[smartads] OMG! It’s 2:06pm. When I woke up this morning at 8:13am, still feeling sickly, I woke up to a brown out. This was a scheduled brown out that wasn’t scheduled. No one here knew it was coming. The electric decided to come back on at 12:10pm, but I wanted to give it time to stabilize before I attempted to turn the computer back on. Luckily I did turn the computer off last night, instead of just putting it on standby. Once, not too long ago, we had a power outage in the middle of me doing something on the computer. I have my surge protector, so I had time to log out in an orderly fashion. Well by the time it powered itself off, the electric came back on. So I logged back in. 20 minutes later, brown out again. This time it lasted for about an hour, but I wanted 1/2 hour after that before I got on the computer again. Today when the electric came back on, I waited 1 hour before attempting to turn it back on. I didn’t want to take any chances, and wasn’t so hot on getting up anyway. I spent my time on the computer up to now responding to the messages I received, and checking some of my mail. Mostly I plan to hang around the house today, hoping to get back to feeling 100%. It just may happen by morning. Lita’s been working so hard the past few days, I think she is getting sick also. I’m going to have to get tough on her, so she’ll slow down. She’s in the other room trying to get some sleep now, but she keeps coughing. I better go check on her. It’s 2:21pm now.
I’m back..it’s 3:17pm now. I told her, “There sure is a lot of coughing going on in here”. She said that she was alright, but of I knew better. Told her bulls**t, you’re working too hard again. She just smiled. We got to talking and I found out that a big problem is Vicky’s niece, Lynn. She is not a very hard worker, which is rare among all the Filipinos I’ve met. Usually they are all hard working and hardly ever complain, just do their job, get their money and go home. I also found out today that Lynn was one of the young ladies that went to work for Judith a couple of months ago, but only stay for 1 day. The other young lady came back, but not Lynn. Anyway, last time we were in Tambis, Lita was going to bring a niece of hers up here to work, but there was not enough more in the vehicles for her. We had a lot of stuff that we were going to buy at Robinson Mall in Tacloban on the way home. Even Vicky and her daughter took a bus home and didn’t ride back with us. Lucky them (see wheel incident). Lita told the niece (Cora) that she promises she will be able to come back with us next time, which is for All Saints Day (Nov 1st). Well we decided today to send for Cora now instead of waiting. Lita has already been complaining to Vicky about Lynn not doing her job correctly. Cora will stay with us in what passes for our living area. We will have Arnel build her a single bed to sleep in. Just what I need an 17-18 year old SAF (Single Asian Female) sleeping in the next room. Guess it could be worse, she could be in the same room. Lita had J (nephew)(that’s his nickname) call to Tambis to let Cora know. Cousin Tony (Cora’s Uncle) will fund the money for her trip here and we’ll pay him back when we visit. Since we will be supplying room and board for her, we will only pay her P1500 per month. It’s better than the zero pesos per month she is making now.
All this, the washing lady (Pam), I found out her name when I was talking to Lita awhile ago, once a week and Cora, will give Vicky more time to do household chores instead of always working on the ice candy and BBQ. In turn that will be less work Lita has to do, and she can enjoy more of what we retired here for, relaxation. A better chance to relax for about $38 per month. That’s worth it. Lita will never completely relax, she will always have to be doing something. Unlike me, I can just disappear on a beach for a week, and not have a care in the world. That would drive her crazy. At least while Cora is here, she will have Anna Pearl and Chatty to giggle and gossip with. I assume that giggling and gossiping among teenage girls is an international thing.
Poppa showed up so Lita went outside to greet him. I hear her out there now, talking and laughing. I’m glad she is not coughing anymore. It worries me when she gets sick.
I tried to get some more stories out of Poppa, but he is so hard of hearing, that I got tired of yelling. He started on basically the same story again, and I listened in case there was anything new, but it was just the same that I have already posted.
I’m going to post the family of Ramil and Robbie like I did Ado and Cathy, if I can get a picture of their oldest child, Raven. He is with his Lolo and Lola in Calbayog, so I have to wait until he returns. He could have already, I haven’t checked recently. I’ll go check now. It’s 3:57pm.
It’ 4:59pm now. Raven wasn’t back yet and his Dad said he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, but as I was being disgusted about that, Marlou and Chiqui showed up on their motorbike, with Raven. I got his picture, plus a picture of J, the new sign at the hotel and of Layo (not sure on the spelling of his name) (Neneng’s brother). Oh and I got this picture too:
When I first put this flag up, I put it with the red side up. I learned shortly thereafter that the Philippine flag is only displayed that way in time of war. Well I didn’t want to start a war, so I changed it. It works well as a curtain and it looks very nice. Everyone that has seen it seems to like it.
