Things I'm learning – Driving in the PI

I'm sure you've heard the slogan "It's not just a job. It's an adventure." In my opinion this should be the mantra for the professional drivers here in the Philippines. I'm sure there are other places in the world where what I've experienced is considered a cake walk, but I haven't been there and have no plans to visit. I have learned a small bit since starting to drive here and would like to share these “Rules of the Road” with others just in case you come to visit and find yourself behind the wheel.

Rule #1 – Dotted lines on the road are only a suggestion on the number of lanes. It has been my experience that two marked lanes could really be three...and if you count the motorcycles that would make four to five lanes. In all fairness, this only seems to happen during really busy times of the day and occurs less often near downtown Manila. Also, the direction of traffic in the lanes may very depending on the time of day. Coming back from the airport early one morning I discovered that one of the two lanes heading out of Manila had been confiscated by oncoming traffic so we were left with only one lane out.

Rule #2 – Flashing your lights and honking your horn is not impolite but expected. Several years ago while here on a short term trip I witnessed a huge Semi flash its brights and then proceed to turn into oncoming traffic. I thought the driver was insane and abusing his rights as the biggest machine on the road, but I have come to learn that this is common practice. There are very few stop lights and if you need to cut across traffic you flash your brights to notify the oncoming traffic of your intent and slowly edge your way in. Most people will stop and give you way but if they don't want to you to turn then they will flash their lights back letting you know they aren't stopping. Usually when traffic is heavy (which seems to be most of the time) people will honk there horn to let you know they are passing so that you won't vier into their lane. The Jeepney drivers also honk their horn when they are looking to pick up a passenger. Needless to say there is a lot of honking going on. I'm afraid I will grow deaf to the noise and side swipe a car or trike (a motorcycle with a side car for public hire) one of these days.

Rule #3 – Small guys almost always have the right of way. It has been explained to me that motorcyclists always have the right of way. Even though they weave in and out of traffic inches from smacking your side mirrors, if you hit one you're most likely going to be at fault. The best advice I've been given is to always be on the watch for them. Thankfully our new mini van has huge side mirrors which give a really good view of passing bikes.

Rule #4 – Give an inch and loose a mile. I have learned quickly that you have to claim your space on the road. If you leave room between you and the car ahead of you then someone will cut in or through. Again this mostly applies during really heavy traffic, but if you want to get from point A to B...DON'T LEAVE A GAP!

Rule #5 – Avoid night travel as much as possible. Just a really good rule to stay safe and sane. Out where we live there are thousands (no exaggeration) of pedestrians and they don't wear reflectors or light colored clothes. We drove one night to the grocery store at dusk and it was dark when we were heading home. It was like trying to drive down Main Street on the Fairgrounds during the State Fair (If you've ever been to the IL State Fair you know what I mean). Large numbers of children and adults all over the place. It seems that the reason this happens is because the homes in the villages are so packed together that the only flat open ground to play or congregate on is the street so that's where everyone congregates.

Valerie has also had a taste of Philippine driving. I was afraid she wouldn't attempt it after she was given instructions on what to do if she ever hit a person or animal and killed them. She asked if they were joking and they said no. If you kill someone don't stop and help because their relatives will feel obligated to kill you. You drive to the nearest police station and tell them what happened. If you are sure you didn't kill them then it is OK to stop and pick them up and take them to the nearest hospital. Be prepared to pay out a whole lot of money. It has been compared to winning the lottery here when an American hits someone and doesn't kill them.

These are the rules I have learned so far. I'm sure there is more schooling to come and I'll have plenty more to write about. This week we hope to go and apply for our Filipino driver's licenses and I doubt most of this will be on the test. The best advice I have been given for how to survive driving here is to believe that everyone on the road has a death wish and they want to use you as their instrument of destruction. Keep a 360 degree awareness of your surroundings and pray for God's grace.

As for me....I plan to avoid high traffic hours like the plague!

He's got the whole world in His hands...

