This might not be the typical expat blog, written by a German expat, living in the Philippines since 1999. It's different. In English and in German. Check it out! Enjoy reading!
Dies mag' nun wirklich nicht der typische Auswandererblog eines Deutschen auf den Philippinen sein. Er soll etwas anders sein. In Englisch und in Deutsch! Viel Spass beim Lesen!
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!
Rm. 602 GSIS Complex Senate of the Philippines Roxas Blvd Pasay City
PRESS RELEASE
21 January 2017
Cayetano lauds Trump's support for independent foreign policy
Sees better RP-US relations
“We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world - but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.” – President Donald Trump
We welcome the pronouncement of newly inaugurated United States President Donald Trump to seek friendship with other nations while respecting each country's own national interests.
We can see how, much like President Rodrigo Duterte, President Trump is driven by a strong fervor of patriotism and nationalism. They both focus on having an independent foreign policy that benefits their respective people and nations.
For our part, a truly independent foreign policy allows the Philippines to craft its own destiny with our national interest and the immediate improvement of the lives of our people as the paramount consideration.
We look forward to a stronger relationship with the US, a kind that will be based on mutual trust and respect.
We expect all agencies and instrumentalities of the United States of America to stand by and pursue this policy of mutual respect, cooperation, and non-interference.
We congratulate President Trump and his family and pray for his and America's success.
During an El Niño, a band of unusually warm ocean water develops in parts of the Pacific. The phenomenon affects the climate globally, disrupting weather patterns.
Media captionHow global temperature has changed
According to Nasa figures, 2016 is now the warmest year in a record that dates back to 1880.
"2015 has been the warmest year on record up until now, so 2016 has just beaten that and and it's beaten that by about 0.1- 0.12 of a degree Celsius, which doesn't seem like a lot, but in terms of the year to year variations it's actually huge," Dr Gavin Schmidt from Nasa told BBC News.
"This is a very clear record that we're seeing. It is driven mainly by changes in the tropical Pacific where we had an El Niño event that produced a lot of warmth. But we've also seen long term trends in warming mostly due to the increasing greenhouse gases."
Image copyrightNOAAImage captionMany parts of the world had their warmest recorded year in 2016
Another factor that has affected temperatures in 2016 is the unusual warmth in the Arctic.
The sea-ice covering the Arctic reached its second lowest level (in terms of extent) in September 2016. The sea-ice grows in autumn and winter and shrinks each spring and summer.
While the sea-ice extent last year didn't break the record, the mercury stayed high and the smaller amount of ice now present in the region is at unprecedented levels for the time of year.
A number of meteorological agencies from around the world have released their figures today. They all suggest that warming in 2016 was a record that had an important contribution from El Niño.
The Met Office says it contributed about 0.2C to the annual average for 2016. However, researchers believe that while this is substantial, it is not the whole story.
"We understand the contribution El Niño makes fairly well and we've seen it many times," said Prof Ellie Highwood from the University of Reading.
"But even if you take that contribution away, we would expect 2015 and 2016 to still be the warmest years we've seen, so a majority of it is coming from global warming and the greenhouse effect."
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), which pulls together temperature data from a number of sources, agrees that 2016 broke the record by 0.07C.
Not all of the reports on temperature data in 2016 are clear that the warmest-year record has been broken.
Century dominated by records
The Met Office says that 2016 was 0.77 above the long term rate, but with a plus or minus error margin of 0.1C, meaning that last year was at the very least, one of the two warmest years on record.
"The final figures confirm that 2016 was yet another extremely warm year," said Peter Stott from the Met Office.
"The temperature for last year was very close to the year before, temperatures for 2016 exceeding those for 2015 by a small margin."
Regardless of the small margins, when the new data on 2016 is included, 15 of the warmest 16 years on record have now occurred since 2001.
According to Noaa (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the only year from the 20th Century to break into the top 16 is 1998, and which ranks seventh warmest.
This prolonged period of warming was having significant impacts around the world.
