my 17 day trip

[robert angel]

Awww--they'll be fine. Piglett has no credit cards and it's so cold up there (colder than the shady side of a banker's heart) that she won't go out much to spend--she'll be curled up in Pig's lap most of the time....

[piglett]

shouldn't be denied your pickles and movies! We all should have our little harmless pleasures, especially when married!  It seems to make sense to take all the side work you can get right now, and taper off after your wife arrives.
Fathertime!

I will cut my living exspenses as much as possible. hey $5 here $20 there adds up quickly. I will need about $6500.00 to get Marily her visa plus all of the cost of getting her certified as an RN here. I guess that is to be exspected when you marry a nurse.

Once i have all of the cash stashed in the bank then i will lighten up, until then it's beans & rice , rice & beans.
Ok maybe a pizza from time 2 time too


piglett  

[piglett]

The wedding

We got up around 7:00am & marily after making sure I had my breakfast, headed on over to her aunts house next door to wait for the bride car. I got my black suit pants, shoes, & white shirt on & just hung out until Marily's uncle arrived with his trike. I hopped in still carrying my suit jacket & tie. After about 10 or 15 min. we arrived & headed on in so that I could be baptised. After this I was told to take my place & after the flower girls( 4 of them) ring bearers (2 of them) brides maids (4 of them) groomsmans ( 4 of them) Marily started to walk down the isle with her aunt & uncle standing in because her parents were still in manila, due to her farthers illness. The priest preformed a nice ceremony & after about an hour I got to kiss the bride & remove that hot suit jacket ( but only after the pictures were taken) we headed out of the church & into the bride car which was the personal vehicle of the mayor. It came complete with a driver & nice cold AC. once in route we were passed be a police car & we now had a police escort including the lights siren & the whole deal.
come to find out the police officer was a friend on Marilys dad & he was heading to the reception too.  

the reception was quite nice & there were about 200 people there which is about double the amount that showed up for the ceremony. At around 4pm Marily & i changed our clothes & jumped on a borrowed motorbike & headed to the small resort for our 1 night honeymoon.

the next morning we came back packed out bags & boarded the big boat that would take us back towards manila. after the killer 20 hour boat ride we had arrived & headed to her small apartment to drop off our bags.

we spent much of our remaining 2 days together walking & taking jeepneys around manila so that she should fill out her G325 that asks for the exact address of all the places you have worked & lived in the last 5 years.

On our last afternoon together there we headed on over to marilys uncles house which is where her parents were staying while in town. I told Marily in advance ( maybe she didn't think i would?) that i needed to sit her parents down while i was there & explain to them that I wasn't rich & that it would take all of the money that I could lay my hands on to get her to the U.S. I thought it went well with them & after a while Marily & I headed back over to her apartment to spend our last night together.

Little did I know but we were about to have our 1st real fight.
              

[z_k_g]

The priest preformed a nice ceremony & after about an hour I got to kiss the bride & remove that hot suit jacket

Nice roasted pig!!

You Da Man!!

[piglett]

Nice roasted pig!!

You Da Man!!

that little piggy didn't make it to market he got eaten 

[z_k_g]

I told Marily in advance ( maybe she didn't think i would?) that i needed to sit her parents down while i was there & explain to them that I wasn't rich & that it would take all of the money that I could lay my hands on to get her to the U.S.

I thought it went well with them & after a while Marily & I headed back over to her apartment to spend our last night together.

Little did I know but we were about to have our 1st real fight.
              

The plot thickens......

Tune in tomorrow on this same Bat Channel!!

[Ray]

that little piggy didn't make it to market he got eaten 

Cannibal!

 

[Dave H]

Hey pig,

Those "5-6" loans will kill you in interest! It is supposed to be a short term loan (like pay day advance). They will charge you more interest (high interest every month on the original balance) if the loan is not repaid by the payoff date, until the loan is paid. If the loan is not repaid, we are talking jail time! I know many people on both sides of the money lending game. It has become big business, with apartment buildings full of collection agents with motorcycles and borrowers hiding on other islands to escape the collection agent and a stiff jail sentence.

http://attyatwork.com/lending-interest-rates/

http://kyotoreview.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/issue/issue3/article_298.html

Dave

[thekfc]

Nice wedding cake.

I am enjoying reading your report & I am also taking notes as it will be my turn soon.

I too will be burning up as I will also be wearing a suit.

We had a change in venue - we decided to get married in the church. The church leader/priest & chief caterer are very good friends of Ahya's family & we will get a few "extras" that we wouldn't get at the other venue.

We would have all kind of dish (fish, meat, chicken, etc) at the reception  & I order a pig as there wasn't one on the menu.

P, I know that you were very busy but did you get to go out and enjoy any of the sites/places (other than the malls & beaches)? 

[Dave H]

I too will be burning up as I will also be wearing a suit.

