You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

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Thursday, January 18, 2024

Which German language level do I require for doing a job in Germany?

 

Profile photo for Arun Mahajan
Arun Mahajan
Career Mentor I Ex-Amazon, Zalando (Germany) I Ex-Flipkart

The question is flawed.

  • If you want a successful career in USA, you need to know fluent English
  • If you want a successful career in China, you need to know fluent fluent Mandarin (Chinese is not a language, same way as Indian is no language)

In exactly the same way, if you want a successful career in Germany (or any European country for that matter), then you need to know the language at fluent level.

So, the answer is - Learn German as much as you can. Its an investment that will benefit you, in career and life in Germany.

If you will like to discuss something about your career, connect with me on ——> LinkedIn

Check out my Medium articles

I share more career related posts on CDG

More climate bad news for the new year



By Ben Kritz, Manila Times

January 18, 2024 70


WE are not yet three weeks into 2024, and already there have been two unexpected pieces of incredibly bad news on the climate change front. The first was the global temperature data for 2023 from the EU Copernicus program, which showed that crossing the "red line" limit of a 1.5-degree Celsius increase in global temperatures over the pre-industrial average is not, in fact, something that is five or six years in the future but is already happening. The second was a nasty surprise in the form of a research study published on January 2, which revealed that the world's soils, long assumed to be an important carbon dioxide (CO2) absorber, are actually releasing CO2 into the atmosphere at a frightening rate.


The study entitled "Projected soil carbon loss with warming in constrained Earth system models" was led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and published in the journal Nature Communications. It is accessible online without a subscription — a bit of a rarity, in that respect — at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44433-2. It is not a long paper, but it is rather heavy reading, so I'll provide a simplified explanation.


Soil absorbs CO2 in considerable quantities from dead plant matter; all of the CO2 taken in by trees, grasses and other plants is carried into the ground when leaves and branches fall, harvested crop plants are tilled under, and so on. The CO2 is eventually released through microbial action as bacteria and other microorganisms break down the plant matter, but it is a slow, gradual process; the soil takes in much more CO2 than it releases over any given period of time.


Or that's what climate scientists have assumed, based on experimental data done years ago; this assumption, in the form of average rates of soil CO2 absorption, has found its way into most climate models. From those models, we get our estimates of the rate of CO2 buildup in the atmosphere, the rise in global average temperature as a result, and the "carbon budget" — the amount of CO2 mankind can still emit before temperature thresholds such as +1.5 C or +2.0 C would be exceeded.


Unfortunately, the latest research has demonstrated the assumption is dead wrong and did so by gathering real-world data from soil samples taken at 366 sites around the world, covering all the various types of landscapes: different types of forests, grasslands, wetlands, croplands, tundra, and so on. The new data thus provided a "constraint" to the climate models, observed data that could be substituted for the older, mostly assumed soil CO2 absorption and release factors.


The results were not good. In the current climate models based on what could be considered a reasonably likely "average" scenario — mild to moderate global warming of something like 1.5-2.0 C, or in other words, the current aspirational goal of most climate policy — it is assumed that soil absorption would remove about 30 billion metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by the end of the century. Plugging the new data into the models, however, completely reverses that, showing that CO2 "turnover" will actually release about 19 billion metric tons of CO2 over the same time span.


The most important immediate consequence of this is that it means that the "carbon budget" is an overestimate by about 66 percent. Until now, the carbon budget was six years, meaning that we could continue to emit CO2 into the atmosphere at the current rate for only another six years before the 1.5 C limit is exceeded (for the mostly political purposes of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the limit is considered as a 10- to 20-year average, rather than a point). With the latest findings, that deadline has been cut to two years.


It gets worse, however; that new estimate does not take into account the latest Copernicus temperature data, which showed that Earth's temperature actually stepped over the line — or at least stepped right on it — last year. Global average temperatures for all of 2023 were 1.48 C above the 1850-1900 average, and the temperature on every day of the year was at least 1.0 C above that average, with more than 180 days exceeding 1.5 C over the average. Two days in November exceeded +2.0 C over the pre-industrial average, and November's average temperature was 1.69 C over the pre-industrial average for the month. December was even warmer, at +1.78 C.


Ironically, or perhaps not, the current temperature trajectory is very close to that predicted by climate research conducted — and kept secret from the public for decades — by the petroleum industry's CO2 and Climate Task Force in 1980. That research, which has so far been demonstrated to be extremely accurate in other contexts, predicted a 2.5 C temperature rise by 2038.


