Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Philippines	Pictures of ex-wife	Rut Roh Shaggy. I've been there, done that, suffered the tampo, and bought the T-shirt. Although I was much worse. When I separated with my ex, many things got shuffled into boxes that I never opened. Not too long before my wife got to the USA, I moved again, we were in the K-1 petitioning process. Some of those boxes, which had been in storage, we're just falling apart when I went to move, so things just got kind of thrown into new places randomly. A picture of my ex and I ended up in a keep sake box I have. I'd had that keep sake box stored and had not looked through it in years. When I got to the new place, I put it on the dresser in bedroom. Well my new wife did go through it, and guess what she found, a picture of the ex in a stack of pictures I quickly threw in there while dealing with an old stored box that was falling apart. Boom, big tampo number one. Now years ago I had gone through a lot of pictures that were not in storage, throwing pictures that included my ex. I also at one point got all my mother's photo albums when she went into a nursing home. These were also kept in boxes in storage. When I moved, I put my mother's boxes in my office intending to sort through what was junk and what should be saved. I never did, but my wife did! Boom big tampo number two! These were not even my pictures, but I certainly took the heat for them. So now I was really scared. I realized I still had boxes and boxes full of old stuff I had not gone through in years. Well my wife needs about two hours more sleep a day than I seem to need. So after that I started going in the garage on weekend mornings and going through each and every box carefully. Boy would I have been in for more trouble eventually. I found a batch of old photo albums which happened to include not only my ex, but many old girlfriends over the years. Funny thing was, when my wife found my mother's old photo albums, she didn't care one bit about pictures my mother had of me with old girlfriends. Two of which were women I actually lived with for a short time. But pictures of the ex, now those were like the worst offense I could have ever committed. At least I was saved from photo tragedy tampo number 3. Another funny thing about those old photo albums of mine, you could see where pictures had been removed from yellowing on the white card board. My wife asked if those were pictures of my ex I had thrown away, and I just smiled a small smile and said, they must have been bad pictures. She asked nothing more, but I'm positive she knew who was really in those pictures and was just happy they were gone. Do your time in tampo, but don't forget this. Your wife probably has all the time in the world now to go through everything in your home. Make sure you no longer have any more pictures of your ex when your wife is not there to see you getting rid of them. If you want to get out of tampo earlier, you can do a bit of lambing when she's ready for it.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-14 10:13:00
Philippines	Single status affidavit for Philippines.	Unless Viet Nam has the same requirements, I doubt the embassy will know what you're talking about. But you could always call and ask if you have the time. Even in Manila, its best to make an appointment to get the affidavit so you're not waiting so long.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-18 13:48:00
Philippines	How did you filipina wife change after you married her and took her to your home country?	My wife had an issue keeping straight at higher speeds. I carefully explained she needs to be looking further down the road when she drives faster. The weaving all over stopped as she got the hang of looking further. It came back when we bought her a Ford Focus, it had much tighter steering than the Durango she started learning to drive here in. My wife slowed at stop signs, but was constantly not stopping. I kept telling her she'd get a ticket or fail her test but it never sunk in. The driving instructor we hired told her "Stop means StoP" and the rolling stops ended. Why couldn't I just say that? Heck it probably wouldn't have worked coming from me I have to say, the driving instructor was a great investment. He really knew how to get her focused on what would really be tested. Much less stress for me to, although she wanted me to ride along to give her confidence, I mainly sat in the back seat reading a book. On one of her driving lessons, there was a mother duck crossing the road with a whole brood of ducklings following. My wife didn't slow down in the least and suddenly the instructor reaches over and grabs to wheel to swerve so we missed them. Turns out she just thought they were birds that would fly away as she got closer. We still laugh over that. You just don't see ducks in the Philippines, if there ever was any, they've ate them to extinction. The roaming all over the highway thing happens to me also. A friend explained it was becuse they are always driving around Pedi-cabs, people, rice, pigs etc in the PI. I also get the does not stop when i say stop thing. Finally I am screaming stop, then she gets mad ?	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-20 12:47:00
