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Geeking out on the Philippines, once again.

2/12/2018

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​In an earlier blog, I “geeked out” on the Philippines by sharing ten facts I've learned about this amazing country. Always discovering new things as I live here, let's geek out again with ten more facts:
 
1. We all know that Filipinos are crazy about basketball, but did you know that the country’s professional league, The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), is the second oldest hoops organization in the world, behind only the NBA?
 
2. With a dazzling array of flora and fauna, the Philippines is one of the top ten most biologically megadiverse countries in the world. In fact, more than 170 species of birds and 100 species of mammals habitat these 7,500 islands but nowhere else in the world! Just in the last decade, sixteen new mammals have been discovered in the Philippines. Amazing!  
 
3. When a baby girl was born sometime in 2014, the Philippines population officially crossed the 100 million threshold. With a current estimated population of 106 million and change, it now ranks as the 12th most populous nation in the world. It’s also one of the fastest growing countries in the world with an annual growth rate of about two percent.
 
4. You may think I’m hitting on every stereotype about Filipinos when I mention their love of karaoke, but I didn’t know that a Filipino named Roberto del Rosario was the first one to patent the “Sing Along System” in 1975. It was actually invented by a Japanese man four years earlier ("karaoke" means "Singing without accompaniment" in Japanese), but this intrepid Filipino was the first to register its patent.
 
5. The country suffered one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history on June 15 1991, when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. The blast was so powerful that it shot 10 billion metric tons of magma and 20 million tons of toxic sulfur dioxide 25 miles high into the stratosphere. Mt. Pinatubo’s sent such a big mushroom cloud of ash into the atmosphere that it created a haze of sulfuric acid all around the world for two years, causing global temperatures to drop by one degree Fahrenheit!
 
6. We see them every day here in the Philippines, but jeepneys are a remarkable form of transportation that exist nowhere else in the world. Converted from the mass surplus of army jeeps that the U.S. military left after World War II, there are still 50,000 smoke-billowing jeepneys operating just on the streets of Manila.
 
7. Filipinos love hanging out at their local shopping mall. (I get it – they're clean, safe, and the AC is kicking.) But I never knew that the Philippines is home to three of the ten largest shopping malls in the world: the Mega Fashion Hall of SM Megamall (third-largest in the world, encompassing 5,451,220 sq. ft.), SM City North EDSA (fourth largest) and SM Mall of Asia (tenth largest).
 
8. The island of Camiguin stands out even among the many natural wonders of the Philippines, as it’s home to the most volcanoes per square mile of any island on earth. Only about 14 miles long and 8.5 miles wide, Camiguin also holds the distinction as the only island on the planet with more volcanoes (7) than towns (5). But don't worry – they've been dormant since the 1950s. 
 
9. Typhoons wreak havoc in the Philippines all too often, but in 2013, it was Super Typhoon Haiyan (called Yolanda locally) that ripped through the archipelago. Yolanda brought the strongest winds ever recorded at landfall as well as the strongest one-minute sustained wind speed of 195 mph. Sadly, it was also the deadliest typhoon in Philippines history, killing at least 6,100 people and displacing millions according to government reports (although locals estimate the death toll to be closer to 15,000, and a thousand people are still missing). 
 
10. Since all Filipinas are beautiful, inside and out (I’m trying to earn major points for that one), beauty pageants are a big deal here. But our contestants have also shined on the world stage, as a Filipina won Miss Universe three times (as recently as 2015), Miss World in 2013, Miss International six times, and Miss Earth four times.

Maganda! (That means 'beautiful' in the Filipino language.)

-Norm  :-) 


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Your February 2018 Postcard from Norm: Message in a Bottle

2/9/2018

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Today, it's my birthday.
 
And although that’s no big deal when you get to my advanced age (I swear that February 9th comes at least twice a year these days!), I wanted to share something personal with you for my February/born-month postcard.
 
