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I waited the whole day.  Finally, the Gasul tank refill we ordered arrived  at around 5pm!  At least now, we can cook using our stove again.

Right now, with all our important stuff with us it is not hard to admit that it adds to the feeling of being at home.  In spite of all the bumps along the way and the disappointments and unhappy surprises that dealing with Filipinos has shown us we are again one step closer to getting to know our new home and our surroundings better.

Today, we just came back from a business trip to Baguio where we spent sometime with our business partner and the first programmer.  Our business partner, is of the same nationality as MrC and through all our long talks he and MrC still shared that still the Filipinos are one hell of a mystery for him.  I share in their sentiment.  Even I don’t understand why some people say things and act a certain way.   Being late is one of the things that standout among the list of things foreigners don’t understand — even me sometimes.   I also for instance, remember again that in here there are meanings behind what someone would say or do.  For this, I am sometimes suspicious of motives behind people’s actions.   I wish people could have been upfront with us, with the brokers for example and things in general.

We also covered the topic of “crab mentality”.   I was actually the one who provided them with the right terminology.  It came up as a result of a surprising move of his maid who recently left them and while leaving started to backstab the Filipina wife of our business partner.   It’s sad but true but envy is something we see everyday here.

As for me, I would add that here in the Philippines the resources seem quite not enough that I have never seen so much competition and this I did not see in US or Netherlands.  That is, in jobs, in business, in relationships and hell yes, in being attractive!  Is it just me but I noticed a huge bombardment of pressure to be whiter, to be sexier, to have better skin, better, shiny hair!  And what is this I hear about 80,000 nurses took the latest board exams? I see a lot of review centers everywhere for all things, IELTS, and all acronyms as such and even getting to Ateneo, DLSU or UP.  I even saw a review center to get into Philippine Science and Ateneo High School.   In my time, I never felt this amount of competition and pressure to actually go through hoops just to get into the right places.    I am guessing it’s just that the amount of people twenty years ago had just grown tremendously and that the resources that should gave grown with it did not. Maybe this is the reason.

Basically, you have here places for upscale and middle class shopping and dining. Market! Market! is quite middle class. The other nice place is Serendra and High Street which is more upscale. Both places have nice open air areas where one can hangout. We were at Serendra one evening for dinner and the place was packed with yuppies even at 10pm and that was in the middle of the week!

Transportation is also not a problem. One one side of the Market! Market! is a taxi line

and I think on another area I saw a whole public transportation terminal complete with signs. I saw various signs for transportation to major cities in Metro Manila.

The Halo-halo is a cold dessert which is a mixture of local fruits such as coconut meat, beans, ube yam, ube ice cream (purple ice cream), red beans, langka (nangka), and topped with crushed ice and evaporated milk etc.

Another local favorite and guilty pleasure is the dried seafood that you fry until it’s crunchy. It smells aweful! However, it’s really yummy when eaten with even with just plain white steamed rice. When I was little I remember that they sometimes mix in fresh goat’s or carabao’s milk with the steamed rice when eating the dried fish. I still do this myself sometimes.

Buffets are everywhere and they don’t cost so much and even for locals. Here at Market! Market! we had lunch in Filipino buffet that costs 250 pesos (4 euros) normally but they have merienda buffets that only cost like 150 pesos (3 euros). This particular Filipino food buffet, inspite of having a smaller selection than Dads Triple V seemed to have a great selection and better quality. I also like the fact that it is quieter than Dads Triple V.

It proved to be a great idea.  The trick is to use it before the rush hour starts to avoid the long lines and the huge crowd.  You don’t want to get into a “sardine can” situation as what they describe it here.  Anyways, the one way trip cost only 14 pesos!  And it also took only half an hour included the waiting.  The only hassle was having our luggage with us.   It was always inspected by the security guards.  Going back (second photo) from QC to Makati, we got off at Buendia only to be greeted by this huge crowd!  Later on, we found out that getting good taxis is a pain from Buendia.

Yesterday was a holiday here and it is called Queen’s Day but he wanted to still work in his office so I tagged along with him. My agenda for the day was to go through the documents that my mom had sent to us regarding setting up a business in the Philippines.

While working on the issues I felt that I wanted to talk to him however it was bad timing as he was very busy solving a technical problem in his web application. I felt kind of bored since I am used to having a lot of colleagues around me at work to have small talk with once a while. He also appeared to be very serious and not his normal self unlike at home. He admitted it was his usual self when at work. It was a very quiet office with only him and me in there. His partner was out partying in the streets.

There were times I wanted to talk about trivial things about the office location, buying software licenses etc etc but I guess it was pointless to talk about it now since we’re not in it yet and those things are details that is easily taken cared of once we’re there.