Hey thekfc,

You guys! Why not wear a Barong Tagalog with a Scottish kilt...stay cool on both ends!  

Dave




Even better...a barong and a malong (sarong)!

[thekfc]

Dave H, I would do the Barong but not the kilt.

What will happen if during the ceremony a big gust of wind comes in and blow the kilt up.  
We saw that happened to a guy walking down the street here in NYC  & he wasn't wearing any underwear   

[robert angel]

Hey Dave,

Regarding:

>>Five-Six Moneylenders. So-called because of the manner in which they lend, five-six (5-6) moneylenders charge a nominal interest rate of 20 percent over an agreed period of time. A person who borrows 5 pesos from a 5-6 moneylender over a period of one week repays 6 pesos, including 1 peso interest. Neither Filipino nor Indian 5-6 moneylenders require collateral or documents from their borrowers. The success of a borrower’s business and loan repayment history provide a gauge of the borrower’s credibility.<<

Sounds pretty bad--I had heard about the India players in the loan market there. They're not exactly beloved over there. As the bible says "Beware the money changers". Jesus may have sat, ate and made conversation with the prostitutes, but he didn't care much for the money changers!

But get a load of this: WE went to look at some electronics at HH Gregg, which is a pretty big chain. Thinking of making a purchase, I noticed they offer two years, interest free payment.

I thought 'Hell, I always pay cash up front', but then I thought 'Hey, that's money I could have in the bank, earning interest for two years instead'.

THEN I asked, knowing if I was ONE day late on any payment, they'd nail me for interest on the whole nut, 'What's the interest rate?"

It is 29.99% (THIRTY) percent! I guess they hope and pray that someone will forget by a day, lose their job or otherwise have the misfortune that will in turn, line their pockets obscenely.

To add insult to injury, if you realize you're over your head or just plain don't like what you bought after a couple weeks--say it just didn't perform as expected, there is a 20% (TWENTY) restocking fee!

Our state laws allow this and I hear the pawn shops ('Title Loans')are even worse. They'll take your car's title in exchange for high interest loan in a heartbeat. They prey especially hard on our local Military, who are already underpaid and often struggle to make it pay check to pay check. Go outside any military base and you'll see a few of these vulture pawnshops.

What a sad state this is!

[piglett]

We had a change in venue - we decided to get married in the church. The church leader/priest & chief caterer are very good friends of Ahya's family & we will get a few "extras" that we wouldn't get at the other venue.

check to see if they want you to take a bunch of classes & convert if ur not already catholic

P, I know that you were very busy but did you get to go out and enjoy any of the sites/places (other than the malls & beaches)? 

I was only in Manila for 4 days so no we spent that time running around for 1st wedding prep & on my return from the province visa prep.
Marily & i did take a motorbike around the entire island & make a bunch of stops so she could inform everyone of the "in pending" wedding 

your pork-ness
piglett

[Dave H]

check to see if they want you to take a bunch of classes & convert if ur not already catholic

your pork-ness
piglett

In the US it was going to take me 1 year to convert...here it took less than 30 minutes. I suppose it depends on the priest and perhaps your knowledge. My wife's 2 sisters' husbands (Filipinos) had the same experience as me.

Dave

[Dave H]

Sounds pretty bad--I had heard about the India players in the loan market there. They're not exactly beloved over there.

Hey Rob,

Lots of foreigners (and Filipinos) in money lending here, from Kanos to Koreans (Indians are BIG)... Just look for an apartment, house, or nice office building with a whole bunch of motorcycles parked there and an armed security guard or two. Many don't even have a sign out front.

Dave

[thekfc]

check to see if they want you to take a bunch of classes & convert if ur not already catholic

I am catholic, I did tell Ayha that I do not have any baptism papers with me. Tonight I will tell Ayha to ask her 3rd sister what else would I need.
The 3rd sister is handling everything & is the "go to" person in the family.

Also, Ayha started printing out the new invitations today.

[Ray]

The Catholic Church does not require the non-Catholic in a church wedding to convert. But technically, the local bishop needs to approve a mixed marriage and some bishops have a policy that the non-Catholic should convert first. It just depends on the local policy.

In Surigao City for example, at least a couple of other members here were married in the church and were not required to convert. In Cebu City, other members had to take a quick class and be baptized first.

Kfc, you should try to get a copy of your baptism certificate, if at all possible, to avoid last minute surprises. You should also have a copy of your confirmation certificate.

But her family knowing the priest who will do the ceremony definitely helps. You are “supposed” to have a recent copy of the baptismal certificate from the church where you were baptized, but an old copy will probably suffice.

For anyone else out there contemplating a church wedding over there, DO NOT follow the piglett method! All of these things should be worked out well in advance. Someone on the other end needs to get all the particulars from the local parish where the wedding will be so there are no surprises.

Well pig, how does it feel to be a Mackerel Snapper?   