Philippines	How did you filipina wife change after you married her and took her to your home country?	I see them in the Asian grocery stores all over around here. Sometimes they're a bit longer handled, but the same basic broom sweep part. I haven't noticed the real stiff bristle ones here, that my wife used to use in the driveway, sidewalks and grass in the Philippines. But you don't need to sweep the grass here. The Asian groceries also have the dust pans with the long handle, which beats the heck out of the standard ones in the USA. Where do you guys get the short broom? Is it the same as the one in the Philippines? I would love to have it for our basement.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-20 08:35:00
Philippines	How did you filipina wife change after you married her and took her to your home country?	Its a big jump to go from being husband and wife to being teacher and pupil. My wife doesn't use yes the way your wife does, instead she gives a little "huh" grunt. If its important I ask if thats a yes, if not I'll just make the sound right back, or use our sound un uh "no" sound which she can't for the life her distinguish from our un huh "yes" word I found that making her repeat the instructions back to me broke through their annoying and deadly habit of pretending to be listening while ignoring you. Saying "yes" is their way of mindlessly pretending to be agreeable while being stubborn and prideful in truth. So before every lesson she had to promise to put her attitude away. Then I gave an instruction that made no sense like "stop" in a place where there was no reason to stop. If she didn't immediately follow the instruction then the lesson was over for the day. Before that I would say stop, stop, stop, to the point of screaming at her and she would not even react. Smiling away while heading through an intersection, about to get t-boned by a cement truck at highway speed. I grabbed the wheel and put us in the ditch that time. After that we put on the regimen about checking her attitude and repeating back instructions. If she can't repeat them back, then she is blocking you out instead of listening.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-18 16:33:00
Philippines	How did you filipina wife change after you married her and took her to your home country?	Mine was a good driver, she just didn't follow any rules over there. When you just pay money to get a license, how are you supposed to learn any rules? Now she's a good driver that follows the rules. She's learned why some people in the USA criticize Asian drivers to, even some of her friends She's learned to like food she never liked in the Philippines, like hamburgers for one. I won't eat them in the Philippines either. She's learned to rely on modern appliances, microwave, washing machine and drier, garage door opener, remote car starter, dishwasher, etc... She's even learned to love the vacuum cleaner, even on floors without carpet since ours is equipped to do so. At first I had to get her one of those short witches brooms they love over there, but now she rarely ever uses it. She got heavier for a while, then started working and got thinner, now she's putting on a little weight again through my insistence. She likes to look sexy for me, but I was worried she was making herself overly thin. I'd rather have a few extra pounds on her than too thin. She's learned to love shoes and bags. Something she never had the opportunity to do in her own country. She used to say I have a pair of shoes, now she's learned that different weather here requires different shoes. Minnesota weather can be a bit radical. She also has a few different bags for use at different times. I think 4 now, but maybe 5. What can I say, I spoil her. She's learned to layer clothes, which meant buying a lot more clothes. Her first winter was in the house, she didn't drive and she didn't work. Now she does both so she's learned to enjoy shopping. Shopping didn't use to be a joy as it was more a reminder of not having the money to get things. Now we have a decent budget to get her new things and she enjoys that. She's learn to handle her booze. She rarely drank in her home country, having maybe a beer or two, and didn't know how to pace herself. She's pretty small so a little goes a long way for her. After one bad night having too many beers, 4 was the count, she says she'll never drink beer again, but she's learned how to space them out and drink water between them. Three or four is still her limit over a long evening, but she knows to eat and drink water so she doesn't gt too intoxicated. I'm always are driver on those nights, as she could probably only have one, maybe two, if she was driving. She's still gets moody and jealous. Wish I could get those to change She still goes to church almost every Sunday, or Saturday evening mass if we're going out dancing on Saturday. She still eats mostly Filipino food, and I do to. I know some don't like Filipino food, but I liked it from my first taste for the most part. I don't think its that healthy though, even if we only use virgin olive oil for cooking. She's still fanatical about having a clean house. She still asks permission before doing things. She still thinks certain things are for the husband to do and for the wife to do. Although I've changed her mind on a few things and she is happy I help out with things she thought she should do alone. But I'd rather join in and get it done so we can do fun things than sit watching her. She still primps in the mirror getting ready, and she's faster than most American women I've known, but still a lot slower than the average man. She's still mainly a blue jeans and tennis shoes girl. I have to really arm twist her to get her into fancier clothes. She's growing here in the USA, there's no way to stop that. But basically she's the same woman, with the same values, the same morals, and the same quirks that I fell in love with. Hopefully mine will change by becoming a better driver. Tried to teach her a few times when we lived together for a year. Scary!	