Best Posts in Thread: Married with kids.

First things first I would suggest making sure your spouse and kids will actually be happy in the Philippines. I think a LOT of American kids unless they are to young still to be plugged in to American life would have a very hard time adapting plus getting acceptance at schools and unsure if your spouse has ever been in the Philippines or at least for a bit of an extended stay (not just 1-2 week tourist stuff). Further I'd make sure finances are in order with an outside source of income as you may have forgotten how little jobs pay here and business's don't tend to generate enough profit for your average expat lifestyle with a family without being a major business.

Healthcare though Dumaguete only has 1 semi decent hospital (Silliman) and one sorta *ehh* ok type of hospital (Holy Child). That's the only 2 hospitals we have in Dumaguete. But if your looking to die while losing all your money we have an expensive morgue that makes sure you die as broke as possible (Provincial Morgue *some think its a hospital thou*). If you have any more the minor health issues though you'd be making regular trips to Cebu or Manila for what in the US may be normal specialists everywhere are very rare outside Manila or Cebu.

Schools for the most part imo are fairly lackluster with the exception of Silliman and would likely take a fair bit of help at home assuming you want a quality education for your kids. Other schools I have seen have so many shortcomings.

Expat community is what it is. From my experience here most keep to themselves or very small crowds. Those with a family often don't want to mix with other foreigners due to negative influences and the single guys generally just rant between politics and the latest girl conquest (naked photo's often included). So if your looking for a couple regular friends to hang out with that can be accomplished with a bit of work but having what I'd call an *expat community* I would say we don't have that. Plus mostly just older guys sitting around drinking beer and discussing how to fix the worlds problems day in and day out. Gets a bit wearing especially if happen to be part of the semi younger crowd like myself.