Not that things ever are. Here’s the latest.
I believe I mentioned a while back that in lieu of the orphanage I decided to sponsor a woman with five kids living nearby. Over the past few months, there have been some bumps as some of my expectations weren’t satisfied. I think we’ve worked through that so at least for now my support continues. Anyway, the oldest of her children, a 17-year-old daughter, gave birth to a little girl on Christmas eve. Yeah, the cycle of poverty continues. So far at least the father is still in the picture which I suppose is a good thing. Time will tell how this plays out.
So my friend Anna is now a lola (grandmother) and she is from all appearances happy about that. I share her thankfulness that the birth went fine and mother and child are doing well. I got a message from her yesterday afternoon saying they were due to be discharged from the hospital. And oh yeah, could she “borrow” some money to pay the bill. How much I asked? P9300 (just under $200). By any measure, that’s quite a bargain for a birthing and two-day hospital stay. On the other hand, when it comes to Filipino medical care it’s been said you get what you pay for. I asked Anna why the father’s family wasn’t paying the bill and she said all they had was P3000. Well, shit. All I had in my wallet was P5000 so I told her to come and get that. She was grateful for my assistance and I’ll reduce her monthly stipend until it’s repaid, so win-win I guess.
This morning I needed to go to immigration and renew my tourist visa. I had my driver swing by on our way to the grocery store. I filled out my paperwork, turned over my passport, and sat down to wait my turn in the queue. And then I remembered I didn’t have any money in my wallet, having used it for someone else’s hospital bill. I asked if immigration accepted credit card payment and of course, the answer was no. Alright. Off to find an ATM.
First stop was at the mall a few blocks up the street. That machine didn’t accept my card. I told my driver to take me back to the old Navy base. On the way, we passed another ATM from a bank I’ve used before. Pulled over, went through the transaction process, and got a message that the machine was out of service. Damn it. We drive on and come to a bank with an ATM out front, and pulled in there. I was third in line, and the woman in front appeared to have never used an ATM before. Then I noticed my driver pointing next door at another bank so off I trotted. No line, but no go on my card either. It seems only a few banks here are set up for international transactions. Back to the previous bank and my turn comes but once again, the machine would not accept my card.
At this point, I was wondering if something else were amiss. Was my account balance depleted? Had my bank in the USA put a block on my card? Well, nothing I could do about it standing on the street in Olongapo, so I had my driver take me back to immigration to recover my passport. I asked what time they closed (4:30) and when they’d reopen (next year), so I had to get the extension today or be an overstay subject to being fined. I keep some dollars on hand at home for emergencies, so I knew I could go to a money exchange to get the pesos I needed for the visa. But first, we’d take care of the grocery shopping.
Once back on base I had the driver pull into a bank branch I’ve used before for one last try at the ATM. And wouldn’t you know, this time it worked! And I guess my luck was changing as I secured everything I need for my fruit salad the grocery store. Well, I still need to go out and buy fresh coconut and have it shredded. And I have to substitute walnuts for pecans. But by God, I’ve got the sour cream!
Back to immigration where I secured another 30 days of legal status, then headed on back home. What an ordeal!
Oh, and the stye is back. Not sure if it is the same one or a new one. It hurts more this time though. I’ll give it a few days and see what happens before I bother with a doctor again. Otherwise, I’m just feeling a little drained or lethargic or something. No motivation. Didn’t even walk this afternoon.
Hmm, maybe some beers will help. I’ll give it a try and let you know.
Good luck with the stye. You might have to rip your eyelids off, like Bodhidharma did (according to the legend, he didn’t want to fall asleep while meditating, which is why his eyes are huge in those brush paintings: he’s lidless).
I somehow missed the fact that you’re still on a tourist visa. Any chance of gaining permanent-resident status? Seems odd for a man of your years and social position to be reduced to doing visa runs like a twenty-something working semi-legally at a Korean hagweon.
Lola. L-O-L-A, Lola. Lo-lo-lo-lo-Loooola.
Literally how does it work that you can own / rent a house some place in full legal view but still be on a tourist visa? Methinks you are not stuffing the correctly breadthed envelope in the requisite bent pocket.
Stye solutions:
1. Activate the tear duct by watching movies that make you cry or laugh. This will stimulate a whole battery of ocular self defense mechanisms that will include mopping up operations of your excess sebum.
2. Run (or walk at a sweat inducing pace) until you cannot run/walk any more. I once had an eye bacterial infection, hated the thought of yet more meds and hey presto 9km on a treadmill got rid of it within 48 hours. (Drank beer during that period, too -not actually while on the treadmill- which is either proof that beer is good for the eye or that it has only an indifferent effect on eye infections.)
“Sour cream”, by the way, is a perfect sobriquet for the society you seem to be describing in this post.
Bpi never falls me… I can never get the other atms to work.
Fails!
Re: the visa. I qualify for a retirement visa. Even made a trip down to Manila to start the application process. It turned out to be such a bureaucratic fiasco I wound up saying “fuck this”. The tourist visa can be renewed every 60 days for up to three years without ever leaving the country. Of course, I leave a couple of times a year anyway so that restarts the clock. The only real downsides are that I can’t open a local bank account or get a driver’s license on a tourist visa. I’ll likely do the retirement visa at some point, I’ll just hire a “fixer” to deal with all the bullshit.
Well, if I keep applying the hot compress treatment for the stye I’m liable to burn those eyelids off at some point. I’ll take a sweaty walk and see if that helps.
BPI is my go-to ATM in Barretto and was the second ATM I tried yesterday. I think it was just that machine was out of cash. BPI on base is where I finally had success.
Pingback: I don’t need no doctor | Long Time Gone