The LTO isn’t the only government office that has given us some laughs throughout the years. Right up there with it stands the BI, the Bureau of Immigration. We have spent many an hour and peso in that bureau’s hallowed halls. Being resident aliens, we are not only required to obtain missionary visas every year…
Rat-mageddon
I don’t like rats. I believe I mentioned that in my previous post, Rat Follies. So even though I am neither athletic nor quick, it was with superhuman speed and agility that I launched myself up from my exercise mat and bounded to a spot about ten feet away when a shower of rats came…
Sign Language in Braille?
Have you ever done something really stupid? Something so ridiculous that even as you are doing it you hear yourself inside your head saying, “I can’t believe you are doing this.” I probably have way more of those situations than is normal, but one in particular stands out in my memory. Are you ready? I…
Rat Follies
It all seemed to happen in slow motion, and I was powerless to stop it. The little white mouse running in desperation across the floor near the breakfast table, the delighted sparkle in my three-year-old son’s eyes as he saw a potential pet and friend like the sweet mouse hero in the book we’d just…
Balut: The Philippine Street Food With a Personality of Its Own
By Paul Wilkinson [It was time for a story about balut. Since my son had already written a clever and funny article about it a few years ago, I decided to let you enjoy his version. ] The florescent light from the gas station did not quite reach the balut vendor’s small bike leaning in…
I’m Eating What?!
We have eaten some pretty interesting things during our time here in the Philippines. Having grown up in Southern California with its myriad exotic restaurants and markets, I thought I had tried pretty much everything weird to eat already. I didn’t think I could be surprised. I knew they served whole fishes with the eyes…
Social Gaffes and the Bathroom Trap
Filipinos are incredibly gracious people. As usual, I learned this the embarrassing way. I look back on our first few years here and cringe at the culturally insensitive and ignorant things I did. But, as I said, Filipinos are a gracious people, and they smoothed things over so well that it was sometimes months or…
In a Pickle with the Pittsburgh Police
(Reverse Culture Shock, Part 2) “I don’t think we’re supposed to be here,” I said to my husband as buses barreled down on our lone car from all sides and police lights flashed behind us. When we pulled over and the policeman stomped over to the car sputtering with anger and barely let the window…
Reverse Culture Shock
“Mom, what’s that?” I looked in the direction my 8- and 4-year-old sons were pointing, and had to suppress a slight snicker when I saw that it was a drinking fountain – the tall silver, boxy kind. I explained the concept and function of a drinking fountain to my boys. Doubt and suspicion clouded…
Traffic and the Christmas Blessing
There are no words to adequately describe the traffic in the Philippines. For several years now, Waze has ranked Manila as the city with the “worst traffic on Earth.” The Philippines as a whole has the dubious honor of coming in first place as the worst place to be a driver. Even if I could…
THE MEDIOCRE MISSIONARY 