This weekend was a very social one for Epril and I and the local expatriates here in Jasaan.
First, on Saturday morning, our new friend Randy Stirm stopped by to thank me for putting him in touch with my lawyer friend, Joe Pallugna. Randy lives here in Jasaan and owns a fishing boat. He ran into some trouble with a nearby fisherman's mafia who have stolen his boat. I recommended Joe because he is the best "fixer" in the southern Philippines. (If you ever have a problem that needs fixing, visit Joe at his website.)
On Saturday afternoon, Epril and I went out to visit Tom Greaney at his massive beachfront estate. Tom is a retired Californian postmaster general, and has built this expansive Bali-style abode on about 2 hectares of beachfront here in Jasaan. His compound is a never-ending combination of houses, gardens, plazas, bungalows, nipa huts, verandas, all overlooking Macajalar Bay. We had a nice afternoon wandering the grounds and chatting.
On the way back from Tom's house, Epril and I met another foreigner in the street, a younger fellow named Scott, also from California, who had moved to Jasaan about a month ago. That makes a total of 6 kano living here in Jasaan full time (and an additional similar number who stay here part of the year), which is a surprising amount for the location and size of this place. But, as I have said before, Jasaan is a particularly pleasant place to live, and it's distance-from-yet-proximity-to Cagayan De Oro make it appealing to people who dislike living in a Filipino urban area.
On Sunday, Randy and his wife, Cherry, were invited for lunch at our house and we had BBQ chicken. Randy is actually a retired sumo grand champion... one of three big-name foreigners to break into the upper echelons of the sport in Japan. He topped out at 200 kg (440 pounds), which much to my surprise is much heavier than most Japanese sumo ever get. (I was also surprised to learn that cardiovascular endurance is a big part of sumo training; Randy was running 10 miles per day in training at that weight.)
Epril and I had invited Scott and his girlfriend, Tatum, to lunch as well, but they did not show up.
Sunday afternoon, after lunch, there was a big thunderstorm and the electricity went out and it stayed out until after I went to bed. That's what I get for claiming the rainy season is over.
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4 comments:
You seem to be making new friends left and right. Good for you! Did you get any pics of your new friend Tom Greany's estate?
Mom
No. I should have asked for a digital camera for my birthday. :-(
Randy didnt have his boat stolen, it was legally impounded just as it would have been impounded in America had he broken fishing laws, ran from autoritys and acted like a ass in the process.
Well, if Randy's boat had been legally impounded, then almost 3 weeks after stealing it back (and openly admitting that fact on the newspapers and TV), you would think that the Gingoog government would have a warrant out for his arrest.
I suppose one could assume that people in the Gingoog City government just don't mind having things that they "legally impounded" stolen from them though.
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