Ray

[piglett]

The Catholic Church does not require the non-Catholic in a church wedding to convert. But technically, the local bishop needs to approve a mixed marriage and some bishops have a policy that the non-Catholic should convert first. It just depends on the local policy.
In Surigao City for example, at least a couple of other members here were married in the church and were not required to convert. In Cebu City, other members had to take a quick class and be baptized first.
Kfc, you should try to get a copy of your baptism certificate, if at all possible, to avoid last minute surprises. You should also have a copy of your confirmation certificate.
But her family knowing the priest who will do the ceremony definitely helps. You are “supposed” to have a recent copy of the baptismal certificate from the church where you were baptized, but an old copy will probably suffice.
For anyone else out there contemplating a church wedding over there, DO NOT follow the piglett method! All of these things should be worked out well in advance. Someone on the other end needs to get all the particulars from the local parish where the wedding will be so there are no surprises.
Well pig, how does it feel to be a Mackerel Snapper?  
Ray

Well Marilys sister Lisa was supposed to be handling everything including any possible pitfalls involving the church. It's really hard to be sure that EVERYTHING will be in place once you arrive when your dealing with 3rd hand information. I sure am glad I decided on 2 1/2 weeks there instead of 1 1/2 weeks. there is just no way that everything could have been done in time. As it was we had to ask for the 10 day waiting period to be shortened by one day which they were able to do.

I am sure that in some other places in the PI mixed marriages would be allowed, however waaaaaay out in a remote province you are at their mercy. I burnt up quite a few hours with the required conversion classes. Also there is some sort of custom there that if a couple will soon marry they should not be seen out just running around having fun( or some dam thing like that), so Marily & i couldn't do some of the things that we wanted to do while there. I did figure out a way around this though. Marily is related to 1/2 of the people on the island is seems so we spent as much time each day on a motorbike going from one relatives house to another informing them of the up coming wedding. In reality the news probably spread like wild fire but it gave us some alone time in between stops. I also stretched out our time by stopping every couple of hours & buying a small bottle of coke ( i think they are about 6oz bottles) I don't normally drink soda but it was hot so I said oh what the hell bottoms up.  


piglett

[piglett]

The plot thickens......
Tune in tomorrow on this same Bat Channel!!

Now without further ado we bring you the conclusion of the piglett saga.

So we get back to Marilys little 2 bedroom apartment with a small bag of ice that we had purchased on the short walk there. Marily made me a pitcher of iced tea & i noticed that she had little to say ( boy that would change very soon). I asked her to sit down next to me. Her couch consists of a hard wooden bench , I think padded seating is illegal in the PI. So she starts to tell me that I HURT her parents. I thought she might have bumped her head or something because I never laid a hand on either of them. so I try to explain that i felt that I HAD TO talk to them about money so they mite possibly understand my situation. So she starts to cry & the whole bit & i just can't seem to get through to her at all. So because I am getting nowhere with her I head in to take my bath & when I get out she is in the bedroom lying down & she just will not talk to be. So at this point I figure well this is just a great way to spend my last few hours in manila. sitting on a hard wooden bench watching TV that is in a foreign language. So i go back in an hour to the bedroom to try to talk to her but no dice. So i figure I'll just do the talking & she will do the listening. well in time i did get her to get up & head back to the living room but i knew she was still mad. at some point the 3 or 4 glassed of that iced tea caught up with me & i headed back to the bathroom to briefly take care of that problem. I come out of the bathroom & the living room fan is nowhere to be found & the livingroom light is off. So because I knew the matter was still not resolved & borrowed a fan from Marily's sisters room & sat back down on the hard bench for another 1/2 hour & some more tea. Finaly Marily comes out & asks what i am doing. I tell her that I will not go to bed until the problem has been resolved & she might as well sit down so we can talk about it.
I think that shocked her a bit & caused her to finally come around & talk to me like what normal married people do when there is a problem. I also reminded her that the priest has told us both that when there was a problem we HAD to talk about it & could not ignore it. We then agreed that when there is a problem we will either talk about it then or if one /both of us are really mad then we can wait to talk about it later BUT we will try to never go to bed mad at each other. I guess time will tell if that system actually works, but it sure looks good on paper.  

piglett


    

[Jeff S]

Good Job! And then....

[z_k_g]

Good Job! And then....

And then........?

[piglett]

And then........?

Then I headed to the airport at 3:00am kissed my wife goodbye & returned home 19 hours later. I then told my mom ( she thought I flew to Missouri to see a friend)
She was very happy for me & then I took her out to dinner & i then headed on home & ate an ice cream sandwich that I had in the freezer sense before the trip.

& that's the end of the story.....I think

piglett

[Ray]

Piggy experiences his first tampo... 

Good report piglett!

Ray

[z_k_g]

Piggy experiences his first tampo... 

Good job piggy!!  Never lost your temper, very nice!!

Zulu

[thekfc]

Piggy experiences his first tampo... 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too.