My least favorite annual thing in The Philippines has finally arrived: Christmas carolers.
And by Christmas Carolers, I mean gangs of kids that will stand in front of your house shouting as loud as they can, "WEE WEE SHOE AMA REE CREE SMUS!!!" and won't stop until you pay them to go away.
It's like Halloween, but instead of candy, it's cash, and instead of toilet paper, it's extortion by noise.
And I'm not joking: Every 30 seconds, it's a different crowd of 3 or 4 kids shouting.
I've got an idea: I'm going to hang my garden hose off the roof and leave it spraying for the next 2 weeks, so that it is always raining on the street in front of my house. Nobody will stand there and sing. It will be effective as well as fantastically symbolic.
Just let the dog loose :)
ReplyDeleteI tried that... well, I put Tyson on his leash, and went out and wandered around in front of the house with him, but he didn't seem interested in intimidating any of the carolers. oh well.
ReplyDeleteProblematic, I see...
ReplyDeleteHow about your small coins...
like the salvation army...
guess that would mean they'd keep coming around...
Too bad Tyson isn't trained in martial arts. Uhhh Good thing Tyson isn't trained in martial arts...
Yes Mom... I certainly don't want to encourage them. But, the fact is, they just go down the street stopping at every house; they are certainly going to stop at the foreigner's house regardless of whether they get any money.
ReplyDeleteI kind of enjoy the carolers. Almost no one in the US does that anymore, like they did when I was a kid. It brings back fond memories. They've never tried coming in past our gate though, in part thanks to the neighbor's mutt that's allwowed to run loose in the apartment courtyard, but if they did come in I'd give them a peso each. After all, it's Christmas.
ReplyDeleteJay, I think you have totally failed to differentiate between people standing outside your house and singing Christmas songs and a bunch of kids shouting at your house as loud as they can.
ReplyDeleteHear hear, Jil, where's the Xmas spirit?
ReplyDeleteKris,
ReplyDeleteI'm a Silent Night type of Christmas celebrant... not a Jingle Bell Rock type.
Granted, I'm in the wrongest country on earth for a quiet Christmas... but regardless, there is never a proper season for standing outside of someone's house and shouting until you get money.