January 17, 2012
My mission for the day is to goto Philippine Immigration and have my visa extended. I go on line and Google what jeepney would get me close to where I need to go. I find the jeepney routes and two land marks I need to to use to get there. They are SM Mall and Park Mall. Also in my Google search I find out that I will need over P6000.00 for my visa extension. I only have P4000.00 pesos, so I decide to delay my extension and pay the penalty.
January 24, 2012
I’m sleeping and I hear lots of bangs and explosions. I wakeup and I assume it’s the police in some kind of a gun battle with the bad guys. I put my head under the pillow try to go back to sleep. I wake up early in the morning to get my mission started for the day. I’m overdue in updating my passport. I now have the money to pay for the passport extension and the security yellow card.
I take the jeepney going to SM Mall and start to look for the jeepney going to Park Mall. Well, I didn’t find it at the jeepney terminal. So I say it’s a nice day and I need to walk and explore. The walk takes me about 40 minutes and I still have another 15 minute walk to immigration. I pass the fire station and arrive at the police station. There are 10 people standing out side as I walk by. I ask “Were is the immigration office?”. I’m told it’s just around the corner. Then they ask why are you going there? The office is closed today. It’s a holiday. “Ah! Holiday? What holiday is today?” I’m told it is the Chinese New Year. Ouch! I walk all that way and I still have to come back tomorrow. How stupid can I be.
Now the people outside the police station start asking a lot of questions. The usual things like where you from? Do you have a Philippina girl friend? Do you like your stay here in the Philippines? These questions I heard a hundred times before and they just turn on my sense of sarcastic hummer. Soon we get all the people involved and we laugh and it picks up my spirits. I feel that my day is not a complete loss and I’m having fun.





































