Would you do it all again?

[Mike J]

29 minutes ago, Arizona Kid said:

Sounds more like a religious retreat. More power to you though if you can get your followers to bankroll your paradise.  

We SUPPORT our ministry, it does NOT, never has, and hopefully never will have to support us.  My pension, savings, and social security provide 100% of our living expenses.  This is our home and one of the reasons we purchased it with our OWN MONEY is that we knew we could use it in our ministry.  If you don't know what you are talking about, maybe you should keep your opinions to yourself.    NO, it is NOT ALL GOOD.

You should have read this post before I cleaned it up.  

[stevewool]

Thanks for the reply Mike, if I could find a place with a view like that I would have found my paradise, but my worries would be what would I see if I turned around, only joking .

[jimeve]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

The house overlooks the water. The property boundary is basically the high tide line, so we don't have to worry about ever losing the view.   The photo with blue tint is looking South, you can just see Badian Island on right side of picture.  The photo with the lavender tint is looking to the southwest, and the distant land is the island of Negros.  About 50 meters offshore there is a coral wall where you can view colorful fish, coral, and sea turtles.  There is just something about living on the water that calms the soul, relieves stress, and makes a person thankful.   It also provides a great place to host groups of youth for our ministry "Philippine Blessings of Hope".  We have also been privileged to host numerous visiting clergy and also missionaries from all around the globe.

 

What a fantastic view. Jealous. 

[stevewool]

We are not there yet and while it’s going to be a new adventure for us we will not close the door on our life here just yet.

Emma has been left the Philippines for 10 years now and her life has completely changed from what she had and growing up over there, we laugh and joke about what we could do once there and deep down I know all she wants is to take care of her father in the house that we shall share , now that’s going to be different for me and my life and I am sure it will be too for Emma , so remember to ask me this time next year on what’s it like .

[Mike J]

3 minutes ago, stevewool said:

Thanks for the reply Mike, if I could find a place with a view like that I would have found my paradise, but my worries would be what would I see if I turned around, only joking .

Actually what you say about "turning around" is true throughout most of the Philippines.  You look one direction and see beauty, and you look the other and see abject poverty and horrendous housing conditions.  Part of successful living here is to be able to see this and not feel guilty about our own standard of living.  Living in our respective countries and having the opportunity to become successful was, to a large extent, an accident of birth.  Living here makes one appreciate how much we have compared to other less fortunate.

[Snowy79]

I'm a relative newbie here.  Just over 3 years and still going through the honeymoon period. 

Sure there's plenty of things to frustrate someone here but rather than fly home I just up sticks and move to a new area.  

If I can last just over a year in each place I think by the time I'm 80 I'll have seen it and done it all anyway.  

If you move back to the West so much will have changed and from my perspective for the worst.  I couldn't afford to jump from town to town in the West. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

10 hours ago, Jack D said:

Some (and not all of my) Reasons

I have noticed some members seem to think these reasons are trivial.  However you don't even mention the ants, termites, geckos, barking dogs, or pigs and chickens in the front yards of subdivisions.  Did you mention the people on motorcycles running over pedestrians on the sidewalk, etc.  Walking requires looking up for low hanging wires, down for holes in the sidewalk, left, right, ahead and behind for motorcycles.

A search of this forum will find many members who complain, rant about so many "trivial" things in the Philippines.  I believe each reason by itself may be trivial, but the sum total may be enough to drive a man to drink.

[Jack D]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I believe each reason by itself may be trivial, but the sum total may be enough to drive a man to drink.

I could have given a much longer list that included the sum total of everything that you've mentioned, but you're right, since it did drive me to drink, but in the end I just decided to leave and go home.

[jimeve]

14 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I believe each reason by itself may be trivial, but the sum total may be enough to drive a man to drink.

I'l drink to that Dave 

[GeoffH]

28 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

However you don't even mention the ants, termites, geckos, barking dogs, or pigs and chickens in the front yards of subdivisions.  Did you mention the people on motorcycles running over pedestrians on the sidewalk, etc.  Walking requires looking up for low hanging wires, down for holes in the sidewalk, left, right, ahead and behind for motorcycles.

One of my rental houses in Australia has a persistent ant nest problem and it seems impossible to treat given the restrictions on chemicals now.  And I grew up on a farm, mooing cows, baaing sheep, barking dogs, tracks with holes instead of foot paths, neighbour kids riding around on noisy mini bikes or driving clapped out farm cars.

 Only having tank water when it rained (more than 2 inches in the bath and you were in big trouble).  

It was an hour by car to the nearest town of any size and the local small town (population 125) had 1 small general store/post office/petrol pumps,  a butcher (we ate a LOT of lamb and a hotel bar that only served food on special occasions to groups.

The phone line was operater connected for anything but local calls and we weren’t allowed to use it anyway because it was a hand crank extension from the depot with the school bus my father drove in the morning and afternoon.

Here there are huge malls with just about anything I could need, labor is cheap if I want something done, eating out is cheap and houses are a quarter the price they are back in Aussie.  Pollution isn’t a problem where we are because we are outside of CDO city in a subdivision in a green valley surrounded by treeed hills.

It’s not perfect but I don’t find it as hard as some people seem to (emergency medical care is probably the biggest issue).

Edited August 24, 2019 by GeoffH