Religion -cristian/catholic etc etc and Fillipina girls...

[Kaz1983]

I'm not Religious - not anti Religion, just don't follow any of those believes...

Is that going to much of a problem?

I noticed most -99 percent of Fillipina girls are, just something that I've been thing about.. 

[Dave H]

Hey Kaz,

It shouldn't present a problem, as long as you let her follow her own beliefs. Most Filipinas are quite tolerant of others' religious views. Many ladies come across in their writing style as being more devout than they actually are.

Dave

[Kaz1983]

That's good to know.. cheers for the reply.

EDIT: ohh so people know Im not looking change her believes or anything, each to thier own and all that..

[Bob_S]

That's good to know.. cheers for the reply.

EDIT: ohh so people know Im not looking change her believes or anything, each to thier own and all that..

Just to know that she'll want to raise your kids like that.  If you got any problem with your kids going to mass or catechism, it will become an issue.

[Jeff S]

You guys are lucky. I had to convert and now I get stuck chasing away the evil spirits with confetti on a stick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYxYdORcdQ&feature=related

[Bob_S]

You guys are lucky. I had to convert and now I get stuck chasing away the evil spirits with confetti on a stick.

Wait a minute.  I'm the evil spirit that gets chased away (by kids throwing mame maki)!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbIPoAma66Q
Sounds like a conspiracy.

[Kaz1983]

Just to know that she'll want to raise your kids like that.  If you got any problem with your kids going to mass or catechism, it will become an issue.

Ahh that makes sense, I suppose if that is important to her - it is important to me in and when they are old enough they will make up thier own minds how important it to them... anyway my dads side of the family are christian but not heavily -they dont go to church.

[Capstone]

You guys are lucky. I had to convert and now I get stuck chasing away the evil spirits with confetti on a stick.

Wait a minute.  I'm the evil spirit that gets chased away (by kids throwing mame maki)!

LOL - well I did not have to convert to anything but I did have to go to a Taoist temple and participate in some rituals in order to insure a fruitful and fertile marriage. Then after one of our wedding banquets we had to present incense sticks at my wife's grandparents' alter. That about does it for me - nothing else to ever participate in, so I guess that I got off pretty light in regards to the religious stuff.

[robert angel]

It's just my opinion, but there's 100's of things that along with religion, that you should try and discuss as things progress--as a relationship intensifies. If you don't discuss them, in fact the embassy official, who interviews your prospective wife, may have few of those 'questions' you forgot to discuss in fact.

It may be a bit uncomfortable at any point in the relationship that these discussions do occur at, but discussing the possibility of children, religion's significance, monetary matters (if sending home $$$, about how much?)- and work concerns -- such as if will both work, will possibly save a LOT of problems later. Again there's a lot of stuff to think about and get answers on.

Discuss sex too---I know that sounds generic and it's not always easy to discuss in a 'matter of fact way', but some people have different sexual drives and levels of conservatism.

My wife's family was glad I'm Roman Catholic and don't have tattoos, but those probably wouldn't haven't been exclusionary factors. I don't always attend mass, but my wife is much more 'devout' and all that's kind of gone as expected because we knew where we're at there. When we get a bit on each other's nerves, going to mass together and doing lunch out afterwards, usually makes things better.

Early in a relationship, there's a lot of things we'd rather not discuss when everything is going oh so sweetly and she's so lovely and smiling thousands of miles away on that web cam, but believe me, if you don't discuss things now, you'll deal with them later and it may be much more difficult.

I thought I did a decent job and looking back, I could've done better myself in being more forthcoming.

Those first months and then the first trip, if she's what you've actually been expecting, and you're the same way to her, are in a way, the 'real honey moon'. And that makes asking the 'hard questions' even harder The first six to 12 months after the wedding are even kind of like an extended honeymoon for most couples, I think.

Then the 'work' it takes to keep the marriage healthy starts to set in typically for a lot of folks, as we may tend to settle in and take each other a bit more for granted.

So bite the bullet now and try and create an atmosphere of clear and open discussion before you get engaged where you can discuss the stuff that otherwise may bite you in the ass real bad later on. And if you don't, it will.

I always laugh when I read those newpaper articles that show some couple who've been 'Married 70 years' and 'Never had an argument'. Sounds more like a coma than a a viable marriage to me. Maybe I'm wrong--I tend to be cynical.

Even though we 'courted' for years before getting married and I tried to show my wife all my warts, etc, there were just some uhhh--wonderfully unusual and 'unfathomable' things about me and life in the USA that my wife just couldn't truly comprehend. 'Lost in translation' perhaps.I just have few bite marks in my ass I might have avoided and I earned them fair and square.

