Introduction to the Babel Fish

[babel-fish]

I have not as yet introduced myself, my real name is Bob Johnson-Perkins I am a retired Brit with a military and business background. I have become a citizen journalist and some people may reconise my Babel Fish title as being maybe a very interesting political anayst at least.

I have been in the Philippines for 8 years now had two girlfriends prior to finding the right partner and a load of problems a naive person could have here in the Philippines.

At present I play around with paint and try to be the artist I wanted to be in my youth I write to keep myself busy in between drinking cold beer and some of the nice brandy one can find here.

I have become very Filipino only because I have become lazy in cooking for myself, but I do love most filipino dishes and I even eat those dreaded ducks eggs (Balut).

After suffering problems with my first love here I decided to learn the language of which has been a long term project. The reason is I wanted to know what was being said behind my back. I have found grounds to believe I was very correct in taking up such a project. But this language is hard to fully understand, but I am getting there and including the national tongue Tagalog.

I have lost a lot of money here one can if your not street wise, my first 4 and half years was a complete mistake caused by not understanding what was truthfully going on. Thankfully I did not marry my first girlfriend here as she cheated me rotton.

I have lived in Sibilan for about 7 months now and excaped dirty Cebu for this cleaner Island of Negros.

I am not a Dum night lifer but I spend some of my time in Dum pretty regularly most days.

One thing is I understand the culture, well actually the cultures here in the Philippines, hard knocks being the fuel to that factor. Oh I am a good drinking partner the guy that keeps everybody else out of trouble, lol

Here I am with my true love...

[tubigboy]

Good for you! I can understand just enough Tagalog to know what is being said in a conversation. I have caught many filipinos talking bula bula about me and wanting to take advantage of me numerous times. I remember when an Ambassador whispered into my ear, '50% cheaters, 50% hoars, 100% liars!' At the time, I thought to myself that this cant be. I will sadly have to admit that after 12 years, I now know what the Ambassador was talking about.

[babel-fish]

Normally the cheaters, liars and thiefs are looking out for the tourist and the good honest people are only those you will find whilst out walking or travelling there are very many of them so don't be blinded at whats poked under your nose those that want to con you. Most filipino's are great people and honest to boot.

[barramac]

good on u for learning the language and persuing your interests. i am a long way from retiring but hopefully when that happens, i will also have projects that interest me.
too bad u lost money (my guess donated on misrepresentations by family) - there is a book series called what u need to know before moving to thailand. it should be compulsory reading for every westerner in asia, as the gap between initial interpretations and the actual circumstances are huge, abeit culturally the philippines is closer to the west than thailand - i met one guy in chang mai that lost 1/2 million dollars, 2 months after landing, on a fake property deal orchestrated by his 'girlfriend' of 3 weeks, fake government officials and everything. luckily it was not alot of money to him, but there are a hell of alot of extremely bitter men out there)

re- the people talking behind your back. i sometimes miss knowing everything that are going on around me from language, body language, people etc. but at the end of the day, if it is petty or negative, why care what people say. ok i can see the point, if it is some info that will lead to making a different decision about time or resources.
can u give some examples, of over-heard conversations that knowing what was said, actually helped u.


and just playing devils advocate, if u are a rich guy in the west, having a girlfriend with a major age gap, is usually going to be expensive, especially if she does not work and comes from a poor family, so why would it be different here. extreme case = paul mccarty + heather mills. i know 2 older property developers with young wives and they dole out the cash

[Teacher]

Although when I think of your nickname “Babel Fish” only thing that comes to mind is an English translation dictionary I once used on the internet. I made so many mistakes when I arrived in Philippines. Which is funny because I came from Thailand which was a disaster, but I didn’t lose money there. The woman that I had been involved with just wanted a green card. In the Philippines I was lucky to find the right woman. But business was filled with mistakes. So I guess I am at the place you were 4 years ago much wiser.