One thing that I have always had to battle here is how well off everyone here thinks we are. People are literally convinced that Bobby and I are absolutely loaded. No matter what we say, nothing can convince them of anything else. Granted, by local standards we are well off. I have felt lacking for nothing. Just today I had a staggering realization of the polarity of the situation. Bobby’s mom is requesting our information for tax time. I haven’t made a single penny in income. Bobby made something like $2,000 USD for the entire year and I made nothing. When the tax man is looking at our figures, we are absolutely destitute in their eyes, in terms of numbers. For most of my family or even their aquaitances, they probably consider us failures, losers, or just insane. If I would quote the same figures to a Filipino, firstly they wouldn’t believe that I didn’t make any money at all. To some people, perhaps the idea of making that many dollars would sound good.
Of course there is the HUGE difference that it is my choice to not have earned any money this year. It was Bobby’s choice to give up his job to join the Peace Corps, and it certainly wasn’t influenced by earning any income. Having thought about the different perceptions between life in the States versus life in the Philippines, it makes me a bit nervous for what we will experience next month. We may be in a place far worse off. Here, everything exists for those who can afford it. It may be lacking in selection or quality but it is possible. We may be in a place where there may not even be water for those who want it, regardless of what you can afford.
We are getting closer and closer to the end of our time here. We are still not sure where we will even be this coming April. We may be still in the Philippines, Indonesia, Afghanistan or perhaps Sudan. These all might sound pretty shocking, to us, I don’t know how we would handle just going back to the United States right now. Of course we will eventually… sloshing cold water over yourself for a shower does seem to get pretty old. Not right now though. We still have so much more to do, to help, to understand.