Meanwhile, life goes on and as the lady said: 'Tomorrow IS another day' and it looks like we'll still wake up together at that!.....

[thekfc]

Robert, I did miss these long post of yours. 

[z_k_g]

Robert is back!!

Zulu

[piglett]

Robert is back!!

Zulu

I think him & Mrs. A were on vacation

piglett

[robert angel]

Yea,  We headed down to Key West and that was fun and relaxing, although when Lobster hunting season started, it got a little too busy for our tastes with good ole boys, big trucks and motor boats. The divers didn't wear red plaid or bright orange hunting diving suits--I just don't get it.

They had "Hemmingway Days' for a week and I hung out with a bunch of hard drinking guys (like Hemmingway was) and got some pics with guys who won the look alike contest.


Nothing as spectacular as the picture we got from our last KW trip where a few guys, the lightest probably 300 pounds, proceeded good naturedly, if drunkenly, wearing DIAPERS, baby bottles filled with spirits, walking down Duval Street--the main 'drag' there, and posed sweetly with my petite wife--a hilarious picture, up there with the three (sober) Navy sailors in their regular navy uniforms, holding her sideways with one arm and saluting with the other. Whatta town. Being a Filipina, my wife took that with great humor.

Back in the RP as most of you know by now, gayness is accepted in a hard to describe, but hey--'nice' will do, way, I guess and a lot of Filipinas will tell you gay guys make great best (or second best) friends, give great advice and gossip, etc.


Had a four gigabyte PNY brand SD digital memory card freak out and lose almost 4 GB of pictures, but I'll call PNY and see if anything can be done. First time that ever happened--I was just changing batteries in the car--no static electricity and I never even touched the card. That's never happened before. Went blanko, but resumed taking three more pics of the dash board when I tried before quitting on that card. Camera's fine, I'm pretty sure. Guess I ought to use that little SD lock switch more.


It for sure isn't NYC or Chicago, but we headed up to Atlanta with another Fil Am couple and they liked the bright lights, big city scene, the big new Aquarium, trendy Buckhead, Lenox Mall, etc and we spent a day at that red neck mecca, Stone Mountain, Georgia and Gawd, was I ever glad to see some black families enjoying themselves as well, --it's kind of an amusement park--historical park now and nobody even mentioned that its pretty much the founding point for the Ku klux klan, probably a good idea.

Anyways, was kind of nice in a way to be away from computers, TVs and such, relaxing and reading, as we shut the cable down in the warmer months down there. I wasn't going to mooch Denny's signal too much (Uh-'Yes Ma'am--I'll have a 12th coffeee refill, thank you") and using a data phone sucks. My 'smart phone' is smarter than me, now I may get that Motorola Android Extreme  as my two year term's up--so I'll really feel clueless, but hey--I can watch movies anywhere, they say! I bet Kfc knows which Verizon phones are best.

We stay for free in KW and Atlanta wasn't too expensive. Atlanta's a good three or four day vacation and close to some scenic mountains too. Just Atlanta's Dekalb County alone has a huge multi Asian ethnicity population--I was amazed. Tons of Asian restaurants, 80% filled with Mexicans eating--go figure.

Seems a third of the Asian's were driving 2009-2010 tricked out, German luxury cars that cost more than most houses. I got lucky, I was having my car serviced and Lexus loaned me for free, a sleek, sexy 4 door hybrid almost as long as a limo, that was FAST, roomy, smoooth and easy on gas. Put 2000 miles on that black beauty instead of on ours on their dime, and the Asians, in their euro tuned cars were checking us out!


Maybe I'll buy it in four years, assuming it depreciates the ten thousand dollars a year like the car they were servicing (36,000 mile warranty and or three years, bumper to bumper) did, to make sure it remains 'as new', ala new brakes, tires, battery, any cosmetic imperfections fixed because it had 50,000 miles on it as is 'policy'.

I need to ask what the old lady who traded in the car we're driving now is driving currently, for future reference. I will only buy dealer checked and certified used cars in the future. When you can buy four year old 70K cars for less than the cost of a new Camry and get a superior warranty, it's a no brainer.

My only regret on the whole trip was not doing any fishing, but hey, the big marlin tournament in Key West only produced one marlin this year

What's this I hear JM's actually finally getting hitched in the foreseeable future? I searched back and didn't see it clearly announced, but hey, that's great. Congratulations for a nice, persistent fellow and his lucky lady. I feel good for Alabama boy too. Of course Whitey and anyone else I missed as well. Noticed Woody's incommunicado trip report wise lately, but I'd worry more about "Bond--James Bond" down there, so no problemo.

