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Time again for another fact filled and interesting post. Well I can guarantee that it will be fact filled, but being interesting will have to depend on the individual reading the post as to whether it was interesting to them. I hope everyone enjoys it whatever the case.
I have discovered that there is a museum here in Calbayog. I guess I have never really thought about it before, but I noticed it while I was surfing the internet. I’ll have to find out the exact location of it, I’m sure someone here knows, and pay that place a visit. I hope that we will be allowed to take pictures while in there. I’m not even sure of everything that is in there, but it did mention the history of Calbayog.
I also read an article that they have sighted 2 blue whales in the Bohol Sea recently. Evidently there use to be blue whales here, but whale hunters took care of that. Now we have whale tourism and protection so maybe they will come back completely.
I’ve been thinking about changing the way I get my money from the bank. I get tired of paying P200 each time I want money and there is a P10,000 limit per transaction. I also do not like the idea of having to wait 21 days to be able to use ‘my’ money. I have often wondered about and I have been considering an international bank because I heard they do not have fees for ATMs or if they do, they refund them to you. I figure it wouldn’t hurt to check it out and see what I can find.
The Pascasio’s are not here. They all went down to Tambis already for All Saint’s Day. Ado went also, but he is going to come back and then after the first of November he will return there to pick them up. That’s a lot of traveling, but I think that Cathy has a hard time traveling with all 4 of those children, I know that I would.
It seems that there will not be anymore festivities for Charter Day. We were trying to get together with Rick and Flor Smith to have dinner downtown and hopefully watch some kind of show, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. We will just wait until around Christmas time because there is always something going on then.
Speaking of Christmas, we have already had someone here playing Christmas carols on a guitar, looking for money. The Christmas season starts in September here, but he was still told to come back closer to December 25th. We will get enough carolers around here then, so we don’t want to start paying them now, or we will be doing it until after the New Year.
I tried a new bread from Our Daily Bread Bakeshop yesterday. It is called a torta and it looks like a big cupcake. It’s even in a big cupcake wrapper. It tastes more like a pound cake though. I think it has 1 raisin in the center of it. At least I ate something in the center of it that ‘looked’ like a raisin.
I’ve got the first 6 of the Bourne series books and I think I’m going to read them again. The problem is though, I can’t find the first book. I know it is here somewhere, in fact I may have 2 copies of it here, but I just can’t find it. I’m pretty sure that I have read it since I’ve been here. I may just go ahead and start on book #2 if I don’t find it soon. I also need to get the rest of the books. Well I know that there is at least one more, but I forget the name of it right now. It would be 7th in the series. I haven’t check recently so there may be an 8th book by now. They are hard to find around here, but maybe I can find one on e-bay. The Philippines has it’s own e-bay, so I’ll look there first.
That electric fan that I mentioned in the last post, the one that petered out on us, is okay now. It was not a burned out motor as I thought. It was just too dirty. I guess so much dust collected on the motor and it just quit running. The guy examined it here and cleaned it here. I’m not sure, but I don’t think he even charged us for it, I’ll have to ask Lita later. If he did, I’m sure it wasn’t very much.
I want and need to add hotels and restaurants from other parts of the Philippines on this site under the “Philippines” category, but I don’t want to put a restaurant on here that I have not been to. I suppose I could put a note on here about whether or not I have been to the restaurant or hotel. I have heard about several of each of them, and they are probably good places, but I just haven’t been able to get to any of them. I suppose that unless I get an unexpected flow of money coming in, I will have to just put them in there for now, saying I have not been there yet, but when/if I get a chance, will go there. I would check it out and let everyone know what I thought of it. Of course if it really sucked or is now closed down, I would delete it from the site if it’s on there or at least tell you about it to let you know I decided not to put it on the site because I didn’t like it.
I have reaffirmed with Lita that I am NOT going to Tambis when they go. I think they plan to leave early on November 1st and stay for 2 or 3 nights there. Last time we went it was suppose to be 3 nights and ended up being 4. I just don’t want to have to do all that traveling again because All Saint’s Day is not a holiday to me. It’s not one that is worth that long trip and I don’t really do anything while there, except go visit my father-in-laws grave. That’s the only thing that is really important to me when going there. Well I would get to see Khany and Bebie, they are pretty cool people, but it is such a very long trip. Lita and Judith can do the shopping in Tacloban on the way back for me. I gave Lita my very short list of 5 things that I would like for her to get for me. I’m not sure how many of them will be there, but probably at least 3 of them. The dill pickles and deviled ham (or chicken spread) are the only 2 that I am worried about not being there.
Well I guess I it might be far fetched to say this post was an interesting post. It was definitely fact filled though. I do hope that someone, somewhere, somehow got something out of it.
Salamat Y’all
I have everything I had 20 years ago, only it’s all a little lower.
Gypsy Rose Lee
John, we will bank with CitiBank. Our money will be deposited into CitiBank US. We will then open an account with CitiBank Philippines. You can online transfer monies between accounts at no cost.
That would be great Scott. I even thought of that, but there is no Citibank here in Calbayog. If there was, and the 2 can talk to each other, because the Metro Banks here and in Texas can’t, I would do that. I hope they build one here soon.
I’m from Orange Grove. It is 30 miles west of Corpus Christi. My wife and i live on Cebu.
So you’re from down by the coast in Texas, quite a ways from the Killeen/Temple area in Central Texas.
How long have you lived in Cebu? We thought about moving there at one time, but opted for the smaller city. I was wonder if you could give me an idea of how the USAA works. I mean do you have your direct deposit going to the US and you just go to any ATM here and your card works? I asked because my check card only really works at Metro Bank and usually that is the longest ATM line in town. I also get charged P200 per transaction here, plus a small percentage from my US bank, none of which I ever get back.
Well I’d like to thank you again for reading the site and please let me know if you have any suggestions for things to put on here. Also if you have stories that have something to do with the Philippines or Filipinos you’d like to share, just send me the story via e-mail and I’d be happy to post it under your name. E-mail: johnwjr7@texaninthephilippines.com
Try USAA Federal Savings bank, they reimburse most of the ATM fees up to a certain amount per month. I have never gone over the amount.
Thanks for the suggestion Mike and thanks for reading my blog. I actually know where an office for USAA is. I passed one in Killeen over by Killeen Mall. I remember it because I don’t remember seeing it there before and I’ve passed that way 1000’s of times. It must be new. I’ll probably read up on that one and Lloyds TSB, the one that I linked on the post. Whichever one is better for me, I will put that one at the top of my list to join.
Your e-mail suggests that you are from Texas. If that is so, where in Texas? Have you ever been to the Philippines, married to a Filipina and/or going to be visiting the Philippines soon?
Well thanks again for reading the blog. I hope it is helpful for you and that you will return often.
John havnt heard much about your car latly are they driving that to Tambis.Have you ever thought of renting it out to visitors coming to Calbyog,to earn some extra cash.
No they are not taking it to Tambis. That big vehicle was a mistake to buy. I wanted to get a smaller truck like we had in Texas, but Lita wanted something bigger to be able to carry more people. I gave in again. Now we are regretting it. When it is paid off in July, or before if we can, we plan to sell it. It just sits in the drive way, hardly ever moves, the tags are expired and there is not even a battery in it. So we are paying for a truck that we rarely use these days. Just when we got the problems on it fixed too. I don’t like it, but I wasn’t the one driving anyway and it’s difficult at times to get someone to drive me when I want to go somewhere. I think when/if we sell it, I’m going to buy a motorcycle, maybe one with a sidecar for Lita.