Coping with Philippine Culture - Staring

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bastonjock
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Posted
34 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Hi bastonjock.

Currently, I live in Ecoland, but hope to build a new home on the other side of Mintal from the city...we'll see if that really happens...

I speak close to fluent German and can swear prolifically in German, Spanish, French, Fijian, Samoan and even Australian(!)

Yeah... I have a motorcycle here in Davao City, but already had two crashes - I won't bore you with the details, just suffice it to say that the one Filipino on his bike was an idiot and the Filipino jeepney driver was just doing what they do best - causing mayem on the roads with sudden turns and swerves without warning and I happened to get in the way. Now, whenever I ride or drive my car, I always look around and think about everything and everyone around me, "What is the absolutely stupidist thing they can do?" and let my imagination run wild. Maybe 50% of the time, somebody rewards that by doing exactly that or worse! And I always laugh when I pass one of the road signs that states severely, "Obey Traffic Laws." 

Can you tell me the time and exact place of that weekly meet-up in Toril you mentioned to me before? It is a bit of a drive (I use my car almost exclusively now) and if it is after dark, I may not be too interested.

Thanks.

I have a condo at ecoland ,threres a bunch of guys there who ride bijes ,are yoj part of that group ?

The expats meet at moma julies 10pm on a Tuesday morning, just look for the cars 

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Tommy T.
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Just now, bastonjock said:

I have a condo at ecoland ,threres a bunch of guys there who ride bijes ,are yoj part of that group ?

The expats meet at moma julies 10pm on a Tuesday morning, just look for the cars 

Okay... I may try... Will I be able to find that in Google Maps? Sometimes Google Maps is brilliant and sometimes I have gone on the road looking for something that either does not exist or changed location years ago.

No... I am not part of any group. And now I would not ride bikes in a group anyway - too afraid of more road rash or much worse.

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bastonjock
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31 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Okay... I may try... Will I be able to find that in Google Maps? Sometimes Google Maps is brilliant and sometimes I have gone on the road looking for something that either does not exist or changed location years ago.

No... I am not part of any group. And now I would not ride bikes in a group anyway - too afraid of more road rash or much worse.

Forgot to add its in mintal 

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Tommy T.
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6 minutes ago, bastonjock said:

Forgot to add its in mintal 

Mintal? Before, you said Toril. Can you please confirm Mintal? That is much easier for me to get to since it is actually not so far from the property where I hope to build a home... Thanks!

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bastonjock
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6 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Mintal? Before, you said Toril. Can you please confirm Mintal? That is much easier for me to get to since it is actually not so far from the property where I hope to build a home... Thanks!

Yes sorry fir the mistake,  the place is in mintal 

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Tommy T.
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Okay bastonjock, thanks for the confirmation. I will see if maybe I can head that way tomorrow...

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Mark Berkowitz
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When they call us Aliens on our ACR I-CARD's, they are spot on with that terminology, since I felt as if I had landed on another planet with a flying saucer, instead of arriving in the Phils by plane.

My wife arrived from the Phils in February of this year by plane, and she felt like she had landed in the US with a spacehip, since she too saw it as another planet (instead of another country).

However, she was able to get her permanent resident card (a.k.a. green card) in less than a month after arriving in the US by plane, but in my case, it took a few years for me to get a permanent resident card in the Phils.

Different cultures can seem as alien to each of us (at times), as the folks we see in the Star War movies. :shock_40_anim_gif:

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Tommy T.
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Interesting comments, Mark. I recently got my permanent retirement visa - it will work until we sometime get married. It makes all the difference in the world to have the security of the forever visa...

Congratulations on your wife's USA green card! I have a friend who married here over two years ago and it took his Filipina wife two full years and $5,000 to finally procure her green card... Times are tough these days - paperwork...red tape....talk talk talk...

There are times when I return to USA where it feels a bit alien to me - so fast, so expensive... familiar, but not... can you understand all that?

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Tommy T.
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But people seem to rarely stare at others - it seems to me. Sorry...tried to get this topic back on topic!

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hk blues
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31 minutes ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

However, she was able to get her permanent resident card (a.k.a. green card) in less than a month after arriving in the US by plane, but in my case, it took a few years for me to get a permanent resident card in the Phils.

 

Why did it take so long - the process wasn't so arduous when I applied for my 13a Visa?

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