As you know (because I won’t shut up about it), I live in the Philippines now. In fact, I’ve lived abroad since 2011, mostly in “Developing” nations where life can get a little wild and crazy sometimes.
 
I also travel a whole lot (last year I took 64 flights (including by charter 3-seat airplane, helicopter, and hot air balloon!) I routinely work 60 hours a week or so, but my job does allow me to work from anywhere there’s Wi-Fi, so I try to take advantage by experiencing as many new and exciting things as I can.
 
Even my neighbors and the staff in my apartment building know the drill by now. They hear a flurry of activity before dawn, see me march out of my room with a big backpack on, and flag down a trike to the airport for the next adventure into the unknown.
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However, the reality of life is that traveling, the pursuit of new experiences, or anything outside of our comfort zone sometimes comes with an element of danger. Then again, there’s danger for everyone in daily life, no matter how mundane. And sometimes, I swear that life abroad in these “crazy” countries is still safer than in the gun and violence-addled United States. But that’s another story.
 
So, what I’m trying to tell you is that I have no idea if I’ll live to 100 years old, will go tomorrow, or some time in between. None of us do.
 
I also don’t know if my expiration will be due to gentle natural causes, sheer old age, boredom, or something more epically memorable, like an elephant sitting on me or my head exploding from eating too many hot chili peppers.
 
That being said, I do exercise extreme caution (although it may not look like it) in regard to where I go, what I do, and just about every other detail of my life. I’m intrepid, but by no means reckless.
 
Still, every time I leave my apartment and head off to swim with sharks, jump out of a plane, join a karate fight camp, or, even more dangerous, go on a date with a Filipina (gasp!), it’s in the back of my mind that one day, I may not come back.
 
That may sound a tinge dire and macabre, but please understand that it’s not. Quite the opposite; we all think about our mortality from time to time, and especially as we get older (and on our birthday). I actually think that’s healthy, as it reminds me to smile, be more compassionate, and appreciate life a little more each day.
 
Sappy clichés aside, if one day when I’m 99 years old I don’t return from one of my adventures, my biggest fear is that I leave my family and friends – and the world – in abrupt silence. In my mind, that would cause them to suffer unnecessarily.
 
I thought about it last year when I was headed off on a trip to the region of Mindanao, which is a little dicey when it comes to Muslim separatists. (They’re known for separating western families from their ransom money and then separating hostages from their heads.) I knew that I was going to a perfectly safe city in that region and wasn’t taking any undue risks, but I still couldn’t help thinking “What if?”
 
So, on the way out of my apartment in the predawn hour, rushing because I was late for my flight, I tore out a piece of notebook paper, grabbed a pen, and scribbled something down.
 
Just in case the one-in-a-billion happened, I wanted to leave some clear indication of how I felt, properly say goodbye, and comfort those left behind.
 
Without time to think, I wrote down everything I needed to say within less than 30 second..
 
Now, don’t get it twisted - THIS isn’t me SAYING goodbye. Hell no. I plan on throwing punches, talking smack, and causing trouble for a long, long time.
 
But, since it’s my birthday and I’m feeling irritatingly optimistic, loved, and sentimental (don’t worry, that will all pass by tomorrow), I thought it was the perfect time to share this letter with you.
 
Only 8 lines and 29 words, I still leave it on the counter in my apartment every time I turn off the lights and shut the door, like my message in a bottle cast off to sea.

It reads, simply:

     
I love you all so much
 
     I’m happy
 
     I’m at peace
 
     And I’ve lived 10 lifetimes already.
 
     Please don’t worry
 
     On to the next adventure
 
     See you soon
 
     [Heart] Norm




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    Norm Schriever

    Norm Schriever is a best-selling author, expat, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. He travels the globe, telling the stories of the people he finds, and hopes to make the world a little bit better place with his words.   

    Norm is a professional blogger, digital marketer for smart brands around the world,  and writes for the Huffington Post, Hotels.com, and others.

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