While I was trying to go to sleep after our long day down town trying to get my mother-in-law's emergency passport. I suddenly was given this illustration of God's sovereignty. It may have come to me this way because of the number of butterflies around here. It was a picture of a caterpillar in the palm of Christ's hand. I, being the caterpillar, walk around in His hand. I can go wherever I want and do anything but I will always be in His hand. I can reach the edge of one of His digits and stretch my body out to find something else to grab hold of to continue my journey but nothing is there until, out of love, He takes His empty hand and places it in front of me. I grab hold and move forward into a new phase of my life to explore. Totally new to me, but still in God's hand. Today I have the privilege to look back and see God's hand in my life and I have confidence in Him that though I don't know why Ava's purse was stolen “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”(Romans 8:28).

Emergency Passport or Bust!

The trip to the US Embassy started at 4:00 am. We (Ava and I) had to leave for the metro train by 4:30 so we could make the 5:00 run that went into town. Traffic here is beyond words. Imagine your worst traffic experience, double it and add motorcycles weaving in and out of the cars. Scott says that traffic is fine until 5:30 but then compounds until 6:30 when it is a dead stop. I experienced this the Saturday Ava's purse was stolen. We weren't planning to go to the mall we went to, but after sitting in traffic for an hour and moving only half a mile, we turned around and went there. All this said to explain why we were taking the train down. The train was only 14 pesos and at that time was very empty and the AC felt nice (I cherish all time with AC these days). We got off the train and haled a taxi to drive us the rest of the way to the Embassy. Scott (Our Friend and veteran missionary) thought that it might take time to find a taxi at that location but we found one pretty quick (The worst wait for a taxi came later). This early, things moved pretty quick and we were at the Embassy by 5:45. As we approached the Entrance there was already a large group of Filipinos standing around in a certain area. We joined them thinking this was where we needed to be but soon found out that we needed to be about a block further in a different line (The Embassy compound spanned several blocks). We joined a smaller group that was at a small gate with security checking Ids and letting people into an outdoor waiting area. We presented the photo copy of my passport and told them the lost purse story and they told us to sit at the bench for gate 3. We were second in line behind an Ex-Patriot (The term used for Americans living over seas). At 7:00 am we noticed that a line was forming in front of the door to gate 3 and that people were slowly being let in the door. I went over and inquired if we should be in the that line and they said we could go in but the office we needed wouldn't be open until 7:30. We went through security which required us to leave all of our electronic devices behind. The cell phone and electronic Yatzee and Phase 10 had to be left behind. Note to self: In the future take a book because they took my electric entertainment. Ava brought a book so she was good to go. We followed the signs to get to the American Citizen Service Section (Window D). According to the signs posted they see walk-ins from 7:30 to 11:00 am and you have to get a green numbered ticket to get your place. We were number 2.

Here's when it gets fun (NOT!). Our number is called and we go to the counter. We explain the situation and the woman starts handing us all kinds of forms to fill out and tells us that we need a 2x2 photo to include with the forms. No one told us about a 2x2 photo when we called the day before. They informed us that there was a Kodak booth at the Embassy that can take the picture while you wait. We went and had the photo taken, filled out the six forms needed in black ink (had to buy a souvenir pen since we didn't bring one and the agent wouldn't part with hers). We were told to return the completed forms to window E and wait for them to call our name. They said that they had to see all the people who had appointments before they would process our forms. We waited several hours and and Ava's name was finally called for the first time. They verified some information and then told use to go pay the processing fees and return the receipt to window E and then they would call our name again. Time past, maybe an hour, and an American called her name (Up until now all the agents have been Filipinos). This was the guy that would decide if Ava could get an emergency passport. If he declined her then she would have to wait 2-4 weeks to get a new one before she could leave. He was very nice and he granted the emergency passport. We didn't know that early that day Senator Durbins' office had faxed a letter to the Embassy on Ava's behalf, thanks to people at our home church hearing about our problem and taking action. We're not sure if that letter made it to the deciding agent but it was awesome to hear how people back home were helping us out. The Agent told us to return at 3:00 pm to pick up the passport. It was now 11:00 am so we had to find something to do for the next 4 hours. There was only a Starbucks (go figure) and a Yellow Cab Pizza near the Embassy. We had a calzone (mine was greasy) for lunch and hung out at Starbucks until 2:00 pm. At 2 we decided to head back into the Embassy and see if we could get the passport early. No luck, still had to wait until 3:00. No worries though, my greasy lunch upset my stomach so I past the time in the CR (that's the common term here for restroom). When we got the passport we asked the agent if this is all we needed to exit he country. They didn't know so they direct us to the Philippine Immigration office.

