Jenky:
I've never been to Calintaan, but it sounds beautiful and clean. You might be right about the bacteria. Hopefully, your body develops the antibodies it needs before the recurring Bombay Belly gets too frustrating.
My asthma worsened when I moved to Manila too, but it improved after a couple of years. Now that I've moved here where the air is much cleaner, it's the old carpets that have been triggering it.
I'm pretty sure men all over the world change gears all the time, and I thank you for at least trying to do it discreetly. It's when it's done so blatantly and without regard for others that it becomes rude, IMHO.
Thanks for the well wishes! Considering everything I've had to go through so far, I'd say I'm damned lucky I was only hospitalised once.

Neu75:
What you said just contradicted what most other members told me. I've been informed that many of the things I was finding really hard to accept were more of a personal difference with my mother-in-law than an actual cultural difference between Filipinos and the British. Now you're saying my post was an attack on many things British. So which is it?

marksroomspain:
Whoops! Sorry about the headache. Your wife makes really good points. I'd have to disagree about the weather though. I personally feel much more alive in the strong typhoons, building-high floods, earthquakes, and choppy seas of Bicol. When I lived in Arkansas in the US, the lack of extreme weather bored me. First thing I did when I got back home was stand outside in a typhoon. As for cheating Pinoys, I've found that infuriatingly true in the less-educated masses back home. It's unbelievable how the women just sit there looking sheepish as their boyfriends/husbands brag that they'd cheat on them in a heartbeat "because it's in my nature as a man"!

RickyR:
Thank you for the openmindedness. I think people have gotten a little defensive because they either skimmed through my post or didn't read past the title, missing the part where I explained that I just needed to know what applied to the wider population and what only applied to my in-laws.

joebloggs:
Thanks! I'm sure most people here are aware that Filipinos like to beat around the bush. Maybe the women would participate more if we could find a happy medium where they don't get scared off by how frank the men are.

fred:
I'm sure your wife wouldn't want it any other way.
Cleaning restaurant tables before you're allowed to sit at them describes my Aunt Clarissa to a T. I admit that maybe I came across as a bit high-strung about hygiene, but I wasn't like this before I came over. I think I might have snapped when I saw just how dirty the food I had to eat was. The miscarriage scare didn't help either.
Don't worry about the spelling. As long as you don't start constantly picking on me for my American English, you can misspell words as often as you want!

Doc Alan:
Thanks for the rep! I don't mind people disagreeing with me. It's certainly not gonna scare me off. However, it seems a little odd to me that people are surprised that I can hold my own. I hope I don't scare anyone off.

gWaPito:
No worries! Even if I figured out how to do that, I wouldn't give negative rep anyway.

stevewool
Yes, I only have 355 or so posts, but you don't have to be so sarcastic about it. I was in the middle of postgraduate studies when my husband suggested we join this forum. When things got busy with my thesis and fieldwork, I had to choose between my studies and the forum. After I went home to the Philippines in 2011, I'd gotten so used to not visiting the forum that it's taken me this long to make a habit of checking the forum for replies and interesting threads. If you look up my posts, you'll find I made several attempts to come back but I just wasn't into it as I was busy with work (worked overtime a lot) and family. Also, as rayna pointed out, I'm not a man.