10. Water pressure -- compared to Philadelphia, the water pressure here generates about as much force as pouring tea.

9. Roads -- since I ride road bikes, I tend to observe road surface conditions. They really suck here.

8. Help -- a friend from Minneapolis via Bangkok called them "staff." They change every daily routine from meals (it's magically there!) to laundry (pressed t-shirts! which I put an end to) to loading up your car.

7. Roads 2 -- every driver in Manila is either a dick or an idiot. Actually, there's the kind that's both.

6. Pollution -- one must learn to trust air they *can* see.

5. People Everywhere -- you can't walk a straight line anywhere you go.

4. DVDs -- then again, you can just stay home and watch King Kong off a critic's DVD copy.

3. Cheap labor -- went to the local bike shop to get a flat fixed (see #9 above). A dime to change the tyre and inner tube, and a buck fifty to swap handlebars. Trust me, that's cheap.

2. Food Everywhere -- ube, among many others.

1. Things to do -- there's always something else to do (like meeting up with friends and relatives) other than watching those damn football games.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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It's exactly why Maurice Arcache and Johnny Litton have been kicked out of any relevant media -- in a country where too many live in poverty, flashing straight white teeth, toasting champagne and calling people "dahlings" on live television will get you in trouble. Here, so devoid of any literary value, this piece might as well be porn.

More laughter and chika as our possé arrived. There were lots of flashbulbs going off, mostly from Jo Ann's new digicam which she brought just for the occasion. We were getting a real kick out of playing photographer and model, as we tried out different poses.

Can "posse" and "chika" really coexist? Apparently so with the PDI.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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But how I wish they were all Virgin Atlantic.

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Many people are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter what the greeting inside. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."

Of course, it's the President's way of saying "Happy Christmahannukwanzaa" but no one really gets that. The National Council of Churches has even spoken against businesses such as Target and Land's End because they've "lost the will to say "Merry Christmas"."

Donohue said that Wal-Mart, facing a threatened boycott, added a Christmas page to its Web site and fired a customer relations employee who wrote a letter linking Christmas to "Siberian shamanism." He was not mollified by a letter from Lands' End saying it "adopted the 'holiday' terminology as a way to comply with one of the basic freedoms granted to all Americans: freedom of religion."

"Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas," Donohue said. "Spare me the diversity lecture."

I don't know if that 96% really observes the birth of Christ, but I'm sure they're all happy to take the holiday. Apparently, saying "Xmas" is not the same as saying "Happy Holidays." Assuming that "Xmas" is politically-correct (and that that would make Donahue et al even more upset) is, well, incorrect. In the 16th c, Christian's started abbreviating "Christ" with "X" because Christ's name in Greek is "Xristos" and the Greek letter "X" henceforth is a monogram for the Big J. Later on, and since not everyone knows this bit of Greekness, Christians actually thought the abbreviation was dissing on the Christ.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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My students had a send-off (what we would call "despedida") for me on my last day of class. They had put together pizza, soda, juice, chips and salsa, and this cake, which I cherished to the last smear of icing.

My best to all my students. I will miss you too.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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On two occasions, met up with people that have been invisible for quite a while. My brother was in town for a conference, so he stayed over and we had fun with our cameras and ipods (don't ask). By the way, he's also on the no-fly list which really didn't come as a shock. We also met up with a friend from Manila, who has relocated back to DC via Bangkok. My mother made him pecan pie, which she handcarried to Bangkok from Manila for him. He obediently ate the pie, and shipped the pie plate along with all his stuff back to DC. Now that I have the pie plate, I am burdened with the mission to complete the circle by handing it back to my mother who is eagerly awaiting it's return.

We would have our first major snowstorm today, which means I'll be holed up here and can look forward to resuming regular blogging activities. Garci's back, and those pics are really funny.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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