Family News

Robin just landed in Korea: no, not for the Olympics, but to visit her son who is learning the Korean language (he already knows Mandarin and of course, English, but not Tagalog, since he was born in the US).

I am old enough to remember a poor Korea with refugees etc after the war, but now it is a vacation spot: not just nature areas, but for shopping.


Robin is a textile artist and will probably shop for interesting textiles.

When Ruby was there, it was shopping shopping, shopping.

Ah, but if I went, it would be to visit the historical sites where all those wonderful  K-Dramas are filmed. (with those gorgeous costumes)



Sigh.

Back on the home front: The rice harvest is almost over.
The main street is having holes dug in the middle to put up barriers and street lights in the middle of the street. Since there is so much congestion, one wonders if this will make it worse, but I suspect they will also stop double parking and going the wrong direction, stuff that tends to block traffic.

I went to get a haircut, but the only one in town who can decently cut my fine thin hair is off, so instead we went to the "Ukayukay" used clothing shop in the Palenke owned by a local Muslim lady, who usually has some larger sizes in her inventory. I Bought some used teeshirts and shorts: If they don't fit, the maid is slightly smaller than I am. And she was with me and bought a couple pieces too.

I have read a few complaining articles about used clothing and charity clothing "sold" to those evil entrepeneurs who resell them in Asia, undercutting the local industries.

This is a bunch of crap.

The cheap Chinese imports under price our local industries anyway.

Usually you see a dressmaker for good clothing or the local style of blouses and skirts for church, school, or work. Also for gowns for parties and dances.

The only other clothing made here are blouses or those wonderful cool house dresses (similar to mumus) that everyone loves to wear at home.

But here in the provinces we usually just wear jeans (or shorts) and tee shirts on the street: some "ukayukay", but often just cheap imports sold in the Palenke (open air market).

In other news: My new computer works great, but my tablet died. I'll have to buy a new one, alas.

But not now: I have to go to Manila to see the Dermatologist to get another lesion evaluated.

Medicare won't pay for stuff in the Philippines, but I do have Phil Health and enough savings to pay if I again need Mohs surgery (plastic surgery) on the lesion. The last surgery cost less than 2 thousand dollars for all the visits, so I can afford it.

But it does mean putting off buying a new tablet for now, since I tend to keep myself on a strict budget when it comes to "luxuries".