What do you miss most about your home country?

My list somewhat in order of importance. I lived in a city of about 500k, in the sunbelt.

1)Food: great variety and prices where I lived in USA, several HUGE supermarkets all within walking distance.
Health foods, natural foods, great variety, 10 times better than anything in Dumag. (was in a city of about 500,000). Average size of supermarket there was 2-3 times larger than Robinsons SM

2)DIscounts, discounts, competition, discounts: Much cheaper to buy most items in USA than here. Only exceptions are island grown and processed stuff. Rents are a bit cheaper here, but food and products definitely a rip off compared to may places in USA.

3) Rule of Law applies to most all. Don't have to worry about assassins generally, don't have to worry so much about totally inept cops and justice system. Don't have to worry about being framed because your skin is a different color. Disadvantage is TOO MANY LAWS and too many in favor of business and the rich. I am sure I will get alot of argument on this but that's the way I see it. Course the Phil. does not have crazy people carrying ak-47's killing strangers every other month as in U.S.

4) No consumer protection here. warranties are weak if any. Poor quality of most products here.

5) Hard to rent furnished units here. IN USA almost all apartments are fully furnished with hot water also.

6) Safety especially at night, much safer in USA, IF you stay out of certain areas and cities. Street lights everywhere. Relatively fast police response, including helicopter patrols. I do not feel safe as a foreigner here walking alone at night.

7) Not feeling prejudiced against in some cases. Not feeling like I am an oddity like I often feel here.

8) They roll up the sidewalks here in Dumaguete at 7pm. Place feels deserted. USA is open for biz most cities till 2am, may places are 24 hours.

I will leave it to others to fill in the advantages of living here, my fingers tired from typing.

 

We miss Gourmet FOOD and WINES.

Living here in Philippines is really a long process, We traveled around to check out some possibilities and we lived 3 different islands until we finally settled in Valencia.
I am also like the rest of us here in DI, i fought and survived the battle( it took us 8 years!) Philippines is a third world country i must say-we are like Robinson Crusoe.

We had a good standard of living abroad but we choose Philippines for an adventure and in search for our Paradise.

BIG DISCOUNTS/FOOD: we buy our veg,herbs and fruits(total of 200-300pesos) in local Sunday market here in Valencia most of them are organic, those small vendors/farmers cannot afford to buy fertilizers. Meats, groceries and the rest are bought downtown once a month.
IMPORTED GOODS: we buy in cebu at gustavians,mllulier store,il ducato,rustans, and sm, every 3 months of twice per year.
TRAVEL: we take a CEBU PATHETIC 1 peso sale where ever we want to go..
CAREER: we have a garden, farm, small business to keep us busy. My husband reports on duty at POKER when ever he wants.
PEACE: we have a farm house at the top of the hill neighbors are 1km far if we want serenity.
LAW: hopeless, we cannot correct them. We just follow what they started, or lucky you if you have money.
FRIENDS: we have a dog, cat, horses and gecko whom we can trust. And we also have few Humans-very few!

We, therefore designed our needs of what this country can offer. And, we are very Happy living here, almost PERFECT.

 

Aussie meat pies , and BUNDY rum n cola cans.

 

Swedish Meatballs, made from Swedish meat and made in Sweden. Preferably served with Lingon Berry and organic potatoes with brown sauce made from the cooking residue. Man, do I feel hungry after writing this. Enjoy your favorite!

 

Actually: NOTHING!
Would I miss the pathetic weather (3 warm days in April/May and a reasonable week in September is the so-called summer. Dreary suicide-invoking grey, grey skies, politicians that couldn't find their way out of a wet paper bag with a macete, taxes that are beyond reasonable and a currency that was forced down our throats although the majority of the people were against it. If I would miss all that I would be maniacal masochistic.....

Vicmico

 

Thanks for pointing that out Michael. Now I feel rather silly for planning my return trip in Feb just so I can renew my concealed carry weapon permit.

After reading all of your reasons it sounds like you have made a strong case for moving back to the US. Do you have a job that's keeping you in Dumaguete?

 

Well you're right, the majority of USA and I am guessing England has horses**it weather.
I lived in a place that was sunny 98% of the time, hardly ever below freezing even in winter.
But even that gets old and you miss some variety.

On the other hand, I don't have to worry about typhoons and electrical outages of many days as a result, don't have to worry about flooding, water pollution (mostly) and the terrible air pollution of most urbanized areas here, long as I stay out of Los Angeles and certain other areas. As far as environment/climate goes I am guessing Australia is much better than U.S. If I was a rich as some of the foreigners *appear* to be here, there are several places I'd choose over either most first world countries or the R.P.

 

Could you elaborate on what the stores you mention have that cannot be found locally?

 

Same here. I miss nothing. I left behind; cold-raw weather most of the year, high med insurance premiums, fat bitchy women, high taxes, road-rage middle finger salute, crappy high-stress job, 20 mile bumper to bumper commute, crappy TV shows, political correctness, an economy that mostly feeds Wall Street and shits on the masses. That's all I cold think of in 60 seconds....