Christmas Time

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! I know its still a couple of weeks away but I don't know if I will get the chance to write again. Things have been so crazy here and it has been a really difficult time here the past two weeks but things are starting to look up. Yesterday I took my GMAT and unfortunately it didn't go as well as I wanted it too but I not really surprised. I have been studying my ass off the past two months but being aboard and dealing with emotional strain everyday I knew that I wasn't mentally prepared. So after the holidays I'll be looking into taking a prep course or something similar to get my quantitative skills up to par and then just take the test again probably in February ... maybe. It feels so good to have the test complete though ... it has been pretty stressful the past couple of months just working and studying but finally had a chance to go out last night and dance and drink all night which was so much fun ... I just needed to let go. I had a great time last night and I know that it was a Monday night but it was great to get out ... open bar all night and pretty good music ... can't go wrong with that combination.

Headway's Christmas party was this past Saturday and it was very well put together. We had a four course meal and good conversation, however, I did leave early cause my test was Monday morning but one thing I must say about the Philippines is that their catering and partying stills are very well put together. Anyway it was really great to enjoy a Christmas party because I don't really feel like its Christmas time ... I think its the whether and well we don't have a tree or anything like that. However, Gosia and I will be making Christmas cookies this weekend so it should be a great time :)

So my big adventure from last week was my fight with the cab driver in the middle of a business street. Imaging this ... busy busy street on a Friday afternoon around 4 pm and its pay day so it is even more busy then usually and since Filipinos have money from pay day they all decide to take cabs so its really hard for me to get one. I have been trying for about 30 min which is not actually bad and then one cab is dropping some people off and I am about to get in. The people that are getting out of the cab only have 500 pesos and of course the cab driver doesn't have any change for them ... if you ever come to the Philippines always keep some small bills on you. So I search in my pockets and I can get about 300 pesos in change so I give that to the cab driver and he gives me the 500 peso bill from the lady and then he gives the lady my 300 so she paid two hundred for her cab drive ... which was fine cause I was going to get in the cab he would have taken me home which is like a 90 or 100 peso drive with meter and then I would just pay the cab drive the 200 pesos on top of what I would have owed him so it would have been easy to get change for the 500 I had and I thought I was doing this guy a favor. Well it wasn't that simple when I get in the cab "Ma'am 250 pesos" ... excuse me ... remember its only a 100 peso ride at the most. "Ma'am 250 pesos" ... "No boss meter" ... "250" ... No meter or I'm taking the bus" (which I know how to take but I was really tired and just wanted to get home). So by this time I'm tired, sweaty and pissed off at the cab driver for trying to rip me off. So I just get out of the cab cause I don't put up with that bull shit. Anyway it had slipped my mind that I owed this guy 200 cause I was so mad that he was trying to take advantage of me. I start walking away from the cab and then he gets out and runs after me saying "Ma'am 200, Ma'am 200" and by this time I'm so pissed and we start arguing in the middle of Shaw Blvd and Shaw is not a popular place for white people so I get looked at all the time even when I"m just trying to get a cab but now I'm hysterical and I'm yelling at this guy and of course I'm making this big scene. To make it worse he can't speak English ... all he can say is "Ma'am 200" and then the traffic guard comes over (a lady) and she can't speak English and all she can say is "Ma'am you owe this man 200". Now I would definitely have just given the cab driver the 200 pesos but I gave all my change to him earlier and I'll I had now was 500 and I'm still pissed that he tried to rip me off. Now were outside yelling and its hot so I'm sweating and I'm tired and feel like shit and by this time I"m crying cause I don't know what I'm going to do. The cab driver wanted to take me to a store so I could buy something and pay for the cab ride there to get change but I really didn't think that was the best solution for me plus I was the one that was trying to help him out in the first place. Anyway Shaw is only 2 minutes away from my work so I called Rey (one of the employees that is always around to help out when he can) and I asked him to bring change for 500 pesos so Thanks to him I paid the cab driver the 200 pesos and then Rey and I went back to the office. It had to be one of the worst experience I have had here. Rey said that it was because it was close to Christmas and a busy Friday afternoon that he was trying to rip me off but that seems backwards to me ... if its close to Christmas don't you think that they would be in the Christmas spirit and not try to rip people off. It true though they think because its almost Christmas they can try to rip you off because you will be more giving. Don't get me wrong I give a tip whenever I can and if they don't ask and they do a good job I don't mind giving extra but every cab I have got into the past couple of days I have had to asked several times to put the meter on and then they would say "Merry Christmas Ma'am" like that is going to change my mind. Anyway that was my cab driver experience that I had last week. I definitely laugh at the situation now but at the time it was so messed up and a terrible experience. I hope that if any of you come to the Philippines you will never have to go through something like that.

Well I'm off to New Zealand in less than a week and I will be having a great vacation and time away there. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays and a great New Year.

Take Care :)