As I wrote in a post a few days ago I have started my online course for teaching English as a Second Language or as it is also called Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages or TESOL. I am taking two courses for certification, both online, and if you think that such courses are a piece cake let me tell you what is required.

For one of my certifications, there are 3 textbooks and 4 e-books. I have 25 assignments to finish. Of those 25, twenty of them are general written assignments that have to be 2-3 pags long. The remaining 5 require that I write 5 lesson plans for teaching a 45 minute class for each. The final assignment is a thesis and anyone who has taken post-graduate work knows that a thesis is not finished in a week or two. It takes that long to come up with the subject. The second course is about the same but only has two textbooks and I don’t think a thesis is required. That and two lectures per week makes this one of the hardest subjects I have ever attempted. When I looked at the course material and requirements I just let out a gasp and my wife giggled because she knows I love doing schoolwork. But in the end, after watching this video on TESOL you will understand it is all worth it!

Culture Shock is the name of a blog written by Kristie an expat who is living in Norway. I have mentioned her site in a previous post when she interviewed Bruce, an expat living in the Philippines. On Kristie’s site she interviews expats from and in different countries and asks the same questions. In her interview with Bruce she talked about his life in the Philippines through the eyes of an American. In her latest interview she is talking with Missy, a filipina living in Canada.

Many of the things Missy related concerning the Culture Shock she experienced I can attest to because they were some of the same things my wife experienced when moving to the US. Likewise there are some things that she talked about that I will not miss when moving to the Philippines.

Missy talks about in her first days moving to Canada she saw an elderly lady waiting for a bus. She said she was shocked to see this because in the Philippines older family memebers are cared for and taken places by their younger family members. This is one of the things I know I will appreciate in my older days. I know that my neices and nephews will respect me enough to take care of me and not feel I am a burden. Missy says at one point she knows she will take care of her parents because that was the way she was raised but isn’t sure that her children, which were raised in Canada won’t institutionalize her when she grows old.

Further on in the story Missy says she commented to the elderly lady saying “You are old, How old are you?” meaning it as a compliment. The elderly lady felt insulted and let her know it was none of her business. Now this is one thing I will have to get used to in the Philippines. I felt insulted the last time I went to the Philippines when one of my relatives commented “Uncle you are fatter than the last time I saw you”. She did not realize that in the US this was an insult and even though I knew she meant it as a compliment I didn’t take it as such.

Anyway I don’t want to steal away from Krisite’s interview so I will just recommend that you visit her site, Culture Shock  and read for yourself. Maybe you should do like I do and subscribe to her feeds so you don’t miss any of the posts.

Just wanted to update you all on a couple of topics that I posted earlier in my blogging career. The first one is the more recent one and it concerns my choice of trying out for English as a Second Language certification.

I have picked the company in which I will obtain my certification for teaching English as a Second Language and it is The American TESOL Institute. I choose them because my investigation returned nothing but good things about this company from their teaching methods to their job placement. So as soon as everything goes through I will be starting my online courses on teaching ESL to children and teaching ESL for business.

The second topic I have an update about is concerning my wife’s decision on whether to request dual citizenship status. We have decided and sent in the proper paperwork after weighing the pros and cons. If you’d like to learn more about the whole dual citizenship procedures please visit my August 4th, 2008 post on this blog. One warning, if you are in the US please visit the Philippine Embassy or Consular website for the area you live in as the paperwork seems to differ from place to place.

Thanks to one of the readers of this site I am here to tell you that this years American Idol has one of the top 36 who is of Filipino descent. Her name is Arianna Afsar from San Diego, California. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Arianna:

“Arianna Afsar (born October 22, 1991) is a 17 year old from San Diego, California. She auditioned in Phoenix, Arizona, singing “Put Your Records On“, by Corinne Bailey Rae. When she was 12 years old, she founded a program called “Adopt A Grand-Friend”, where teenagers go to a nursing home and spend time with the elderly and perform for them. Afsar is a former Miss California’s Outstanding Teen and placed first runner-up at the 2006 Miss America’s Outstanding Teen pageant. She is of Filipino and Arab American descent.”

