u-journal

He empezado a atacar el tema “envío de paquete a Seúl”, para el año que viene. La semana pasada me puse en contacto con las típicas compañías grandes (DHL, FedEx, UPS…). Su trabajo me costó, todo hay que decirlo. Empecé atacando sus páginas web. He decubierto que la mayoría de las compañias de transporte no incluyen una “calculadora” en sus páginas webs… en fin… Entonces, hay que recurrir al teléfono… Y eso es diferente. Eso cuesta, coño.

El último caso *AHORA*. Increíble. Resulta que la oficina está enfrente de una empresa de transportes. Después del episodio vergonzoso del otro día (un tío que estaba sentado en el recibidor no fue capaz de contestarme si eran una empresa que se dedicaban al envío de paquetes o no, ojo al dato!!!!), hoy he vuelto. He preguntado. Había otra chica, que era bastante eficiente, por cierto (raro). Total, que la primera vez me ha dado dos teléfonos. Que cojones, los voy a meter aquí… a lo mejor alguien quiere llamarles (sólo para insultar):

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Nippon Express Phils. Corp.

WEB:http://www3.nittsu.co.jp

AIR CARGO #: +632 852-1111

SEA CARGO #: +632 852-5959

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En serio. No es ninguna broma. Si alguien quiere llamar, adelante. Es cierto que es una pijada *CARA* (es un teléfono de Filipinas), pero si se quiere joder la güeb, adelante. En fin. Primero les he llamado yo. Y me han toreado. Eso es lo normal. Ya estoy insensibilizado ante eso. La verdad. Quién lo iba a pensar de mi… :-DDD Vuelvo. He vuelto a la ofi, a la chica que me ha dado los números. Y le he preguntado a ver si me hacía el favor de llamar ella para pedirles unos precios de unos paquetes, porque a mí no me entendían (mejor dicho, no me atendían, pero esto va así…). Total, que la chica coge y llama. Se ha tirado unos 15 minutos al teléfono. Y me ha dado una fórmula de la hostia para calcular el precio. Ojo al dato:

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·Calculation formula:

+ 2.2 $/Kg (price)

+ 0.1 $/Kg (tax)

+ 0.15 $/Kg (security)

+ 52 $ (handling)

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= 2.35 $/Kg + 52 (minimum 39 Kg)

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(Nota, que el cuadrito me lo he currao. Eye to the data :-D). Total, que si calculas te sale que el precio mínimo para enviar un paquete de Manila a Seúl es: 2.35 * 39 + 52 = 143.65 USD. Vale. Es carillo, pero hostias, tal y como está el patio ni tan mal. Entonces llega cuando la matan… Total que le digo a ver si me puede llamar también al SEA CARGO - esto eran precios aéreos. La chica llama. Y claro, el mangoneo salta al cuello. El machetón. Me dice que la señorita noseque me llamará a la oficina. Pues eso, que esa señorita llama y resulta que las cuentas las estábamos haciendo mal. Exacto *MAL*. En realidad el precio (aire) es de unos 1000 USD. Explicación: se nos había “olvidado” añadir un coste de 600 USD (que no se de donde cojones sale, pero en fin…). ¿Más estupidez? Mandarlo por barco sale lo mismo. Bueno, al menos espero que puedas enviar mucho más… En realidad es unos 1040 USD por 1 m3, sin máximo de kilos… NO COMMENT.

Hoy me gustaría incluir el email que Stephany ha enviado a unas cuantas personas sobre Filipinas. Yo creo que lo que dice es cierto al 100%, sin exagerar lo mas mínimo. Eso sí, sólo se centra en los aspectos negativos. Este es el email:

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FROM: Stephany Swanson

DATE: 28 Octubre 2003

SUBJECT: Korea!

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Well, we’re going to Seoul.

I’m finally leaving Philippines December 10th. I’ll be goin home in ALASKA
for christmas, back to Spain for New Years, and then on to Seoul about the
10th of January.

I say finally leaving because… well, I’ve had many good experiences
living here for the past 8 months. Unai got me into diving, and now I
really like that a lot. As of now, I’ve seen 3 turtles (I think 4 but I
wasn’t sure), a small sting ray, a cool manta shrimp that was green and
purple, a lot of big tunas and Lapu-lapu fish, a fish called sweet-lips that
has cool big lips… oh, a cooly black and white polka-dotted eel, and lots
of small tropical fish!

Ya, diving is nice, I really like our place now with the view of Manila bay
too, but… I’m happy to go. I mean this country… well, I’m no
professional, but it’s really fucked. Just… in so many ways…
pollution is really bad… Manila bay is completely full of trash, just
floating on the banks… I mean a LOT of trash too… maybe 5 feet until
the shore there’s paper waste, plastic bags, metals, coconut shells, all
kinds of waste… and the streets, it’s like there’s trash crammed into any
little area possible; gutters, run-down houses, cracks in the pavement,
anywhere… yesterday I was walking down the street and I saw a street post
just lying on the ground in the middle of the city, the pole was rusted and
broken, in the middle of the city, nobody cared. And the streed people are
everywhere… I can’t walk a block here with out seeing a dozen homeless
people… sometimes it’s so disturbing… like in the ally next to the
building where we live, there are several families who live there, and one
woman has a baby with all these lesions and abrasions on it’s head… and
it had some kind of cream on them… but he was dirty. And there’s another
woman who is in a wheel chair… and the other day i was taking our laundry
from the little shop we go to at the entrance of the ally, and the woman in
the wheel chair was there and she asked me what my name was… and before i
could answer, the woman in the laundry said “Unai”… so I don’t know why,
but i just let them think that my name was Unai, why not… and the woman
in the wheel chair said “No… I’ll call you Rita.” and I asked her “Why,
you don’t like the name Unai?”… and i laughed, and the woman in the
laundry laughed, and the woman in the wheel chair got really serious, looked
me and said “No. Because I respect you.”… Okay. I didn’t understand
what that meant at all, so i just said thank you and walked home..
everything is so strange, I don’t understand anything here.

