Live in the Philippines - The Web Magazine for Expats in the Philippines And those who want to join them!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mosquitoes. I don’t like them very much. In fact, I don’t like them at all.
You’d think that, having lived all of my twenty-three years in the Philippines (the tropics!), I’d be used to these blood suckers. That the marks they leave would go unnoticed on my dark brown skin. You’d think that I no longer [...]
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Among the highlights of summer months in the Philippines is the so-called “Santacruzan”. In this Spanish-Filipino tradition, one among the many popular street festivities, immaculately dressed young girls parade on the streets, accompanied by barong-clad escorts and marching drummers. This year marked the first time my niece Nicole joined such beauty pageant / procession. And what a [...]
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
There I was one pleasant morning on a long sweaty walk that starts at the Davao City Hall and leads to the unimposing South Ilustre Mall downtown: moving, maybe lost, but moving. Even though according to the locals I actually came close to the Chinatown of the largest city in the southern Philippine island of [...]
Sunday, July 20, 2008
My cousin Johnny from Los Angeles visited last week. And he had to throw a party every night. (He could not escape this very Filipino duty to family and friends.) His last night, before he left again for America, invitations were sent for his send-off, or despedida, which was to start at 9 p.m.
“Are we [...]
Sunday, July 13, 2008
(This piece was written on my second night at a Quezon City apartment I had rented last year.)
I only recently found out that there are two kinds of cockroaches in Manila.
Both emerge from a room’s blackest corners, or invisible cavities, when at night you’re lying in bed and sweat is forming at the back of your neck, or at your [...]