Image copyrightWMOImage captionThe Arctic region exceeded the long term average by up to 6C through most of 2016
"We have also broken sea ice minimum records in the Arctic and Antarctic," said Petteri Taalas from the WMO.
"The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average. The persistent loss of sea-ice is driving weather, climate and ocean circulation patterns in other parts of the world. We also have to pay attention to the potential release of methane from melting permafrost," he said.
Of great concern to scientists and politicians is the fact that the newly published temperature data shows the Earth is once again more than one degree warmer than pre-industrial times, and edging closer to the threshold of 1.5C set under the Paris climate pact.
With the Trump administration about to take office in the US, there are concerns that political support for climate action might fade. This would be a big mistake according to scientists.
"Climate change is one of the great challenges of the 21st Century and shows no signs of slowing down," said Prof Mark Maslin, from University College London.
"The decarbonisation of the global economy is the ultimate goal to prevent the worst effects of climate change. The hottest year on record is such a clear warning siren that even President-elect Trump cannot ignore it."
Researchers say that 2017 is unlikely to break the warming record but will be in the top five hottest years.
Miss Universe candidates wear Uniqlo’s latest collection during their visit to the brand’s store at SM Seaside City Cebu. With them are Uniqlo marketing director Georgia Velasco and Uniqlo COO Katsumi Kubota.
TWELVE of the 86 Miss Universe candidates visited SM Seaside City Cebu at the South Road Properties (SRP) on Tuesday afternoon.
These were delegates from Argentina, the Bahamas, Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Namibia, Romania, Singapore, Slovak Republic, and Venezuela.
The pageant beauties were welcomed by global casual apparel brand, Uniqlo, at their store located on the mall’s upper ground floor.
They arrived at 5:15 p.m. and proceeded to change into Uniqlo’s new Spring-Summer collection, which they later on modeled for local press and bloggers.
The candidates appeared in the brand’s latest offering of denim pants, cotton crew neck shirts, and jackets.
Uniqlo chief operations officer Katsumi Kubota gave the welcome remarks.
They did not stay for more than 10 minutes at the store as they also had to visit Forever 21 and Flawless, also at same mall.
At around 6:30 p.m., they headed back to Jpark Island Resort and Waterpark in Lapu-Lapu City where the pageant’s swimsuit presentation was held Tuesday morning.
At the resort, a gala party was held for all of this year’s Miss Universe candidates.
Prejudices against our beloved president? Against US-president-elect Donald Trump? Against your lot-neighbor or your co-worker? Yes, unlimited and unrestricted, we do have prejudices! Everyone of us. Prejudices give a sense of pride in our one and only world.
Try to make a fundamental and common definition of “prejudice”: It’s an opinion, of course, favorable or unfavorable (more often the latter!). Many times; it’s an opinion formed without fair examination of facts. Prejudice creates biases, bad influences, and inquiries. Do you still remember the latest election campaigns? What a shame sometimes!
A possible correction afterwards is seldom given or will be even rejected. Very often prejudices become coarse, rude and gross generally.
In all parts of our globe, we find an ethical hierarchy. It’s an indirect status with fixed judgement and points of view. Social distance and discrimination predominate and make it easier to use categories such as “race”, “nation” or “culture”. Social differences have been built up.
Gays and lesbians are “unnatural” (?), all black people are “dirty” (?), all white people are “rich”? – Heaven forbid! But I experienced it myself many times: I stayed in Israel sometime in 1978 and was not really welcomed by the people, because of my “Nazi-roots” (though I was born in 1953!). Later, I have been rejected from the Golan Heights, because I came from (enemy!) Israeli territory. Staying in South Africa sometime in 1980, I experienced the terrible racism and fascism of the former apartheid government and its painful effects and consequences. Yes, I mentioned such things already earlier in the corner.
Most racial prejudices have its roots from the heritage of colonial supremacy. Justification of slavery goes back to the 17th century. In early colonial history skin color was not the main reason, it was the paganism of original inhabitants in America, Africa, and Australia.
