Bill Asberry is an American who is preparing to move to the Philippines real soon now. I have come to know Bill over the past 5 months or so and have enjoyed interacting with him and building a friendship.
I asked Bill if he would agree to be my first Video Interview here on Expat Island, to which he graciously agreed! That made me quite happy. I felt that our conversation was interesting and informative too. Quite entertaining. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I must apologize, though. The video part of this interview got messed up due to an error that I made. It was my first time to use the software to make the video recording over Skype, and I did something stupid that caused it to be unusable. However, I was still able to use the audio portion of the interview, and I simply put an image in place of the video. Bill was nice enough to offer to do the interview over again. However, I decided not to do that, because I thought that our conversation turned out so nicely, I wanted to keep it. I promise, though, I will do better on future videos!
So, for now, please watch the video, listen to our conversation and enjoy! Have a question based on our conversation, or just want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment below! I’d love to hear from you!
Again, Bill, thank you for doing the interview, and good luck on your new life in the Philippines!
what ever happened to bill?
i use to read his personal blog every few months from time to time and just noticed it is gone.
it was quite interesting.
Hi Lambert – Thanks for stopping by!
Bill still lives in Davao. I think that moving to the Philippines was not exactly what he was expecting, but I think that he is coming to like it. Perhaps he will stop by here at Expat Island and leave some comments in reply to yours!
Bill decided that blogging was not for him, so he gave up his site.
thanks bill for the reply back.
i was interested in what happened to his relationship with the young girl he met.
he wasn’t there long in davao and before you knew it they were inseparable which i know is quite common (older guy / younger girl).
i know that relationships are personal but if he didn’t want anyone to know he wouldn’t of wrote about it.
hope he is doing well..
Hi lambert – I will choose not to comment on the relationship thing. If Bill stops by and wants to comment, he is free to do so.
understood. hopefully he is doing well.
sorry, i meant to say thanks bob, not bill but i think you knew what i meant.
No problem!
How safe is Mindoro Island
Hi Paul – I feel that Mindoro is quite safe. No place on the planet is perfectly safe, and you may find pockets of any Philippine island to have safety issues, but overall, Mindoro is not a big concern.
Hi Paul! I know one missionary lady named Anne Miettinen who works there in Mindoro Mamburao and Palawan with her http://www.hoseami.org in their 3 schools for slum children. You can see those videos in YouTube. She says in the places she visits, the danger is NPA, Communist New Peoples Army. Anne is a Finnish born lady who lived tents of years in Australia. See the websides in english and finnish.
Bill,
Howdy. I just wanna say it was really nice of you to describe Filipinos as “first-class people”. To hear an outsider say that once in a while gives me hope that this country will get back on its feet again.
The one advice I can give you when you move here is to look for local and foreign friends who can help you adjust. But since you were once a US Marine deployed here, you already did some recon and know what to expect.
You’re a Marine. You’ll make it out here. Improvise, adapt, overcome. That is one thing I learned from the 1986 Clint Eastwood movie “Heartbreak Ridge”, in which he played a veteran Marine gunny sergeant.
Semper fidelis. Oorah.