A little bit of our Filipino life: Common Irregularities.

U.S. Countdown

9 days

Upon arriving in the Philippines, we've had adjust to the way of life around us. However, there are two COMMON irregularities that tend to stick out the most when it came to adjusting to our lives here. First is the Weather.

We have to admit, the weather in the Philippines has, for the most part, been ideal (atleast compared to the winter experienced back home :/ ). But there was always one downside to Filipino weather....rain. Rain in the Philippines is nothing like the rain back home. Back home, you watch the weather man and he predicts days ahead that it is possibly going to rain. You see it coming all the way from California!

However, in the Philippines, the rain is literally like a light switch. One second, you're hanging your clothes out on the line, commenting on how beautiful the day is, you walk into the house and suddenly you hear it pouring rain outside. Now you have dampened spirits and laundry ;) This has happen to us on more than one occasion.

One morning, we woke up, and decided to go to market. It was beautiful and sunny, so we would  walk. But as we're buying our vegetables, suddenly typhoon-like rain will sweep over the market place. And we walk back to the apartment drenched.

Though sometimes the rain can be a bummer, the good news is it also works the same the other way around. After it starts to rain, you take shelter for 5-10 minutes and then, like a light switch, the rain is gone and sun is out, once again. We experienced this when we went to Honda Bay for the first time. That morning we woke up and it was pouring rain. So Michel said we probably wouldn't be able to go to Honda Bay. Twenty minutes later, the rain was gone and the sun was out; and we had a GORGEOUS day at Honda Bay.

Besides the weather, the only other MAJOR irregularity we had were the frequent Brownouts. "What is a brownout?" you may be wondering "Did they mean to say Blackout and they're just color blind?"

This was a new concept to us, as well, upon arriving. The way it was explained to us, "Blackouts are uncontrolled losses of electricity. Brownouts are controlled." Yes, believe it or not, in the Philippines at ANY given moment the electric company will shut off the power. You never know when or how long it will be out, you just deal with it. Sometimes, thats easier said than done. For example its a 90 degree day and your only form of comfort is a fan. Suddenly BROWNOUT.

Your day is pretty much miserable until the electric company decides to turn it back on. The only time you know, without a doubt, that the power won't go out is when Manny Pacquiao is competing :) Some may be thinking, "Oh, well at least that saves you money on utilities." But it doesn't. You actually receive a "brownout charge" EVERY TIME the power goes out.
Though we probably won't really MISS these parts of our Filipino life, they made us live everyday on our toes; which in the end, made it SOO much more memorable.

~Me and Her