I guess after this post, I will start putting all pictures that will be posted for the day, within the text. If I happen to forget something, and remember it later, I can always add it.
Let me show you the new sign for the Ciriaco Hotel and Resort.
I talked with Cathy and she said she wasn’t sure, but she also thinks this hotel will open for business by the end of the year.
Well I’ve got about 8 pictures to post, so I better close for now. As usual, if anything exciting happens between now and tomorrow, I will put it in tomorrow’s post.
Oh!!! Did anyone notice that I forgot to put in a Tagalog word yesterday? I didn’t realize it until after I closed and was already in bed. I already turned the computer off though, and I really didn’t feel like getting up. I will give you 2 word today to make up for it. These will show you how you have to be careful when pronouncing your words here.
1st word – pero (pear-o) means “but”
2nd word – pera (pear-ah) means “money”
You thought the 2nd word was going to be “butt”, didn’t you? No, that word is “kulata” (coo-la-tah)
There you got 3 words. Hope I didn’t make a kulata of myself and mess any of them up. Did you even miss the Tagalog word of the day? Should I stop putting it in and think of something else? Is there something else you think I could be putting in?
Need to make ‘another’ trip to the CR, but I will post this before I go and insert those 8 pictures afterwards. Happy reading.
Salamat, Palaam
You dont’ have to go to Cebu or Tacloban to buy a toaster. You can find one right in Calbayog. Tell Lita to go to the 5 Stars store , it on the 3rd floor. Also, if you plan to purchase a small water heater, i am suggesting to go to Eleanor (near to Metopolitan bank). They installed one in my house at Brgy Carmen. Happy shopping.
Okay, thanks. We’ll check. Lita wouldn’t know where it is though. She is not from Calbayog, or even Samar. She is from Southern Leyte. I told her and she asked Vicky and Vicky explained it to her. We will check that out for sure on my payday. Hope they have a 4 slice one.
JJ, someone’s pulling your leg. Kulatameans beat up. Rear end is lubot in Bisaya. I think it’s bubot in Waray. Or something similar.:) You best double-check with Lita for the meaning of words that you get from someone else. :-O. Hahaha.
Well when I don’t have a Filipino present, I rely on a translator I found online. Guess the translator went afoul. I’ll double check from here on out. Thanks.
Hi John,
Finally, i found your site today..I guess I’ll will have to catch up on reading your blog. We are trying to get some pointers from you so we know what not to do when we retire next year. I work for an insurance co for 23+yrs , my husabnd is retiring next month at the age of 60. I will retire by June next year. Though I was born and raised in Calbayog, I learned so much from you. My husband thinks that I am too Americanized and that he will adjust living in the Phil better than I can. He is probably right, I love to shop (DE is tax free)and twice a year a go shopping in NY, so this is an adjustment itself.
Ted, my husband said I don’t need a lot of clothes since I won’t be working anymore. Also my girlfriend said that she can always send a balikbayan box to me if I need from the U.S. Gotta go…
I was wondering where you went. It’s been, I don’t know, about 2 weeks, since I’ve heard anything from you. Trying to get pointers, from me? Oh I hope I don’t disappoint you. If there is anything you need in particular, let me know, I will try to find the answer. I think last time you asked something about the 13a/13g visa, is that right? Did my answer help you out any? It’s easier and less expensive to get that in the States before coming over here. It’s easy to get ‘Americanized’, because it’s such a wonderful country, but once you get back over here, it’ll all come back to you. You’ll still want some of the things you had in America though. A/C was my #1 thing. Now if I can just find a great steak (not too expensive) and some fiery Tex-Mex food, I’ll be set. Remember it doesn’t get cold here, so don’t bother bringing anything heavy to wear, unless you have a problem with coolness being too cold. If you are retiring here in Calbayog, they have a few places in Calbayog Proper to pick up some clothes, but going shopping in Tacloban is not all that far away. Probably a little farther than NY though. It’s about a 5-6 hour drive now that all the roads are paved all the way to it. Better than the 8-9 hours when the roads were full of holes. Balikbayan boxes are great. It’d be nice to have someone in the States to be able to send you one, or 2 (or 3) every now and then. Hope to see y’all when you arrive. Oh, one thing you need to be sure to bring, if you use one, is a toaster. I can not find a toaster around this place anywhere. I guess I’m going to have to go to Cebu or Manila to find one. I had such a nice 4-slice toaster too, in the States, but we gave it to our son. Oh well, I’ll find one somewhere. There must be one in Manila, somewhere or at one of the 3-4 big malls in Cebu.