Since living here I’ve been asked so many times if I worked at call center or a DJ in an FM radio station. It’s been going on for sometime. At first I was puzzled and just didn’t think about it. Just a few days ago the question resurfaced again.

I went to a fast food restaurant early int the morning. I ordered something for breakfast. I gave the lady my order, we had a pleasant talk in between my order, just a simple chat.

We pretty much conversed in typical Mindanaoan way mixture of  Tag-Ce-Lish (Tagalog-Cebuan0-English). After I finished up telling her my order, she then asked me if I am a call center worker. I told her, sorry I never worked there. Awhile later after I got my take out food, it got me thinking. What makes people say that to me. Do I sound like the people working at the call center? How would those people there talk? Really too many questions tagged in my mind now.

A call center agent.. not me!

I’ve heard people and some friends who worked at a call center. They told me that they make pretty good money especially for a Filipino standard way of living. I think you guys that live here or used to lived here in Davao are familiar of the place called “The Venue” before? Just across the Central Bank over on Jacinto Extension. The Venue now turned into the big call center place here in Davao. Sometimes when I go to the bank early morning, I’ve seen the agents there at the next door restaurant and the sari-sari store drinking early in the morning. They were just out from their shift of work. Just looking at those agents with the nice and expensive cell phone in their hand, the clothes, the other gadgets, they look so expensive. They would not work there if the paycheck’s not good. It shows there they had fun doing what they are doing. I’ve heard and knew nurses that work at call centers. They said  it’s better to work there than abroad, the plus is not to be away from the loved one. I can understand that. Hmmm, that could be a job to think about for you ladies out there, just to ease the boredom of nothing to do.

Call Center in Davao

I remember a few years ago, a foreigner opened a call center here with his wife. He just put that business while waiting for his wife’s papers to migrate to the US. Plus the lady was finishing up her studies here before going there too. Anyway, one day he wanted to meet Bob and I. So we did, and he was telling us about his new business that they opened. As the conversation going, all of a sudden he said he wished he could hire me to manage the business. He said I know how to speak properly and I could help train his people how to speak English and I pretty much understand if somebody on the other line with some accents, he said. I was flattered he said that. I can speak English alright, but sometimes with the hard Southern accents I could be in trouble though.

For now I don’t think I have time to report for duty though. I’ve got so many things to do here in my house. I don’t have the stomach to work for those long hours too. 12 hours shift is way too much for me. That would be an exhausting job, plus dealing with the complaints and the miscommunication from the other end. That will drain me at the end of the day. Now it got me, this job might be just for the young people, is it really though?

Mabuhay!

Living in a third world country like the Philippines, some families that have a great deal of money hire 5 or more house helpers, drivers, gardeners, security guards, bodyguards and others to make life more comfortable for themselves. I guess typical households here hire 1 to 2 house helpers. In the West only the wealthy people have the capability of hiring helpers in the house. I know the typical household there doesn’t have any helpers or drivers. Employers here pay the workers just a fraction of what people in the West would pay. But of course people here will work for that certain amount of money because that’s the wage that everybody pays. I will not pay over the price that was intended to pay for the helpers. We will give something extra to our helpers in a different way.

Well, I just walked by a school here. I’ve seen family drivers with the nanny of the kid with them that will be waiting for the child/children of their employer. Some kids will have the nanny wait at the gate and the driver will just wait outside the gate in the car. Oftentimes other drivers will get together there outside the school for the children they are waiting to get out. While waiting most of the drivers that I’ve seen before will be talking or having snacks at the sari-sari store outside the school. Most of the schools have a covered area for the people to wait for the children to come out from the classrooms. Some drivers even sleep inside the car while waiting.

Drivers?