We left the Embassy and started towards Immigration. We stopped to give Val a call to let her know what we were doing and she had found out from a missionary that we did need to go to Immigration and get them to re-stamp the visa in it before she could board the plan. Also, since her visitor visa was expiring that day we had to get an extension. All of this had to be done before the Immigration office closed at 5:00 (the time now was 3:30). We quickly hopped in a taxi and went to the immigration office knowing that we only had an hour and a half and government processes are not timely. Her is the summary of how things went there.

• Went to 3rd floor records (where Val told us to go)
• Sent to 3rd floor certification room
• Sent outside to notary to get a letter requesting certification

I have to tell you about the notary place. We walk out the front door of Immigration and there were men standing around yelling to assist. One of them screamed “Notary?”. That's what we needed so we followed him. I thought he was going to take us to his taxi, but he lead us about a block away to this literal hole in the wall. They had converted a small archway under an old bridge into a Notary sweat shop. There were six ancient typewriters (three per row) with notaries pecking away at them (no AC just fans blowing on them). The letter we needed must have been very common because they knew what we needed and had it done lickity split. With our new letter stamped and embossed we headed back to Immigration.

• Back to 3rd floor certification room (Ava's asthma acting up since we had to climb stairs to the 3rd floor)
• Sent to 1st floor room 103 for stamp. Found out we didn't need the notary page but we needed to fill out different form and return it to the 3rd floor.
• Returned to 3rd floor without Ava (too many stairs!) and turned in form to get print out.
• Returned to 1st floor with print out. Her passport was stamped here with the original visa stamp that expired that day. Now we had to fill out another form and take it to another building for the visa extension.
• Walked 2 blocks to Immigration building with visa extension room.
• Went to window 28
• Sent to window 26
• Sent to copier to get photo copies of the passport made (this was in the same room so not a huge issue)
• Returned to window 26 and told to pay the cashier and we could pick the passport up in the morning....WHAT! MORNING!!!
• Went to cashier and paid money
• Returned to window 26 with receipt and begged to get it back same day.
• Sent to see chief operator for the extension section. She was very helpful and we left shortly after with a stamped extension on the passport.

Time.....4:52 PM.....we got finished with 8 minutes to spare....Praise God!!

