Almost Shot!

[ekimswish]

My wife started a resto-bar venture with her friend last month in our small town. It's a really cheap investment, for which I gave her no money. I had no money to give, and told her I didn't think it was safe anyways. She's going to work late hours around men who are drinking and might try hitting on her and get aggressive. She thinks it's no problem because our town is small and everyone knows everyone. It's actually making a bit of money at the moment, which is nice for me because I won't need to send as much for food and other things. Anyways, there was a table with two of the top police guys in town and another table with an NBI guy and his partner in crime (a gambling ring) at another table. The NBI and police are cousins and have a beef over the gambling ring. Words were exchanged, politely on the part of the police officer, and the NBI became heated and pulled out his gun and started posturing up with it. The police pulled their guns out, too. I'm not sure if a gun was ever pointed at anyone, but from what I heard they were put on tables, or cocked in the hands, but regardless, my wife ran out the back, behind a tree, and was ready to get over the wall into the next compound. Her partner, the local rich family girl also ran outside, dragging her American husband with her. He didn't know what was going on, but was telling her it's nothing to be scared of. He was convinced that they would never shoot an American, etc. I found out about this story last week when I visited. We chatted and he told me confidently that since it was all cops involved, they knew what they were doing, and had no reason to kill him, and "Can you imagine the headlines if an American was murdered in the Philippines?!"I told him that Americans get killed all the time in the Philippines, life goes on, the embassy would just warn tourists to be careful, and the newspapers are used to it and don't really care. I said the police would have a great reason for killing him, which is to erase a witness and set him up as the bad guy to take blame away from themselves. Anyways.... I can't say I'm happy with my wife. I'm supposed to be happy because no one's hit on her, and her friend and her keep her away from scenes that could start rumors. With all that going well, why should I care about gun fights? Ridiculous.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Well really since there is no ending or bad ending then whats the problem.Seems no shots fired or you would have said so.Back to work.

[Dave Hounddriver]

The American mentioned in the opening post made me smile. Comes to the Philippines to run a small bar and thinks he is immortal. Does he expect to make a living at it to because that fits with the 'new guy' attitude.Yes, guns and booze are a bad combination and cops seem to be more prone to waving them around than regular folk. Sometimes they do go off so staying out of the way seems wise to me .. at least until they are ready to order another round, I mean the bills gotta be paid.

[ekimswish]

The American mentioned in the opening post made me smile. Comes to the Philippines to run a small bar and thinks he is immortal. Does he expect to make a living at it to because that fits with the 'new guy' attitude.Yes, guns and booze are a bad combination and cops seem to be more prone to waving them around than regular folk. Sometimes they do go off so staying out of the way seems wise to me .. at least until they are ready to order another round, I mean the bills gotta be paid.

Regarding if he thinks he'll make a living there, Yes and No. The bar is run by and for our two wives, who have been best friends together. Neither he nor I invested in it. I went into the pig thing last year hoping it would work out as well as everyone said it would and we could live the rest of our lives in the Philippines, but it didn't work out. I was originally against the pig farm, but gave in because of pressure from my wife. When I was in, my fingers were crossed as hard as the next man's would be, but had a feeling it wouldn't work out. When our farm was already showing signs of "never gonna work out", him and his wife were in the process of starting theirs, partly copying, as they got the idea from my wife. I tried to warn him about being overly optimistic, but I didn't want to tell him all the pitfalls. Some things you have to learn on your own, and it wouldn't have been fair, I felt, if their farm was a huge success because they learned from all of our costly mistakes. If we paid for the mistakes, then they're ours alone. Go buy your own mistakes! lol...I've finally convinced my wife to sell off our remaining sows along with the piglets next month, and we'll be completely done with the farm. I'll work in Taiwan until we have some debts paid and enough money to land us in Canada a year or so later. As for our friends, that was a dangerous marriage from the start: she's from an incredibly rich local family, accustomed to buying LV bags and cars, never had to work, and never finished college, and she's in her 30's. The grandpa died last year, and the grandma is close to the edge now, though she's still collecting his US Navy pension. When she goes, and the pension stops, the entire family has nothing going for them, but will surely fight over land and whatever else. So she married an American, in my view, to cover her bases. I knew her before she knew him, and she was definitely shopping specifically for an American. She got him, and he's from a modest background, drove a school bus back home, drove some more buses on bases in the Middle East, where he made good money, quit, married her, couldn't find a job back home in the States after one month of looking, and returned to start their own piggery, while his half-retired mom supports them with $2~4k usd per month. He spends his time at the cockpit, or drinking and online. He does NOT want to go back to the States, and his wife DESPERATELY wants to go. Edited July 15, 2011 by ekimswish