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-18 09:17:00
Philippines	Off topic for Philippines	A law for surfing? I couldn't figure out what she was babbling about. I thought she was a good candidate up until the Q/A. I thought Ms Philippines had it for sure after the question and answer. My fiance (in the philippines) and I (in the US) were watching it together, although she had a bit of a delay. She predicted USA would win. I thought it would come down to those two, but I believe Miss Philippines should have won. They were both good, but I think a little home cooking took place last night for Miss USA. Miss Philippines answer was much better than all of them, especially Miss Venezuela - She talked about making a law for surfing - that was hilarious	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-20 15:06:00
Philippines	Wife going home with one-way ticket & expired Philippines passport	Since her Philippines passport is expired, she may have an issue with the airline by not having a return trip ticket. The airlines are not required to know that the Philippines allows dual citizenship. Having a passport from the USA, they can easily assume she is no longer a Philippines citizen. Without a valid Philippines passport, she has no way to prove she is not required to have a return ticket. Its kind of a great area about needing to apply to retain Philippines citizenship after getting US citizenship, but its generally recommended that it is done if the intent is to maintain their rights as a Philippines citizen. BTW Kentucky is handled by the DC consulate, not Chicago. http://www.philippin...dc/faq-dc/#dual	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-21 09:31:00
Philippines	USPS Express mail international missing?	Isn't that the truth!!! My wife was charged 6000P customs duties(almost $150 for those that don't know) for immigration documents I sent and it took two weeks to get there. Custom duties my butt, more like they knew it was immigration documents so its their custom to demand money. Documents after that were sent Fedex. Much more expensive up front, but so much faster and cheaper in the long run. Now that she's here, we'll occasionally use USPS for a tiny package with a shirt of something in it for a birthday gift or cards and letters, all other things go via balikbayan box. Costs us $105 from Minnesota, but it needs to get shipped to the coast first. Wait until it "turns up" and the VAT tax is collected, you will wish you just sent a bunch of money and told her to go shopping for what she wants.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-12-13 09:57:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	My wife does the measure around the neck trick constantly. I wish more women's pants came with waist measurements like some Levis do. We can order those online or at the Levi store, without worrying about what size a size really is. My wife has a 24" waist, so its not easy to find her pants that fit in any case. And even when the waist fits we need the legs hemmed up. We've gone to the petite section in some stores and everything they have is huge, which makes me think the entire section of the store is a vanity section. The shoe trick wouldn't really work on my wife though, her ring size is 4 1/4 while her shoes size is 5, another hard size to find. Its taken a while, but we've learned the places around here where we can get her clothes that fit. There is an international ring size standard and most reputable jewelers use it. However there are vanity shops in the US that are following the lead of the fashion industry and misrepresenting their sizes to make people feel better about being overweight or larger than average. By the way, for many people you can use a similar trick to using you neck to measure the waist of your pants and use your shoe size as a close approximation for your ring size.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-09 08:57:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	Rings are not required at all as part of the immigration process. Only paperwork and money But shame on you for not knowing her size! American and Philippines ring sizes are different from my experience. Bought my and engagement ring in the USA that was the same size as the one we bought in the Philippines. It was way too large and needed down sizing by at least 1 size. I think it was closer to 1.5 size difference. Her Philippines engagement ring looked more like a wedding band with a small inset diamond chip, with a small inset diamond chip. Her engagement ring when she arrived in the USA was a more conventional thin band with a large solitaire diamond. I debated giving her the more USA traditional engagement ring there, but I would of been constantly afraid she was at risk of a robbery and injury there.