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Holy Cow! You guys can be funny!

My best friend became my life partner and he was quite a bit older than me when we married.

We spent 29 years together and he was the best mate ever.

Although I had wished from time to time that we were closer in age, it was a wish for us to have more good years together.

Looking back, I've no regrets as we had a wonderful relationship. I'd rather have had 10 wonderful years than 40 years of hell.

I know some women/men may only be looking for that "Sugar Daddy/Momma" thing, but my mate wasn't one of those (nor was I) -- and I know we chose each other for all the good and life-long reasons.

I guess it all depends on what life presents to you, what you value, and all the rest of it. But I think it's possible to have a good relationship with a mate that is older/younger than you.

V/R,
nwlivewire

 

My wife's passport was due to expire in June so in May she tried to book an appointment for renewal - the earliest available appointment was mid-August, which she attended. All done in less than 20 minutes with pick-up 2 weeks later. In theory the whole exercise could be done online with pick-up acting as proof/validation (In & out in 5 mins). I get the feeling it's the bureaucrats justifying their existence and slowing the whole process down.

 

For me, I don't understand that if the Back Rider is wearing a full face (as now mandated) mask why the need for an additional barrier behind the Rider?

 

Well, I've left out a lot of consternation and uncertainty to leave the information in a more distilled format. For the parts that happened in Bayawan, I recently purchased a vehicle and was able to drive about to the random places they needed me to go. I won't go into the PAL experience as it still infuriates me, unless someone needs to know of the highway robbery.

As for the Emirates flight, my wife and I had return tickets to Kuwait that brought us here and were to return us to Kuwait on the 29th of March 2020. I called Emirates to re-book them, but was told I could not use them because I would be creating an "open trip" as Kuwait is not currently allowing any non-citizen inbound flights. The UAE will be an interim stop, necessary because Kuwait will allow returns from the UAE on the 1st of August, but not the Philippines.

So I booked an entirely new ticket to Dubai for the 11th of July on the 7th, and received an email on the 8th stating the UAE had changed their policy for allowing visitors from the Philippines to enter the country. Regardless of the nation of citizenship, people traveling from the Philippines would now need a negative PCR test issued 96 hours prior to travel from an accredited hospital. I knew there was less than a zero percent chance of obtaining a PCR test result prior to the 11th, so while waiting on the plane for takeoff in Dumaguete, I re-booked my ticket and bought my wife a ticket for the 15th, just on a prayer, not with any real knowledge of a timeline. Through phone calls, it seemed like the time frame was between 1 and 5 days, so it seemed safe.

We chose to go to St. Luke's at BGC in Manila as they seemed the most professional over the phone, through many calls to many hospitals I placed while still in Negros. After a 4 hour wait and numerous questionnaires in the emergency room, we had 2 procedures, one in the nose and one in the back of the throat using swabs and were told we'd get results via email in 1 to 2 days. It cost 6600 pesos each person. As I write this, I haven't received the results, but it hasn't been 24 hours yet.

 

debate over the topic, just my opinion. Philippines had the last years a stable GDP growth of about 6%, our western countries can just dream about such a number. it is still just a number that doesn't explain everything, but it means at least:
- there is money in the country, and quite a lot
- people + companies make money in this country, there are profits.
the simple old problem is: the money and the profits are in the hands of only a few and still so many people here have simply nothing. this problem must be solved. big money must be shared and invested in schools, hospitals, streets etc instead of bombs and weapons. fight tax evasion and corruption consequently. it needs a wise government and a good social contract and general agreement of the people of this country for a change. we foreigners play just a marginal role, we could just be good examples how to run good societies, which we are not.
unfortunately, the Corona crisis will bring the GDP down this year, and many people will face severe problems.

 

I actually started taking notice of the Malinois when I was in the military as it seemed like they were starting to be the breed most used by the K-9 folks. When I worked in Afghanistan it seemed like they were the dog used most searching vehicles coming onto base.

We have 3 Belgian Malinois (and some pure breed pups that need to find their forever homes) as well as some other pure and mix breed dogs...yes, we are dog lovers. Folks will have their favorite breeds but I absolutely love the Belgian Malinois; their loyalty, intelligence and protective nature is tops in my opinion. I haven't retired yet so I am away quite a bit for work so I do feel better knowing I have some dogs that will protect our home and family.

We were planning on eventually putting cameras in and then the wife had some concerns as our area has expanded; normally something I would do myself as I have experience with security systems, but it was a concern and I was not home at the time. A bit pricy and not as clean of an install as I would have done, but the wife is happy to have them. Our system can handle 16 cameras and we currently have 10 so it is on my list to add some more and clean up the original installation...on my list.

I would recommend for anyone worried about break ins and such to consider a CCTV system and a dog or two patrolling their home.

Plus dogs bring so much to your family...I'm watching my pure breed Papillon in his play around the apartment here in Korea as I write this. A gift for my wife when I bring him home in a couple weeks.

Shawn

 

Having lived in Dumaguete 10 years ago for over two years, I can attest Dumaguete has always,(since at least 2006) been a potentially dangerous place. young drug influenced gangs roaming the streets at night, Bloods and Crips, kinda a joke compared to the real ones though. The fraternities are far more dangerous Akro etc. Then you have the drug related ongoing criminal activity which usually does not affect foreigners much, unless you get caught in the crossfire. On top of that there is a very active Muslim mafia here. They run and control many criminal activities and are tied in to the local police, NBI, and the PNP. They have connections in the south and have been known to import "operatives" to Dumagete to pull of a hit or a "job". Then the police, NBI, and ex military guys are running all kinds of games, and criminal activity. This is the largely invisible bad stuff to most foreigners , especially ones who live in Valencia in a safe compound commute to McDonalds for breakfast them scoot home again, with perhaps a weekly foray to the Bvd. for dinner.
just know your surroundings, travel at reasonable times of the day, change your daily/weekly route to the bank, and remember you are the foreigner here, always will be, and the guest of the Philippine people.

 

As a child I was fortunate to be the youngest of four and the only boy. While I grew up my sister one by one left home.
However as their clothes were dresses I never had to wear the hand-me downs!
Climbing trees, fishing in the ditches with a net and jam jar catching tiddlers, my childhood was a happy one.
My schooling was basic but I managed to survive the authoriterian teachers and during my teenage years I never knew what it was like not to have employment.
In my twenty's my first marriage gave me the responsibility I needed to settle down and life has always been a learning curve.
Growing up in the 50/60's was the best time in my life and the memories remain.