Heads Must Roll!

It seems to me that when something goes wrong in the Philippines, someone gets fired and possibly prosecuted. There was a jail break in Bogo City on Sunday and one of the escapes ended up dead when police shot him a couple of days later. Read more

Shopping in Cebu

I started to write about shopping in the Philippines but I don’t have much experience out of Metro Cebu City or Bogo City.  Even here, I don’t have as much experience as I wish I did.  I’m not one to go shopping as a means to pass time and since lupus makes me a vampire (I must avoid the sun as much as possible) I don’t go out as much as I would like, at least not during the day.  I usually go buying, not shopping. Most of what I will write about will apply to all of the Philippines.  I have been to Leyte and things were pretty much the same there as in Cebu.

Filipino Malls

I’ve been out to notice some differences between here and the states, for one, sales people are more aggressive in the malls than they are in the states.  It is more like the states where in the 70’s.  I remember if you set foot on the carpeted area of a Sears store, the salesmen would pounce on you.  Maybe it was because I was in my 20s and most likely age group to buy furniture and electronics.  They are not as bad here as they were back then.  They act as if they are paid on commission in stores like Shoe Mart (SM).  Most of the time, they seem pretty disappointed if you decide not to buy. Read more

The Expatriate, Part II

This is part two of my article about who is an expat.  I decided to look at the factors that most often turn someone into an expat.  To read the first part of this article visit here.

Who is an expat, maybe the best place to get a hint into that is to look at the reasons people become expats.  Any time you do something like this, you run this risk of being accused of stereotyping and you know what, it is justified.  I am stereotyping so the reader should keep in mind that there are as many different “types” of expats as there are reasons to move to another land.  And that is endless.  I’m not trying to cover all the expats, just the most common.

Eccentricity and the Expat

Eccentric! Look at that list of expats in part I.  Hemingway, Lennon, Boy George, Hendrix and Jim Morrison.  Look at all the artist.  How often have we made fun of the most artistic in our world.  These folks didn’t fit into the world very well, not the world the rest of us lived in.  The famous ones have something in common, money.  They are all rich by the standards most of us live.

Most expats are not rich.  Most of us are a bit eccentric.  Not like Jim Morrison, when he recorded “Light my Fire” he went back to the studio that night and hosed it down because he sang the song so well he was afraid the studio would burn down.  Hey, it was on the documentary about The Doors and the story was told by a band mate during that time. The band mate went on to say it was time to stop hanging with Jimmy.

Most of the expats I know, I would have to say are a bit eccentric and like the above list, often intelligent to the point that they are often misunderstand.  They/we just are different socially to various degrees.

Finances

Another thing that creates expats are finances.  That’s one of the main reason I’m an expat.  I can rent a large four bedroom home a half mile from the bay in the Philippines for less money than I can rent a small room in the US.  And then having enough money left over for any hope of a social life, well, it would be very hard.  Once I get established in this new land, I should be able to have a lot of fun.  I hope to go scuba diving and join a beach club.  If I still lived in the US I would not have enough cash left over to drive down the bay, must less find a place clean enough to go in.  In many parts of the world, the expats pension will go a lot further than it would at home.  So don’t be surprised if the expat has fallen on hard times at some point.  I’ve met some that came to the Philippines with nothing but are doing okay now.  Expats are thinkers, we are dreamers, sometimes finding novel ways to seek out a living from seemingly no where.

Rebellious

Expats tend to be a bit rebellious.  Not that we are likely to take arms and fight, many of us are not the type of person that easily accepts the status quo.  I think I hate the status quo.  I like change.  I think people of this type are always thinking and likely to come up with ideas and those ideas might turn into plans to try new lands.  Quite a few of us are a bit hot headed.

Adventurous Expats

I’ve been exploring since I was old enough to walk.  I use to scare my mother to death.  I would be gone in a flash, playing in the trash in the ally at 2  years old and on the train tracks by 5.  Yea, really.  When we moved from one place to the next, the first thing I would do was take to the nearest patch of forest that I could find.  I’d find myself a creek and jump right in.  When I was five, just before the playing on the train track incident, my mother grabbed my hand tight and walked me across the street.  Then she told me to walk forward while she held on tight.  There was a huge drop off!  She wanted me to know here it was before I found it by mistake.  Once was enough, I never went back there!  I guess that’s why the called it Poplar Bluff.

When I’d go see my cousins, I’d round them up and head out on a walk.  Once I could not get them to go with me so I went without them and I got lost.  I thought getting lost would be fun.  I guess it was until I could not get back.  LOL  I’ve been exploring all my life.  Now that I have little to hold me in a place, my pension and web business follows me where ever I go.

When I was getting ready to leave for the Philippines, some of my friends said you sure are going outside your comfort zone.  They didn’t know me very well.  That’s the place you’ll most likely find me.  People like that can get themselves into trouble but they are rarely dull.

