Hi Fred,
Yeah your right i,m getting mixed up with Embassy and Immigration, i have Embassies on the brain right now!
I went to Philippine Immigration department in Manila, initially they gave me a 3 month extension on my original 3 week stay then when i went back to see the same guy and took Judith and explained my situation he gave me an extension for a further 18 months.
Was quite cheap actually and i got my visa in about 10 minutes!
With regards to the money i know it was my fault giving it to Judiths parents to hold but hindsight is a wonderfull but useless thing!
At the time we didnt think that her parents would be holding it for more than a few days and you dont expect your asawas parents to mess up there daughters future!
Yes they are theives, but mostly un educated and because of the english culture they think money grows on trees!
All most filipinos see here is English and American guys coming here and spending money like water, so when you say to your asawas parents that this money is all we have for our future, they dont believe it.
I,m not saying all Filipinos have this attitude, but a proportion do.
I have learnt my lesson and Judith too, and no she didnt have any idea where the money went and yes she did ask her parents what happened but of course no real answer.
I know where it went, all of a sudden white guy turns up and lives in the neighbourhood, all of the neighbours become even more friendly they all ahve there problems and Filipinos like to help so i become Mother Teresa without me knowing.
The part that annoyed me most was i tried to tell them that if they had of waited until we were succesfull helping her family in the future was part of my plan but greed took over.
Brits are just the same in England though right? Except we do it different there we have friends called "plastic" and "loan" and use money we havent got. Which is why Britain is now living on credit.
Anyway its another gorgeous day here and i,m always grateful for what i do have and i have learnt not to think to much about what i dont have.