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-08 08:12:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	I did the same and got it resized here,. I found it amusing that no jewelry shops there that we went to wanted to make some extra money resizing her ring. I didn't care about the cost. Nope, only if I bought a ring there. It happened at 5 different places. And they wonder why the have issues mAKing money??? It can be pretty amazing to me how poor of business practices go on there. Its like they want to go out of business. One thing I noticed when we were shopping for clothes for my wife there, we went to a ton of shops that had only size large left. All the smalls and mediums had been sold out. The ever helpful clerks would keep trying to tell my wife that she should buy the larges anyway because it they were nice LOL. I could only surmise they brought in all this stock when they opened, quickly sold out all the sizes that actually fit the women in their country, and then refuse to bring in more until they sell out the sizes that fit maybe one in hundred women in that country. Its no wonder those shops come and go so fast. We must have been in around 20 or 30 stores that had nothing but women's size large left in stock of anything.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-03 12:35:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	My wife had what looked more like a wedding band than an engagement ring when she did her interview for K-1. It had one tiny inset diamond chip. I didn't want her walking around with a big diamond in the Philippines, people have lost fingers over things like that there. I had a USA style diamond engagement ring to surprise her on arrival in the USA. They did not bring up her ring at all.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-03 10:12:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	My wife does the measure around the neck trick constantly. I wish more women's pants came with waist measurements like some Levis do. We can order those online or at the Levi store, without worrying about what size a size really is. My wife has a 24" waist, so its not easy to find her pants that fit in any case. And even when the waist fits we need the legs hemmed up. We've gone to the petite section in some stores and everything they have is huge, which makes me think the entire section of the store is a vanity section. The shoe trick wouldn't really work on my wife though, her ring size is 4 1/4 while her shoes size is 5, another hard size to find. Its taken a while, but we've learned the places around here where we can get her clothes that fit. There is an international ring size standard and most reputable jewelers use it. However there are vanity shops in the US that are following the lead of the fashion industry and misrepresenting their sizes to make people feel better about being overweight or larger than average. By the way, for many people you can use a similar trick to using you neck to measure the waist of your pants and use your shoe size as a close approximation for your ring size.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-09 08:57:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	Rings are not required at all as part of the immigration process. Only paperwork and money But shame on you for not knowing her size! American and Philippines ring sizes are different from my experience. Bought my and engagement ring in the USA that was the same size as the one we bought in the Philippines. It was way too large and needed down sizing by at least 1 size. I think it was closer to 1.5 size difference. Her Philippines engagement ring looked more like a wedding band with a small inset diamond chip, with a small inset diamond chip. Her engagement ring when she arrived in the USA was a more conventional thin band with a large solitaire diamond. I debated giving her the more USA traditional engagement ring there, but I would of been constantly afraid she was at risk of a robbery and injury there.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-08 08:12:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	I did the same and got it resized here,. I found it amusing that no jewelry shops there that we went to wanted to make some extra money resizing her ring. I didn't care about the cost. Nope, only if I bought a ring there. It happened at 5 different places. And they wonder why the have issues mAKing money??? It can be pretty amazing to me how poor of business practices go on there. Its like they want to go out of business. One thing I noticed when we were shopping for clothes for my wife there, we went to a ton of shops that had only size large left. All the smalls and mediums had been sold out. The ever helpful clerks would keep trying to tell my wife that she should buy the larges anyway because it they were nice LOL. I could only surmise they brought in all this stock when they opened, quickly sold out all the sizes that actually fit the women in their country, and then refuse to bring in more until they sell out the sizes that fit maybe one in hundred women in that country. Its no wonder those shops come and go so fast. We must have been in around 20 or 30 stores that had nothing but women's size large left in stock of anything.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-03 12:35:00