Racism

Some have left the US because of racism.  You’ll see that less in the Philippines than other places.  I’ve only seen one black expat here in the Philippines.  After WWII, there were many that returned to Paris after the war.  Memphis Slim was on person that left the US and died in Paris.  While Memphis was fond of him, he was not fond of Memphis as he remembered it the way it was.  And even today, there is a lot of racism and it goes both ways.  Paris had its racism too, but it was subtle, not the overt racism of the 1940’s through 70’s of the US.  I don’t pick up any of the racism toward African American’s here that I did in the US.  I just don’t see many here, perhaps now African American’s still prefer other areas or they are more likely to stay and fight the battle now.  I don’t think it plays much of a role in the Philippines expat though.

Romance

Some come for love.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, that’s a risky business.  As Bob said in another article, until you know something about the culture of the Philippines, you probably don’t know the girl.  I think he left out the word probably but I’ll include it.  There could be the one in a million exception.  Things worked out pretty well for me and my long distance romantic interest.  We were friends for a year then romantically linked for another year before I got myself over here.  I should have come sooner but I didn’t have a crystal ball.  Finally when I did come, I decided it was the thing to do even if there was no girl waiting for me.

If you have money to burn, its no big deal, if coming and going to the Philippines does not take nearly everything you have, then come for a visit.  Meet the girl but even then, be prepared for things not going the way you want them too so that you can rebound quickly and find someone else!  I know someone that did just that.

He came to meet a girl and she stood him up.  Suddenly she had to go to her families home on another Island.  He thought she loved him.  Not showing up though makes it pretty hard to continue that lie.  She did finally meet him but by then, he realized that she was lying, probably had a boyfriend or maybe even married.

There are girls in the Philippines that make a living off of hanging out in Internet Cafe’s asking men to send them money.  Now they don’t usually ask directly.  They will tell you they need something.  My favorite was the girl that needed oxygen for her mother.  Talk about laying it on thick.  Could she have been telling the truth?  Yes.  Was she?  Of course not.  Within 10 minutes of meeting her online she was hinting for money.  Gave me her phone number and asked me to send her credits.

Another girl proposed marriage to me within 15 minutes of meeting her.  I was still in the US.  Hard to believe that she and I are in the same Filipino city now.  Just by chance.

Some come for romance without commitment.  That can be found in Cebu in certain bars.  Angeles City is the area most famous for that.  If you come here for this kind of thing, be careful, be very careful.  You can find doctors that will issue whatever certificate you want or she wants for a fee.  There are many dangers in this area, from charges of slavery to extortion.

Girls have claimed they were raped and some of those cases there was little or contradictory evidence.  If a girl makes the charge, you are likely to find yourself in jail until you pay her or her family.  If the girl is a minor, you could be looking at life and not too long ago, death.  Prisons here are harsh and you are subject to Filipino law, not your homeland.  You should make yourself familiar with Republic Act No. 9208. You can read the law here.

I leave it to each person to decide what is right for them.  I like Filipinas as much as the next guy.  My friend that got stood up?  Well he just noticed “there sure are a lot of pretty Filipinas here.”  Took him about a week, maybe two to find a real sweetie, about 19 and hotter than the Filipino sun.

I’d say that finances and fun are the two biggest factors that create the expat.  The fun usually involved Filipinas in one way or another.  Many just want the lower cost of living in a laid back and casual atmosphere.

I’m here for finances and Filipinas and not a thing wrong with that.  I could have remained in the states with my pension.  I’d never be able to date as there wouldn’t be enough money left over.  It didn’t look like a very promising life.  I came here and now I’m having the time of my life.

In short, I’m really glad I did it.  Another webmaster suggested it to me a few years ago.  I thought he was nuts when he first said it.  But as I began to think about it, it seemed more and more reasonable.  Why not I thought?  And that started the wheels a rolling.

Some come here during their military days and love it.  They come back at retirement, there is often a preceding or impending divorce.

One could view it as someone trying to escape reality or you can see it as someone making a new reality.  It can be and has been a fresh start for me.  I was divorced in late Janurary and in the Philippines two weeks later.  Oh there was as period of oh my, what have I done?  But never to the point that I wanted to return home.  For me, it was lets see how this feels.  Within a few weeks, I was having a blast and loving my life in the Philippines. If you like, you can read about my experiences in Cebu at Cebu Expeirence.

The Expatriate - Part I

What makes an expatriate?

The Expatriate

When I first heard that term, probably in my teens, I stored it away with negative connotations of someone that had rejected his country.  That is far from accurate.