[Old55]

The American mentioned in the opening post made me smile. Comes to the Philippines to run a small bar and thinks he is immortal. Does he expect to make a living at it to because that fits with the 'new guy' attitude.Yes, guns and booze are a bad combination and cops seem to be more prone to waving them around than regular folk. Sometimes they do go off so staying out of the way seems wise to me .. at least until they are ready to order another round, I mean the bills gotta be paid.

Regarding if he thinks he'll make a living there, Yes and No. The bar is run by and for our two wives, who have been best friends together. Neither he nor I invested in it. I went into the pig thing last year hoping it would work out as well as everyone said it would and we could live the rest of our lives in the Philippines, but it didn't work out. I was originally against the pig farm, but gave in because of pressure from my wife. When I was in, my fingers were crossed as hard as the next man's would be, but had a feeling it wouldn't work out. When our farm was already showing signs of "never gonna work out", him and his wife were in the process of starting theirs, partly copying, as they got the idea from my wife. I tried to warn him about being overly optimistic, but I didn't want to tell him all the pitfalls. Some things you have to learn on your own, and it wouldn't have been fair, I felt, if their farm was a huge success because they learned from all of our costly mistakes. If we paid for the mistakes, then they're ours alone. Go buy your own mistakes! lol...I've finally convinced my wife to sell off our remaining sows along with the piglets next month, and we'll be completely done with the farm. I'll work in Taiwan until we have some debts paid and enough money to land us in Canada a year or so later. As for our friends, that was a dangerous marriage from the start: she's from an incredibly rich local family, accustomed to buying LV bags and cars, never had to work, and never finished college, and she's in her 30's. The grandpa died last year, and the grandma is close to the edge now, though she's still collecting his US Navy pension. When she goes, and the pension stops, the entire family has nothing going for them, but will surely fight over land and whatever else. So she married an American, in my view, to cover her bases. I knew her before she knew him, and she was definitely shopping specifically for an American. She got him, and he's from a modest background, drove a school bus back home, drove some more buses on bases in the Middle East, where he made good money, quit, married her, couldn't find a job back home in the States after one month of looking, and returned to start their own piggery, while his half-retired mom supports them with $2~4k usd per month. He spends his time at the cockpit, or drinking and online. He does NOT want to go back to the States, and his wife DESPERATELY wants to go.

I wish your friend and his wife the best but don't think its gona end well. Good luck on you and your family moving back to Canada. Frankly IMO it would be the best thing for the kids. My opinion only. :yes:

[ekimswish]

I wanted to add to the story last night but my laptop battery died. Basically, they're now planning to go to the States in the fall, as his mom won't support them forever. His wife is obviously happy and optimistic, but again, she's never been to the states, nor held a solid job. My next concern is they'll be poor and struggling to get by, and she might not like the hardships of life when you actually have to earn a living, and luxury goods don't just fall in your lap. Whether she toughs it out, becomes a stronger woman and grows as a human being, or withers and shrinks from the challenge, eventually returning to her easier life in the Philippines, is anyone's guess. I wish them the best. I just wish they were easier to talk to and I could be a bit more frank with them. As is, all is well in their cocoon, and warnings about the struggles of life don't seem to penetrate, at least not for her. As much as I despise his living off his mother, spending her money on new I-Phones and laptops, he has a right to be scared about finding a job in America. I just hope she's prepared for it.