Well, another day, another "welcome" post! We are adding one more writer today on the Live in the Philippines blog, and his name is John Grant. I met John at the Friend of Mindanao, an organization that I have been attending here in Davao. John is originally from the United Kingdom, and a great guy! I consider John to be a close friend, although we've only known each other for a couple of months now. The first time I met John at the FOM meeting, he was the speaker that day, and when I heard his speech, I was surprised at how much our lives mirrored each other! We had both been involved in similar businesses in the past in our respective … [Read more...]

We have yet another Blog Author joining us here at LiP Blog! His name is Kevin Smith. Kevin currently lives in the USA, but did spend 7 months living in Digos in 2005. He also has plans to retire in the Philippines at some point in the future. Another interesting tidbit is that Kevin has started a Nonprofit organization called "Southern Philippines Children's Shelter, Inc." I would like to welcome Kevin, and I am looking forward to reading some of his interesting stories coming soon on the LiP Blog! … [Read more...]

I would like to announce that another new author will be joining us here on the LiP blog! His name is Louis Alexander Tamasi, and he will start writing here very soon. I am sure that you've seen some of Louis' comments here on the blog in the past, he has been a frequent participant in commenting on the posts here in the blog. Louis is currently living in Davao City, but has only been here for 6 months, so he is a fairly new resident of the Philippines. Welcome aboard, Louis! I look forward to reading your posts, and getting to know you better! … [Read more...]

Over the past few days, the discussion here on the LiP Blog has really turned toward Filipino time, patience, and adjustment to the Filipino way of handling our lives.  I said in comments and in my posts over the last couple of days that it is my goal to learn how to be more patient, give up on strict scheduling, and generally live a more stress free life because of these changes.  Yesterday, I decided to make a first step on the effort. As you all know, I've lived in the Philippines for over 7 years now.  In that time, I have only gone grocery shopping maybe 2 or 3 times.  It didn't take long for me to realize that grocery shopping was quite … [Read more...]

I want to announce that effective immediately, Julius Bantigue will be joining us as a Blogger here on the Live in the Philippines blog! Juluis has been a long time and frequent commenter on the blog, and almost everything I've seen him post makes a lot of sense. Julius can help us expats and want-to-be expats a lot, because he is Filipino, yet a US Citizen. He has lived long term in each country, and thus can see both sides of issues. I feel that this is something that will really help contribute some good things to this blog! For those who just can't get enough of Julius here on LiP Blog, you can also visit his own Blog, called Philippine … [Read more...]

For any readers that are in Davao, there is a new place where you can find a decent selection of foreign style foods to choose from.  The place is called "Gourmet Deli" and is located on Governor Sales Street, just outside Chimes Mall in Uyangaren, Davao City.  The place is very similar to another well known "Deli" here in town, featuring many of the exact same products, even the same brand.  The thing is, that at the Gourmet Deli, the price is about half of the other Deli on most items.  When I hear other expats talk about the other, un-named "Deli" in town, everybody likes their stuff, but the complaint is always that the prices are high.  … [Read more...]

If you think about it, it's true.  All of us westerners have things that we really want to get away from.  We have reasons why we want to move to the Philippines.  One of the biggies is prices are low here.  But, among the other reasons we want to come here, we find: Get away from the rat race for a slower pace of life. Family Values. Less Stress. Now, think about those things.  Each of those three things can easily be found in the Philippines.  The pace of life is certainly slower here than in our home countries.  No deadlines, schedules are looser, etc.  With all of our additional time, we can spend more family time.  Not having … [Read more...]