The scientists who conducted the recent soil research also pointed out that warmer temperatures will tend to accelerate soil CO2 release. The soil microbes that release the CO2 trapped in plant matter as they go about their little microbe business thrive in warmer conditions, and so the "most plausible" estimate of 19 billion metric tons of CO2 added from soil emissions by the end of the century could be as high as 45 billion metric tons.


I suppose the natural question at this point is, "What now?" Don't ask me, man, I just work here. But I do think these latest findings are a further call, nay, imperative demand for climate advocates, policymakers and institutions to pull their heads out of the clouds, resign themselves to living in the present day, and dispense with the laughably, desperately outdated messaging that "we need to take action to keep global warming under 1.5 C before it's too late." It's already too late, and has probably been too late for a long time.


ben.kritz@manilatimes.net

PH storm-free until weekend – Pagasa


y Arlie O. Calalo

January 18, 2024


MANILA, Philippines: The state-run weather agency said on Thursday that it has not monitored any tropical cyclone or low pressure area forming or entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) until over the weekend.

"It would be another generally fair weather in most parts of the country except for isolated or scattered downpours and thunderstorms in the afternoon or at night," weather specialist Benison Estareja of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

Citing the agency's data and analysis, the Pagasa forecaster said there would be no storm inside or outside PAR at least until weekend.

He said the shear line –where the hot and cold air converge – will continue to dump rain, especially in the eastern section of Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Pagasa in its 5 a.m. advisory said the northeast monsoon or "amihan" is affecting Luzon, including Metro Manila and the Visayas where overcast skies with isolated light rain may prevail over the next 24 hours.

The state weather bureau said the rest of Mindanao would likely have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with scattered rain showers or thunderstorms due to the localized thunderstorms.


Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Love in the making

 How the 'Anyone But You' cast prepped for their rom-com roles


The cast of ‘Anyone But You’ at the New York premiere of the film in December 2023 (from left) Joe Davidson, Glen Powell, Dermot Mulroney, Alexandra Shipp, director Will Gluck, Charlee Fraser, Sydney Sweeney, Michelle Hurd, and Darren Barnet. PHOTO COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES


Get ready to be charmed by Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, and the rest of the cast of "Anyone But You," which opens today in cinemas nationwide. But first, find out how they prepared to play their roles in director Will Gluck's new romantic comedy.

In "Anyone But You," Sweeney ("Euphoria") and Powell ("Top Gun: Maverick") play romantic enemies Bea and Ben, respectively, who have to put aside their personal vendettas and pretend to be a head-over-heels couple to keep the peace at Bea's sister's wedding. The film also stars Alexandra Shipp, Darren Barnet, Hadley Robinson, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Hurd, Bryan Brown, Charlee Fraser, Joe Davidson, and GaTa.


Work hard at working out

"I didn't realize how naked I would be [in the movie]," shares Powell, who plays Ben. "I knew it was a rom-com, which meant I should stay away from the beer for a bit. But I didn't expect to be this naked, this often. I kept weights and resistance bands in my trailer that I would break out on certain days, just to keep everything looking good."

Joe Davidson, who plays the boyfriend of the woman Ben is truly after, was traveling in Tasmania when his agent called with the news that Gluck wished to meet with him in Sydney. "It said specifically in the email that Beau must be big and strong, and I'd just spent a few weeks in Tasmania traveling around, so I wasn't in peak physical condition at all," recalls Davidson. "I headed up to Sydney and went into a KMart, grabbed two dumbbells, and started a little workout. I did sit-ups, and everyone was like, 'What's this guy doing?' I did a 30-min Kmart workout, then headed in for my audition."

Possible tropical and floods continue in Mindanao, Westpacwx Bagyo Update


Disease threat from climate change must be addressed


By The Editorial Board

January 17, 2024 70


PUBLIC health experts are becoming increasingly alarmed at the spread of tropical diseases driven by climate change, both in terms of their appearance in new regions and their increase in occurrences in tropical regions where they are already prevalent. The reports from data collected for 2023 are disturbing and strongly suggest that our own health authorities must take a more proactive approach to identifying and preventing diseases such as dengue fever and infections from bacteria.

The problem is getting the most attention from countries such as the US simply because cases of diseases associated with tropical conditions are beginning to appear in numbers there. In October, two cases of locally transmitted dengue infection were recorded for the first time ever in California; prior to that, all cases of dengue that appeared in the US were in people who had been infected in other countries. There have been numerous cases of infection in the US from the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, a pathogen that thrives in warm water and is sometimes associated with so-called red tide algal blooms; at least 17 deaths were recorded in 2023, with a couple of those occurring as far north as New York and Connecticut.

