Moving To The Philippines

[Mike S]

Hey Mike ...... all you have to do is turn on any US news service and it will take you about 3 seconds to figure out why you moved here ....... but with all the wonderful things being predicted about the new leadership I'm sure all that will change in the next few months ..... god ... I can't wait for my stocks to triple in value by Feb. ........ Here's a little heads up on PLDT ...... don't go to the office to set up either your phone service or DSL ..... we used a representative suggested to us by a friend ...... she came to the apartment ... helped us fill out the app. ........ and made all the arrangements to have the phone and DSL hooked up ...... I think the whole process took about 2-3 weeks but I'm not sure now ....... we also call her if we have any problems with the service like the other day when the trunk line was being repaired ...... if she doesn't know she will find out and call us back (an unheard of service with the main office) ...... but then she gets commission from client referrals ....... :9436:

[TheMason]

Another thing to do before you move to the Philippines: make a list of reasons why you are moving here. After a year or two you may forget why you moved here and start to miss your home country. You might start saying to yourself, "what the **** am I doing here!" That's the time to pull out your list and review why you moved here. I have been here in Cebu over three years now and have been through various up and down emotional stages. I feel that I have finally adjusted mentally to living here. You got to put roots down somewhere.

This is great advice Mike. I've only been here permanently for 3 months now and Thanksgiving weekend was brutal. I was moping around the house with a long face all weekend. I missed my family, turkey and the NFL (not neccesarily in that order.) I was feeling out of sorts and completely disconnected from the world around me. Then I sat down with my wife and we did what you suggest. I don't have a physical list, but I know why I decided to move here. Reminding myself of the reasons I'm here helped quite a bit.I also learned that I need to continue the holiday traditions that are important to me. From now on, we'll have a Thanksgiving dinner and a July 4th picnic with some crackers and fireworks.

[Mr Lee]

I agree that Mike has a great idea and there is a web site on culture shock that might also be worth reading, to know why you feel the way you do and that everyone goes through it one way or another.http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/CGuanipa/cultshok.htm

[twostrokes]

I guess I am really lucky. Not necessarily on this thread, but in general most of the things people complain about are not things important to me. Like DSL, Internet, telephone...most things electronic and food. Out of all the years I lived in the PI, (15 or so), I never had a phone, the internet wasn't around, DSL probably wasn't invented, nor was small dish TV. I use them here but only because they are available. I spend 90% of my internet time at work because there is nothing to do. The other 10% I spend at home because work has email blocked except for their local email service not on the net. I probably will not mess the next except for time on these forums..As far as food, granted most of the time I was there, I had access to the military bases for food, but the couple years after the bases left that I did not, I did not miss much. I can get by great on the local food, especially since I love seafood as well as rice. All the modern Western World shopping that is available will be a treat as it wasn't there when I left. Even the few SM malls in Manila, I only went to once and saw no real reason to continue to go. But that's me. Doesn't take a lot to make me happy. I figure the less Western World stuff I desire, the less things I will miss. At least I hope so. Don't think I have changed that much since I left. So, I should be ok.Jim