Smiling faces.... Are Filipinos truly friendly? Do you have Filipino friends?

[Gandang Smile]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

VEry very true HK, when asked what it takes to live here, one of my first reply is that a person needs to be comfortable in their own skin. If they are the type that LOVES to drop by the pub of an afternoon, watch the game with you mates or play a game of darts and having a chat,,,,,this might not be the place for them.

I heard one of the lures of Clark/Angeles City, besides the obvious nightlife action, is the number of bars, restaurants and hotels available for foreigners to meet up and have a meal, drink, play snooker or darts, watch international sport and trade adventures and general life stories.

I heard from more than one happy retiree that 50% of the fun is to spend time with their like-minded, like-living fellows from all around the world.

Is Dumaguete also a bit like that, or foreigners live more isolated and far apart?

Edited January 5, 2021 by Gandang Smile

[Shady]

14 hours ago, Old55 said:

Hot Filipinas, smiling faces

Exactly proving my point, not "a lot like people everywhere" , and if you include their ability to speak and understand English, not like people anywhere.

 

 

 

[scott h]

12 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

This very much depends where you choose to Live,

Very True Jack, however I believe that most married guys end up living near where their wife is from. Places like Duma, Subic, Makati might have a larger % of expats living there. 

I think you will agree with me that the chances of striking up a casual conversation here is less likely to happen here than back in the ole country. 

[Snowy79]

An interesting perspective I noticed was how Filipinos also view their friends. My first partner here was a bank manager and she told me never ever to talk to her friends when I'm not there but she put on a happy smiley face when they were about.  Her reasoning was they would be after something and maybe that thing was me as she has seen it so many times.  It's not just us that judge the locals.

My currrent partner is far removed from most of the locals that I have met both in her thinking and honesty.  Just three weeks ago she told one person I thought was her friend that she isn't her friend but she will tolerate her.  This person for weeks has been in our house every other day for a meal, chat with my partner and watch a movie. I asked why she said that and she replied "I know what people are like here."  They gain your trust and talk about you behind your back.

She had seen almost everyone she knows fall out with someone who then went onto making a new friend and spent all day bad mouthing their previous friend, two months later they would get back with their old friend and tell their old friend everything that the new friend had said about them, secrets and all.  She said " It's not worth the drama to have too close a friend here."

I fully understand Gandang's view on things as he has mixed in a different circle than most retirees and when you're dealing with your own livelyhood and trying to make a future how you are treated certainly makes a big difference of your view on people.  Once bitten twice shy as they say. I'm in the middle between those trying to run a business and those happy to sit on the balcony and watch the World go by.  I see the good and the bad.

I know it's not right to stereotype people but you do see a huge difference depending on where you are located and the type of people you are dealing with.  Even in the UK I saw a massive difference between areas. The NE of England compared to the SE of England, the West coast of Scotland compared to the East coast, you'd think you were in a different country. Maybe those that never see any drama are fortunate enough to have friends here that have already moved on from those that are only after something.