When You Arrive: How to Hit The Ground Running without Getting Your Face Smashed
When You Arrive:
How to Hit the Ground Running Without Getting Your Face Smashed
--excerpted from “A Broad Abroad: The Expat Wife’s Guide to Successful Living Abroad” by Robin Pascoe (Expatriate Press 2009).
“Mom says there is no way she is ever doing this again,” seven-year-old Lilly announced to her father after stepping off the Dragon Air flight from Hong Kong to Beijing.
“Hi, dear.” That was all I could manage to mutter. My resentment and exhaustion combined to give me a kind of distorted look of despair. “We made it.” Barely.
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Fritz Lightning
So I have known Fritz for around ten months now. Today is his birthday so it seems like a good time to chat about him. He turns eighty-nine today and he gets to spend his birthday in the hospital with a broken hip, surely plotting his own demise.
Job Hunting in Phnom Penh - It's a zoo out there !
Looking for a secure, well paid job in Phnom Penh can be a daunting and self-effacing experience. In a country where the average worker earns around $50 a month, it seems rather greedy to be on the hunt for a gig that will pay many more times than that but show me a westerner that will work for $50 a month and I will bend over and show you flying pink pigs. If you do not come into the country on an expatriate package with all the trappings attached, you are just another western number looking for a job.
Adjusting To Expat Life
In the United States, when moving from one city to another or even one state to another 3,000 miles away it is not a big deal usually. The hardest part is just making a phone call to get the utilities turned on and maybe finding a grocery store close to your new residence.
Moving to the Philippines from the U.S. or another 1st world country can be the most challenging and also frustrating experience imaginable.
Terrible Internet Service In The Philippines
Anyone moving to the Philippines from the states that decides to have internet service in their home or business will quickly discover “you’re not in Kansas anymore.” From the Northern tip of Luzon island to the southern end of Mindanao the quality of service is about the same. A big fat zero.
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Grocery Shopping In The Philippines And Reasons Not To...
Shopping for groceries and other basic needs in the Philippines is an adventure in confusion and also overpricing for the newcomer. Often times, you will end up overpaying even after many years of living here if not careful.
At home in the States and most other countries, a grocery store is set up with every isle holding items classified by the type of products available including sub categories such as generic, diet, sale, and size etc.
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The Generous And Helpful Nature Of The Filipino People
In the United States and perhaps other places it is common practice to go to a neighbors house to borrow a cup of sugar if you run out. You might even go to a neighbor and borrow screwdriver or wrench if needed. But that’s about all.
Here in the Philippines most all people, friends and even those you do not know are quite willing to lend items to anyone who is in need. A few good examples of this is if you are going to the store and can’t or don’t want to walk for some reason, someone will loan you a bicycle. That’s all well and good; but how about something major?
Melmoth Goes to the Beach
To state the obvious… there’s been a lot of rain in Snookie. The storms have had an effect on the beach and all the time I was there, the beach and businesses of Ochetheal suffered. The water swirls with storm crud: flotsam and jetsam. The barang end of the beach is hit hardest. There is no beach between Sea Dragon and Coasters and the cliffs, no Serendipity Beach. Even at low tide most of the beach bars around the Dolphin Shack were sandbagged in a vain attempt to keep the sea out. It gave the perennially scruffy beach that attractive post-disaster chic.
The Long Road To Subic Bay
I remember when traveling from Angeles City to Subic Bay was a nightmare. Between the two lane road filled with moon crater sized potholes, endless unfinished construction projects, detours, traffic accidents, and traffic; not to mention kids on bikes, livestock, dogs, cats, and an endless count of chickens on the road, the trip usually took at least 2 ½ to 3 hours!
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Moving to and living in the Philippines
Types of Visas to Live in the Philippines---
Many readers here are looking to move to and live in the Philippines. I am sure many of you have researched the hows and whys of moving here but I thought it might be of interest to those who have not.
The information I will give will be as accurate as I can find, but realize the laws here change and some of my research might be out dated. So I suggest you verify this information yourself before making the big plunge.