There have also been increases in the number of heretofore exceedingly rare tropical infections, such as the nearly always fatal Naegleria fowleri, also known as the "brain-eating amoeba"; coccidioidomycosis, also known as "Valley fever," a fungal respiratory infection; and infections from the lone star tick. The latter is at least one dangerous pest that we do not have to fear here in the Philippines as of now, as it is endemic to warm areas of the southern US and Central America, but we should be cautious about preventing it from arriving here accidentally, such as in cargo shipments; the most common lasting health effect it inflicts on its victims is a lifelong allergy to red meat.

Elsewhere, in South and Southeast Asia, most of Africa, and Central and South America, health authorities have also reported what seems to be a steady rise in the incidence of diseases associated with warmer climate conditions, some of the ones described above as well as other dangerous infections such as malaria. There is also some evidence to suggest that warmer conditions are contributing to a rise in cases of tuberculosis in many tropical countries, including the Philippines.

Researchers have explained that the warming climate is helping diseases thrive and spread to new areas for two main reasons. The first is obvious; most pathogens and their vectors (such as mosquitoes) thrive in warm conditions. The second reason is the changes in patterns of human movement and habits due to hotter conditions. People are simply more likely to expose themselves to diseases, especially waterborne infections, by seeking to keep cool in hot weather or through unintentional means such as being exposed to floodwaters.

Despite their understandable concern, researchers have said that the trend in the increasing numbers and geographical spread of tropical infections is not surprising. Since the problem is being driven by global warming, it is expected to become progressively worse. That is certainly not at all an encouraging outlook, but awareness of the problem does suggest a way in which public health authorities can manage it effectively. However, it will require a substantial shift in the approach to addressing disease incidence, from responding to outbreaks to anticipating them.

Put another way, health officials cannot simply wait for diseases to appear but should apply effort in seeking out the potential infectious agents and the conditions that allow them to thrive. This is already done in some ways, such as the occasional campaigns to educate the public and clean up stagnant bodies of water that can harbor disease-carrying mosquitoes, but these types of initiatives must be expanded and carried out even in the absence of any actual cases of infection.

At the same time, the monitoring and treatment of tropical disease cases should be reviewed and strengthened. The public health system will need to be able to effectively handle the inevitable increase in disease cases, as well as to ensure prompt identification of potential new problem areas that might be revealed by cases of infection, even if there are only one or two victims.

Specialty coffee auction in Davao City set

BY KEITH BACONGCO



DAVAO CITY – Coffee producers from the famed village of Balutakay at the foot of  Mount Apo in Bansalan, Davao del Sur will hold its first auction of specialty coffee here on January 20.

KAPE.jpg

A FARMER sorts coffee cherries in Barangay Balutakay, Bansalan, Davao del Sur.  (Photo courtesy of MCN)  

Rhoda Ruth Pillerin, chief executive officer of the Model Cooperative Network, said the specialty coffee beans are from 18 producers from the Balutakay Coffee Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (Bacofa).

Pillerin added that the Arabica coffee green beans have been graded by Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) certified graders.

MCN is providing technical assistance to  support the coffee value  chain activities under its project Strengthening the Implementation of Regional and Local Peace and Development Agendas (SPADe) and Mindanao Peace and Development (MinPAD) RISE Program of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

It is also supported by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Pillerin added that only those graded 80 and above have been selected for auction.

Over 100 producers submitted their samples but only 18 made the cut.

The highest cupping score was earned by Cherry Gil Cabanday with 85.45 with cupping notes berries, cinnamon, and wine.

Unlike other coffee varieties, Arabica coffee is considered the superior coffee and sold at higher prices.

“This is the first time that Bacofa will hold an auction of their specialty coffee in the Philippine market,” she admitted. “We are also testing the water through this auction to see the response of the market.”

Pillerin added that most these producers also belong to winners circle of Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC).

Coffee producers in Bansalan have been consistent in the winners circle in PCQC since 2018.

As of January 12, several prospect buyers have signified their interest in the auction that will be held at Park Inn by Radisson Davao.

Under this project, Pillerin hopes to educate the public on the value of the specialty coffee from the Davao region.  

MCN assists the coffee producers in making sure that they are following top quality standards in processing their coffee beans, she added.

She urged local coffee shop owners, roasters, and even home brewers to patronize the local specialty coffee to further boost the income the local producers.

“Because when you are buying local specialty coffee from Bacofa, it could help in the expansion plans of the group,” Pillerin said.

