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, so had 4 days of abandoned visa plans and flew back to Leyte. I cried a little less the second time, maybe because I was taking the plane instead of the bus.

The first time I left was right after the Holidays, so I hadn't spent the time the way I wanted with my family. We were out a lot, skipping back and forth between Tacloban and our town, and drinking at night. It was really not the ideal way to spend the last few days with my kids. That's why I was pretty excited to have another three with them to correct the situation. I drank less, stayed home, and tried to take in the moments with them a little better before leaving again.

I also had a bit more time with my wife for spousal activities.

We got all of our pigs sold, and reloaded with 22 more piglets between December and January, complimenting the 4 sows we have ready to breed. We don't have the money to compliment the pigs, however, so hopefully I get working pretty quickly here in Taiwan.

I miss them a lot and took up smoking, lol. Hey, I'm on a diet, so avoiding the drink, but a fella needs some poison, right, especially in depressing times. Bryan Adam's lyrics never rang so true to how I'm feeling. I'm sad, but hopeful. I love being in Taiwan. I hate being away from them. I'm hoping it's worth it tomorrow. I appreciate what the OFW's are going through a little more; I also appreciate what the soldiers serving their countries are going through a little more. Not entirely, though. I don't think there's any risk of a Taiwanese popping up from behind a bush and shooting me dead in the street, but the driving in Asia is always a pretty big risk.

Maricel (my wife) told me my three year old, Kira, says, "Dadi's working," or "The Afwang (Aswang) ate Dadi." Either or. I suppose work is a bit of a vampire, ain't it. She misses me. I just hope she forgets this year somewhere down the road, like I forgot the times when my dad was gone.

You know, one thing I took away from the Philippines this year is Hope. Not just the cigarettes, Hope, though I bought those, too. I have hope in the Filipino people. Us foreigners always complain about lazy, greedy, less than intelligent ways and people as we perceive them, and there are some of those, to be fair. But the more time I spend there at the street level, the more I see people working their butts off and turning a buck off anything, no matter how small. You know those raggedy people patrolling the big streets with their snacks and drinks for passing by motorists? They're working. That's more than I can say for the welfare recipients of Canada and the US.

Sure their jobs and situations are desperate, but in the six years I've been traveling to the Philippines, I've never seen them give up. They're still there, in the streets, pedaling their stuff. There's no quit in them. On top of that, I don't know if I'm the only one to notice, but there's a lot of stuff that's been built the past few years that makes me think someone's got the money to occupy those buildings. Wishful thinking or hope?

A side note, but along similar lines: my Taiwanese friend works for an American company making chips for missiles. He makes about 4k per month. He told me the same guy in America would make triple that. It's not just cheap jobs that the West is outsourcing.... it's the good jobs, too. I don't know about you, but I could live on 4k a month back home. Shoot, even 7 or 8k would be nice. But triple? Something's wrong with this picture, but not for him... he's got a job.

Ah well... just some things I've experienced and seen lately.

OH yeah.... the 27 hour bus ride was awesome. I slept for 20 hours and rode a fairy that fit about ten buses in the bottom. Saw a lot of beautiful country side, and injured my leg from sleeping on it funny for too long. No regrets there. I just wish it was taking me to my kids instead of away. 27 hours is a lot of time to let things digest.

Okay, that's all for now. Have fun guys, and I'll try to get back online a bit more as I settle in here.

peace