Terms such as “Indian” and “Negro” can be even found in the literature: the good-natured Indian variant “Winnetou” (Karl May, 1842-1912, Germany) or “Friday” (Freitag), the noble savage in “Robinson Crusoe” (Daniel Defoe, 1660-1731, England), or how about “Uncle Tom” (Harriet Beecher-Stowe, 1811-1896, USA).
Political conflicts between “white colonial supremacies” and “colored subjects” have been explained and described as racial segregation – many times instigated by Christian missionaries. Innumerable examples in world history proved brutal force and power up to genocide.
Prejudices? “Love your neighbor as yourself!” (Leviticus 19:18). “When an alien lives beside you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born!” (Leviticus 19:33,34). Integration, ecumenical movements, support of especially discriminated and disadvantaged groups are keynotes for future. They should be!
The “stranger in media” or “the strangeness – a feigned difficult standard” … we could really really live together easier and more respectful of each other. Let’s honor each other more in future. If there is a will, there is also a way!
MANILA, Philippines - Maxine Medina, the Philippine bet to Miss Universe, clearly has her eyes on the prize.
The 26-year-old model and interior designer appeared confident of a back-to-back win for the country come Jan. 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena when reigning Miss U Pia Wurtzbach passes on the crown to her successor.
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is reportedly attending the pageant finals.
“I’m very honored that our President will be there because he will be witnessing a back-to-back (victory),” Maxine said at a presscon hosted by the Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Inc. (BPCI) last Tuesday.
“Since our president will be there, the whole government will be supporting me and the Miss Universe,” she added in reaction to a question about Duterte’s strict directive that the government will not be spending for the private sector-driven third staging of Miss U in the country.
From the time she won in Bb. Pilipinas up to the present, which is less than three weeks away from the Big Day, Maxine said there has been no let-up in her training. “After I won (in Bb. Pilipinas), I’ve been texting everyone for help ‘coz this is something new for me. The world of pageants is a big thing not just for myself but also for the whole country. I really need to work hard at it,” she shared.
Refusal and compassion characterize society’s attitude as regards social weaklings and handicapped people. It’s a topic which one gladly drives out, represses or tries to forget. I have written about this topic many times, although I have missed more about it.
Even in different groups, some segments of society are distant from them. The socially discriminated and handicapped people don’t correspond to performance, work, capacity, stress and competition in our daily surroundings. Opinions like these – well, that’s how people do it!
The anti-social slum inhabitant has not accepted his responsibility, and the antisocial confidence trickster, certainly not blind and without having difficulty in walking, doesn’t believe in us. That’s it! Finished!
The “bobo”, the alcoholic, the without means “gentleman of the road” – so what! Did everybody not choose his own living condition? In plain words: the ideals of success, ability, efficiency, and competitiveness in our performance-oriented society and its business life describe such fringe groups as “standard violators”, such as in failure, flop or slacker. But remember: a tax evasion or corruption is more costly than a social welfare client.
Do you have a social weakling or handicapped people in your surroundings – in your company? Mostly, these persons appear as a monotonous mass through the glasses of prejudices. How very painful!
Honestly, but true: hindrance and handicap drive into poverty many times. Prevailing opinion is that poverty is going for a fault. The affected people draw back themselves with a sensible sense of shame. And, have you given notice already: most handicapped people feel isolated in their surroundings. Meeting such people sometimes becomes even a bashful situation, while giving the appearance of normality. In my opinion: this must not be happened!
Sometimes we try to avoid any communication, because we might say something wrong. Then – just put a smile on your face, as I often did. I really plead for more integration. Let’s give “such people” autonomy and acceptance starting in school or kindergarten yet. Let’s increase more livable offers for organizations. Social weaklings and handicapped people don’t hinder, hamper or prevent us from living in a society with a much philanthropist face. We are all human beings.
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Email: doringklaus @gmail.com or follow me in Facebook or Twitter or visit www.germanex patinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdorings classicalmusic.blogspot.com.
IN MY OPINION
