Another undisciplined, stream of semi-consciousness travelogue by IKE.
I returned from the Philippines several days ago.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 1--Life is Cheap in the Orient. Literally.
"Life is cheap in the Orient." This quote came to mind as I staggered around Manila in early 2014. I tended to think of it as a racist kind of statement before, indicating insensitivity to human needs among the people of Asia-- but it has taken on a different meaning for me, partly due to my immediate success upon arriving from Tokyo. The barely legal teenage girl, who was very bright and worked very hard as a secretary, met me at the airport and accompanied me to my hotel room where she matter of factly changed into shorts and climbed in to bed with me on my first night there. I was far too jet lagged to even try to have sex with her, but it was delightful to cuddle through the night with her.
Life is cheap in the Philippines--literally. I have decided to try to have children, and when I brought the subject up with girls I dated or went to bed with, I would phrase is jokingly like "I want to make a baby."
Many of the girls would simply agree.
Not with the idea, but agreeing to actually have a kid with me!
Now this brings up the whole issue of intention, and how the tropical, concrete thinking of most Filipinas is removed from time as Westerners perceive it. Long term planning is not their forte. Their impulsive, childlike thinking tends to look deceptive or dishonest to a Western eye, but it's not quite the same-- they mean what they said at a certain time, but they don't view it as their duty to have any consistency in their thoughts or persistence in their goals in a dirty, choatic environment like Manila.
Childbearing decisions seem much more emotionally based in the Phils compared to the 22-year long, massive public works style project the middle class imagines when having a baby in America-- with $450K USD allocated for a house, $300k allocated for college, and twenty years of alimony payments to be collected from any disobedient husbands if frivorce freedom is invoked.
"OK" just meant at that time, in those circumstances, having a baby seemed like an idea she would like. I would eventually end up alienating that 19 year old when she wouldn't put out easily enough- (To my regret, I was getting arrogant by the end of my stay. Hell, I was getting arrogant after about 4 days.) And I'm in my late 50s.
Even I couldn't fail in the Philippines.
After I got over being stunned by the ease at which they agreed to have my baby, I asked them how much per month they would need to support the child. Some just said I should give them whatever I could, others offered estimates that were no more than about $250 dollars.
This was because most all have extended families with at least a few unemployed members living in low cost housing in the provinces, meaning a very poor rural area. All they really need to bring a child up at a subsistence level is the food and some basic medical cares. Since everyone isn't scrambling to prepare the kid to make their first million, it's less arduous, people are willing to take care of the kid along with the other cousin kids that are probably around (More siblings, more cousins, nieces, nephews, more efficient childcare available) . Kids are seen as a much more natural thing in the Philippines, not a massive public works project carefully considered before you ever do it at all.
It's not an optimal growth environment, especially compared to the West where every kid should get a STEM degree and surpass everyone on their way to millionaire by thirty status.
"Only the best for my kid." ( This extreme caution means that the fertility rate for college grad females in america is only about 1.6 child each, or about 2/3 the replacement rate.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3578704/
)
I've had people castigate me here on this forum because I intend to have children outside of the upwardly-mobile middle class system in place in the First World. I feel before I have that top one per cent, perfectly fed, high achiever kid some feel I am obligated to have, maybe I should think about the loss stemming from extinction of my line and at least try to have a kid at all.
Life is cheaper in the Orient. And that's good from some angles.
( The quote Life is cheap in the orient was as best I could find attributed to General William Westmoreland. After he said it he stopped the interview as the thought is sounded crass, but when explaining himself he used the same words again. )
Next Episode: The Hatred of The Trike Men.
I returned from the Philippines several days ago.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 1--Life is Cheap in the Orient. Literally.
"Life is cheap in the Orient." This quote came to mind as I staggered around Manila in early 2014. I tended to think of it as a racist kind of statement before, indicating insensitivity to human needs among the people of Asia-- but it has taken on a different meaning for me, partly due to my immediate success upon arriving from Tokyo. The barely legal teenage girl, who was very bright and worked very hard as a secretary, met me at the airport and accompanied me to my hotel room where she matter of factly changed into shorts and climbed in to bed with me on my first night there. I was far too jet lagged to even try to have sex with her, but it was delightful to cuddle through the night with her.
Life is cheap in the Philippines--literally. I have decided to try to have children, and when I brought the subject up with girls I dated or went to bed with, I would phrase is jokingly like "I want to make a baby."
Many of the girls would simply agree.
Not with the idea, but agreeing to actually have a kid with me!
Now this brings up the whole issue of intention, and how the tropical, concrete thinking of most Filipinas is removed from time as Westerners perceive it. Long term planning is not their forte. Their impulsive, childlike thinking tends to look deceptive or dishonest to a Western eye, but it's not quite the same-- they mean what they said at a certain time, but they don't view it as their duty to have any consistency in their thoughts or persistence in their goals in a dirty, choatic environment like Manila.
Childbearing decisions seem much more emotionally based in the Phils compared to the 22-year long, massive public works style project the middle class imagines when having a baby in America-- with $450K USD allocated for a house, $300k allocated for college, and twenty years of alimony payments to be collected from any disobedient husbands if frivorce freedom is invoked.
"OK" just meant at that time, in those circumstances, having a baby seemed like an idea she would like. I would eventually end up alienating that 19 year old when she wouldn't put out easily enough- (To my regret, I was getting arrogant by the end of my stay. Hell, I was getting arrogant after about 4 days.) And I'm in my late 50s.
Even I couldn't fail in the Philippines.
After I got over being stunned by the ease at which they agreed to have my baby, I asked them how much per month they would need to support the child. Some just said I should give them whatever I could, others offered estimates that were no more than about $250 dollars.
This was because most all have extended families with at least a few unemployed members living in low cost housing in the provinces, meaning a very poor rural area. All they really need to bring a child up at a subsistence level is the food and some basic medical cares. Since everyone isn't scrambling to prepare the kid to make their first million, it's less arduous, people are willing to take care of the kid along with the other cousin kids that are probably around (More siblings, more cousins, nieces, nephews, more efficient childcare available) . Kids are seen as a much more natural thing in the Philippines, not a massive public works project carefully considered before you ever do it at all.
It's not an optimal growth environment, especially compared to the West where every kid should get a STEM degree and surpass everyone on their way to millionaire by thirty status.
"Only the best for my kid." ( This extreme caution means that the fertility rate for college grad females in america is only about 1.6 child each, or about 2/3 the replacement rate.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3578704/
)
I've had people castigate me here on this forum because I intend to have children outside of the upwardly-mobile middle class system in place in the First World. I feel before I have that top one per cent, perfectly fed, high achiever kid some feel I am obligated to have, maybe I should think about the loss stemming from extinction of my line and at least try to have a kid at all.
Life is cheaper in the Orient. And that's good from some angles.
( The quote Life is cheap in the orient was as best I could find attributed to General William Westmoreland. After he said it he stopped the interview as the thought is sounded crass, but when explaining himself he used the same words again. )
Next Episode: The Hatred of The Trike Men.