Chilling in the Philippines-- Guards and recap...

March 29, 2015

Hi everyone, happy new year!  It has been a long time.  After enough people bugging me about it

Suzy and I are back in the US. It was a great almost two years in the Philippines. I will use this blog to recap the last couple months and talk about one of my most favorite memories, the guards.  Lets start with the guards.

In Eastwood City, Security is a constant presence. They are everywhere. Armed security checkpoints, roving patrols with automatic weapons, metal detectors to get into the mall and most restaurants and stores have a guard present at the front door.  Banks always seem to have at least 2 armed guards and they lock the door before and after each person arrives/leaves.

The condo we were in, Eastwood Park Residences, had at least a couple guards at all times. They took great care of us always, and I am proud to call them my friends.  Each and everyone took a personal interest in Suzy and I and we appreciated that. They are great. I was proud that they invited me to their staff Christmas Party.

Outside Eastwood, my first guard experience was with the security at the Wells Fargo office in McKinley Hill. To enter, it was like going to a sporting event, with metal detectors. One guard took time to chat with me, his name is Avellino. I do not know if he is still there, but I hope so.  He was great. I went to that building a few times, trying to get cleared to work there.  He was always there and talked to me. I appreciated that, especially since I was knew to the country.  His name was easy to remember, it reminded me of former Bears QB Bob Avellini. 

I had plenty of time at Eastwood, so I got to make friends with the different guards...

At the taxi stand, sir Mark.  He was great.  I appreciated how he always greeted me as I waited for taxis. I was in line nightly for Suzy and Melissa and sir mark made that time much more enjoyable. 

I didn't go to a popular bar, The Distillery, a lot... but when I did I always made time for a guard I called Tiger. I never knew his name. He was a big, muscular fella that was bald. I knew it was smart to be on his good side.  Occasionally, Id slip him 100 pesos... He always took care of me. Even if I was just walking by... He would always wave or salute.

Spirit Fingers.  My favorite guard at the mall was a fella who would greet me with a huge smile and then give "spirit fingers"... I did not know his name either... But Spirit fingers fits, and those who have been to the mall and run into him, know exactly who I am talking about.

I plan to return to the Philippines as a visitor in 2016. I sure hope my favorite guards are still there.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recap time!

Manny Pacquiao fights Floyd May 2. I sure wish I was going to be in the PH for that, but I will go to a friends who has the fight.  I have a flag of the Philippines ready as I will cheer on Manny.  I have always been a Pac Man fan, and it was a dream come true that I got to meet manny at TGI Fridays.  My man, Zeke, called me one Sunday morning and said, "MANNY PACQUIAO IS AT FRIDAYS, GET DOWN HERE."

So I did. Manny had a quiet dinner  with his family and entourage and then the crowds started showing up. He is the People's champ.  I was honored that he took a moment to have a selfie with me.  

Flying home from the Philippines... I got so sick. and I mean SO sick... First flight is 4 hours from Manila to Tokyo.  Then 12 hours or so from Tokyo to Minneapolis. Final flight is 1 hour from MSP to Des Moines. We checked in like 6 bags--- carry on 4. Vinny was a carry on and that was Suzy's responsibility. Mine was her HEAVY carryon. My Heavy Carryon. and my backpack with our laptops.  The aisles in the planes are tighter than scrooge. Its not like I am tiny-- and I have 3 bags-- I am sorry to all the people I bumped-- sounded like Bugs bunny every time, "excuse me, pardon me, sorry, excuse me..."  Well all those heavy bags and up down tweaked my back. I had bad back spasms on the long flight. Couple that with a terrible stomach ache... oh and the worst turbulence from Tokyo to Minnesota.

One saving grace-- The guy I sat next to, a guy from Kansas City named Jason Flowers, was a drinker.  He kept me laughing. He had at least 15 bottles of Rum.  They cut him off after 4 or 5, but a couple hours later decided to turn him lose. He was fine, until the plane landed-- then it hit him... But it was a joy and he did put up with me getting up every hour.

