Review Best Posts in Thread: Dumaguete is not the best place to retire.

If you want the things to be here like they are at home wherever that may be then you should stay at home, learn to adjust and adapt. Don,t waste your energy on things you have no control over.

 

Spain would be nice, but I love tropical locations so maybe Hawaii or Panama would be near the top if budget was not a factor. I am here because my wife is from Sequijor and has lots of family in the area, and also for affordability reasons. We saved up enough to purchase a very nice house to live in, and so now owning our house and having no monthly housing expense we can easily more than accommodate our monthly living expenses with my social security. There are other places in the world where that same plan would work, but family brings us here.

 

german bashing, ouch, that hurts :-) you are right, some of us are like this, but remember; we are not all the same. if it's about the attitude: here are grumbling expats from all nations, only exception seem to be the canadians, quite cool guys. if it's about english language skills: meeting guys from texas and other federal states specially from southern / central USA, australia or parts of britain makes it really hard to believe that these guys grew up with the english language - nearly impossible to understand them...careful with prejudices and drawer thinking, or should I believe that all US veterans are militant Trump fans?

 

Guess we live with it or leave, up to you really. Rather think your post is stating the obvious though. You think it's bad now for services, facilities etc etc, you should have been here 30 years ago. Times, places & people change, not always for the better, but also don't believe everything the media hype say about this town is true. If one likes the idiosyncrasies of a place, then one stays, if one doesn't then one moves on, simple.

 

May I

May I suggest you use them, I know of a friend who got hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street, the police were called and put all the blame on the foreigner because he was not using the cross walk that was about 20 meters from the accident scene One more bit of advice when using the cross walk, don,t run walk at a normal pace, the reason is that it makes it easier for them to judge how to weave around you.

 

People are entitled to make choices, that is an individual's right. So, we can choose: the restaurants we best like at a price we are happy to pay; the healthcare we find to be of an acceptable standard; the leisure we most prefer; the means of getting around (our own car, motorbike, bicycle, skates, legs or private transport) that fits our budget and desires, etc. In other words, we can make personal choices that give us the lifestyles we want, to the extent that is achievable, but we cannot think we have the power or right to change the overall structure of how things are here (i.e. we cannot think that everything has to function to match our individual needs). We have to compromise at times, find strategies to iron-out some of the hassles, look around for what is best from the choices available - then be happy to accept what we have or look elsewhere for the 'Paradise' we may be seeking.

But as you said, perhaps the nearest to 'Paradise' is where are now.

 

i am not from Dumaguete, but we've been here since 1996 till now 2019. The churches, hospitals, marketplace, supermarkets and plaza are very near to each other. It is very convenient to move from one place to the other. In fact you only need a motorbike if you want to tour the city streets. Universities, city halls, pier area as well as the airport is from 1 to 3 kilometers apart only. It's like a one stop shop kind of place. On a Sunday morning, you can go to Silliman beach in a jiffy. The massage parlours are also fluorishing as well as the gyms. Life in Dumaguete is simple. And that's what i like about it.

 

I personally find it refreshing that a Filipina puts out some complaints; folks are questioning that, I have no clue who the OP is but her complaints are the same as many expats have.

To judge someone on their English typing/comprehension is pretty petty; I have many years in Korea but my language skills are really at a kinder level. I get by and folks are always helpful.

My biggest pet peeve will always be folks that are quick to say if you don't like it then go home; how is that constructive?

I have no clue how the US President or the military I love came up on this topic...

Shawn

 

As always it should work from both sides, the guest who should behave well and the host who will try the guest will feel comfortable. In my perception there is not always a balance.

 

Telling someone to leave or go home is definitely not constructive. But then again, most of these malcontents are people who just complain about everything without telling us exactly what they tried on their end to alleviate the issue. Constructive criticism warrants constructive advice. Garbage in, Gabrage out.