KEY Thread Best Posts in Thread: What brought you here?

I ended up in the Philippines in 2009 with my Filipino husband and our 10 year old daughter. My husband was very ill with COPD and wanted to come "home" to live out the rest of his life surrounded by his family and friends in the Philippines. He loved it there. It was also one of the only ways for us to be able to afford for me to quit my 25 year career as a surgical nurse to care for him. While my daughter forged many new friendships and family relationships and feels the Philippines is as much home as the USA, we were forced to return to Oklahoma so that I could go back to work. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to have lived there and was treated, for the most part, wonderfully, and will always have fond memories.

 

I was looking for a change of scenery and lifestyle, saw an article about retirement in the Philippines, did a bit of exploring, found Dumaguete and fell in love. I see all sorts of negative comments about various things but: The traffic - yes it's crazy but it sure beats the 29 sets of unco-ordinated traffic lights I had to go through from home to office in Sydney. The food: Where else can you buy great food, served to you, cheaper that you can cook it yourself: The People, gorgeous, friendly, non bitchy and - once accepted, surprisingly generous. The cleanliness: Every day I see people with very, very little and no expectation of ever getting much more, sweep their little dirt area until it's spotless and rows and rows of WHITE washing (how do they get them so white) hanging on lines or trees. Men working all day in the sweltering heat - what about those poor security guards at Robinsons in the sun in those awful outfits. All in all, I feel pretty privileged to have landed here

 

Why here? Wow! It was a divine appointment in salt lake city, utah!!
I was having breakfast @ the flyin j truck stop and a friend of mine from 20 years before, walked into the rest. With a small foreign lady with him!! I immediately got up and said hello to my friend!! I invited them to sit and eat with me!! While catching up on many years, his wife ( cristene ) said "rick" in broken and sheepish english, I have a cousin that would really like to meet you!! After I picked myself up off the floor in embarrassment, I said who are you talking about, say again? Then bruce piped in and said ohhhh rick she is beautiful!! Now I have just left another relationship with a chinese lady from fong chow!! I think! So I gave her my cell # and got her cousins number also!! Then about 2 weeks later while I was driving through nebraska I got a tx from an international number! We started a tx get acquainted communication, that lasted 2 months!! Then she got a job where she had access to a computer!! Another 6 months chatting, till I bought a camera @ walmart and put it on my laptop!! She already had one on her bosses computer!! So the next day we said we were finally gonna see what we both look like! The got everything set up and both pushed the button at the same time and "boong" the picture came on screen, and I could not say anything, I just sat there & stared at the most beautiful face I had seen in many moons!! So at the same time I said "your beautiful", "she said your handsome" !! Then we started earnestly getting to know each other!! A few months later I was asking her how much money she was making as a pharmacist floor manager? When she told me p3750.00 a month, I calculated that she was only making $74.00 a month!! Before I realized what I was saying, I said, will you do me a big favor? Please quit your job and take that time to plan our wedding? She looked at me astonished and started crying!! I thought I said or did something wrong, so I asked her what was the matter? She sobbed that I had proposed to her!!! Then I tried to think what I did say!! Ha ha ha ha!! So I took some time off and came here to marry my awesome wife!! Then I went back & sold and turned over most everything I was paying on to the banks, and moved back here for good!!
My wife and I are a really tight team now, and we are planning on building a home in lutoban , overlooking the south china sea!! I love it here!!

 

Pinoy here, I grew up down south in Mindanao and it was beginning to get crazy there. 14 years ago my dad asked me to check on my sister who was then studying at Silliman and we were all wondering why it's taking her too long to graduate. I arrived in Dumagute, met her friends, saw the place and understood. I went back, reported to my dad and asked my then girlfriend in Zamboanga to marry me, she said yes and I transferred my small business here and called it home.

 

I was working and living in Makati. Went through a divorce with an Asian/American wife. Decided to retire to minimise the divorce settlement. Then had a crazy relationship with a filipina trophy girl which drove me crazy. Decided to recover for a year diving at Apo but fate led me to meet my to-be wife/mountain girl while here and was smitten by the difference from a city girl and a simple mountain girl. And lived happily ever after.

 

One point I usually make, to explain why I chose Dumaguete, is because it is not a sex tourism destination. Anyone seeking that will visit, but not stay long.

 

For me it was when I was in the US Army. One of my best friends was a Filipino who was on a student visa and joined the army to gain US Citizenship. He was always talking about the Philippines and I was just like *yah, ok... whatever*. But when we were in Bosnia his father died and he received 2 weeks leave to go home for the wake and funeral. When he came back he kept talking about how he spent 2 weeks partying, tons of girls, bought lots of electronics and 2 computers for his family... and only spent $2k. At that point I said to myself that one day I'm going to check it out and have fun myself. After got out of the service and got disability coming in from the service I ended up having nothing going for myself in the US and sick of how things were going I decide I'd go on a vacation to the Philippines. Having severe anxiety especially on traveling though I knew I couldn't do it alone so I started looking to meet someone online figuring maybe at worst I had some company for my vacation and maybe I could get lucky or real *lucky*. Well I met a woman online and that became my ticket in and I came to see her and the country. Stayed for 21 days and when I got home I said screw it, sold everything and packed up and moved to the Philippines. I thought I hit the jackpot as the girl I met was better then most of my past ex's (not much of a compliment though). Of course at this point she is long gone after getting tired of her crap and thieving ways.

 

I am certain that the people of the Philippines have fond memories of you also. That's the way it usually works.

 

I am in Dumaguete because it is her ( My Wife's) Home and her mother is still alive, I retired here because I had to Retire somewhere.
Spain was getting Pretty expensive and the Immigration Laws of Europe especially the UK just did not allow her and our Daughter to Enter and Live so here I am, happy and Intend to stay.