The staff was great on the flight-- they made me a hot water bottle for my back.  they also gave me some pain reliever.  About halfway through though-- I started getting sick... That did not stop until a day later in Iowa.  The last time I was that vomitous, was in 1992 after the Dairy Queen Hot dog incident.  SIDE BAR-- So in 1992 I was real hungry and Dairy Queen had a $1 hot dog special.  I got 3 hot dogs (the lady working happened to be a classmate of mine from High school). whatever happened, I got so sick. I went to work the next day at the Newton Daily News and we had our standard breakfast at midtown Cafe.  While leaving, I vomited all over the floor there.  The owner came over to me with a mop, and said something to the effect of, "clean it up." so I did.  That was the last time I was that ill.

Back to the story at hand... I do not recommend vomiting in an airplane bathroom.  That was the worst. When we got to our hotel in Ankeny, I christened the parking lot.  Yuck.  48 hours later I was fine. Jet Lagged (takes about 2 weeks for me to get over that), but at least I wasnt sick.

The thing I miss most about the Philippines? My friends, of course and the staff of TGI Fridays.  Being 13 hours behind, I have a tough window. a couple hours in the morning and evening is about it to chat with them.  Fridays staff is changing, which makes me sad. One good friend has moved on and I suspect others will too. It will make my visit next year challenging to see everyone if they are all scattered.

Second thing I miss about the Philippines? Project Pie and their staff.  Granted, one of my favorite managers just got transferred to a different location, but that happens. I miss their pizza. I miss the crew. The corporate office tweeted me some pictures of their pizza.  Thanks...  I can't wait to visit the Project Pies in Denver. at least I  can enjoy the great pizza there.

I also miss the Philippines weather. I land here and things I had forgotten about came back. Chapped lips. Yuck. Dry skin? yuck.  Never had to worry about that.  I also miss cheap movies, living above a mall and bars that are open all night.  Restaurants like Fridays and Agave across the street was nice, too. I miss bowling.  I got bowl a couple times with PBA player Kelly Williams. He was great. Much better bowler than I. 

One thing that never got blogged about, but was mentioned at length by me on twitter, facebook and instagram... walking stairs.  I walked on average 60-100 flights of stairs 6 days a week. Helped me drop about 50 pounds. Nice to come home to clothes I had not worn in years.

Best wishes to my man Al Thornton, a former NBA player who was down in the PBA. His team lost last night to Meralco in the Play-offs. I met him at Fridays and saw him many times around Eastwood. He always had time for me. I hope his future plans go well and wish him the best.

My team, Purefoods, is still in the play-offs. I am happy for that. If anyone hasn't seen it, I recommend googling the blindfolded dunk attempt from my friend Justin Melton in the dunk contest this year.  He shared victory last year. This year not as fortunate, but tried a blindfold dunk. It's worth seeing. I also know that he handled that experience with dignity and class, which he has plenty of both to spare.

I am sure there is more to talk about-- but for now I will go.  I have two good stories from this week I will blog about later on next week.

I join the workforce again tomorrow... nice to be back.

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Chuck

Chilling in the Philippines -- Trip to the USA

I can't believe it has been 2 months since my last blog.

Well today will be doubleheader blog day!

January 31 we left the Philippines to head home for 2 weeks.  I doubt I will ever adjust to the flights.  it is essentially a 24-26 hour event and 18 hours of that is in the air. EACH WAY.  With time adjustments, It makes the trip there a 38 hour day essentially (14 hour difference) with leaving at 7:30 AM and landing at 2:30 pm same day and the trip home a 10 hour day with leaving at 7 am on thursday and arriving at 12:05 AM Saturday.

Flying to DSM--  4 hours from Manila to Tokyo.  Not a bad flight. Good breakfast meal. I watched We're the Millers. Funny. Tokyo airport Narita is nice. They also have the best bathrooms ever. Heated toilet seats, full service bidets. Nice.  Then the flight to Minneapolis. It was not as crowded but 11.5 hours is nuts.  I like tracking the flight to see where we are... at one point we were going 647 MPH with the wind behind us at like 90 MPH. CRAZY.

