First a little social commentary:-
I don’t know whether the British have a
good deal with their banks and I know a lot who would complain about the
service and miss-selling of all sorts of products, but life seemed a lot
simpler when dealing with the retail banking industry back in the UK than it is
here, so I guess we were certainly spoiled. I will provide some examples of the things that stump me here:-
- Bank branches here are treated as separate entities, if I want to pay money into my own account, which is held in Carmona at any other branch they will charge me P100 for the privilege (around £1.40).
- Cut-off times for branch-to-branch transfers differ depending on the bank you visit, but can be as early as 1pm, which means that the money, even if paid in cash will not be credited the next day.
- Withdrawals and credit card usage is severely curtailed, I am able to withdraw only P20,000 per day on my ATM card and only P10,000 at one time (approx. £130).
- Despite huge government efforts to ensure the correct taxes are paid, making any sort of payment using electronic means is complex, internet payments are no different and this encourages a cash economy with the obvious opportunities for ‘discounts’ and for tax not to be paid. There are stories of people buying cars valued at several million pesos in cash, with envelopes or bags full of notes.
- Cheques (or checks for our more American English readers) are commonly used, especially post-dated ones for on-going payments.
- Standing orders and direct debits are almost unheard of here, requiring cell phone accounts, utility bills etc. to all be paid monthly in person.
- Debit cards making use of chip and PIN are only now being introduced, many are still without.
- On the good side, some banks are open on Saturday, although these tend to be in shopping malls.
Pregnancy update…
At the time of my last post Kat was around
10 weeks pregnant and we had decided that after several scans it was time to go
public with the news, although quite a few people already knew or suspected as
she was forced to make some changes to the way she dealt with patients who
might have an infectious disease like measles or chickenpox. The realities of
being a father are still sinking in and I am not expecting them to fully
manifest until I am holding B2 for the first time around the middle
of March, or maybe a little earlier if the OB decides that is best.
Living with a diabetic wife who is pregnant
is challenging at best. I have to say that Kat has done very well in moderating
her diet, cutting down on rice and starchy foods, significantly reducing her
refined sugar intake and eliminating almost all soft drinks (sodas) and all
caffeine containing products. The result of this is that her blood pressure is
now normal, although we need to keep monitoring this and she has not gained
much weight (actually she has lost several kg since our wedding).
All this, however has not come without
cost, I am forced to be the conscience and to monitor portion sizes and also to
stop her when she wants something sweet. On the plus side, I too have lost some
weight and am slowly getting back down to having something close to a healthy
BMI. To achieve this we have been eating a much healthier diet and are eating
out at local fast food places a lot less; the convenience of living much more
centrally to her clinics makes this so much easier. I have also been working on
my culinary skills with our new kitchen equipment, although I think the deep
fat fryer may be under utilised for the next few months.
The pregnancy itself is moving along nicely,
we have been having regular scans and consultations with the obstetrician,
mainly due to the high risk nature of Kat’s pregnancy, both to her and the
baby. All seems well, the last scan at 13 weeks indicated that the baby is
developing normally and in fact may be a little large for its age. Much to
Kat’s delight, it would seem that B2 has a more Caucasian nose, or
at least that is what the scans are suggesting when the little scamp stops dancing around and stays
still long enough to get a good look at him/her. B2 also seems to
have inherited my knobbly knees, although this one I am hoping is just an
artefact of the scan.
We are hoping to see an OB friend and
colleague near the end of September to have a scan where we can determine the
gender; I don’t have a preference either way, boy or girl, both will provide
huge amounts of pleasure and challenges. I know that Kat’s dad is hoping for a
boy, but he too will be happy with a healthy grandchild either way; I know he
is hoping to get B2 a bicycle and to go for rides together, although
in the short term he is going to have to settle for a buggy or something like
that.
I am determined to try and bring up the
child in an environment of self-determination, I will not make him or her play
with dolls or boys toys based on gender, I would like it if he/she is happy and
interested in what they are doing. I will of course be delighted if we are
lucky enough to have a technically interested child as I will be able to relate
more, I have a certain dread of having an arty kid as I have no personal
knowledge to impart, but perhaps that could be a learning opportunity for both
of us.
One thing is for sure; I hope to make use
of the opportunity of our child learning both Tagalog and English to help my
language skills, especially in Tagalog. I will also have to learn to let go of
any pedantic thoughts I may have with regards to ‘American English’ and accept
all of the incorrect spellings that accompany it, especially the use of the
letter ‘z’ where I would expect an ‘s’ or ‘ss’. I suspect that some things will
slip through though, Filipinos talk of things like “equipments”, “furnitures”
and “sheeps” when in my version of English such items use the same word for the
singular and plural e.g. “a piece of equipment” and “there is a lot of
equipment in the room”. I anticipate that B2 may end up being
scolded by the teacher during lessons if she/he tries to correct the teacher or
insists on “But that’s how my daddy says it, and he’s English so he should know!”
I keep on teasing Kat that we (B2
and I) are going to get a project car to rebuild over several years, I am not
sure whether it is the thought of a rusty old heap of junk slowly rotting away
in the corner of the garden or the idea of us spending hours getting all dirty
and greasy that puts her off the idea, either way I am going to have to give it
some thought once B2 is big enough to decide whether they want to do
that, after all, it could become their first car……