Missed out on a lot of news, but thank you Kfc for keeping us 'abreast' on Laurence Fishburne's daughter's latest career endeavours. And I thought it was only the NY Times that provided 'All the News That's Fit to Print"! Geee, maybe having two sons instead of daughters wasn't such a bad deal after all...

[thekfc]

My 'smart phone' is smarter than me, now I may get that Motorola Android Extreme  as my two year term's up--so I'll really feel clueless, but hey--I can watch movies anywhere, they say! I bet Kfc knows which Verizon phones are best.

I am a GSM guy but I have played with the Droid X a few times at work (co-worker have one & only use it to make phone calls - what a waste)

I recorded a few recording a few clips & did some playback. For what I have seen - the Droid X is an awesome phone. I  would it right up there with the HTC EVO & the Sony Xperia X10.

I am ready to "upgrade" -  On my last trip I let them play with my unlocked Nokia E71 & it is now "coveted".  On my next trip to Phil I don't think that I will coming back to the USA with it.

I am thinking about getting the Sony Xperia X10 but I will wait & see what features the HTC Desire HD 'Ace' & Desire Z 'Vision' will have.

On my next trip I will also take an unlocked IPhone to see how it "perform" in Manila.

[Dave H]

Hey Rob,

KEY WEST! I hope you brought plenty of condoms...oh that's right you are married! Thankfully you made it back safe!  I would have warned you to listen to Antoine Dodson's advice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54yESyq6Io

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzRZWpeofic&feature=related

[Jhengsman]

You guys are lucky. I had to convert and now I get stuck chasing away the evil spirits with confetti on a stick.

Generally speaking if she is Catholic there is not much of a problem they hold such an overwhelming majority that the loss of one does not cause the gashing of teeth and pulling  hair out. You are generally accepted as you are. However many of the women involved in the minor, in the Philippines, Christian sects there is a great push for a last minute conversion with the stated threat papa will disown or even beat her.

[Dave H]

However many of the women involved in the minor, in the Philippines, Christian sects there is a great push for a last minute conversion with the stated threat papa will disown or even beat her.

I would stick with Catholics or perhaps Buddhists. Unless you enjoy being fleeced!

Dave

[Jhengsman]

I would stick with Catholics or perhaps Buddhists. Unless you enjoy being fleeced!

Dave

I would agree unless you are a church goer already then you can use your own discernment when encountering a minority sect. If it happens to be yours no problem. If she describes herself as a "born again" there is a 50/50 chance she is in a regular Protestant denomination or she might what I (and the Catholic Church, if that matters to you) would consider  an out there denomination. The third largest faith group after Catholic and Sunni happens to be one of those. If she is Sunni, well she was taking a large step away from fundamental Islam just being with you in the first place

[robert angel]

I Think Dave pretty much nailed it right when he said:

>>It shouldn't present a problem, as long as you let her follow her own beliefs. Most Filipinas are quite tolerant of others' religious views. Many ladies come across in their writing style as being more devout than they actually are.<<


And as I think it was kaz, who said:

>>Ahh that makes sense, I suppose if that is important to her - it is important to me in and when they are old enough they will make up thier own minds how important it to them... anyway my dads side of the family are christian but not heavily -they dont go to church<<

I think most Filipinas are raised Catholic and that they will probably want their children to go through catechism and get confirmed and hopefully remain Catholic, but like my wife, she can go to church w/o me sometimes and it's not a big deal. She even skips sometimes now, but tries to remember to pray her Catholic Novena prayer on Wednesdays.

That's what my ex wife and how my current wife--both Catholic raised Filipinas like it--raising the kids in the church. I go along with it and figure it'll give our kids the options later on--just like my parents did. I wouldn't want to be 20 or 30 y/o and in Sunday school class so I could get confirmed by the church...

It seems the only place it all gets a bit complicated is when going through the 'technicalities' of marrying someone from a different faith, but that's still doable and soon passes.

It seems to be that Budhists are rather tolerant and that if a non Muslim marries a Muslim gal, there will be some kind of fall out--some drift.

"Going to church (or temple or mosque) doesn't a make you a Christian any more than does going into a garage make you a car"

[Ray]

I wouldn't want to be 20 or 30 y/o and in Sunday school class so I could get confirmed by the church...

There are separate classes for adults preparing for confirmation in the Catholic Church.

Ray

[robert angel]

Re:

>>There are separate classes for adults preparing for confirmation in the Catholic Church.<<

Yea, Ray, I  know about the separate classes and should've made mention.