A few nights ago while walking and passing by the school. I knew their was a program in school because I saw the cars parked from one end of the street to the other. I just kept walking, heading to the street I’m supposed to go. On the way, I saw a van, and  the side door was opened. Saw people inside and outside. They were getting a little loud and I could tell they were having fun. As I was approaching near the vehicle, I saw a few guys playing cards. For me it was fine to play cards to ease the boredom while waiting for the kids. But something just caught my eye, one of the guy poured something from looks like a Tanduay bottle (from the silhouette  from the light post) on a small glass and he passes it to the other guy. I don’t know if they really are drinking liquor or beer. I am hoping not. But if they did, what would the parents think or do if the driver they entrusted with their kids were drinking? But then again it could have been the dad of the kids too that I saw. You’ll never know unless I was really asking them. But I am not going to ask them. I could be in trouble if I did. I would be told that it’s none of my business.

I remember when my nephew was with us. We let him study and hired a professional to train him. We paid good money for him to be trained. It was worth it though. Our rules for him were that he would never drink and drive. Even just a bottle of San Mig is a no no for him if he is driving. If he drinks it’s okay, but don’t try to drive then. He was driving some of our friends around town and outside Davao. Some of our friends drink. But he never drinks while driving with those friends.

I think the employer should set rules for the drivers to follow. They should not and never be allowed to drink and drive. I’ve seen people here driving under the influence. You could tell also that they are drunk. The vehicle looks like driving on the zigzag road. But then again it could be one of the parents. I know when we were in the States during time that there’s a big holiday there, we hardly go out because so many people partying. If we have stayed there we would be a member of that MADD (Mother’s against drunk drivers). Bob’s younger sister was killed by a drunk driver. It was a head on collision, and really killed her instantly. The hard part for Bob was, he saw the scene just minutes after the accident. Everything was still there. He thought it was all of his family there inside the vehicle. It was a tough situation for him to be in. I am not sure if they have that some sort of group here for people against drunk drivers. I will ask around.

If any of you guys hires a driver try to get a good and responsible driver.

Cheers!

I’ve been seeing some of my favorites fruits now in the market stand here. Been buying some of it already. Bob and I went somewhere the day before yesterday and we bought some pomelo, it was juicy and good. They had mangosten there at the fruit stand, I just didn’t purchase it yet because the price is super high. I can get it free from my cousin who lives in Kidapawan. Ha ha ha. They didn’t come here to the city yet. When they come here I will ask them to bring us some.

Rambutan

When me and my niece went to the wet market a few days ago. We bought  the fruits that’s in season now here like some green mango, rambutan, ripe mango (the yellow one), marang, lanzones, guava, santol and banana (also the really ripe banana that’s good for making banana bread). When it’s in season the price is so reasonable. All of us here in the house like to eat fruits. Well, except Aaron. He is choosy on what fruit to eat. He likes to eat apple, ripe mango, some pomelo and oranges.

We also like to eat tangerines, the green kind. When growing up my folks always says that when you have cough, citrus (especially a juice of kalamasi) is good for you. So I carried that saying to my kids too. So we have so many other kinds of oranges here. We like to eat the tangerines and dip a little bit in a salt (kind of weird huh). But, really it tastes good though, for us anyway. I remember when I was pregnant with my oldest son Chris before, I was craving for pomelo. Since I can’t find pomelo in the States, I just settled for grapefruit. Really it was good enough for me at that time. I would dip the grapefruit with salt. Same thing with the pineapple there, I ate it with salt. Really it helps with my morning sickness big time. My cravings when I was pregnant with Chris were pomelo, pineapple, grapefruit and beef jerky. What a weird combination huh? lol… Really that keeps me alive for the whole nine months duration of my pregnancy. Been to the hospitals a few times for dehydration. I can’t keep any other food in me. I will just throw up.

Pomelo

Anyway, the only thing that I say that the US was better fruits than here were the watermelon, cantaloupe, apple and peaches. But we can live with it. We really think that we have better fruits here. Good to make fruit salad. But did you know that most Filipinos likes to eat the fruit salad from the can and mix it with mayo and other stuff. I like it too. But here in the house Bob likes to eat the fruit salad with fresh fruits mix all together. He is not a fan of mayo so when my nieces makes the fruit salad out from the can, Bob will not have any from that. But honestly I do miss the raspberries (easy pick from the back of my in-laws yard) and the blackberries (wild near our house there). Good thing Abreeza mall has them from time to time.