Since I now have a homegirl to cheer on it will make watching Simon, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and the new judge a little more enjoyable. My second choice would have to be Danny Gokey  a praise and worship music director from Milwaukee whose wife passed away four weeks before his audition. He is very talented and has a nice story.

Anyway check out Arianna’s Fan site and let’s cheer her on and see if she can go further than any other American Idol contestant of Filipino descent. I’ve added a video below of her singing.

I can assure you I don’t watch much American television except for the sports so that will be one thing I won’t miss when I move to the Philippines. I know there is satellite but I’m not sure I will want to pay that expense since my TV is hardly on while I’m here in the states anyway. The sports events are all covered online so I will be able to follow them that way. Right now my wife and I would rather watch the Filipino shows like Tayong Dalawa and Pieta from the ABS-CBN site because we can watch them anytime of day. Watching WOWOWEE at my leisure is so much better than watching any of the US sitcoms that litter the airwaves here. There is just so much to do outdoors in the Philippines anyway that satellite TV would be an expense that we could do without.

One show I do watch here in the US is American Idol which brings me back to the topic. One part I have enjoyed over the last couple of seasons has been that at least one person with ties to the Philippines has progressed pretty close to winning. We have Camile Velasco from a while back and Jasmine Trias also. Who could forget Ramiele Malubay last year? Maybe I’m the one missing something but I don’t see anyone representing the Filipino or Fil-Am community this year. I believe one young lady Jennifer Samoranos was on TV but didn’t advance. Am I right? Could this be the first year in awhile where I will not have someone with Filipino ties to root for?

Some of you may remember Louden, an American who moved to the Philippines a while back without first visiting and it turned into a mini disaster and he had to return to the States. I really worried about his attitude towards the Philippines due to his situation and his leaving a wife behind when he left. You may also remember that Louden returned to the Philippines a short while later better prepared the second time around. I have been keeping an eye on his blog and seeing how the second time around worked out for him and I am happy to say it looks like he’s adjusted quite well. Please visit his blog American Life in the Philippines and check out the pictures and stories he has to share.

Yesterday while reading one of the blogs/sites that are on my daily must read list I came across a post from my online friend Bruce of American in Davao. It seems he was interviewed by an ex-pat living in Norway whose name is Kristie. She is interviewing ex-pats from around the world for her site Cultureshock.

In her interview with Bruce she asked some very interesting questions and I learned much more about Bruce than I knew from his previous posts. I don’t know if any of the questions were edited or copied word for word but I would like to thank Bruce for letting me and his readers know a little more about him.

If you wouldn’t mind I would like to take a couple of Kristies questions and answer them from my own point of view. Since I don’t live there right now I will omit the questions that I couldn’t be qualified to answer but my answers come from living in the Philippines for almost ten years in the 70’s and 80’s and spending much time there in the last few years.

What do you like/dislike about your new home overseas?  I think the Philippines is a rich country. Although perceived as a Third World Country the Philippines has something that nobody else has, that is the Filipino people. They are the most caring and happy people I have ever met. As far as dislike I would have to say there is small percentage of Filipinos who exploit the same thing that I liked about the Philippines and that is the people.

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get a job in the country you are now living in? Yes, it is very difficult to find a job that would pay enough for you to live on so it would be best to try to find some way of making a living in the online community. You could possibly open a business in the Philippines but you will have to adjust to a different way of running that business due to cultural matters.

Other than the couple of questions I answered I think Bruce answered about the same way I would so I suggest you check out Kristie’s and Bruce’s sites for a very interesting read.

When I was stationed at Subic Bay in 70’s and 80’s a Philippine haircut was something you didn’t want to get. Let’s just say nothing above the waist was cut and it wasn’t done by a licensed barber. But after I was stationed there for awhile I started going to a small barber shop for my weekly haircut to conform to Navy regulations. Although the Americans hair was a little different than Asian hair the barbers did an outstanding job. Throw in the neck and back massage and the neck cracking and you had the makings of a real haircut in my book. And I can’t leave out the shave with a straight razor which always had thoughts running through my mind of what could happen if this guy was having a bad day or didn’t like Americans.

These haircuts were just the same kind of haircuts my father or grandfather got in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s and they probably paid the same, about $1. These days in the States the small barbershops are far and few between and a good haircut costs $7-10. If there is not a small barbershop close by you will end up going to a hairdresser and paying upwards of $20 per cut.

