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One person can’t really make a difference

July 28, 2010 By MindanaoBob 55 Comments
As a foreigner, you are an Ambassador here in the Philippines, so act like one!

You hear it all the time - One person can't really make a difference. When it is election time, a lot of people don't vote, and when you ask why they say... One vote can't change anything.  Frankly, I don't think it's a good habit to get into having that kind of attitude. How does this apply to the subject of this site, living in the Philippines?  Well, just keep reading, and you will understand. The fact is that as a foreigner living in the Philippines, you are part of a very small minority.  Yes, there are tens of thousands of foreigners here in the Philippines, but on a local scale, you are often a very small part of the population, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Adjustment, Bob Martin, Communication, Daily Life, Expats, Living in The Philippines, Mindanao, Relationships, Travel

Finding a house to rent in the Philippines

July 26, 2010 By MindanaoBob 28 Comments
Look for a sign on houses for Rent!

Often times here on LiP, I like to share e-mails that I get, along with my answers.  I get a lot of e-mail every day from readers, and I am happy to answer them as best I can.  It's part of having a popular website to get such inquiries, so I am always happy to receive them. Often times, though, I get the same, or very similar questions repeatedly.  When that happens, I know that it is something that I should address here on the Live in the Philippines Web Magazine, because if I get a question just once that usually means it is not a question that lots of people are looking for the answer to.  But, when I get the same question dozens of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Filipino Culture, Houses, Living in The Philippines

I am Denguephobic

July 23, 2010 By MindanaoBob 129 Comments
Mesh wire with big holes

I'm not sure if there is such a word as "denguephobic" but if there is not there should be.  I'm sure that most of you know what I mean when I use the "word" - I have a fear of dengue. Dengue Fever is a tropical disease that is caused by mosquito bites.  It takes a bite from a certain kind of mosquito, and those mosquitoes only bite during the day, so at night you should be safe.  There are four different strains of "regular dengue" fever, and there is another very serious dengue called hemorrhagic dengue, which is the most deadly.  If you get hemorrhagic dengue, it is very likely that you will die, and not a pretty death.  The other four … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Expats, Health, Living in The Philippines, Schools

Once you’ve been an expat you can never go back

July 21, 2010 By MindanaoBob 115 Comments
American writer, James Agee

I believe that John Miele and I have entered in to some kind of mutual zone of conscientiousness.  A couple of weeks ago, John wrote about body hair, and I followed him when I wrote about shaving in the Philippines.  Lately, I've been wanting to write an article about being an expat and that causing you to be stuck in some kind of limbo between where you are from and where you currently live, then John wrote his article yesterday about Expat Life.  I'm not trying to copy John, but we seem to have similar thought patterns in our heads lately!  That could be a good thing, or a bad thing, I suppose.  Let's just say it's good and move on! I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Adjustment, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, John Miele, Living in The Philippines

The timing just seems right

July 16, 2010 By MindanaoBob 107 Comments
Looking for the perfect house in Davao!

On Monday, I wrote an article entitled Round Two, in which I told about our seemingly endless battle with our idiotic neighbors.  It seems that for almost the entirety of 2010, we have had continual problems with one of our neighbors, and I promised in the article that I would be writing a follow up.  Feyma and I have come up with what we think is a good solution to the problem. We're moving. The lease on our current property is set to expire around the end of October 2010.  We like to have a longer term lease, and our lease on this house has been for 5 years, and we are nearing the end of our 5th year of residence here.  The house we … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Daily Life, Davao, Financial, Living in The Philippines, Moving

Are you sure about that?

July 14, 2010 By MindanaoBob 75 Comments
My experiences with Filipino mechanics has been good

I've been told many times that the stuff that is made in the Philippines is nothing but cheap junk.  I usually agreed with that, but I did so without giving it too much thought.  As I think it over, though, next time somebody tells me that, my response will certainly be... Are you sure about that? Today, I want to relay a little story about a recent experience.  I took my car in to the shop for service.  This happened back in May, or perhaps it was April, I don't recall.  I didn't get around to writing about it until just now, though. It all started one morning when my nephew went out to move our 2000 Mitsubishi Adventure.  Our Adventure … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Living in The Philippines, Mechanics in the Philippines, Mindanao

Round Two

July 12, 2010 By MindanaoBob 81 Comments
Construction worker standing on our rooftop while working on the building next door

I had a situation last week, and particularly on Friday which absolutely infuriated me.  I kept my mouth shut for the most part, though, and simply avoided the confrontation.  That situation, though, caused both Feyma and I to make some re-evaluations about our future.  I will explain how this will affect our future in a future post, either later this week, or perhaps next week, so stay tuned for that. If you are a regular reader, you will likely remember, starting back in February 2010, we had trouble with our neighbors.  The first problem was that they had rented out space to a Call Center operation, which operated at night, and they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Adjustment, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Davao, Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines, Relationships

Good rage!

July 9, 2010 By MindanaoBob 48 Comments
Beer is OK, but not a yard full of bottles!

I just did something, which ordinarily I would not consider a good thing, but this time, well, I think that what I did, and the way I did it was just right. What did I do?  I got mad at our maid.  I did it in a sort of different way, though. Lately, we have had our carpenter from GenSan staying with us, actually he's been here for several weeks now.  He has been taking care of a few jobs that needed to be done around here.  I really like Jun-Jun, he is a very nice guy, and a very industrious person too.  He can literally build anything.  Jun-Jun enjoys having a bit of drink every night.  He either drinks beer or he drinks Tanduay … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Adjustment, Bob Martin, Communication, Daily Life, Filipino Culture, Language, Living in The Philippines

Shaving in the Philippines

July 7, 2010 By MindanaoBob 87 Comments
Gillette Mach 3 Replacement Blades

One of the nice things about living in the Philippines, combined with working from my house is that I sometimes go a couple of days between shaving.  Just yesterday, John Miele wrote an article about body hair, and this article was not planned to be in competition with that, nor in conjunction with it.  I just happened to have an experience at the store the other day, which led me to write this article.  Anyway, yes, I do sometimes just shave a couple or three times per week, admittedly.  That said, if I am going out to the mall, or anywhere out from the house, I do make sure that I am not too scraggly, because the "5 o'clock shadow" look … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Daily Life, Davao, Dress, Expats, Living in The Philippines, Shaving in the Philippines, Shopping

Two hundred thirty four

July 5, 2010 By MindanaoBob 44 Comments
Fallen US Troops from Afghanistan

Happy Fourth of July to all Americans!  Including myself!  Yes, as I write this article for LiP, today is July the fourth, Independence Day in the United States of America.  When you read this article, it will already be July 5th here in the Philippines, but still July 4th in the United States, though. Although we have lived in the Philippines for more than a decade, we still celebrate the 4th of July every year.  Our kids enjoy July 4th too, even our youngest, Jared, who was just one month old when we left the USA, so he obviously does not even remember the place.  Still, though, he is proud to be American, and proud of his Filipino side … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: 4th of July, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Holidays, Living in The Philippines
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