Marang

Do you guys want some durian? Durian is getting good now, it’s the time of the year for harvest. When going around the city you can already see some trucks on the side of the road parking and selling durian. Bob and I usually opened our car window to get the lovely smell of durian. Bob and I, we are so opposite. He was the kano, but he was the one who ate the durian. Bob and my nieces they love it. I tasted the durian before but just don’t like the after taste. I can even taste and burp that stuff a day after. I kinda like the taste, but I don’t like the texture of it. Me and the kids would not eat durian, Jared definitely hates durian before. He even was mad one time when he was about 4 years old. He opened the our fridge and smell the durian, he was crying according to him “we are killing him” putting that durian on the fridge and it stinks to high heaven. It was funny to us when he said we are killing him. He was so furious and slammed the fridge door. He is okay with it now, but still would not eat it. He is into green mango though.

Mangosteen

Since I’m on the bragging mode about our fruits. Do any of you like to eat the jackfruit? Some people hate the smell of that jackfruit too. Me and the family like to eat jackfruit. We even like to put jackfruit on our ginataan ( sticky rice with coconut milk, banana and other stuff in it). Good also with turon (fried banana with jackfruit inside wrap with lumpia wrapper).

I think the US now gets good fruits from the Philippines already. I’ve seen some people bragging they have some rambutan and lanzones and kalamansi there. So it must be shipped there regularly. That is really good to hear. During my time there in the States I hardly sees  fruits that came from the Philippines. Hopefully Philippines will ship out more and more products to the West nowadays. If you happen to get tropical fruits, have a good eat there you guys.

Cheers!

Today, it is a weekend here and I was doing my daily routine, getting up early in the morning. I like to water the plants that early because the water pressure is so strong.

Then while I was watering the plant my brother-in-law Jhun and Nicole came, I guess they already woke up ahead of me. So I gave Jhun the keys for our gates to be opened. After he did that he then took some broom and started to sweep the front yard since we had so many fallen leaves right now. Then we will burn it later when its dark to take some mosquitoes away. After all of these jobs in the front, I asked Jhun to buy the bread for our breakfast for all of us. While Nicole and Jhun (he is the dad of Nicole) went to buy the bread I went in the back to wash the floor there.

Jhun is the Snake Whisperer

See Jhun came over here to our house to work for the place where to put our washing machine. If you guys remember Bob post an article about us getting a good deal on a washing machine like a month or so ago. So that’s one of the reason why Jhun came here. He is done with that and now and working on some other stuff that needs get done here at the house like putting shelves on cabinets in the kitchen, girls room, boys room and the kitchen. We can’t make that other project yet the swing since the real carpenter can’t come to Davao right now. He really is well guarded by his employer. He has to finish up the big projects with them first, before they allow him to go get other projects. Anyway, I’m okay with that since I am still debating about the projects I had in mind.

So while waiting for our early breakfast the kids were still sleeping except for Nicole. I went outside in the back of the house to see if I could start cleaning up and maybe let the kids finished it up later. I saw some of Jhun’s tools that he was using tucked away in one corner. Some woods and ply board on the floor. I could also see our dirty clothes were already sorted by my niece the night before for her to do the laundry after she wakes in the morning. See the operator of our washing machine it’s just my niece Bebe and me. So that no blaming if the machine got damage.

When I saw the dirty clothes in different buckets on the floor for the washing machine, I lifted and transferred each bucket to a different area so that I can wash the floor. One of the buckets I lifted had kind of hollow underneath but still closed on top. So I lifted that and the plate for the dogs food. When I turned around I didn’t even look back right away.  When I’m getting ready to return to retrieve more buckets I could tell that our dog started barking, just then I realized we had an unwanted guest in our house it’s a snake.

