Salamat Po

It is very interesting here and quite different. There are power outages sometimes for several hours to help conserve energy. Mostly in the afternoons when it is the hottest and so fans or cold water. Its hot and humid and sticky. Last night we went out to town and got some groceries to restock out shelf...we spent 1000 pesos which is about $20. We got quite a bit--6 tunas, mayo, ovaltine, pears, oatmeal, soups, cokes and sprites, small ice cream thingies, box of cereal, and a few odds and ends.... not bad for all we got.
Walking here is fun... everyone smiles and says Morning or Evening.. all the little kids wave and hollar at us. All the moms seem so nice about us measuring their bellies... we pulled up tagalog transalations to ask questions. Salamat Po is thank you in the formal way.Magandang umaga po is good morning. Magandang gabi po is good evening. oho/opo is yes and Hindi po is no.
The streets are the social hub of the culture... everyone has small sari sari in the front of the house and even cooking foods that people going by can just bye from chips to cokes to hot meals. almost like a street party every nite when it is cool outside.
A lot of people speak english and more understand some of the language. Even their TV shows will be part Tagalog and part english. It isnt hard to be understood here but trying to learn some of their language is most respectful.