The Asian Mind-set

[Howard]

... in response to The Asian Mind-set, posted by Dave H2O on Aug 16, 2001

Dave,

That's a touching story :c)  Do you ever get tired of being so uplifting and optomistic?  LOL!

No man, I love YOU!  LOL

H

[SteveG]

... in response to The Asian Mind-set, posted by Dave H2O on Aug 16, 2001

Dave,
 The good stories rarely ever get repeated do they?  I heard lots of tales of woe and predictions of my impending doom when I started writing to Asian ladies(not all Filipinas) but not one of these people could give proof.

  They were all so quick to talk in such absolutes with unwaivering confidence about how "all of those people" just want to come to the US and will marry the first guy who comes along just to use him.

"It happens every day" they would say.

 "They will marry you and then 'run' as soon as she gets here", they would dribble on.  

"They'll bring their whole family here and latch on to you until you die", would be the next words from their mouth.

  Yet, when asked for just one name, one phone number of the many many victims of these tradgedies, I never got anything more substantial than a blank stare.

  Now 7 years later nobody says anything at all.  

  Frankly, I was shocked to see this attitude about Asians.  I had always seen Asians as smart and hardworking and know of several Vietnamese guys who came here with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and are now Engineers.  

  As far as Kevin's attitude towards Filipinas goes, I am definitely not condemning him.   I think there is still just a lot of hurt there from his previous marriage and time is the only cure for that.   And of course there are some who are just like he says, but they are not the majority.  (Those dirty, scum sucking Taxi drivers have daughters so I suppose that's where the bad girls come from!  LOL)

                             SteveG

[Zebson]

... in response to Re: The Asian Mind-set, posted by SteveG on Aug 16, 2001

Steve...not to discount the essense of the main part of your post, But that last line...well, I remember back, back....

Long ago or so seems now, it was the fall of 89', I had to leave from PI because of an family emergency. I had been doing a stint of humanitarian work with HFH in Dumaguete City and my father had just suffered from a serious stroke and was not expected to live. I hurridly flew to Manila with a ticket in hand with hopes to board a NW flight to the US, only to find some unusual refugee crisis taking place that would delay my flight for another 5 days. And NW wasn’t coughing up any courtesy hotel provisions. Apparently all these NW 747's were being given priority status to remove these refugees first. Well, I didn't have much extra money, except for a meal or two and maybe one night in a hotel and then I was stuck. On my way back from the airport to a cheap hotel, the taxi driver and I struck up a conversation...He ask me about what I was doing, etc..I told him my story. And then he said, Please come stay with me and my family. I couldn't believe it....but because this situation had happened so suddenly and I had zero options, I humbly accepted this mans offer and was provided with meals and a place to sleep in their very small house with 7 other children in a very poor area on the outskirts of Metro manila not far from the Airport for the next 5 days. I had already been exposed to a lot of deplorable poverty in the provinces which were very disturbing…but this cramped living quarter scenerio was even more difficult in many ways and those water ways just in the back through dark little walkway between the each bungalow were extremely depressing. What I saw in walking around the next several days tuned me into some intense realitys as well as gave me insight into just how much this man and his family were doing for me. I gladly gave him all the rest of my money which he never asked for and which wasn’t much and told him I would send him more after I returned home, which I did. Several years later I lost track of him when they moved. But I have never forgotten how they really blessed me by showing such a kindness and had not once asked for a peso in return.

Zeb

[SteveG]

... in response to The taxi driver who saved me...., posted by Zebson on Aug 16, 2001

Zebson,
 Sure there are good taxi drivers.  Probably more good ones than bad ones, but the unfortunate problem is that the bad ones tend to be much more aggresive and the ones a foreigner is most likely to encounter.

 It was an amazing show of generosity that the taxi driver did for you.   I've seen some of the extremely poor sections of Manila too where families live in little wood box  like houses.   Taking in a stranger for a week was a huge sacrifice for him.
                                    SteveG

[Zebson]

... in response to I know you are right, Zeb, posted by SteveG on Aug 17, 2001

Steve, dont' worry. I didn't mean to make it seem like they are all life savers by any means...but there are those..that defy the odds...(by the grace of God).

I have encountered more than my fair share of bad taxi drivers also...One I almost really went off on..( I think he was Muslim, not that that means anything) I had him scared stiff..I mean I really almost lost it...he said at one point he wanted $100 dollars from the airport to some place in Metro Manila back in 1999..And I went birzerk (remember Billy Jack in the ice cream parlor scene, he he...)..He ended up gratefully accepting my 100 pesos and he let me out in Makati. I almost extracted his thyroid gland on that one...(but that was one of my dark side moment coming out...)

Zeb...

[Bear]

... in response to The taxi driver who saved me...., posted by Zebson on Aug 16, 2001

I think there are a lot of great people there we just only hear about the bad ones.  Still, look at all the awesome marriages there have been.  BTW what I said to Kevin about Christie or her sister goes to you too if you are over the bad feelings.

Bear