like 'young and high maintenance' and the right one just looks 'mainstream' (I think the right one would be a better girlfriend option for what it's worth which is not much because I'm totally judging a book by it's cover)

I used to eat oysters (cooked) sometimes in the Philippines, only once did I get sick... but I used the CR a LOT for the next couple of days. SWMBO tried very hard to convince me not to eat them again... I haven't ordered a plate of them since hehe but I still eat various sea food. I should try some again, it's been a while and I can play the "It's been a while, maybe it was just a bad batch" card soon I think :)

It is what it is... I found myself facing some quiet questions from a couple of family members after another westerner visited a family yaya, they weren't angry they were honestly surprised (and a bit sad for their yaya). Basically 'he organized a night at a hotel with food and swimming and then he and his girlfriend invited people' and he didn't pay (except for him and his yaya and her son). Why would he do this Geoffrey? He didn't have to have food and swimming with the family? It was left to my family members to make up the shortfall out of their weekly budget. They didn't ask me for money but they did end up having to remove the AC unit from the downstairs bedrooms (selling it I think) and also thereby reducing their electric spend to catch up on their budget. Sometimes the cultural differences create problems on both sides of the divide gaga4, my suggestion would be to say something along the lines of 'no budget' if you're asked for a group outing.

About 12 months ago I bought a bundle of Australian dollars to the Philippines with me (because I'd had issues with my card being stopped before and I wanted a back up). Sure enough my card got stopped, which seems to happen every few months to one or other of the cards. So I went into MLhullier and despite the bunch of bills having coming straight from my Australian bank they rejected almost half of them. Most of the ones rejected seemed fine to me and when I took them back to my Australian bank a couple of months later they just banked them straight back into my account. It makes carrying overseas cash as a backup less useful than it would otherwise be...

That isn't a problem I've had in the Philippines. The papa of SWMBO was a taxi driver before (now he manages the taxi and has a driver) and he has always had a tool box for doing repairs. I've bought bits and pieces as needed for house repairs and mostly I ended up giving them to him after finsihed. He puts them in his tool box (which comes out with him when anything needs fixing, whether it's my motorbike or the house or whatever). Some of the tools in there must be 30 years old but he treats them like gold and every bit that I've given him is still there. He was worried last trip that a cheap LED torch I'd given him had stopped working, like I'd be angry or something. I wasn't, I just replaced it with a bit better one from Australia next trip (he was excited to get it). I've never seen him loan tools, family members will sometimes come around on a motorbike and they'll work on it out the front but the tool box stays with him, not loans. I guess having his income dependent upon it when younger taught him to be careful with tools and I feel quite content leaving the tools in his care, even when I'm not there.

Yes, balut is my one exception (so far) although I confess to being glad that eating live squid isn't a Philippines dish as well (cooked is fine though).

Because I spend part of my year in the Philippines and part in Australia I might make a comment about this. In Bendigo, Victoria, Australia it costs about 200 peso for about 4 or 5 poorer quality bananas $5, Mangos are about 250 peso for 2 or $7.50, a bag of grapes is 200 to 300 peso (1kg) or $10 to $15. Apples are 4 for about 200 peso or $5 and then on top of that there would be fresh vegetables and various meats. $100 does not go far, most weeks I spend $150 for groceries just for me here (and I eat out a bit too). Or you could buy a packet of chicken nuggets or fish fingers for $5 and bag of fries for $4, or a frozen large pizza for $3 and you've got cheap (and not healthy) food.

A million(ish) protesters in the center of Hong Kong not being enough to get to talk to the local Hong Kong government (let along someone from the mainland) says you're right about that (see western media link and chinese media link). And even if the Philippines did have the will to take action about this realistically what could they do? https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/hong-kong-protests-june-12-intl-hnk/index.html And now the the China Daily are claiming that the protesters were in fact supporting the extradition bill, not opposing it. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2019-06/10/content_37478727.htm

I've been trying to lighten up for ages... but my waistline isn't cooperating