A Bunch of Stuff

Actual published date, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013,  11:40 a.m. Philippines time

I usually try for a "straight topical" subject in each of my blog posts, but quite a few photos have accumulated which are either "singles" or "just a few," which are of things I see here that strike me as ODD - you wouldn't expect to see this (whatever) in the US of A.  So, this time I'm just going to start putting up "odd photos" and see where the posting ends up.
Things for sale:

This box of all-purpose white flour contains about 2/3 of a cup-measure.

I can barely think of how to use that small an amount; one-time breading

meat to fry (?) or whatever.  Poor people here often can only buy what

they need for immediate use, and very small sizes of everything are either

sold or re-vended everywhere.   But flour isn't poor-people food, here - -

and neither is meat,  or frying oil .

Very large sizes of things are also for sale, mostly for the purpose

of re-vending.  Here, approx. 10- gallons of vinegar or soy sauce

is costing (USA) $9  to $11.  These will very likely be re-vended

in small "sachets" - plastic bags - of 8- to 12- ounces, and the

mark- up could be several times what the vendor paid.

Here are re-vended vegetable oil in sachets, home-made coconut

vinegar in rum and brandy bottles, and nearby was flour, sugar, lard,

and many other "staple" items repacked and marked up.  One reason

why "the poor stay poor . . ." 

 

Small blister- packs of shampoo, baby-oil, dyes and conditioners, 

and things too numerous to count, hang everywhere.  "Travel-size"

or "hotel-sample" size seem to be the normal sizes here.  Eggs

sell "per each" here. about 13- 15 cents (U.S. money) - -

- - and often, so do cigarettes.  Here, you'd have to buy 4, in order to

spend exactly seven- pesos (20-cents US). They are also available by the

pack.  I don't buy, but the idea of buying one-at-a-time is odd- seeming.

Laundry detergent is most often sold in bar-form;  most people wash

by hand.   The white powder in upper-left is either  flour or sugar.

Soda pop - usually poured into a plastic bag (sachet - pronounced "saa-shay")

"to go" since the bottle deposit would cost more than the contents.

Many U.S. brands are manufactured in the Philippines, too.  These

Pringles were on a "two- fer" bargain special.  But notice the flavor.

I was used to seeing home-made fluids sold like this; when I asked

if the pink fluid was another type of vinegar, "they" laughed and told

me "it's gasoline."  The price, bought like this, is about a one- dollar

per gallon markup above the "gas station" price.  Current price here

at stations is above 6- dollars (converting pesos, liters, etc.).

This motorcycle- load of chickens was outside the market one morning;

they were blinking and turning their heads - alive.  I counted 6 on the

left side.  Don't know if they were headed into or out of the market.

Smaller birds nearby, had stalks of rice to snack on pushed through

their cage-wire.  These will be pets, I think.

The (sometimes) shocking truth: 

Racks of electric meters are a common sight on main roads.  Separate

wires run from each meter to its customer, sometimes quite far away.

Ours is here - its height of 10 ft. means we can't read it without a ladder.

Often meters are simply attached to the utility pole.  Note the "free-

form" routing of wires, very typical here.  (By the way, our electricity

costs USA 30-cents per KWH here; it was about 9-cents in KY)

Fish:

Piles of dried fish, many varieties, are always available at the market.

 You can get yours from a crate, if you didn't want to buy it off a

plastic tarp.  It is a national  favorite food of Filipinos;  an "acquired

taste" for westerners, as both its flavor and its smell are very strong.

 You're likely to see fresh fish just about anywhere.  Here, I was riding

the rear seat of a tricycle - as usual - and the rider behind the driver

was casually holding this large fish as we rode along.

Bro.-in-law Malon is often successful in his early-morning fishing.  This

was an above-average catch, though as the reddish fish is a particular

delicacy.  My flip-flop is for size- reference; the big fish is over 26- inches.

 Another morning he caught this spade-fish; again note the "shoe'" which

shows the fish as 5-1/2 "feet" long.  This is also a very mild flavored

fish which isn't too bony.  I can't find the photo of his 2-spade-fish

catch, which was about 2 weeks ago.  We eat lots of fish.

The photo turned out to still be in the camera.  A little hard to see, but
Gina is holding 2 spade-fish here.  Nice catch!  Note: background, there
is home-made coconut vinegar in-progress. Often they put a dozen or
more "tabasco" peppers in it  - a flavor "eye-opener!!"

Cooking:

The terra-cotta pottery stove replaced an older metal stove 2 days ago.
The old stove, like the cement stove on the left, had a fire-box sized for
charcoal, and the ladies are using more firewood lately.  This new stove
can easily fit pieces of firewood, not even cut to length but
pushed forward into the fire as they burn.

We have a 4-burner "apartment size" (Playskool size) stove with an oven.
The ladies still heavily use the "outdoor kitchen" because it is cooler (barely)
and the fuel is cheaper.  The B-B-Q size fuel bottle shown costs US $21-
dollars to fill; we use about one per month even being careful; that's nearly
a week's wages for a Filipino worker in this area., so most can't afford it.
The outdoor kitchen will be re-modeled/ expanded some next year, we hope.

Finally,  I only sent the next photo to a handful of people, by e-mail.

I saw our puppy, "Smarty," playing with one or our cleaning tooth-

brushes one day, and just waited a minute or so to get the photo

I wanted.   The "Hygienic Hound."  He got sick a few weeks later;

there are no veterinarians here and he didn't recover with the medicine

we were able to get at the feed store.  Glad we have a couple cute

photos to remember him by.

There are still quite many "miscellaneous" photos in my collection, so from time to time I may do this again; especially as I only hit 4 or 5 subjects this time, and not too heavily on any of them. I will get back to some of our "project progress" as things move along here, and I have quite a few "Philippine Occupations" photos, and a handful of other topics mentally sketched out.

Meantime we hope that you all are doing well.  Life isn't so much what happens to you, as it is what you make of what happens to you.

Have a great day!

Tim and Bernadette Larson,   Philippines