Scott

Thanks for your comment. Im afraid there are so many ‘bonus’ questions in you original comment thast I can’t offer a lot of specific answers. “to get your things to the Philippibnes” .. what think, how many pouns/cubic meters (the way you will eventually be charges after all is aid and done), what is the citizenship of the owner, from where to where (the Philippines is a big place), etc. People move here with everyhting from just what they carry in thesirline baggage to multiple shipments of ocean containers, so I think you can see the breadth of the question. Bob, and many of the other authors here have written a ton of information on this subject … the little ’search the website’ button can be agood friend to you. I’ve also written many articvles 0on the subject on my own site, http://www.philfaqs.com feel free to visit.

Can you live on $770 a month? Again, I don’t know. Don’t even know if you are talking US dollars, we have lots of ‘other dollar’ earners and spenders here in the Philippines. But assuming you do mean US, the answer is quite iffy. Are you single? What sort of lifestyle will you live? Where will you be based, etc. As a quick appraisal, you would be tight. My wife and I are pretty thrifty abd we spend over a thousand US per month … again I write alot on that subject, but I have no way of knowing what your needs and lifestyle will be. Obviously you _can_ live on that amount, millions and millions of Filipinos live on that much _per_year_, so you can too, the question you have to ask is how hard are you willing to work at living? All the best to you.

J.P. in friendship & peace

“Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so”: Bertrand Russell

I agree things are getting bad in the US To be honest I moved more out of fear for what is obviously going on there than for what is here (this was before I had a wife and son here). I have given up on most Americans thinking and jumped ship. But this is a good country and I have found many opportunities along with a family. Still working on developing an independent income instead of relying on disability but it is coming along just takes time.

i am a born filipino, now 51 yrs old, married with no kids. me and my wife came here in canada in 2000 after working/living in singapore for 7 years. when we arrived in toronto in sept 2000, we realized that we just jumped from the frying pan to the fire.

the main reason that filipino families want to migrate mainly to the usa or canada is ” our kids will have better opportunities there, in the phil nada”. the reason we moved here in canada, even though we are in a very good situation in singapore, is to experience the american/canadian way of living or in other words the material things in life that only in the usa or canada can be had. i am sure that this also goes to the majority of these filipinos but nobody will admit it, it’s always for the future of the kids.

just after a few months of arriving here in 2000, we have made a decision that we’ll just save enough money and go back in the phil for good. life here is not for me. i am poor in the phil, but much much more happier. we couldn’t wait the time when will be back in the phil, hopefully in 3 years time.

regards

Thanks again for your comments, Ernest, and looking back at the string of comments here, i feel, as so often happens, we are getting far afield from the original article (I’m one of the guilty parties there). So let’s see if we can move some of the new comments into the LIP Forums area perhaps …
http://www.liveinthephilippines.com/forum/
there’s a lot here that ought to be discussed, but probably not as acomment to the original article.

By far, I see more in the Philippines than doe my Philippine-born, dual citizen wife, Mita. And what do I see? It’s difficult to explain … something akin to how it was in the US 50 years ago? Americans born in the past30 years ago have basically _NO_ idea what the US used to be like, before it became a Federal Empire.(I include both parties in this, no Red/Blue arguments, please)

I think, writing the paragraph above (and actually writing another paragraph which I deleted , I see one of the things about the Philippines which appeals to me about the as an older native American. For all it’s problems and foibles the government of the Philippines just doesn’t loom so large over those of us living here.

In many cases, my own included, the Filipino member of the marriage has much more trouble adjusting to life here in the Philippines than the foreign partner.

I did not write this piece to encourage or discourage people to move to the Philippines or to move back to the Philippines. Somehow a few of the comments indicate people have taken it that way. Your description of Canada strikes home to me even though I haven’t been there. If you think _I_ don’t miss the mountains of Colorado, the ‘Big Sky’ of Montana or a thousand other things about my native country, you would be sadly mistaken.

My only point in writing was to encourage people to be responsible for their own decision and most of all, to MAKE a decison, not to waste their lives in endless indecsion.

For those who chose the Philippines, welcome. To those who say, “Thanks but no thanks” … great. Glad you got off the fence and actually made the decision, and God bless everyone, no matter where they chose to live.

(you know what makes me smile over this whole article and the ensuing discussion? After living in a number of other countries aside from the US and the Philippines I can say this … most people make way too much of a big deal about it. Life in the US is not so much different from life in Germany or Thailand or Japan or the Philippines. Once you learn which way the key turns in the door, which side of the road to drive on, where to pay your bills and the other mundane things like that, there is a _lot_ less difference than those who have only lived in one country can imagine … and it will be the same for you Angelina, whether you decide to come back to the Philippines or stay in Canada.