Part Time Expat?

[the_whipster]

 

you can just lose focus if you are not careful, when you spend too much time in the Philippines. You can even lose control. Far better to do both, west and east, and not put all your eggs in one basket.

 

I tend to disagree .... for me it would be way to hard to keep going from a modernized country to a 3rd world country .... you tend to keep comparing all the good and bad points of living in each place ..... you should just choose one and live there or IMHO you won't really be happy in either one as you will be constantly trying to justify living in the country you are at the time your there ....

what is there to justify. That is just the way it is. After years and years of it, going to and fro there is no adaptation. It is instananeous, like clicking your fingers. you adapt, totally 100% immeadiately just like that. There is no problem, adapting to difference in weather, culture, etc. There is no culture shock, like there was the first time. You know totally what to expect.

 

and if I had been living totally in Asia for the past 20 years I would have no idea, at all, what had been going on in my home country all that time. No idea, at all. And which does interest me.

 

Filipinos totally acccept it. I tell them I am a kano OFW, which is true really, If somebody said to them, hey you can work in the west for four or six months a year and then come back to the Philippines the rest of the time they would think hey that sounds like a pretty cool idea.

[Thomas]

you can just lose focus if you are not careful, when you spend too much time in the Philippines. You can even lose control. Far better to do both, west and east, and not put all your eggs in one basket.

WHAT??  Well. Yes, perhaps for them, who don't do much else than drinking alcohol, hard to keep focus then  :)

but of course EASIER to keep focus if concentrating on ONE place, having ONE home...

((The two times I have moved any longer distance earlier, I have moved "whole me", just visiting the old places. I plan to start business in Phils, so I better be there and keep an eye on things mostly. Plan is I will visit my relatives and friends in my home country once a year, but I suppouse it will be more seldom after my parents have died  - and the more my family in Phils grow   :)

[robert k]

I somewhat wish I didn't know what has happened in the US in the last 20 years. No smilie because I'm not joking.

[Anna]

yep, going there for 1 month this year, 5 months next year!

[jon1]

I know several people working in the oil industry who spend half of their time here and the other half working abroad. It's not a bad gig as they get a fulltime wage for half a year's work.  I was working a similar schedule over the last couple of years but am now taking a 6 month hiatus before I tackle my next venture. 

 

For me the return trips weren't about adjusting to the local culture but rather decompressing from where I had been.

[Medic Mike]

I'm averaging about 4 months a year there at the moment.  Hopefully, by the end of the year, I'll be there full time.  My first trip to PI was back in '89, when I was in the RAN and Subic Bay was still a US military instillation. Yearly visits since then on deployments to Subic, Davao, Manila etc,  so I saw a lot of change.  Olongopo was initially devastated by the US withdrawal.  I left the Navy in 2007, didn't go back until I met my ex-gf in 2012. Was so impressed by the way the country had progressed, particularly after the void left by the US in places like Subic and AC (Fields aside of course - I don't judge the ladies but I will judge the sexpats;  no apologies, that's just my moral compass). 

I am sort of like Brett, I usually end up with 3 months total here each year.

[the_whipster]

I'm at 4 months on average, possibly I could do with more, but i think perhaps, I would not want more than 6 months in the Philippines out of every 12 months. Ultimately, although I love the Philippines I love my own country and my own tradition more.

[Thomas]

I'm at 4 months on average, possibly I could do with more, but i think perhaps, I would not want more than 6 months in the Philippines out of every 12 months. Ultimately, although I love the Philippines I love my own country and my own tradition more.

If you like the English weather, you can be in Phils during the rain season and in UK during the rest of the year  :)

[Medic Mike]

I know several people working in the oil industry who spend half of their time here and the other half working abroad. It's not a bad gig as they get a fulltime wage for half a year's work.  I was working a similar schedule over the last couple of years but am now taking a 6 month hiatus before I tackle my next venture. 

 

For me the return trips weren't about adjusting to the local culture but rather decompressing from where I had been.

A lot of my guys here at Barrow do that exact thing.