Do you have a cellphone? SMART or GLOBE?

Anyway, fact is: the cellphone companies' competition is getting more and more  preheated.

Really, it's an other first in prepaid history: the new SMART BUDDY SIM keep no-expiry reserve load. It's indeed like having a secret pocket in your SIM. Wow, imagine: now, addition to regular load and call & text load, SMART BUDDY gives you no-expiry reserve load that stays safe in your sim's RESERVE LOAD wallet until you're ready to use it. Just draw from your RESERVE LOAD and convert it to regular airtime or any call and text offer. Just visit your favorite retail outlet.

When I browse the Internet, I found another interesting article: Phone a friend with GLOBE Tattoo Broadband! I am sure you agree with me: Have you ever had one of those days when you slept through your alarm and woke up sweetly a half-hour later, only to be enveloped by the icy panic that pushes you to rush in a frenzy to start your hectic day grind? You leave the house in record time, waving down a ride, yet with a sinking feeling you've forgotten something. That's when it hits you: your precious mobile phone is sitting comfortably on your nightstand at home. Yipee, this just happened to me last week. I really started smiling while reading this. 

In a pinch, GLOBE has the lifesaver for us. All we need to do is whip out our laptops, plug in our new GLOBE Tatoo Broadband stick, and we cal call away, straight from our PC. Yes, I also find a website: surf over to www.globe.com.ph/tattoo.

We are really lucky under the SUN... .

Deutschentreffen in Davao City/Germans' Meeting in Davao

Jeden Freitag von 10 bis 14 Uhr in Victoria Plaza Mall in Davao City treffen sich deutsche Auswanderer mit ihren Ehepartnern zu einem zwanglosen Gedankenaustausch.

Bei auftretenden Fragen und Problemen wird gern versucht, weiterzuhelfen.

Oder senden Sie mir einfach eine email... .

Schauen Sie doch einfach mal vorbei!!!!

More Tourists for Region XI Mindanao?/Bald mehr Touristen fuer Mindanao?

Yesterday I got the chance to interview Department of Tourism Regional Director Sonia V. Garcia (Region XI). Actually she asked me to translate several flyers and brochures from English into German. I was really surprised and very happy to know, that Sonia and an additional group will be participating in the International Tourism Fair (Internationale Tourismusboerse - ITB) 2010 to be held on March 10-15 2009 in Berlin/Germany. The ITB is considered the world's leading travel and tourism show and could well be a good opportunity for the accredited tourism industry partners to meet their potential business counterparts in the said event.

This will be  the very first promotion trip for this region. Sonia Garcia will be joined by Philip S. Dizon (Davao Crocodile Park), Camela S. Infiesto (Tribu K' Mindanawan Cultural Village Representative), Jeanne April Kroell (Hof Gorei Beach Resort), Wanda Teo (Mt. Apo Travel @ Tours), Ruben Neri (Surelite Travel & Tours), Ma. Corazon Sanga and Katherine S. Owens (Turismo Davao INTAS), weaver Sonita Manangka, dancer Jelita Lamanilao, and from the DOT XI staff Judy G. Lagura (Cultural Village Coordinator for DOT Region XI).

Please check out  www.discoverdavao.com or www.visitmyphilippines.com - also mentioned in my "important links".

Gestern hatte ich die Gelegenheit mit der Regionaldirektorin des Tourismusdepartments fuer die Region XI (Mindanao), Frau Sonja V. Garcia zu sprechen. Sie bat mich, einige Prospekte von Englisch in Deutsch zu uebersetzen. Ich war wirklich sehr ueberrascht und gluecklich zu hoeren, dass Sonja mit einer Gruppe nach Deutschland reisen wird, um Davao City und die gesamte Region XI von Mindanao waehrend der Internationalen Tourismusboerse in Berlin touristisch mehr bekanntzumachen. In frueheren Jahren habe ich die ITB regelmaessig besucht und war doch reichlich enttaeuscht, kaum - oder besser gar nichts - ueber Mindanao bzw. Davao City vorzufinden. Das wird sich bestimmt bald aendern.  Zwischenzeitlich besuchen Sie doch einfach www.discoverdavao.com oder www.visitmyphilippines.com - auch erwaehnt in meinen "Important Links".

Deutsche Blaskapelle in Mindanao/German Brassband in Mindanao (II)

Das war schon eine Ueberraschung und eine riesengrosse Freude, als der Musikverein Kressbronn waehrend seiner Philippinen-Konzertreise auch nach Mindanao kam und zweimal in Davao City auftrat - einmal im People's Park und am naechsten Tag in meinem Lieblingsresort auf Samal Island, dem "Paradise Island Park and Beachresort".

Dies war die erste deutsche Band oder Kapelle, die jemals nach Mindanao bzw. nach Davao gekommen ist. Wir hatten alle viel Freunde und Spass bei philippinischer, internationaler und natuerlich deutscher Musik.

Vielen herzlichen Dank Musikverein Kressbronn - und kommt bald wieder!

 

Photos taken by Ricardo P. Balcom.

German Brassband in Mindanao/Deutsche Blaskapelle in Mindanao

It has been 20 years ago, when a band from the US performed in Davao City. This has been the first German Brassband from Kressbronn (near the German-Swiss border) being on a concert tour in the Philippines and performing twice in Davao City: at first in the People Park and next day on Samal Island, in my favourite beach resort "Paradise Island Park and Beachresort".

