I've been back only 5 days, and I'm already whining about several things repeatedly.

1. The heat: oppressive. You feel like a lasagna noodle.

2. My DSL connection. Well, I did have it disconnected, and now, it's to be reconnected. They're waiving my reconnection fee (nice) and giving me a month free (nicer), but they say it will take them 2 to 3 weeks to have the service up. I thought that all it would take was to throw the switch back on again, but it seems that, like every other company here in Manila, they have their own versions of red tape. So, now, I'm on dialup from home.

3. The water: I know you can't drink the tap, but even the Brita-ed water is thicker and harder tasting than the water I got used to drinking in Philadelphia. I'm sure the Philly water is worse, but it sure tasted better.

4. Allergies: Goddammit, I feel like unscrewing my nose and leaving it behind everywhere I go. I'm on all sorts of antihistamines and am on Nasonex, but all of them seem ineffective to the sudden temperature changes, the dust mites and the pollen that swirl in the heat.

5. The traffic: I never got used to it. No one does. In the Philippines, it's death and traffic. Some people get away with not paying their taxes.

6. Which brings me to: government. Although I was served exceedingly well, and made very happy at the Land Transportation Office (I got my license renewed in under 90 minutes), reading the newspaper, watching the daily news, and just plain looking outside the window reminds me of how much Filipinos could have accomplished had their own government not gotten in the way (or done their job and helped). I heard a story of a cutflower exporter who, for the last 10 years, has been paying annual taxes to the tune of about 60% of all her gross income -- and has never received a single receipt. All that is making someone very happy.