There is a joke here in the Philippines that Christmas starts an the end of August. Well,, I am a certain witness to that! Today is November 24 - one month until Christmas Eve and while decorations have been up in the mayors office for months and Christmas songs (traditional american and filipino both) play over the internet all day every day... I came to work today to realize that these gestures were just preliminary to the big show... they are pulling out the big guns today! There are lights everywhere in the lobby and I am excited to see how the whole thing ends up.
Actually, the whole Xmas thing bothers me much less here than it does back home. Because here... it seems to be done in the spirit of true celebration, without all the commercialism and pressure to buy buy buy. You don't see Santa Claus here a whole lot. In the packing I did before I left, I included a few gifts for the friends who I knew I would meet here. I had initially planned on passing them out early, as a sort of gesture. But, I have resisted until I could determine how to best use them. I mean, they are little things... a childs dress, a tshirt, playing cards, crayons and coloring book, that sort of stuff. I even carried across two plates decorated with popular american sayings like "home is where the heart is". I want pass these out to the people (mostly children) whom have become the most friendly to me. But there are so many here in that category... I now have another dilemma.... how to give to some, and not to all. All told I think I have about 7 gifts... so, I need to save a few pesos and do a little Christmas shopping! I mean, thats half the number of children alone who acknowledge me daily, with their smiles and giggles and high fives and "hey americano!" comments. Then there's adults I have gotten to know who I feel the need to share gifts at this time of year. The budget squeezed quite tight right now!
Speaking of budget, since Ive been talking to a few PCVs and RCRVs lately, Ive come to understand that quite a few frequently supplement their PC budget as they feel the need. Truth be told, I have done this as well: All airplane tickets and hotel purchases since my arrival have been paid for with either US money I brought with me, or put on credit. Beyond that, I use willpower to not exceed my PC allowance. Some of this is stubbornness on my part, but most of it is because I know my lovely wife is having her own PC experience in Ahwatukee, AZ, living as she does on such a extremely tight budget!
Oh... I have a correction to make: In a previous post I described my experience eating balut with Steve Balut... but I made a mistake! Balut is not a chicken, but a duck! So, I ate a partially formed duck out of its egg! Had to make that clear!
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