We all had a lot of fun listening Philippine, international and -of course- German music. Enjoy the photos.

 

Fiestas, fiestas, fiestas... .

Filipinos love Fiestas. Meanwhile, and after living in the Philippines more then 11 years, I love such Fiestas too.

Let's start next month. Musikahan sa Tagum is a week-long musical extravaganza featuring the city's best bands, choral groups, rondalla and dances in a musical competition. The Musikahan is the opening salvo of the Mindanao Regional Festival ahead of the the April Caracoles Festival of the Island Garden City of Samal Island and many more other festivities.

Every February, the streets of Tagum City come alive with festival colors, marching music artists, dancing ladies in full regalia, and wild cheering. it's enough to keep both locals and tourists (and of course expats!) singing and dancing to the beat of the music, and more than enough to captivate any music lover's heart. Don't miss it... .

Also in February you should visit Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur. Immerse in the culture of Jose Abad Santos through Kapyaan Festival, a celebration of gratitude for a bountiful harvest. The feast beckons (again) BOTH local and foreign tourists as well as expats to participate in activities like street dancing, musical contents, and float parades.

The month March will bring us many more festivities:

The week long Araw ng Tagum (March 1-7) commemorates Tagum's establishment as a city in 1998. As the provincial capital of Davao del Norte, Tagum is one of the fastest-growing cities in Mindanao and has been cited as one of the 20 most viable and most competitive sites in the Philippines in 2005.

In March one can also experienced the IGACOS Festival (Island Garden City of Samal). Accentuated by Samalenos'frenzied revelry in a fluvial parade of boats, banca race, and sand sculpture competitions, Igacos Festival is a celebration that shows Samal Island is more than the usual island sun, sand, and sea.

March 14-16: Araw ng Davao. One way to catch the soul Davao city is indeed to witness the vibrant feast that commemorates this city's charter day. A window to the oneness of this multicultural city, where I really love to live since 1999 for good, is a showcase of festivities that exhibit the culture , passion, and art of Davaoenos. Major events of the festival include an opening ceremony featuring tri-peoples offering and historical vignette performances, trade fair and flea market, and among many other things the search for the "Mutya ng Dabaw", the city's ambassadress of goodwill.

Two more exciting fiestas are waiting for you at the end of March: The Kuradang sa Dalan in Panabo City, Davao del Norte: Release your energy in an estatic street dancing and wriggle your body to the beat of the gongs in Panaboans' way of celebrating a bountiful harvest. Or go to Kapalong, Davao del Sur: In this colorful celebration that features trade fairs and culture shows. The star of the event is the banana, Davao's number one export and the largest contributor in the economy.

Not yet enough? In April there'll be another festival of gratitude for the rich environment, the Pista sa Kinaiyahan in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur. It is celebrated through tree planting and coastal and mountain clean-up.

Enjoy and have fun!

Expat-Thoughts (II)

I remember the movie "Cinema Paradise" directed by Guiseppe Tornatore: After 30 years absence a man returns to his childhood village. Actually he is terrible afraid, that all impressions might overcome him - but it doesn't happened. Well, of course, he is touched. He remembers himself as the small boy living in this place. But the man is through with the past. The presence is more important for him, even this presence couldn't have become like that without the past time in that small Sicilian village in South Italy.

A lot of expats might experienced in the same way. I did it too. 

To become a real grown up - as a German saying goes - we must learn to forget many things of our childhood. is that really so? I guess, it depends... .

If we have waited long enough, we might be able to return "to earlier places" but WITHOUT melancholy or wistfulness. Good advice. But speaking about myself: I haven't seen my home town in Germany since 11 years. I am pretty sure, that a certain melancholy will touch my heart. Sometimes we'd like to reply with Bob Dylan: "It's alright, Ma, I am only bleeding!"

Yes, I must confess, I mostly got a melancholy heart while visiting places of the past. Maybe that's the reason, why didn't visit my home country since 11 years. Nothing will remain as in yesterday. Nothing can be found again in its origin.

Mabuhay  Filipinas!

Expat Thoughts

Very often - sometimes too often! - the thought is back. If we wake up in the morning (or even many times in the middle of the night) - the thought is back. The "act of thinking", the "reflection", the "opinion" or the "serious consideration", no matter, how we describe it - our memory and conscience is always with us as a permanent companion.

We brood over unsettled problems. Sometimes we bear unfair treatments, arrogance, ignorance, incompetent know-it-all-betters, and unbearable oddballs, who inexorable love to make our life a hell, while living themselves a disorderly life.

We would not like to be distracted, but we're toying with some good ideas how we could throw overboard "all that garbage". What will come next is a matter of conjecture.

Of course, when I started my expat life here in the Philippines, I also got my ideas. But, too many trains of thought made me thoughtless and absent-minded especially in difficult or important daily life situations. Slowing down while experiencing another culture shock... .

Sometimes we feel that our thoughts and ideas can't be fulfilled with life. Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousands ways; but where the heart is weak, it will find a thousand excuses. I experienced this too during my first one or two years as an expat in the Philippines.

Every new day gives us new inexhaustible possibilities to survive - but many times we overlook and fail to notice many chances in life through our sluggishness and laziness while thinking and dreaming too much of unequaled and unfulfilled ideas.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!