gosh, someone gave me a present today.

there is a woman, whose name like mine, is ate jo.

she cleans the student apartment where i live.  she also does laundry, and i have hired her to do my laundry every friday.  this means that i provide the soap and she hand washes everything in a bucket outside, then rinses it and hangs it to dry.  and last week, it took 4 days to dry.  yeah, a little humid here.

this would be all of my clothes, towels, bedding, etc. 

she charges P300, or 300 pesos.  and the peso is now 43.5 = $1 US

so, that is $6.89.

today, i stopped over at the apartment, and she was here cleaning.   she gave me this box, she opened the lid and showed me that it is to keep your bible in, and then she showed me where you put a picture on top.  it's like cardboard covered in paper with some woven rattan.

is that stinkin sweet or what?!

i'm thinking i will ask someone to take our picture and i will put it there.  i'll show it to you.  maybe we can take a selfie, that might be more fun!

i'll show you some of the currency.  i have developed a loose system for deciding what something costs.  she charges P300. i double it 600 add 10% 660.  so, it's around $6.60 and we already did the math to see it's $6.89.  it gets me in the ballpark, so i know if the P3000 radio cost $6, $16, $60 or $600.
so when i took the max out of the atm here, which is P10,000, i don’t feel quite as wealthy when i determine it's about $220.

i added a quarter and penny for size, the coins above are Full pesos and below the dove are sentimo or cents.  the dove is a coin that my sister, irene, gave me in my easter basket, that i keep in my wallet and think of what a great sister she is when i see it.

i included an older P50 bill, just so you see how drastically different they are, just to add to my confusion.

yeah, look at that fat wad of bills you have to carry around.  and you use so many to buy anything, that the bills are pretty worn out and tired from all that activity.

the coins are great, but we laugh at a useless penny, just think about what P5 sentimo can get you.  why bother, philippines?!

for your homework, maybe someone can figure out for me exactly what that coin equals US$.  :o)

everything here is public transportation, and you really want exact change.  so, you find yourself hoarding coins and small bills. i always try to use a big bill at an actual retail store and tolerate getting the stink eye and a wad of change, so i have small stuff for the market or paying the guy who delivers water or gas to the apartment.  also ate helen who cooks lunch, and ate jo for laundry. insulting to give them a big bill like you are some rich american.  also, for the guy who walks thru the neighborhood in the morning ringing a bell, with a big plastic tub of freshly cooked doughnuts on his head.

mhmmmm.

i was chatting with dee and asked her what i should put on my blog and she said "pictures of you so that we know you're okay".

so, here you go, proof positive!!

xo jo