In the past while living in the Philippines I adjusted to the way of life there. It was laid back and you never had to hurry anywhere because you were on Filipino time. But alas I moved to the states and got back into the rat race where you hurried from place to place and tried to be in two places at one time. You had to have fast food, fast cars, and an overall fast paced life. When I decided to move back to the Philippines I had to adjust my attitude and began looking at life as most Filipinos would. I am pretty well adjusted now and think that when the move happens I will be ready.

A test of that change came recently when working with the Philippine Embassy on my wife’s paperwork for dual citizenship and that test isn’t over yet. We submitted our paperwork February 16 and haven’t heard anything back from them. By talking to some folks that frequent this blog I have found out that 2 months is a long time compared to their waiting time. After waiting for two months I decided to call the numbers given on the application. I reached the Embassy switchboard and was given options and I picked the correct option. I was sent to a number that rang a few times and a message came on telling me that nobody was there, even though it was working hours, and that I was” being referred to a voice mail BUT the person at that extension did not subscribe to voice mail”. So I tried again and after getting the recording a few times I actually reached an operator that asked who did I want to talk to. I told her and was promptly sent to the recording about voice mail again. I tried for a few days and the next time I got the operator I explained my problem and told her not to send me to voice mail. Instead, she took all the information and promised to have someone get in touch with me, a week ago. I tried the email route and the email address provided in the paperwork is not a valid email address.

I’m not writing this post as a call for help but to brag that I believe I passed the test on attitude because previously I would have lost my temper and probably tried to get in touch with the Ambassador after spewing a few choice words. I’m getting there but I hope we hear from them soon as I don’t want to become the obnoxious American I used to be.