My plan on a flight of that length is to get up at least 3 times.  We are usually near the back of the plane so it an easy feat to get to the back and stretch.  I only got up once in that flight due to the food service... everytime I wanted to move, a cart was in my way.

We got to Minneapolis and it was noon AND WAY COLD.  I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt and a smile.Weird to think how we have flown 16 hours and the clock is only 4 hours later.

Then a puddle jumper to DSM.  HOME!  We went to Dollar where we reserved a car for 2 weeks.  The lady there (Alex) was super cool and enjoyed that our story. She then let us choose our car-- we went with a Fords Fusion.  They had a brand new taurus, but she said it was rear wheel and didnt want us in that. fair enough. We love Ford Fusions.

We stayed at the Extended stay on Douglas.  I liked having a kitchen ... Before that we did stop at wal mart for hoodies, hats and gloves. Warmth.  Well after one day of the Fusion, we found out that the windshield washer pump was broken so we had to trade our nice car in for an ok Mitsubishi mirage... Not the same. 

Des Moines was great. Great seeing all the people I did. Weather did not disappoint. It snowed and was cold. Thank you, Mother Nature.

after 5 days in DSM, we were off to Columbus, Nebraska, to see Suzy's parents.  Columbus is a nice town and we had a great time. After 4 days there... We were off to Colorado, time to stay at Suzy's brother and see my parents.    Colorado was great.  I like visiting there very much.  Although I have a lot of friends in the denver area, I don't think I could ever live there, but its nice to visit. Went to my 1st brewery tour and got to see how beer is made.

--Driving in the US vs. Driving in the Philippines.

Now I have not yet driven here.  Probably won't. But its different.  People use their horns in America as a way to voice displeasure. They flip people off and have severe road rage.  In the Philippines, horns are used as a communication device. "Hey, Im going to cut you off!" "I am on your left"... etc. etc... They will drive 5 wide on a three lane road.  Cutting someone off is a way of life on the roads. That could never happen in America.  American drivers take everything personal, I am learning from being over here... it isnt personal at all.  I hate getting cut in front of, but it isn't personal here.  In America a lady was cutting inadvertently ahead of me, and said-- oops sorry-- I am not trying to cut in front of you... I said, "No worries... I live in the Philippines. It happens all the time. I am used to it."

--Flying home

Due to the storms in the South, it affected our flights out.  We were supposed to go Denver-Seattle-Tokyo-Manila. Well the first flight was delayed so we had to re-route.  Denver-Detroit-Japan-Manila.  That added a few hours to our trip. It made the long stretch 13 hours instead of 9 from seattle. The cool part from Detroit was that we went up and over to japan. We went over the North Pole.  it was cool looking out the window and seeing that area. No Santa... but potentially saw his workshop...

On that flight I did  get up often. One, I needed to stretch. Two, I was on the left aisle of a 3-4-3 rows of seats plane. the two to my left was a guy and 3 year old son from North Dakota. He was of Filipino descent, on his way back to Manila for his Dad's funeral and they had to get up a few times. Three, there were these ladies from Japan behind me who were kicking my seat and being very vocal.  After one time I got up -- the lady behind me started acting all crazy-- the one glass of wine she had must have affected her.  Well the staff tried to help but she would not be helped.  so I stayed back and stood for an hour.  There was a tall guy back there and he stood by me most of that time and just read his bible.

We landed in Japan and it was just a short layover to Manila. I had the same seat by the same people on that flight but since there was considerably fewer people, I moved back to an open seat to give them more room.

Someday I will figure out how to sleep on a plane.  40 or so hours on a plane this trip anmd maybe I slept for an hour total.  It leaves me a little loopy, which leads to my next blog...

Take care of yourselves everyone and appreciate each day we have.  I sure appreciate all of you.

Chuck