Family News

Good news: The lesion was benign, so the Dermatologist did a simple cautery and removal, and I don't need the specialized surgery.

While in Manila we checked out replacement tablets, but the new ones are still beyond my budget so I bought instead an ASUS convertible tablet. Older design and slower but larger, which is good for my eyes to read ebooks. A newer version of the convertible that my granddaughter had in the past (and lost when her car got caught in a flash flood from a typhoon five years ago).

we also ate hamburger and taco salad at Chilis. I saw the steak but passed... no I couldn't finish the hamburger either, but we cut it in half and shared. Since it was Chano's birthday we sang him Happy birthday, and the staff, hearing this, asked if it was, and then brought him a free ice cream and sang happy birthday to him.

the Mall had wonderful stuff to window shop. But somehow designer Italian furniture and decor doesn't go with our house, which is basic Filipino with rattan. Never mind. It does remind me that there is another world out there. This was in Makati, the business area of Manila and quite upbeat.

The meal cost more than we pay our cook for a week: at least her "official salary", which doesn't include if she can buy cheaper food and pocket the difference, or the money I pay for her grandchildren's school fees, and medicine as needed for her family.

If I ate like that every day I'd feel guilty, but it's only twice a year. Usually hamburger is cheaper: The 2 for 25 pesos (50cents) at the palanke or at McDonald for 100 pesos (2 dollars).

But it does give one a pause about the gap between rich and poor here: essentially two economies, the rich, which cost about the same as in the USA for goods, and the poor, which is cheap: subsidized rice, limited fruits and veggies, and shoddy housing.

but since I moved here, things have improved: Few rich in our town but lots of people like us who are "middle class", so we now have more upscale shops and malls.

And the tricycle drivers and maid now have cellphones, and of course access to used TV's and radios.

The middle class tends to be excessive in buying stuff, probably because like the 1950's in the US, they remember when they were poor and couldn't afford anything.