The points of discussion I wanted to talk also was about the structure of the company and taxes. Some of the business structures we are looking into are Joint Venture, Partnership and Corporation. A corporation is considered a Filipino corporation if it has at least 60% Filipino ownership. I found out in the tax tables that corporate tax in the Philippines is normally set at 32% and the ceiling of income tax is at roughly P125,000 + 34% of the Excess over P500,000 in 1998 according to the BIR site. Definitely, the first step would be is to apply at the Board of Investments to see if we get some incentives. Then we need to apply for a license by registering at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The rest of the details such as Corporate Insurance and paperwork for financial statements are too complex to discuss now and we need a professional to help us with it. This include Disability insurance, Medical coverage for employees, Workers Compensation and things like that. Another thing to do might be to apply at PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) to see if we could get benefits from it when we try to find office space. A bookkeeper is definitely a good thing to have also.

And then suddenly at around 3pm my mobile phone rang and I knew it was from work because of the ring tone I assigned to it (The Office US). And they were fortunate that I have brought my laptop and next thing you know I was logged in via VPN to my office PC. They needed me to run a job. I forgot that all of Europe was still working and only the Netherlands was on holiday. Suddenly, a crazy feeling of panic came to me again like it did before. I wasn’t so ready to deal with work now and my husband was a bit moody. I ended up being quite emotional. I am glad that at least we ended the day having dinner at our favorite Chinese place near our apartment. Funny thing how a bowl of wonton soup would lighten someone’s mood. The sunset I saw while at the restaurant was one of the best I’ve seen in months. Not a bad ending for our Queen’s Day at work.

The following were my references:

How to Invest in the Philippines by Isla, Lipana, and Company

Outsourcing IT 2 Philippines

Team Europe Philippines

sakali
sak´ali’ conj. in case, if it should

In your mind you wanted to say that you are hoping that something will happen or should happen. There is some kind of feeling of uncertainty in what your plan. You end up just saying “I just hope that” but feel that it’s only half of the feeling you are trying to convey.

“Nakakahinayang”
Tagalog dictionary:
hin´ayang n. feeling of regret for not having utilized something or not havingtake advantage of a situation (from s´ayang) panghinayang (pang-) n. regret

You can just say “what a waste” but it fees more like something you ought to preserve or keep but are afraid of taking a risk and are afraid of regretting.
“Suya or Umay”
suya
suy´a’ adj. fed up

I find that this is used more often in talking about food than objects or people or events. It’s more like a taste of a food that is too greasy or too sweet and your taste buds are already tired of it. Whew!

In other context it is also used when you are irritated of a person or an experience that is irritating and keeps on happening..

“Sayang naman”

sayang
s´ayang! Mal intj. what a pity! · masayang (ma-) v. to be wasted. Nasayang ang pagod ko. My efforts were wasted.

This word almost always shows up in the same sentence or paragraph along with hinayang. When you think you are about to waste something that might be precious or not sure if you would give up or let go of something you think it is sayang. Sayang seems to pertain to something that is valuable or has the potential to be valuable. The uncertainty is always there. Sometimes it is also used on something you almost did or obtained but for reason failed to get or were to afraid to do.

tampo
tamp´o ­ magtampo (mag-) v. to sulk.

To be sullenly aloof or withdrawn, as in silent resentment or protest.

Yeah ok, this one has a perfect counterpart word in English which is to sulk. I wonder if there’s one also in other languages. I would not have found out easily without a dictionary.

muta
m´uta’ n. gummy secretion in the eyes

This one I still can’t find an exact word in English or Dutch.

sayang
s´ayang! Mal intj. what a pity! · masayang (ma-) v. to be wasted. Nasayang ang pagod ko. My efforts were wasted.

“naman”, “kaya”

These are filler words which may have some kind of counterpart in other languages. In Dutch they also have a filler word “toch” and is close to the word “kaya?”.

Tagalog dictionary says:

naman
nam´an part. response marker, also, too, rather, again, on the other hand usually emphasizing the fact or the feeling involved in the expression; expresses transition to another subject hence also mild contrast. Example: Aba naman! · adv. also, too · intj. expression of gentle protest or denial

Do you have other words you can think of which you find hard to translate?

Noli Me Tangere (in Dutch)
This the National Hero Jose Rizal’s most famous and greatest work. It is fiction but it mirrors the life under Spanish colonization. This is part of the curriculum in Filipino secondary education.

The Reign of Greed (El Filibusterismo in English)
This is the sequel to Noli Me Tangere and is normally taught to Senior high school students in the Philippines.

Here are really old e-books of really old history books you might be enthralled to see and they are all downloadable:

Manila and Philippines Hamm, Margherita Arlina, 1871-1907

A History of the Philippines Barrows, David Prescott, 1873-1954

And that is not all, in the site Internet Archive, if you enter “Philippines” in your keyword search you would find all sorts of old and new historical books and even videos and movies contributed by individuals all around the world.

However, some of you may want an actual book to read in bed or want the latest publications about Philippine history or culture. Here are examples of books and media I have found to be interesting:

MP3 Download:

Credits for above photo go to: Philippine Pictures