I didn't like it then and I wouldn't like it anymore now, although back then, the Nun's were brutal and we swore that underneath their head dresses, they had to shave their heads. One Nun was so wicked with a ruler, that she earned the nick name: 'the red cross'.

But hey--thanks--some guys might not know about the separate classes, and we'd hate to scare em off!

BTW--were you a trouble maker in catechism/school too?

I think Father Delaney, in his more sober moments, thought I needed an exorcist....

[flipflop]

I thought the Hemmingway festival took place in the Seney Wildlife refuge

[robert angel]

Re:

>>I thought the Hemmingway festival took place in the Seney Wildlife refuge<<

They've had a "Hemmingway Days" almost week long festival in Key West, Florida for some  time now. He wrote a number of his better works there and his house is quite lovely, with a nice sized pool. Legend has it that the old penny stuck in the cement, by the side of the pool, was the last cent Hemmingway had at the time, as he liked to live just as large as he wrote.

Hemmingway, or 'Papa' as he was affectionately known, lived not far from then President Harry Truman's 'Little White House"--the President also liked Key West--as it offered a somewhat exotic getaway in the USA--but far from the media and other distractions and he made some big decisions there, they say.

The  Hemmingway house isn't far from the tall light house and another local legend has it that he put the house there so that when he was staggering drunk--which wasn't unusual, late at night he could find his way home, by following it's bright light.

He has another home that's a museum of sorts, about 90 miles from Key West, in Cuba, and they have Hemmingway festivals and events there and in other places/nations as well. I'm sure.


He never really drank much at what's now "Sloppy Joes" in Key West--he drank at what many call the old "Sloppy Joe's"--"Captain Tony's" a guy who loved Hemmingway like a brother and vice versa. They did a lot of fishing together, but I think Hemmingway blew his own brains out, with a double barrel shotgun he stuck in his mouth, because he felt he was losing his skills, not too many years after I was born. I think I'd have enjoyed drinking with that fellow, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Captain Tony could tolerate any rascal well--in my harder drinking days, I didn't have time to get on the bar stool before Captain Tony was mixing me my customary 'Cuba Libre'--with an extra stiff amount of Myers rum, with a twist of lime. Half the time, he didn't charge regulars a dime, but we'd always gave him whatever tip we could afford, just the same. Man, those were days--and nights--at least from what I can remember.

My parents have had an old, old home in Old Town, Key West (naturally) for close to thirty years, and we've seen a lot of changes in that time, but we still enjoy staying there--far from the cruise ships and T shirt shops that have replaced so many of the great old, family run Cuban restaurants and as a result, have changed the character of the place a bit too much, but it's still better than life on the Florida mainland, which is about 120 miles up a narrow highway ("A1A") that connects the little Key Islands, up and down to KW...

PS--Flipflop--if I didn't put you to sleep with my uh--'reply'--great to see you posting again!--Hope your family is well!

[Dave H]

Captain Tony could tolerate any rascal well--in my harder drinking days, I didn't have time to get on the bar stool before Captain Tony was mixing me my customary 'Cuba Libre'

Hey Rob,

I wasn't there in the 30's, so I must have missed Hemmingway. I wouldn't be surprised if I sat next to you a time or two at Captain Tony's. Those were the days...I guess...I can't really remember. But, I do remember that the Captain was quite a character!

I remember seeing Jimmy Buffet a few times in town before he became big.

Dave

I don't think I ever saw Captain Tony without a cigarette hanging out of his mouth...probably buried with one. I would say RIP...but I'll bet he hasn't quieted down a bit!  

[flipflop]

I grew up in S Miami and spent a good part of my childhood at Marathon when the keys were truly paradise. Grandpa used to take us deep sea fishing 3 o 4 times a year. Sometimes my oldest bro would steal granpas car in the middle of the night and wed go down to key west to check out the adults partying. Anyway The old man and the sea was a favorite growing up as i felt I could kind of relate to the salty old dog

When we moved to Upper Michigan in my Junior year of Highschool Imagine my suprise as the local lore there was also thick with Earnest Hemmingway. In the middle of the Seney wildlife refuge is the Fox river in one of the more remote areas in the US. Hemmingway used to go to the UP(upper peninsula) to fish the Fox and other rivers. Ive canoed down the fox  many times and have camped in the same spots he did many years ago after the fire. The thing was that the Fox  wasnt a catchy enough title for a short story so when he wrote about this place he loved more than any other spot on the planet he used the name of a river on the eastern end ot the UP and called the short story

The Big Two hearted