@OldBastard
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Where The Arthropods Rule I have learned an important lesson about life in the Philippines: don't go outside! Why? Because you won't won't last two minutes without some darn creepy crawly thing biting or stinging you! This is truly the realm of the insects and their kin, and we humans are the interlopers. For example, every surface seems home to some type of ant. Big brown ants, tiny black ants, and all kinds of ants in between scuttle about looking for something to eat, or bite. The big brown ants are somewhat aggressive, and if you approach them will come towards you, rather than run away. Fortunately their bite lacks venom, unlike some of the smaller black ants, who if they bite you will cause an itchy swelling. Unfortunately, these big brown ants frequently wind up on your legs, and may go "exploring". Once I had one climb up my leg into my shorts, and bite me in a very, very private area. How rude! Speaking of itchy swellings, it should come as no surprise that mosquitoes are ridiculously common here, since it rains practically every evening. Because of the climate, the most pleasant time to go outside is in the late afternoon, as the day is winding down. (If it's not pouring down rain, of course!) Needless to say, the late afternoon is also when the mosquitoes swarm, turning any exposed flesh into a pin cushion of mosquito bites. If I get through the day with only one or two bites, I consider my day a success. How about big hairy spiders? Three inch long nasty things that, unlike lumbering tarantulas, move really, really fast. I mean like greased lightning FAST! Spiders cause me all sorts of anxiety anyway, so I keep my distance, but the folks here tell me these things can give a painful bite. Oh joy! As an added bonus, the bastards come inside the house, and hang out in places like the CR. Ugh!! We can't overlook the myriapod branch of the creep crawlies family, can we? For some reason large millipedes frequently wander into our house. While these guys don't bite or sting, (that I know of), if squished they exude a stinky yellow liquid that will irritate your skin. I just scoop them up with a tissue and toss them outside. So this is life for me in the Philippines, constantly fending off the tiny critters that want to attack me. They make living here a challenge, and I haven't even mentioned the idiot lapinig wasps, who will swoop down and sting you for no apparent reason. But, like the omnipresent mud, and the danger of falling coconuts, no one seems particularly bothered by any of this except me. Maybe it's similar to the coconuts, and the creep crawlies only target me?
26 comments
welcome to the Philippines indeed 😂😂😂😂 even way back in the provincial home and the house in the metro, no corner is bug-free so you just learn to live with it
Yep. That and the constant threat of "falling" coconuts. Seriously, do coconuts ever fall on anyone? The user Barnacle says one once fell and hit his brother on the shoulder. It hurt a lot, but thank God it wasn't on the head!
well yeah, coconuts fall off trees when they get too heavy OnO that happens way too often in the provinces but in manila, you'll fear falling mangoes and santols more because they're the common trees people keep here. and i get hit by those mangoes a lot 😤
Oh great! Now I have to be afraid of mangoes also? If we ever buy the land our house is on, (that's another silly story!), we're cutting down all the stupid coconut trees near the house.
you get used to it UwU the ones fallen off tress taste the best though if you like your mango ripe hey noooo! don't cut them off OnO you can sell the fruit on harvest season or keep them to eat, why cut down perfectly good coconut trees like that
WHY do y'all eat unripe mangoes? Ugh! Ripe mangoes are so yummy, eating them unripe is a huge waste. I'm gonna cut down the coconut trees around the house because I don't want anyone in my family to get bonked on the head by a falling coconut!
no no, there's something called enchilada here. you mix small cut up green mangoes, tomato, onions and shrimp paste then you eat it like that. It's good. you should give it a try I see OnO coconut bonk is dangerous and it happens a lot but why not put a net around the trees instead or ask your neighbors to harvest it for you when it's the season?
Don't get offended at this, but it is NOT possible to put the words "shrimp paste" and "good" in the same sentence. One of my worst Filipino food memories is taking a big bite of what I thought was just a veggie dish, only to discover it had shrimp paste in it. UGH!! I'm American, so my taste buds are used to American style food. Shrimp paste, stinky fish cooked in vinegar, balut, and even penakbet make me sick to the stomach. On the other, lechon manok, (and lechon baboy, when I can sneak some past my wife), are delicious! The coconuts around here are harvested every three months. Even that scares me, because they cut them out with a knife at the end of a long pole. Those coconuts hit the ground with quite a thump!
OnO so you're not so adept to those delicacies yet . i wonder if your wife struggles to feed you at times if you don't like a lot of dishes 😅 that i know UwU I've seen them harvest those when we went to the province OwO it was loud but when they do go harvesting, they tell people to stay clear for an hour or so
There are 10 people in this house, 6 adults, (if I am included!), and 4 kids. I am BY FAR the most difficult to feed. The other Filipinos kinda giggle about it, which is good, I guess. I hope they don't become irritated with me.
hm so you are hard to feed but the cultural differences is huge so i do think it's understandable and I don't think they'd get irritated with you just because of that. though i do think those giggles are from your reaction maybe?
Oh yeah, they like to giggle when they see my reaction to the latest inedible thing served for our meal. Lunch today was some type of fern cooked with vinegar, ginger, onions, and tomatoes, (it was yummy), and some more of the stinky fish, which I passed on.
you really should give thise fishes a try 😅 they're pretty good UwU and who knows, you might come to like them
I have tried them. Yuck! I even tried the head, which I was assured was the "best part". DOUBLE YUCK!!
so it's this hard to feed you fish 😂
SOME fish. I like tilapia, most of the tuna, and in general the bland white fleshed fish that my wife finds "boring". The oily, strong flavored fish that she loves, I will skip. It's near the end of the month, money is tight, (my pension check arrives at month end), so the fish she buys now is the cheaper stuff. As least she claims it is cheaper. All I know is it tastes terrible!
ohh the white fishes are delicious though! i wonder why she would think they're boring OnO but i think if you're in Mindanao then fish would definitely be much cheaper compared to the fish sold here in the metro
Hanzell, I think EVERYTHING is cheaper here in Mindanao than in Manilla. But I do miss going to some of the malls there. The closest malls to us are Gaisano in either Pagadian or Ozamiz City.
most of the stuff might actually be close to free there too ;;-;; how far is the travel to get to the mall from there then?
Well, I refuse to drive around here, (Philippine roads and traffic are crazy!), but I think Pagadian is 30 - 45 minutes away, and Ozamiz is about a hour. But I'm always lost whenever we go any where. Everything looks the same to me!
Yeah no, you sealed the deal for me with the mosquitoes. I can do creepy crawlies, but mosquito swarms... Nope!
I'm just praying none of us get Dengue. My wife claims, "we don't have Dengue here". With all these damn mosquitoes, I don't see how, but I hope she's correct.
I hope she's right too, because that could REALLY ruin your day.
Yep. But while Covid has an alleged vaccine, Dengue does not. Hmmm .........
Of course not, dengue isn't a threat to the rich and powerful first-worlders ;)
That absolutely sums it up!