Philippines	Engagement Ring Doesn't Fit - Will This Alarm Consulate?	My wife had what looked more like a wedding band than an engagement ring when she did her interview for K-1. It had one tiny inset diamond chip. I didn't want her walking around with a big diamond in the Philippines, people have lost fingers over things like that there. I had a USA style diamond engagement ring to surprise her on arrival in the USA. They did not bring up her ring at all.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-03 10:12:00
Philippines	After marriage?	My wife loved that to, and the dishwasher! But now she's bought a bunch of hand wash only clothes, maybe she missed it I think we settled on March 9th gives her time to adjust to everything so far she really likes it Amazed about not having to wash clothes by hand hehe	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-11 14:12:00
Philippines	After marriage?	Yes, they were just poorly telling you that you needed to get married in 90 days and then adjust status. Sounds like you'll need to go through extra checking on fears about TB to. Congrats on your arrival and soon to be wedding. Edited by Caryh, 11 January 2013 - 08:59 AM.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-11 08:59:00
Philippines	What do you do for kareoke in the US?	This should probably be added as the middle step between K1 and AOS in the guides "Purchase Magic Sing" I'm shocked its not there already!	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-11 11:16:00
Philippines	What do you do for kareoke in the US?	The magic sing ET9K we purchased through ebay arrived yesterday. 2000 built in songs, but I'm sure we'll be picking up more chips to expand that. While its not the wireless model, it does work very well and we're pretty happy with it. We spent the evening singing songs and trying to get better scores, as neither of us has the best voice. I'm hoping next time we're at a Fil/Am get together, we won't have to feel like we're the worst voices in the crowd	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-10 13:56:00
Philippines	What do you do for kareoke in the US?	Search for the magic sing on ebay, there are quite a few dealers selling the English tagalog single microphone version for about $140. You can get more chips to increase the song count, but the English Tagalog one comes with a little over 2000 songs programmed into them. I just ordered one for my wife and plan to get the Tagalog 3 chip which adds another 900 songs.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-08 15:18:00
Philippines	What's the reaction to your marriage	We don't really get any issues from anyone. Probably an occassional stare in public but I'm not really one to worry about such things. Our gap is 17 years, and I will admit it bothered me at first. Way back those many years ago, my now wife said if it doesn't bother her it shouldn't bother me. I put it behind me and haven't worried about it since. A few people had resevations about her, worried she may be a green card hunter, they were really just worried about me. No one worries about that after she got here and see us together. BTW my wife is in her mid 30's and very petite, and short even for a provintial Filipina, so people always guess her age as much younger than she actually is. As to meeting other Fil/Am couples, as long as you're in a fair sized city, its going to happen. We live in Minnesota which really doesn't have a huge Filipino population, but we run into them all the time. We've built up a circle of friends that gets together to do things. There seems to be a lot of Filipinas that want just the women to hang together and exclude the husbands, I kind of put the nix on groups like that. Many of them are divorced and they always have drama going on. It bothered my wife at first until they started wrapping her up in the drama. But they were some of the first Filipina she met, and it bothered her kess once she met more with more compatble life styles with us. In my view successful married couples are those that do things together, and not apart. So we associate with other couples that think the same way.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-13 00:23:00
Philippines	Banned Entry	Filipinos can be bit touchy, and with a law on books where you can get banned for offending any Filipino, its as wonder a lot more people aren't banned. But even though they may over react to a joke by some celebrity, I've watched Filipinos put up with some pretty abusive jerk tourist's antics. I guess its ok generally to be a jerk, but don't insult the Philippines, even if what you're saying is true. Wasn't too long ago an expat living in Cebu put uo a video knocking some things that reakky could be done better. They were ready to boot him from the country until he posted an apology.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-13 18:15:00
