Christmas balikbayan boxes and superior canned meat

For those of you new to the Fil-West experience, a "balikbayan box" is simply a big box full of stuff you send to family in the Philippines via one of dozens of balikbayan box services around the world. The boxes vary in size, but the ones (yes, we have two...) my wife and I are loading up are 24"x24"x20". They are what in America we'd call "care packages."

What's in such a box? Well, of course this varies, but very often they include things like canned meat (SPAM, Vienna Sausages, Corned Beef), soap, toothpaste, second-hand clothes, tools and minor electronics. At some point, you (if you are the male) will almost certainly say, "Honey, can't they just buy all this in the Philippines? Why don't we just send them the money?" And your wife will reply, "Because they like American-made, the stuff in the Philippines is counterfeit."

My wife is firm in her belief that any product sold in the Philippines is of inferior quality to products sold abroad. She has claimed, for example, that the canned chili has less meat in it, and that the meat in SPAM in the Philippines is of lower quality than that canned in the U.S. The clothes in the Philippines fall apart more easily, she says, and the tools break. The soap doesn't lather up properly.

This all goes back to deep-seated distrust on her part of the government and businesses of the Philippines, who she believes will steal every last peso from Filipinos while giving nothing in return except marginal goods and services.

I am highly suspect of some of these claims, in particular the one about Americans having superior canned meat. I find it hard to believe that the ground up pig privates in our canned meat is that much better than the ground up pig privates in theirs. I guess that gives American pigs something to brag about, if true.

At any rate, we're already sending money each month, she'll point out, so the box is like a special treat.

After we buy all the stuff she wants to put in our latest box, she sets to labeling each item with the name of the person she intends it for. She says she does this so there's no arguments on the other side of the pond when two or more of our family want an item. This is probably wise, because while I can't believe there'd be fights over Vienna Sausages, there could be some disagreement over who's supposed to get the tools, pots, and pans, for example. When it's all labeled, we fill out our declarations form - this is internationally shipped, after all - seal the box up, and drop it off. The box will normally arrive in 45-90 days. Sometimes never, but that's the chance you take with low-cost ($100 is the norm) international freight shipping.