you know ur in dumaguete if...

[RHB]

A lot of conversations and disscussions here revolve around expats coming to Dumaguete or the Philippines and discovering it is not like back home. Subsequently, some at least, start complaining as if it were a right of theirs to demand service and infrastructure as it existed back home in Kansas or where ever.

OK so I will start a list of things that are not like Europe or the U.S. Maybe this will be of some use to future expats wondering what life is like here and instill some tolerance in them... before they arrive and see a different culture with very different priorities and customs.

please add your own, and humor works wonders.

You know you live in Dumaguete if:

They turn the electricity off on Sundays to fix the tangled lines

advertised broadband is often dial up speed

there are no traffic lights

They turn off the electricity any time they want, especially during elections

rainy season ends in December, unless it is typhoon season

the dry season is when it is not raining

ATM's issue 500 Peso notes... no one in town has change for these

there are 2500 tricycles in town, at 4PM they are all on Perdices street...

If you stop to ask directions, often you get pursed lips and a pointing arm, that means far in the general direction of the point. prepare to ask 5 more people.

[spectre]

You know you live in Dumaguete if:

...you see a lot of No Entry signs.
...motorcycles outnumber the number of households.
...majority of the female population (10 yrs up) knows how to drive a motorcycle.
...tricycles enter a "No Entry from 6am to 8pm" sign at 7pm.
...traffic enforcers guarding the "No Entry from 6am to 8pm" go home at 6pm.
...brisk walking is faster than a tricycle.
...tricycle drivers do not have 50 centavos change.
...tricycle drivers are more pickier than taxi drivers.

[Rhoody]

You know you live in Dumaguete if:

• you can drive your bike completely drunk as long you wear no slippers or sleeveless shirt
• you can't go to a popular disco because you were slippers
• your driver can't pass the airport-security because he has slippers
• you enter McDonald's and they are out of stock for Burgers
• you can't get any coke-light for weeks
• you want to enter a shop at 11:40 but the security does not allow you in cause they close at 12:00 for lunch-break
• yellow busses are higher risk for your life than bungee-jumping unplugged
• you ask a university-graduated person "When is the midnight-ferry to Cebu is leaving?" and the answer is: "6 o'clock..."

cheers

Rhoody

[balustre]

You jnow you live in Dumaguete if:
>you hear the squeals of pigs being slaughtered in the neighborhood on November 24th, the eve of the fiesta.
> you see throngs of joggers at the Boulevard inhaling the microdroplets of sewage wafted by the breeze
> you see a burnt building next to a fire station
>the tallest building is 7 stories high...broke the past record of 4 stories high
>one gets paranoid of motorcycle driver vigilantes/cellphone snatchers
>you are charged 30 pesos and herded into a predeparture airport area with no ventilation, with no aircon, and with more than 200 passengers waiting for delayed flights
>you savor those mouth watering mangoes, puto, budbud, banana-q, and botong

[SU babe]

this is just a quick reply --->

*with regards to the ATM issuing 500peso bills. first, you can enter 400pesos, then the ATM will issue out 4-100peso bill. then, select another transaction, then enter again 400pesos. if you are withdrawing in you own bank, like bpi, then there's no charge for the transactions. except that, you'll take 2minutes more than your regular transactions.

also, in the gas stations, when you fill up your tanks, you can have them break your 1,000peso bills for hundreds or fifties... they usually have change.

They turn the electricity off on Sundays to fix the tangled lines
-> i really hate it when they turn off the electricity... since time immemorial, it's always like this. and our electric bills are not getting any lower you know... generator is too expensive for me ;(
and the kids, after an hour with no tv, they get bored and no electric fan... hot and bored... good thing, the beach is like 10minutes away... so we go swim nalang...

[SU babe]

You know you live in Dumaguete if:

-> everywhere is 10 minutes away. beach, airport, pier, university... (just dont pass perdices st)

[spectre]

Originally Posted by SU babe

You know you live in Dumaguete if:

-> everywhere is 10 minutes away. beach, airport, pier, university... (just dont pass perdices st)

if you pass perdices street, it takes 10 minutes alone

[tubigboy]

You know you live in Duma if:

You call up a hotel and speak to the receptionist and you ask for some information and he/she says, 'for a while!'

[The Teach]

You know you are in VALENCIA - if it rains.

Al.

[Rhoody]

Originally Posted by The Teach

You know you are in VALENCIA - if it rains.

Al.

Al, I just love that point... but there is an old thread where everybody picked on me cause i made that observation too... hehe

So you are wrong... and a bad man to say things like that...

Rhoody