Japan

Well I've been in Japan for a week and a half so I figured it's time for a blog post. As some of you may have noticed I took a one month detour in Philippines before heading to Japan. I won't get into all of that.
If you follow my posts of Facebook then you will know that Davao city in the Philippines was recently bombed. I thank God that I had left a week earlier. The market that the explosion happened at was less then a block from the hotel I stayed at when I arrived at Davao. I went to the market area during the day one time but didn't see much as it's a night market.
The first problem with Japan is that most of the signs are in Japanese. I know, I know, duh Bill but alot of countries have signs in their native language as well as English. I know the Hiragana which kind of like their alphabet. It's 46 symbols representing one or two letters. I'll attach a photo so you can get the idea. If that wasn't confusing enough they also have the Katakana. Also 46 symbols that I need to learn. Plus to add to the total confusion they have the Kanji which is Chinese based character system with over 3,000 symbols. If the sign is in Hiragana I can pronounce the words but have no idea what the heck they mean. However they will mix all 3 together on the sign so I don't have a pray understanding these signs.
I've been studying Visaya, which is the language of the central Visaya region of the Philippines. I've memorized about 250 words but still have a hard time making a logical sentence. So you may be asking " Bill why are a moron and studying Visaya while you are in Japan?". The answer is that my old brain has enough trouble learning one language. As an example I went by myself to McDonald's for my dinner tonight. The person spoke to me in Japanese and I started answering in Visaya. The person had a puzzled look and then spoke some in English. This is the only person outside of Berna who has spoken any english to me.
The place where i'm staying is nothing like I pictured Japan to be. I pictured something like a scene from the movie Bladerunner. It's a very quiet place here in Ojiya. I think there is like 36,000 people here but don't quote me. The building design is NOTHING like I thought it would be. No oriental influence. Just plain square looking buildings. I know that they have a lot of earthquakes and typhoons here but what about some feng shei or wang chung or whatever it's called.
As many of you know they drive on the left side of the road. I'm still getting use to that. It even effects you when you're walking as the cars come out you from a weird direction. Ok it's time for a little confession: When Berna is driving and we round the corner and another car is coming (they will be in our right hand side) I freak out a little bit. Normally rounding a corner and a car in the right hand lane back in USA spells problems.

Hiragana Chart of symbols

Ojiya or Mayberry

Kadayawan Festival

Today is the Kadayawan festival here in Davao city. Don't know what the name means but every town or city has a festival yearly it seems. When I first arrived at the festival the TV crew wanted to interview me about my opinion of the festival from a foreigner prospective. Since I had just arrived I told them I had no opinion yet and to catch me later. I has alone and the female reporter couldn't believe I was alone. Most foreigners already have a girlfriend or wife before they come to the Philippines.
OK it was init (hot) and crowded. The I's in Visaya are pronounced like an E so init sounds like E neat or close close to that. I felt sorry for those kids wearing those costumes, walking a few miles in the heat then having to perform before the judges. It does my soul good to see kids remembering their heritage. I'll include a few photos so you can see the bright colored outfits they are wearing in a 105 degree heat index.

Day at the beach

Today I wanted to chill so I went to the beach. I decided to go to a small beach resort in the next town over. The town is called Toril and the beach resort is called Mergrande. The sand at this beach is almost black and the beach could use a cleaning but since it only costs a little over 50 cents to enter and they have a swimming pool so i'm good to go. The surf was a little high today with waves sometimes over my head so I stayed out of the ocean. As a tip for you world travelers, don't swim the in ocean by any city. You will sometimes see raw sewage dumped in the water so swim at your own risk. The problem with the beaches in the Philippines is there is always someone trying to sell you something. They try to sell you pearls on a lot of the beaches. Being of the white skin clan I get a special price. Haggle, haggle, haggle if you want a fair price.
After spending 30 minutes watching the waves and walking the beach it's time for the pool. Since it's a weekday I have the pool to myself for the first hour. I've included photos so you will know what your 50 cents buys you. After awhile a family shows up and also swims. Eventually one of the kids says Hi. I started speaking to them in the local language (Visaya) and they look at me funny as they aren't from around here and only speak Tagalog. As my Tagalog is very limited we speak in English. I know about 100 words in Visaya and it's growing daily. As a note there are a couple of dialects of Visaya and can be called Visaya, Bisaya, Cebuano and a couple more names I forget.
Before I end this I wanted to share a story. I had just finished eating at Jollibee (think McDonalds with a Filipino view) and was trying to walk out of the room. A little boy of 4 has opening and closing the sliding glass door and almost banged me with the door. He stuck out his hand and I thought he wanted to shake my hand. He shook his head no so I knew he wanted to bless me. He sticks out his hand and touches my forehead with the back of his hand. It's a blessing and a sign of respect a lot of the kids do here. Now imagine getting your kids to bless you as a sign of respect in America. Can you say unicorns. Just doesn't exist.

Sinulog, camera, and cocks

It's the time of the big festival here in Cebu called sinulog. It's a festival to Santo Nino , the baby Jesus. It draws a couple million vis

Are you sure we aren't lost

itors every year. Yesterday we were part of the procession. We walked a couple of miles by talking a few steps then stopping while waiting for the people ahead to start walking. Nothing like a walk with a few hundred thousand of your closest friends. It was a different experience that I'll never forget.
 I wish I had my camera ready at a moments notice but having electronics out like that is just asking for someone to borrow it. Things that I've seen but couldn't get camera out in time: a guy carrying a goat while driving a motorcycle, 4 adults on a motorcycle at one time (these are small 100 to 125 cc motors), a guy sticking a stick in his jeepney gas tank to check for gas, more guys peeing in public then I care to think about, two year old standing on the gas tank and holding on the handle bars while dad drives, ten and eleven years old kids selling cigarettes.
The women here are jealous of their husbands cock. I don't mean Mr happy but the male chicken. Cock fighting is very big and can make the owner big money. I've seen them hold the chicken like it was a baby. Grooming it and talking to it. Yes people cock envy is alive in the Philippines.