Philippines	Wife's diet changed since coming to US	My wife's diet has not changed very much at all. We may eat fish a bit less often than she used to, its just harder to find good fish. Tuna is readily available, we can even usually get Lapu Lapu at the Filipino grocery. She doesn't really like filleted fish and wants fish with the head and all unless its tuna. All her vegetables from back home are readily available in the Asian grocery stores, so she need not miss those. She has taken to liking hamburgers, something she hated back home. Loves them straight from the grill with a toasted bun, or even McDonald's hamburgers. She'll occasionally have a steak, as long as I grill it well done, although only tolerates them because I like an occasional steak. I think its actually my diet that has changed the most. She cooks dinner on most work nights, always Filipino dishes, and I make breakfast on the weekends, Filipino style breakfast with egg, rice, dried fish and pork tocino usually. Oh she likes ring sausage to, and I'll make that for her together with fried potato slices on occasion. As to those mentioning going on a diet, she probably put a good 15 pounds on me after her arrival. She likes me heavier than I was before, I guess to her it means she's a good wife I'd try to diet and eat less, but she won't give me any peace unless I eat more.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-15 09:02:00
Philippines	Petitioning My Parents	Yes, but not as long. I think petitioning a sibling from the Philippines is now about a 21 year wait. And a child over 21 something around 5 or 6 years? Also I thought the age was frozen at the time of the petitioning now? [/b] As long as the child is not 21 before the vias a granted... Otherwise its still a long wait.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-15 08:35:00
Philippines	Petitioning My Parents	What was stamped in his passport? And did he sign any papers admitting to working in the USA? Its a very very long wait to bring a sibling from the Philippines. Its generally faster to bring in a parent, then have the parent petition for their children.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-14 12:22:00
Philippines	Marriage in Phils	There is no issue being divorced in the Philippines if you're not a Filipino citizen. You will need to go to the embassy to get an affidavit of not being married, as the USA has no central registry to issue a certificate of no marriage. Edited by Caryh, 14 January 2013 - 12:14 PM.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-14 12:14:00
Philippines	Phil/Am Couples have you talked about having kids?	We have a fair sized age gap, almost 17 years, and I had two kids from an earlier marriage. Long ago I had a vasectomy thinking two kids were enough for me. Now she wants a child, just one would be fine with her. I was totally honest, I told her I thought I was done having children and about my inability to father a child now because of the vasectomy. But I did research reversals, and I told her I was willing to try a reversal so she could have a child. I will admit, I was only saying I wanted a reversal for her sake, I'd be fine not having another child, but I loved her and know how much it meant to her. But now that she is here and we're married, I'm looking forward to having a child with her. It's no longer something I feel I should do so she could be a mother, I actually really want her to have my baby and raise that child with her. My wife regularly double checks with me, as to still wanting a child. She gets concerned that at my age of 53, I may be worried about looking more like grandpa than papa. But If I really worried about what people thought, I wouldn't be married to someone of another race, an immigrant, and someone 17 years younger. The only thing I'm really worried about is my oldest, and a bit too opinionated daughter. I mentioned the possibility of having another kid and she just laughed about it because she knows I've had the vasectomy. She knew about my wife for years before she came here and we got married, and went into shocked distress when it actually happened. It took a bit of talking to her and a bit of time on her part to get over it. Somehow I guess in her mind it invalidated her life because her father found someone new and got married again. I'm pretty sure having another child will have the same affect, but that's her problem really, not mine. But I'm still not looking forward to that aspect of it. Hopefully it won't have to turn into a new drama I need to deal with in the future, but I don't make my life decisions based on a daughter who can turn into a true drama queen at the drop of a hat.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2013-01-25 11:10:00
Philippines	Does your wife know how to swim?	She couldn't swim when I met her. I think half the problem is trying to wear long loose shorts and an over sized T-shirt in the water. There's just too much dragging her down in all that. I got her to switch to tight shorts and a bikini top. She still won't completely wear a regular swimsuit, either a one or two piece. She does swim now, but I wouldn't call her a strong swimmer.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-04-05 15:25:00
