I've got an hour and a half before I leave for work to start another two to three week hitch of 12 hour nights working on an oil drilling rig here in Alberta. I couldn't be farther from the Philippines, yet it feels so close.
Everyday I read news from the Philippines and SKYPE with my family in Leyte. Every week or two I send money there and do the currency conversions in my head. The gossip of my hometown is all I have to worry about as there's no gossip here. I care more about the Canadian em
I recently had another weekend visit to my family in the Philippines. I'm a short trip away, based in Taiwan, but the visits haven't been as regular as I'd like. This was one of those day and a half plans, in Saturday morning, and out Sunday afternoon, just to fill the space between longer vacations.
Luckily, it turned into 2 and a half days, as my dad booked the wrong return flight for me to Manila, and I stayed an extra day.
Returning home is always interesting. My wife doesn't have a lot of
(I have to rush through writing this, as I'm on an old computer at 711 with a short battery)
I had my much needed vacation to the Philippines last week to see my family after five and a half months of working in Taiwan. I had a great time with my wife and kids, and I don't know how much longer I could've waited.
My one and a half year old daughter, Kiana, was strange with me when she saw me. She must've thought she was dreaming, as she'd been laying down with mom. After 30 minutes she was ha
I couldn't sleep, yet again, so I thought it'd be a
good idea to check on my roommate, Matt, who was
supposed to be at Roxy 99, the bar where all the foreigners
go. I've been trying to school him on life lately, so I
thought I'd check on his progress. Anyways, right beside
there is a Taiwanese breakfast restaurant that has good
food in the late night hours.
I showed up on my bike to the breakfast joint and
saw police and an ambulance parked at the corner 711,
treating a fore
We Westerners in Asia rarely consider ourselves immigrants. We’re always calling ourselves expats, and rightfully so. We don’t have immigrant status in the sense of someone immigrating to a Western country has. Their aim is to obtain citizenship, learn the language, and plant their family roots there for all of time to come. Our goal is merely to enjoy life abroad, short or long term, without the commitment. We cherish the knowledge that if life ever got too hard in our adopted home, we could ju
Well..... finding a job in Taiwan was tough enough, and finding a second to compliment the first has been even tougher. I was ready to throw in the towel and go back to easier money in Korea, but that option isn't as easy as it used to be since it would take 4 months or so to fulfill all of their work visa requirements.
That leaves my parents offer they put on the table months ago: if we ever wanted to come back to Canada they would pay the tickets for all of us. That won't be necessary since
Oh my god! Second time in a row I've written a book only to have it lost to a computer error! Maybe computers hate my writing? lol Here it is again in a nut shell:
- Hear about Philippines deporting 14 Taiwanese criminals to China instead of Taiwan? Was big news in the Phils, but Taiwanese don't care, since they were criminals. Still, Noy's gov't is refusing to apologize and Taiwan is threatening to quit hiring Filipinos.
- I move tomorrow to a great location in Taipei, between two large univ
Holy crapola... I just was nearing the end of a long blog entry, hit one wrong key on the keyboard, and the whole thing went kaput.
Maybe it's a sign, I'll rewrite it in jot-form, or at least keep it simpler.
In a nut shell:
- I came home early and unexpectedly only to find another man's motorbike by my house and then to find out it's mine! ..... or is it?
- I bonded with my new pet monkey, minus the sick bondage, even if he is bound a little.
- The kitchen that took too long to complete
I'm back...
Back to the forum, and back to Taiwan. I'm unofficially an official OFW, or OBW (overseas balikbayan worker).
Our farm and family needed the money, partially drained by our house, so I've hit the road to teach English to little Asian children again. It was hard leaving my wife and kids. I cried the first time; rode the bus 27 hours to Manila for the experience, applied for a visa, was told I should just land in Taipei because they wouldn't give me the longer visitor visa I wanted,
Green is a very descriptive word when it comes to the Philippines. There's green all around you in the trees and nature. People, expats and locals alike, are either green to where they're at, or to the world beyond. And you could always use a little more green, as in money.
I also like those green Boston Celtics, as does national hero Manny Pacquiao.
Just as I expected, I will need more money to continue this adventure, so I will have to hop out of the country to get it. This time, I'm more
Went shopping in town today, later hit the beach by myself for 30 minutes, and came back for an hour of basketball.
After the beach I could feel I had a slight sunburn, so I checked it out in the shower and saw that it was the shape of my sleeveless basketball jersey. That means I got burnt shopping and NOT swimming!
It's kind of a relief because I have a horrible history with sunburns at the beach. I've hit the blister jackpot a good 5 or 6 times in 10 years. I planned to swim with my shirt
I just arrived back in Leyte this afternoon and had a repeat of the feeling I had the first time I arrived here a year ago: holy crap, this is nice.
I was snapping pictures from the airplane, but had the aisle seat so gave up when I thought I got everything I could get. Then, right before landing, we turned into a beautiful scene of the mountains and coconut trees puncturing and brushing against a bright blue sky, but my camera was in the bag! Oh yeah, one more turn, and we landed on the runwa
I should be more positive and upbeat, write about the sunny sun, the green grass, or all the things I'm blessed with. But not today.
I'm sitting here with 44 minutes left on my contracted work in South Korea as an English teacher, and after that it's a hop and a skip - two days - until we're on a jet plane, not to come back again. I should be ecstatic, but I'm not. I'm not exactly nervous. I just feel like a guy waiting to get shat on, lol, and then smile about it.
Life is like that: you mak