Bohol part 2

Second day was alot like the first day. Hit the beach then explore on

the motorcycle. Not alot to write about so I'll addmore photos

Gambas... Shrimp with scrambled eggs. Easily the best Filipino dish I've had and served on a banana leaf

View of traffic by the park

They have alot of old Spanish church's here.

The attack of the tourists

Panglao island view from the road

View of Bohol

Another view from Bohol. Just to the left of the photo was a goat. He was camera shy.

Having Saturday mass at the pier. Don't see that in USA anymore

My trusty stead. We had alot in common. We both have alot of miles and our suspension is shot. We both are hard to start in the morning.

Beach's made to relax on. Looks very crowded.

Bohol part1

Yesterday  I took a trip to the island of Bohol. Since Bohol is the next big island from Cebu I took a boat. They call them fastcraft. They aren't fast but not slow either. After the 1 1/2 hour boat ride I arrived in Bohol at the city called Tagbilaran. This is a tourist destination so you are immediately inundated with people selling things. I just kept saying "dili" which means no and kept walking. I rented a scooter at the main road. I haven't rode a cycle since I swore off cycles after Rick Cockrum death but its the best way around the island with freedom. After a good nights sleep at a motel with a view of the ocean for $18 a night it was time to explore and hit the beach. The best beaches are on the next island over so I studied the map and away I went. I m not afraid of getting lost much so explorer Bill is on the road. First beach was Dumaluan beach and it was awesome. It's what I pictured a tropical beach to be like. After that I went to Alona beach. It's a known worldwide beach that was a disappointment. It was crowded and foreigners everywhere.

The first two beachare of Dumaluan and next two are Alona. Last photo is sunset from the balcony of my motel.

Cost of living

I just wanted to give everyone the cost of living here in the Philippines. This is my rough budget and will give you an idea of the costs but your mileage my vary.
The current exchange rate is 47 pesos to a dollar. I'll quote both peso and dollar.
Rent.  8200. $ 175.00 I got the larger room for 700 pesos a month more
Electric 1000 $22.30. I used the aircon about 5 times for a couple of hours. Electricity is about twice as high then USA
Water. 90 $1.92. Water is cheap but don't drink it.
Phone  500. $10.63. Having WiFi at the apartment saves here
Visa. 3500. $74.46. Government loves their fees.
That's comes out to 13290 pesos or $ 282.76
I give myself 1000 pesos a day to eat, entertain, misc. For example of the average day which includes eating out 3 times a day see below. So 1000 X 30= 30000 or $ 638.30
Breakfast. 60. $1.38
Lunch. 88. $1.87
Trike both ways to terminal. 14. $0.30
V-hire both ways. 60. $1.28. Takes me to to big mall
Jolibee orange Mango sundae  29. $0.62. I know I have an addiction problem.
Dinner. 220 $5.33. This is the most I've spent for a meal. This is a sit-down resto with waiters
Massage.  250. $5.32. I'm worth it.

That comes to 721 pesos or $15.34. I use the extra for whatever. Like I bought a shirt for 149 pesos or a little over $3.00. I'm not starving and enjoy eating out. This will give you an idea of what living on less than $1000 a month looks like.

Everyday life

Nothing exciting to write about. Not that my previous writings will win the Pulitzer prize. So I just decided to add some photos. First two photos are of my walk from the main road to my apartment. Scary at night. Third is the Ayala mall courtyard that I went to today. Fourth and fifth are the public market, this place is busy at night. Last one is of SM mall cebu.

New year's eve

I spent new year's eve with April at her family. We went to her aunts and uncles home in Talisay. It is customary to bring a gift for the hostess so we bought some wine and a cake. Talisay may look very close on the map but it takes two hours to go the short distance.   It's about 7 miles but since I don't have transportation of my ownroad made it a religious experience.

two hours for the seven miles.
Cebu is known for there lechon. It's a whole roasted pig. You can buy smaller amounts instead of the whole pig. It's not bad at all but I could use some of masterpiece BBQ sauce. When I go and see April's relatives they want to stuff me with food. Now I know I'm not wasting away but if you have ever been to a feedlot that thought comes to mind.
What would good food be without drinking. I had some beer and wine but not to much. Family get togethers consist of food and drinking. People were very nice to me.  They spoke mainly visayan so I didn't understand most of what they were saying. Sometimes they would talk to me in English or April would interpret.
Fireworks are a very big part of the celebration. The next door neighbor rolled out a string of firecrackers 150 feet long then lit it. It seemed like it took forever for it to finish.I have a crappy photo of it, sorry about the quality. The place turned into a war zone at midnight. April was excited to see fireworks since the city she is from doesn't allow them. Only problem was she would run away and scream when they started. So I don't get into trouble lets just change April's name to Megan. About 1:45 it was time to go home. One of April's cousins took us down to the main road to pickup a taxi. The taxi ride only took 30 minutes and was what you would call a tent revival because you thought you were going to see Jesus. Driving at speeds of up to 55 mph and dodging drunk people walking in the middle of the road