Philippines	Fast Courier to Philippines?	first class mail is the best bang for your buck....its usually only 10 days or so from michigan to davao...i would imagine fed ex would be the fastest, but you'll pay for it......... good luck. My wife started getting charged a 5000P customs fee when I sent immigration documents to Davao through the post office. I switched to Fedex which was cheaper considering the custom of the local post office turned into demanding a bribe to release them. They got there much faster to.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-05-24 21:34:00
Philippines	When married/wife's name change on Philippine passport/CFO Stamp	She needs to register the marriage before she can change her name on her passport. It can be done at the same time, but its a separate form and fee. My wife and I registered our marriage through the mail with our local consulate. The passport renewal has to be completed in person, and our local consulate is an eight hour drive away, so we haven't done that part yet. They do have outreach programs where they go to different cities. You can preregister to get a changed or renewed passport at those events, and we're planning on attending one of those in our city this summer. Our local consulate is the Chicago consulate, and getting information from their web site is a bit strange. There are two web sites, one is the unified and newer, the other is older but has the newer information on what cities they're visiting. If you're not close to your local, I'd give them a call and see if they have a similar situation.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-08 06:23:00
Philippines	Been there for the Interview!!!	When was the last time you came to visit? What do you do for a living? What do you do for fun? What do you like best about the Philippines? Have you been to Cebu? How big is your motorcycle, and what kind is it? Oh ya, when did you arrive this time and when are you both flying back? That last question had to be great to hear. Nice way to say you're being approved.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-08 16:00:00
Philippines	Passport Renewal and Reporting of Marriage..	You can renew it, but you can't change your name in it without doing the report of marriage. You have to renew in person and you can do both at the same time, so why not bring the extra documents with to report the marriage?	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-08 11:08:00
Philippines	Passport Renewal and Reporting of Marriage..	Find your local consulate and download the forms. They have instructions for everything you need. If you're still in New Jersey, you'll be using the New York consulate. report of marriage - its not listed, but you'll need a copy of the divorce decree if your husband was previously married http://www.newyorkpc...ort-of-marriage Passport information and form http://www.newyorkpc...rvices/passport	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-08 10:24:00
Philippines	How Long are you Visiting Earth ?	Hmmm...cowboy coffee! You just save the last cup for the unexpected guest! Nah, real cowboy coffee is when you put the grounds in your tin cup and heat it on the fire! Just make sure you don't suck down that last gulp in the cup or you'll be spitting grounds	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-11 15:25:00
Philippines	How Long are you Visiting Earth ?	What a shame... Have you ever made a trip to Baguio? If not, I highly suggest going. Since I was a little kid, my family has been buying from Garcia's coffee. At ~P300/kilo...you can't go wrong. My personal favorite is their Benguet blend. It sure beats the ####### outta instant. I hope to make it up to Baguio, some time. My wife is from Davao City, Mindanao, so I tend to be pretty far south all the time. I have noticed an improvement in coffee in Manila, but I'm always just passing through and it hasn't appear to have reached the south yet. I might even just bring a stove top percolator pot. I prefer perked coffee over drip coffee in any case. Although you need to do it right or you'll eat coffee grounds.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-11 15:05:00
Philippines	How Long are you Visiting Earth ?	It was okay for instant coffee, if made strong enough. The best coffee I found while there was at McDonald's. Even the Dunkin' Donuts coffee wasn't all that good. I never have found good coffee in all my trips over there. I've just settled on instant when I'm there. I keep telling myself that one day I'm going to bring my own over and buy a real coffee pot there. My wife loves 3 and 1 and the local Filipino grocery has been stocking it.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-11 08:42:00
Philippines	How Long are you Visiting Earth ?	ok - please post a photo of your favorite 'fish breakfast' .. extra points if you turned dried fish into a nice congee Well OK its not my favorite, but thought I might win as the only poster of dried fish for breakfast	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-08 15:28:00
Philippines	How Long are you Visiting Earth ?	The north won what.. You forgot some of us ain't surrendered yet. Just try spending those Confederate dollars and you'll figure out which side won. Although we may have been a bit better off today had States Rights been kept a bit stronger.	Caryh	Male	Philippines	2012-06-05 09:30:00