So now we have to head home in 5 o-clock traffic. First we stop and got a drink before catching a taxi back to the train station. The taxi driver spoke really good English but creeped us out by telling us about all the recent kidnappings of missionaries. I felt inclined to play dumb when he asked where we specifically lived. I'm not looking to get kidnapped anytime soon. We hopped on the train to head back home. The train was packed with college students so we had to stand the whole way (still air conditioned so I'm not complaining). Once we reached our stop we had to catch a taxi back to the house. Scott had warned us that it might be difficult to get a taxi to drive us since it's up in the hills and most of the taxis have a hard time up them. I also learned a valuable lesson. If you want to get a taxi during the busy times you need to go up stream from the flow of cars. We turned right and headed towards the spot where we were dropped off in the morning. We found that all the taxis were picking people up at the other end so they were full before they got to us. We sat there hailing taxis for at least 15 minutes. Finally one stopped and we jumped in. Scott was right. Once we told him where we needed to go he said that his car couldn't make it and he put us back on the curb. A few minutes later another stopped and I open the door and asked him if he could take us to Antipolo. His response was “How much?”. How much? I wasn't expecting that question. I paused trying to figure out a response. I said 100 pesos and he returned with 250. I asked him if we could just go by the meter. He said it was broken (Scott said that was a lie or he was driving illegally since they must have a working meter). I said 200 right when another taxi pulled over. Ava was prompting me to try the next taxi when the first driver accepted the 200 peso bid. I had no clue what was a good price for the trip. Since we live in the boonies of Antipolo, I had to give him turn by turn directions. I did feel sorry for him because the house is in the middle of nowhere (Scott later said that few taxi driver knows how to get there because of how far off the beaten path it is). As we neared the house I decided to give him the 250 pesos because it was a long drive and his tank was on E (might have been broken). We arrived home and I paid the drive 250. His response was.....could you make it 300, it was a long drive and took a lot of gas. I was happy to be home so I gave in and paid the 300 peso (that's only $6.60 in US dollars so I wasn't too put out).

So we are home and ready to take it easy. Now we just need to rebook the flight and get Ava home.

Purse Snatched at SM City

So for anyone who is not aware of the situation, my mother-in-law, Ava, had her purse stolen at a local mall while we were eating lunch here in the Philippines. We had already been given instructions to keep our valuables close and she had placed the purse between her legs while we were eating. It was pinched in here legs not just setting on the floor next to her legs. She thought this was safe but it wasn't. My one piece of advice based off of this experience would be to keep the straps of your purse around an arm at all times when in an environment that might be unsafe. The purse was pulled from her grip and the thieves stuffed it in a larger bag and ran with it (these details were given to us by two girls who saw it all happen). There was a moment of confusion which gave the robbers just enough time to get a head start that we could not regain. We ran after them and searched the Taxis and Jeepnees in front of the mall. No luck in finding them. She lost her cash, digital camera and most important, her passport. At this point you start playing the “What if” game. What if we had sat at a different table. What if she had left her passport at home and not in the purse. What if we would have reacted faster and caught them. There are a lot of things that could have been done different but Ava summed it up by saying “Like my mom use to say. 'You can't change the past so lets focus on what we can do in the future” Wise words I thought. It's so easy to get mad and play the blame game but what good would that do. Though things seemed chaotic God showed himself to be in control. The two college girls who witnessed the theft spoke really good English and the father of one of them was a police officer in the area. They were very helpful with mall security and with the Tay Tay police. We had to fill out an incident report at the mall then we were escorted by mall security over to the police station. At the police station we had to wait to give our statements. I found it interesting that the police officer was hand writing everything in a record book. I expected everything to be on computers but we're not in Kansas any more (Springfield to be more precise).

With the formalities of reports done we returned to our home to call the US Embassy to see what we needed to do to get Ava out of the country. Her flight was suppose to leave that coming Monday so we had two days to figure things out and it was the weekend. We called the Embassy and they were closed until 7:30 Monday morning. Since her flight was scheduled to leave at 9:00 am Monday we canceled it and were going to reschedule it once we knew when she could legally leave the country. That evening Ava called family to let them know what was going on and that she would not be home as scheduled. She also worked on freezing all the accounts that could have been accessed from the cards in her purse. We tried our best to enjoy Sunday though we knew Monday was going to be a busy day. Monday morning we called the Embassy and were told that we needed to be there by 7:00 am if we wanted a chance to see the passport people because of the number of people who come daily. Since it was already 7:30 we knew this was a job for tomorrow so we went back to language studies and prepared for the trip to the US Embassy the following day. I'll give the account of that trip next time.

First Entry

Just starting this as a tool to keep people up to date on the happenings with the Thompson Family. A lot is going on and we want to keep our friends and family up to date. Postage costs an arm and a leg so this blog will keep people up to date on what we are doing in between the publishings of our newsletters. Thanks for taking time to see whats up. God Bless.