Living in the Philippines as an expat mean adjusting and adapting. Things here may not be as they were back home, but if you learn to adapt you can really enjoy a wonderful life here. Philippine time is not a joke; it is real, very real. Since I have been here I have had to learn to laugh and adjust to this concept. Coming from the states and a military background, I am use to being on time all of the time. But here, It is best to just relax and don’t worry so much about the time, eventually what ever is suppose to happen will happen, it may not be on your time, but it will be on accepted as Philippine time.
This post is to give kudos to the hard working men and women at NORECO. Yes we have brown outs, and sometimes they are not scheduled, and this may cause us to be uncomfortable for a while. But the people at NORECO, work their tails off, trying to make due with what they have to restore the service and to keep everyone happy. Today I watch as the men from NORECO replace the power lines at my home and my neighbor’s home, and I could not help but to pull out my camera to point out a few things that I notice. The men I saw were working with equipment that we used in the states when I was a young boy. The transportation they were using looked as old and as broken down as I feel sometimes. There were seven in the crew and five of them had to ride in the back with the wires, and other equipment that they had back there. Even the ladder they used was made of bamboo, and it was held together by rubber tubing and wire. They did not have hard hats, power tools, or power lifts, they did the best they could with what they had, and I was very please that the work was completed on time, (Philippine time of course

) and very professional.
So the next time, we have a brown out, please have patience and remember that we are not back home, and the people who are actually doing the work is doing the best they can with what they have been provided, to provide the only service they can for everyone.