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

High-Rise Buildings in the Philippines| Davao City



Philippine-German Relations (VII) - Deutsch-philippinische Beziehungen (VII): German Jesuits - Deutsche Jesuiten

1595 kamen jesuitische Missionare auf die Philippinen, wo sie in Baclayon eine Kirche bauten. Alexandre de Rhodes kam 1619 nach Indochina und konnte nach seiner Schätzung 6700 Vietnamesen taufen. 1625 kam der Jesuit Antonio Freire de Andrade in das Gebiet des Himalaya.

In his book entitled "The Jesuits in the Philippines, 1581 - 1768", Father Horacio de la Costa lists several German names from the non-Castillian Jesuits who came to evangelize the natives. Although the Spanish Goverment's policy at this time was send to send only Spaniards to work in the Christianization of their newly-acquired  territory, some Germans werde made an exception to the rule. 

One reason for this was the fact that the Germans were especially trained in some fields , particularly pharmacy, medicine and the sciences. Another reason was that in the middle of the 18th century, the Jesuits were expelled from many countries of Europe. 

The native Filipinos generally thought of those German Jesuits as Spaniards because of their skins' color. For them white people were always Spaniards, just as today all white people people in the Philippines are Americans.

Besides, the German Jesuits had adopted not only the Spanish language and ways to live. Father de la Costa listed in his book some German names of Jesuit priests and brother who came to the Philippines in the 17th and 18th centuries: Johann Lorenz, Georg Josef Kamel, Paul Klein and many more.

The beginnings of Philippine-German trade relations  started in 1836.

(To be continued)

+++

In seinem Buch mit dem Titel „Die Jesuiten auf den Philippinen, 1581 – 1768“ listet Pater Horacio de la Costa mehrere deutsche Namen der nichtkastilischen Jesuiten auf, die kamen, um die Eingeborenen zu evangelisieren. Obwohl die Politik der spanischen Regierung zu dieser Zeit darin bestand, nur Spanier zur Christianisierung ihres neu erworbenen Territoriums zu entsenden, machten einige Deutsche eine Ausnahme von der Regel.

Ein Grund dafür war die Tatsache, dass die Deutschen in einigen Bereichen, insbesondere Pharmazie, Medizin und Naturwissenschaften, besonders ausgebildet waren. Ein weiterer Grund war, dass die Jesuiten Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts aus vielen Ländern Europas vertrieben wurden.

Die einheimischen Filipinos betrachteten diese deutschen Jesuiten aufgrund ihrer Hautfarbe im Allgemeinen als Spanier. Für sie waren Weiße immer Spanier, so wie heute alle Weißen auf den Philippinen Amerikaner sind.

ußerdem hatten die deutschen Jesuiten nicht nur die spanische Sprache und Lebensweise übernommen. Pater de la Costa listete in seinem Buch einige deutsche Namen von Jesuitenpriestern und -brüdern auf, die im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert auf die Philippinen kamen: Johann Lorenz, Georg Josef Kamel, Paul Klein und viele mehr.

Die Anfänge der philippinisch-deutschen Handelsbeziehungen begannen im Jahr 1836.

(Fortsetzung folgt!)





Typical Filipino (XXXVI) - Typisch Philippinisch (XXXVI): "Lista sa tubig" - Teilen und schnorren


 

It is the rule to share with relatives. And you measure a relationship by your willingness to share everything with others. It is natural not to pay a friend or relative, an author, painter or shopkeeper, for a book, picture or bar of chocolate they receive. This would mean being placed on the same level as other mortalities and not being treated as a special confidant. Filipinos tend to serve themselves, assuming that if the other person is friends or related to them, they won't be confronted or objected to. Some expressions that describe this behavior are "T.Y." (thank you, thank you), "ambush", "lista sa tubig" ("have someone write to you on the water") and "dilihensiya" (assistance).

+++

Es ist Regel, mit der Verwandschaft zu teilen. Und man misst eine Beziehung an der Bereitschaft, alles mit anderen zu teilen. Es ist selbstverständlich, einem befreundeten oder verwandten Autor, Maler oder Ladenbesitzer nichts für ein erhaltenes Buch, Bild oder eine Tafel Schokolade zu zahlen. Dies würde nämlich bedeuten, mit anderen Sterblichkeiten auf eine Stufe gestellt und nicht als ein besonderer Vertrauter behandelt zu werden. Filipinos neigen dazu, sich selbst zu bedienen, in der Annahme, dass man sie nicht zur Rede stellt oder etwas dagegen einwendet, wenn der andere mit ihnen befreundet oder verwandt ist. Einige Ausdrücke, die dieses Verhalten bezeichnen sind "T.Y." (thank you,danke), "Hinterhalt", "lista sa tubig" ("auf dem Wasser anschreiben lassen") und "dilihensiya" (Hilfeleistung).