Sputnik is very cautious

Let me tell you I really freaked out. Gosh, I hates snakes. Sorry to all of you snake lovers. The snake was curling and so comfortable there underneath the bucket. I was debating on going inside to tell Jhun or should I hit it now with the wood. But then I was also scared the snake might get away. So I called up on Jhun to come to the back of the house. Luckily Nicole overheard me calling her dad. So she told her dad to go to the back. While calling Jhun I was also looking for a good piece of wood to pound the snake. When Jhun saw me I immediately told him to kill the snake. When he saw the kind of snake that we had, he told me not to kill it he will just capture it and gave it to somebody. I told him are you really serious? I don’t want snakes in the house. He said oh no people want these kind of snakes for a pet. I told him not in my household. He said I bet you money if you just go outside your gate and try to give this snake to the passersby they will take it. I was kind of doubting I thought most people really don’t want snakes for a pet. I guess that’s just me talking.

Before Jhun gave the snake away for free I woke all the kids up and let them see what we have in the back. They were shocked and scared. I really thought Aaron would want it. A few years ago that’s what he wanted for pet. He was begging his dad and me to have one. Luckily Bob thought of bringing him to the Crocodile Park to see the big snake there if he really wanted to have that big of snake later. Well, when we got there, Bob held one of those big pythons and he let Aaron hold the tail. Let me tell you, I’m glad we brought him there and let him see what the snakes looks like when they get bigger.  He would not even dare touch the snake. After that he told us he doesn’t want snake for a pet. Thank God for it.

I had some photo of the snake, even our very love kitty, Sputnik didn’t like to have that snake here. She’s scared of it. Can’t blame her.

If you would like to listen to this article in audio format, click on the podcast below.

A few days ago while reading and browsing something in the internet here at our office, my niece who was just sitting next to me who also browsing on her computer on the web, came across an article on the net about a famous politician here in the Philippines. The guy who’s been really famous and been seen a lot on many big events here in the country, has been living with a teenager (a 14 year old girl). When she first mentioned to me about what that politician did, I told my niece “you were kidding right?” She said no, it’s really on the news. Why I said she’s kidding because at that time when the politician supposed to be with that girl, he was living-in with a woman who happened to be from the school that I used to go to. They were still together when he was with the teenager. I think he also had his legal wife when he was with these 2 ladies.

So why it bothered me, I’ve been hearing the brouhaha when foreigners get a younger lady (I mean an 18 year old lady, and the guy might be over 50 years old or something) to be his girlfriend. I don’t judge them of what they are doing, as long as they are happily in-love. I mean the two of them. As long as the guy is not blinded by love and not ending up with nothing. It goes with any guys here (Filipinos or not). If they are in-love why not. But not with the 14 year old though. For me that’s that’s just too sickening. As if he was sleeping with the same age as his granddaughter. You know what I mean?

My niece continued on reading the article and hearing from it, the girl went to the politician asking for help for her to finish up her studies. Her family was poor then (I’m sure not after the politicians helped). Not really sure what kind of help shes asking, maybe just like a scholarship or something like that. I saw the picture of the girl on the web, she really is a stunning one. I don’t think they mentioned on the article on how long after she asked the politician to help her that they became lovers. It mentioned that they have kids now too. I think they said she’s now on her mid 20′s and the politician I think if I remember his age is just a little over 70 years old.

Honestly I am not trying to make an argument here, I just want something for us to think about. I never heard anything like any big deal or big discussion in the media over the incident with the politician. But if the foreigner would do the act, you will see them discussing the issue over and over either TV or radio or some other place. Is it in our culture here to accept if it is in the same race? Or we just so acceptable for these kind of actions here because seeing men here have multiple partners? Are we just not easy to accept if the guy is not from the Philippines? It is a mind puzzling thing for me. Both of them are not acceptable to me, I mean the multiple partners and the sleeping with the teenager. Been hearing on gossip (blind items) about some of the politicians here with multiple girls on the side. I just didn’t realize though that some of them would go for teenagers though. Hmmm… Really interesting to think about it since people in this country, more than 70% I think were Catholics. Oh well, talking about Catholics, I’ve heard of a priests having lady on the side (that’s another story for me to blog here soon).

What do you think? I would be happy to hear of what you think.

Cheers!