In the Philippines I understand the small barbershop is still around, more so than in the States and the price hasn’t changed that much. You still get the great service and personal attention that I believe is one of the best things about the Philippines. One of the first items on the agenda when getting back to my home in Laguna is to find the best small barbershop around. There are a couple of malls within trike or walking distance of my house so I will have to pass them up in my quest and find that hidden gem within the small shops surrounding Pavillion and SM malls. Anyone know of any good shops in that area?

When we decided to move to the Philippines there became the issue of transportation. After spending a while back there last year it was decided that we will need our own auto. We like to travel around Luzon and the general area where our house is too much to depend on public transportation or family members. Of course, being a man this made me happy because I would get to do one of my favorite things, shop for a car.

I have been researching prices and trying to decide whether to buy new or used and what model or type of vehicle I would want. My research is limited because I am currently in the US and I am using the Internet for my information. What I have found so far is that similar to my tastes on US cars I would prefer to buy a used car with a few years and a few miles on it over a new car. In the type of vehicle I want, which would be something that would carry five or more passengers comfortably a used vehicle would cost me in the 500-700k Php range as a new one would cost well over 1 million pesos. I prefer used because most of the kinks have been worked out.

The reason I’m talking about buying a vehicle in the Philippines and the title of the post is Importing a Car to the Philippines is because I’m getting my ammunition for my case against my wife. You see she has a beautiful fire engine red 2001 Pontiac Grand Am which has not given us any major problems so far. In fact, for a 2001 model figuring average 15-20,000 miles average per year you would think it should have mega mileage but actually it has around 50K on it and she takes very good care of it. She wants to take it to the Philippines thus my research on whether to import this car or buy one there.

You heard what I’m looking for and how much it would cost now comes the part on how much it would cost to import the car. First off, from my research I think it can’t be done. On the site Movers.com I’ve found that cars over 5 years old are restricted from importing into the Philippines. I rest my case! But looking into some other restrictions I can how it would be almost impossible even if the care was newer. Besides the owner having to be in the Philippines for delivery the restriction on gasoline fueled cars is 2,800cc not over 1,500 kg. This heavy 6 cylinder US gas guzzler far exceeds the limits on vehicles that are legal for import.

You have to understand that making it easy for people to import cars into the Philippines would cut down on those who would buy a car in the Philippines. My main concern though would be availability of parts, including tires to repair this car although there are repair shops for the major models in the Manila area but the parts must be shipped from the US. This is where balikbayan boxes could be utilized but then you would have to have a contact in the US for that.

If you are considering importing a car to the Philipppines I suggest that you look at the duties and taxes for doing such. From what I find the duties can be as high as 100% of value for the vehicle plus various taxes, bribes, and such. The good news on this front is the restrictions and fees are much less for the Hybrid and alternative fuel type cars although I’m sure the parts and fuel availabillty issues rise again.

In the end I am going to present this to my wife and steer her to sites such as Auto Trade Center Philippines and Buy and Sell Philippines. I’m sure she will enjoy shopping for our next vehicle in the Philippines and the Red Grand Am will stay in the US.

Wait don’t leave this post just because it doesn’t look like a Philippines post, just bear with me it does. I have been a Steeler fan for over 40 years (yes I’m that old). I have been with them through THE Glory Days (see Bruce Springsteen’s halftime show) of the 70’s and the not so glory days. Anyway you can imagine how happy I am that they are now World Champions once again. Watching them play will be one of my biggest regrets of moving to the Philippines but there is always internet watching. 

I watched the majority of the six hour pre-game show the highlight of course was when I saw one of my favorite pinoy performers, Arnel Pineda perform. This had to be one of the highlights of Arnel’s singing career. There were millions of viewers and I’m wondering if he realizes what the scope of this performance was. Even better two announcers were commenting on Journey after they were done singing and one of them commented that former NFL football player Tiki Barber had told him a very interesting story about Journey’s current lead singer’s rise to fame. So many props to Arnel yesterday. See I told you this had something to do about the Philippines. See a video of Arnel and Journey at the Superbowl below: