My Mom recently arrived here in the Philippines. She spent Thanksgiving here, and will spend Christmas with us too. She has actually visited us in the Philippines three times now, and she enjoys it here, I think. Funny, because she always swore that she would never come here. She said it was too hot here for her to handle. I had to get seriously ill before she decided to make a visit! Anyway, as I said, my Mom is very sensitive to extreme heat, and thus feared visiting the Philippines. It is indeed very hot here! I had a little surprise for her over the weekend, though. We took her for a drive up into the mountains in Bukidnon. … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving – Philippine Style
November 24, 2006 By Leave a Comment
It's Thanksgiving day still in the United States, but already Friday here in the Philippines. Of course, there is no Thanksgiving here in the Philippines, it is a uniquely American Holiday (yes, I know there is also a Thanksgiving in Canada celebrated in October). However, for American ex-pats like me who live in the Philippines, most of us do celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving, Fourth of July and such. For Thanksgiving, there are many restaurants that offer Thanksgiving meals, mostly restaurants that specifically cater to foreigners. For instance, here in Davao there are a number of places to choose from if you want to eat out and enjoy … [Read more...]
Homesickness
November 10, 2006 By Leave a Comment
In the past 2 to 3 days, I have had discussions with two different people about homesickness. In the first instance, a Filipina who is living in the USA left a comment on one of my blogs saying how she was very homesick for her previous life in the Philippines. I told her that I certainly understood her feelings, because when my Filipina wife first came to live in the States, she often experienced homesickness. As a matter of fact, for about 3 years or so, she had regular bouts of homesickness. For the other 7 years she lived in the States, she had occasional homesickness problems, but not nearly as often. Earlier today, a fellow asked … [Read more...]
Looking to rent for a shorter term?
November 5, 2006 By Leave a Comment
On a blog comment that was left yesterday, the commenter (Jerry) said that he is looking to rent a place in Davao and only needs it for around 6 months or so. However, everyplace where he goes wants a one year lease. He needs a place, but doesn't plan to be in the country for a year! What can he do. Well, actually, he can do something fairly simple, and not too expensive either, and his problem will be solved. It is true, most landlords here in Davao require that you sign a lease for one year. No way around that, unless you are just able to negotiate that away. However, every lease contract that I have seen in the Philippines states … [Read more...]
How is the Internet here?
November 1, 2006 By Leave a Comment
A regular reader of this blog left a comment on another post asking about Internet availability and quality here in the Philippines. I thought I'd answer that question on a new post. When I first moved here in 2000, the quality of Internet connections was terrible... dialup only! Being an Internet Professional, it is hard for me to do business with only a slow connection. However, I am happy to report that things are much better today! As long as you live in a town of decent size up to a City, you can expect that DSL will be available. In large cities you have even more choices with multiple DSL providers and also Cable Internet coming into … [Read more...]
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