And it’s like… any chance to get money out of people, even businesses!
Unai told me yesterday that two firemen came into his office in RCBC plaza,
one of, if not THE biggest business center in Manila, to check the fire
extinguishers. The men said the extinguishers were expired, and had to be
replaced. They showed them the fire codes and whatever… And it just
happened that those two firemen had some extinguishers with them that the
office could buy, at the cost 15,000 pesos ($3,000) each. It’s incredible.
So one of the women in the office said that they had an insurance, and they
were covered, so they didn’t need new ones or something… and the men said
if they had an insurance, then they were okay. I guess one of the firemen
had a huge gold ring too… Strange, right? ya, like everything here.
Sometimes it’s so frusterating because… I don’t know what’s wrong with
people sometimes. Like a while back I went to a fresh fruit juice/shake
stand and I asked them “Do you have all the shakes available on the menu?”
And of course they said “Yes, ma’m”. So I asked for an avacado shake. “I’m
sorry ma’m, we don’t have avacados.” THEN WHY DON’T YOU SAY SO?! Or
yesterday, I bought this art magazine, which had obviously been opened, but
that’s normal. And i’m reading later, and it talks about the FREE CD in
that issue and blah blah… so me and Unai go back to the store, and say
“Who’s in charge here?” and immediately nobody wants to answer. One person
says “Why, ma’m?” So I say i have a complaint about the magazine, that it
says there should be a free CD that comes with this eddition, and then
suddenly “Oh, Yes ma’m! Let me just call our supplier…” And 15 minutes
later, they come and say “Ma’m, can you return tomorrow? Our supplier will
just bring the CD.”… Why don’t they have the CD in the magazine to begin
with? I mean, WHY? They want to keep it or what?

The other day i was sitting in this very internet cafe and there was a white
guy and a filipino guy, both middle aged, sitting using internet… and for
some reason, the filipino guy was talking the whole time and watching the
white guy check his mail… and he was just blabbing the whole time, saying
stuff like: “You know, this country is probably the most convenient country
in the world to live in. I mean, you can get anything you want here if you
have money… The only thing you can’t get are nuclear weapons, but
everything else… you can get anything for the right price. I mean, it’s
really to your advantage that the government is so corrupt because you can
pay anybody off. Ya… but if you don’t have money… (chuckles) well
then, you’re FUCKED!”… Ya, it seems that he’s right. I haven’t had so
many personal experiences with this, but a friend of mine I guess has had
several mini experiences with police officers trying to get paid off… I
guess one went something like this: “Ma’m, there’s no u-turn here.” and she
says, “I don’t see any sign” and he says “ma’m there’s a sign 200 meters
back” and she asks “Can you show me the sign?” and he says “No ma’m. 3000
pesos, and it’s okay.” and I don’t know what happens, but she manages not
to pay. It’s so rediculous. Or like, this story is the worst I’ve herd
yet! I guess this friend of a friend of ours went to a Filipino hospital to
get a vasectomy, which was supposed to be a 1 hour operation, for about
$400. Well, during his operation, the power went out, and I guess they
didn’t have back-up generators or something because they decided to keep him
sedated until they could fix the power supply. I guess they kept him out
for 24 hours to finish the operation, and then when he got the bill it was
close to $3,000. WHY? It’s just so… fuck, i’m glad that wasn’t me! I
guess he hired a lawyer to take the hospital to court, and he hired a
filipino lawyer who went to talk to the doctor… and I guess the doctor
said something in Tagalog like “Why are you protecting him? He’s a
foreigner. We Filipinos have to stick together.”…

I don’t know if these stories are true, I just know my personal expereinces
and… I’ve had too many “bad Philippines” moments to want to live here
longer. But it’s been a good experience, and I’m glad I came.

So, anyway, we’re getting ready for Seoul. I’m applying to language
institutes, and I think I’ve found a pretty good one. They already called
me for a phone interview, that went well, so hopefully I’ll be on my way to
getting a Korean working visa soon!

If anyone has any info on Seoul, I’d be glad to hear it!

About life here, I’m still preparing to have my mini-exhibition. For those
of you I haven’t told about it yet, it’s a series of work on the
Philippines, which I think i’ll call “Sorry, Ma’m. No, sir.” The title I
did have in mind was “Okay lang”, one of the most common thing people here
say, but I think i’m going to change it. I’m not sure yet. I’m planning to
have the exhibition on December 4th, but that’s open to change also. So
far, i’ve painted 4 large paintings, each made of between 8-11 panels, each
10″ by 15″. I’ve been experimenting using sand, plastic bags, and other
materials to build texture on each. Over-all I’m pretty proud of the work!
I don’t know when I’ll finally get my own web-site up, but when I do I’ll
definately let everyone know!

Okay, hope everyone is doing well! Take care!!!

Love,
Stephany

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Acabo de añadir a la web la validación de fecha de entrada. Como bien dice la documentación de Dreamweaver, muchos browsers tienen bugs en la implementación del objeto Date. Cuánta razón tienen… pasaré de JavaScript… a validar en php