This is meant to be an amusing post about things that I personally have dealt with while living in the Philippines. 1. When is the last time you looked at the ceiling in your bathroom in the United States? Yeah, me neither. I, and most of the rest of the people in the USA, take for granted… Read More Things I took for granted in the USA
Life in the Philippines is much different from life in the United States. I’ve known this the whole time I’ve been here, but it seemed just a collection of “different” things. I did not realize there was a theme behind the differences until just last night. In the Philippines, you can get plenty of people… Read More Lots of service, no amenities
For an American, I am a average sized woman. I’m 5’4″ tall and wear a size 12 in clothing and size 7 in shoes. Perfectly typical. But in the Philippines, I am both taller and wider than just about anyone else I see! The men here are usually my height or a bit shorter. Women… Read More “She’s even bigger than you are.”
If you are alive, then at some point you have been frustrated. Plans fail, things you are expecting to happen fall through, things that need to be accomplished to reach a goal seem impossible. So how do you deal with that? I don’t know anyone who finds it easy to deal with all the time.… Read More How do you deal with frustration?
OK, this is a long-overdue post about Philippine foods. The strange ones, at least. Nobody cares about plain chicken, you can get that anywhere. 🙂 The first strange food I tried was Ube Ice Cream. I admit I looked askance at it when this dish of vivid purple ice cream was set in front of… Read More Purple ice cream? Made from yams?
Water in the Philippines is not good for visitors to drink. Heck, it isn’t always good for locals to drink! Most restaurants have filters installed so the water they serve to customers (in drinking form or in ice) is fine to drink. But after 10 days of eating at that kind of restraurant, even I… Read More Oops – I drank the water
We were supposed to go out and do more work today. But the areas where we are working are not structurally sound, to put it nicely. So our hosts came to breakfast this morning and said that it is not a good idea to be outside today, so they put off the work until Wednesday.… Read More Don’t go out in the storm!
I am NOT a fan of spiders. I know they eat mosquitoes and other disease-carrying pests. I know they are rarely venomous. I know they rarely bother people. But I still don’t like them. It’s a gut reaction. A deep down visceral EEEEEKK! and shudder when I see one. I’d rather deal with snakes than… Read More The NOT so itsy-bitsy spider
Saving Money Versus Risking Safety There are may things that my husband and I do to save money that we don’t mind doing. For instance when I bake our own bread or desserts instead of buying pre-packaged. I don’t mind the time it takes, and it often tastes better. So that choice is a no-brainer.… Read More 14 people in a 5-seater car
Yep, you guessed it, I’m not in the USA anymore! Thanks to my wonderful husband’s choice of career, he and I get to spend the next five weeks in the Philippines! Woo-hoo! And yes, this means I found qualified housesitters. More on that lovely pair in the upcoming days. 🙂 Our living accomodations here are excellent.… Read More Living above a river, eating mangoes, and swatting mosquitoes
