(First published in Small World Ezine on 11 November 2002 as "My Last Christmas")
It's almost Christmas again. How was your last Christmas?
People in the Philippines start celebrating Christmas since
October. Now the whole country is covered with the joyful
songs, decorations, and happy faces.
About this time last year, I had to renew my Philippine
resident visa.
As most of you may have already known. I am a Thai who live
in the Philippines. Although my husband is a Filipino,
getting and extending my visa is always a pain!
Because I live outside Manila, and I and my husband are both
teachers who have fixed schedule to follow, finding the
time to go to Manila is not easy. And since there is no
information or application form available to public, we had
to get to the Immigration Office to get the blank forms and
requirement list. Then we come back to gather the needed
documents (rule change often), and come back the next week
to submit the application. And we have to come back again
and again to see if it's approved. If so, it's another day
to pay and another day to get certificates and stamps in my
passport.
This is such a pain. Only if we can send somebody else on
some days they don't need our appearance, it's best. So I
decided to talk to an immigration agency, and ask them to
just get the forma and submit the papers for us. I was going
to do the rest.
The promised minimal fee of the agency turned turned out to
be almost $200! Just to hand the application form to the
officer at the submission counter! The guy's transportation
could not be more than $2, including lunch. And the
submission takes him not more than one minute!
He said he had to pay "under table"!
I don't know what kind of under table it was because I had
done nothing wrong. And I was not in a rush either.
And we were so dumb we forgot to add all the fees up. We
knew it was too high, but did not know it was THIS high.
When we found out we felt so bad we gave them the money.
I felt we were stupid. I felt Filipinos were greedy and
selfish. I felt I was in a bad country where all natives
were looking forward to ripping off all foreigners they'd
come across. I felt only if my husband had contacts in a
high place, we wouldn't be like this. I felt the world was
not fair. And I just wanted to return home to Thailand where
people can get all the information from the government
easily.
I was complaining and pouting while my husband drove us
home. It was a hot day, and the heat had just made me more
moody.
As if it weren't enough, our car air-con broke down. And
it's not possible to continue the trip in a moving oven. We
had to stop at a nearby garage to get the air-conditioner
fixed.
At the garage, I told my husband to ask for a written
quotation first, and to never in any circumstance pay an
extra. Then when all were agreed, we left the place.
Fifty minutes later, we returned to get the car. My husband
went to talk to the mechanic, and came to tell me they found
something else which needed to be replaced. (I was like here
we go again). My husband said he had told them to go ahead,
and took me to eat at a canteen nearby. There I asked him
how much was additional the part and replacement, and he
replied he didn't know.
What would you do? Kill your husband? Amazingly, I just
pouted more. After fifteen minutes, we went to get the car.
Our air-con was back to work. And it's much better than
before. Ready for what could be next... We asked how much
was the extra...
"Oh, don't worry. It's free." the mechanic said. "Merry
Christmas, and here's your Christmas gift." (handed us a
well-wrapped gift and a 10% discount coupon).
More:
Of course, you can imagine how embarrassed I was!
Then I've learned a great deal.
Get rid of stereotype.
DO NOT JUDGE!
One person, good or bad, nasty or friendly, sexy or humble,
does not represent the whole nation, race, gender, age, or
any demographic group.
DO NOT JUDGE!
Or you are going to miss a lot of nice things in your life.
Asia_Manila, Philippines (at Travelocity)
Had I not met this nice garage guy, I would never found the
spirits of Christmas in the Philippines and its people's
joyful hearts. After that incident, I looked at the
Philippines and its people in another angle. And, yes, this
is where I live. It's not perfect, but it's a lovable place.
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