Hey Joe!

Another day has come and gone and I sit here thinking of how interesting it is being in Manila. For instance, I decided to do a little shopping in the PowerPlant Mall located across the street from my Joya apartment. I stopped at a local store here by the name of Brand. Upon entering the store I was swarmed by sales people. "Hey Sir, how are you today?", "Hello sir it is so nice to meet you." If you were ever curious how it feels to be accommodated or treated like royalty, then satisfy your concerns with a trip to Manila. I do appreciate being catered to, but to what extent? Can I not go into a store and simply browse their merchandise or go to 7/11 and notice how differently the cashier treats Filipinos in comparison to myself. I guess ultimately being popular is not always what it's cracked up to be. I eventually picked up 4 t-shirts, 2 belts and some under garments, from a deaf salesman who winked at me (sigh) for a whopping P510.00. That's roughly the equivalent of $19.00. Needless to say I love the power of the dollar and in some sense understand why people are so nice to me.

I ended my day with some beers and a movie. 4 beers, P120 $1.25, Pelham 123 (great movie by the way) P200 $4.00. I have a strange feeling that when I return home, I'm not going to be very happy paying NYC prices. I guess I should enjoy it while the gettings good! On my way home, I ran into a group of construction workers who were no taller than 5'11". I decided to greet them and one replied with "Hey Joe". Normally, I would have taken this as offensive, but it is quite common for the locals here to refer to U.S./U.K. expatriates by this term. To make a long story short, the term originates from earlier times when U.S. G.I. "Joes" occupied the Philippines. Hopefully next time I can challenge them to a 1 on 1 basketball game.