I think it still carries that negativity for a lot of people.  Even among some expats.  Some people even spell it expatriot and some do it intentionally.  If you dislike the land you are originally from, I’m not going to tell you that you are wrong for feeling that way.  I am not inclined to tell anyone how they should feel about anything.  On the other hand, I do NOT reject my home land.  Now that I have spent time in another country, I really appreciate the USA more. I have learned just how awesome the US is, even with all its many imperfections.

Wikipedia defines expatriate as:

An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person’s upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin ex (out of) and patria (country, fatherland).

Wikipedia goes on to say that it is most often applied to westerners living in the east but the term applies to westerners also living in the west but not in their homeland.
While I look forward to a visit back to the US, I don’t look forward to being away from the person that has come to mean so much to me.

Before I got here, many had told me I’d be rich.  I thought it would be easy for me to return home when I wished.  It isn’t easy, at least not yet.  Perhaps it will be someday.  Maybe if I hadn’t taken on a complete new family it would have been easier.  But, that’s not what I choose to do and I have no regrets about my choice.   While I am rich to most Filipino, I’m certainly not over run with cash.  Most expats know what I mean and most are not over run with cash.  Even the expats that I consider to be rich are not over run with cash.

I miss going to Wal-Mart or Walgreens at 3am.  I’m a night owl so I often went out at night.  I jokingly say I’m a vampire as soon as the light of the moon hits me, I seem to find my energy.  :)  I find the night peaceful.  I miss my car, but someday I’ll be able to get another one here.  Most expats that I know don’t have one.  I hope to be able to handle such a luxury sometime in the future.  I once drive 60,000 miles in a year in my brand new Camero.  I was young and just out of college with my first “real” job.  I love the USA but being retired on a fixed income, I really can’t afford to live in the USA and have any kind of social life.  After rent, utilities, and medications I’d have almost nothing left for any extras at all.
But who is the expatriate? Some famous expats include:

• Ernest Hemingway
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• T. S. Eliot
• Josephine Baker
• Langston Hughes
• Richard Wright
• James Baldwin
• Memphis Slim
• Miles Davis
• Charlie Parker
• Jim Morrison
• Boy George
• John Lennon
• George Harrison
• Eric Clapton
• Jimi Hendrix

Who is an expat, maybe the best place to get a hint into that is to look at the reasons people become expats.  Any time you do something like this you run this risk of being accused of stereotyping and you know what, it is justified.  I am stereotyping so the reader should keep in mind that there are as many different “types” of expats as there are reasons to move to another land.  And that is endless.  I’m not trying to cover all the expats, just the most common.

What Expats are Not

I’m going to start with what expats are not.  I get people asking all kinds of questions about why I’m in the Philippines, mostly from Filipinas.  They often suspect I’m running from the law.  I’m sure there are some people in the Philippines that are here illegally that are running from the law.

If the law was looking for you with any serious interest, the first thing I suspect they would do is put out an alert on your passport.  So if you’re running from the law is not a very likely reason to be an expat.  An online acquaintance of mine kept repeating to me, you can’t get a passport if there is a warrant for your arrest outstanding.  He repeated this over and over.  I finally said to him, your friends must be a lot different from my friends.  I don’t know anyone that has an outstanding warrant.  Most of my friends have never been arrested!

Living as an expat means one has to show up at the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) every two months until I get an ACR card.  Thus, my passport gets checked every two months.  The passport gets a stamp to prove that I showed up or an agent on my behalf showed up.  I’m also required to keep my receipts to show that I didn’t pay someone with a fake stamp!  It’s a pain in the butt but it must be done.  Those with an ACR or Resident Visa have to show up once a year and again their passport is going to be checked.  If you’re wanted in the US and probably many other countries, you’re going to get busted.  Living in another country with a valid passport means I’ve been checked out and there are no significant legal issues out there, certainly no criminal issues.

In part II, I will write about why people tend to become expats by looking first into what are some of the reasons people find becoming and expat is the best way to go.  You can also visit my personal blog to find out more about what makes me tick.

To be continuted….

Curious Combination

I thought I’d try to write an article that would help the westerner prepare himself for the likely shock of what you will encounter once you’re here. I’m not sure I can fully prepare the first timer and I really  don’t think I want too.  Part of the fun was being ill prepared for what I discovered in the Philippines. Now if you’re a veteran traveler and have visited other developing nations, you’ll likely be ahead of the first timer.

My First Moments In The Philippines

I was a first timer and the only word I could use was shocked.  Now this shock was not totally in a negative way.  For there was a lot of beauty and interest in what I saw.  Other than Canada, I had never been out of the country.  I was pretty much clueless when I thought of what the Philippines would be like.  Now I should say, I have not spent any significant time in Manila.  There are parts of Manila that appear to be as modern as anything in the US.  So far, I’ve been limited to Cebu and Leyte Province.  I look forward to exploring larger areas of this wonderful land.  Areas of Cebu are also as modern as the US.

If you’re like most of us, you’re a guy, probably middle aged or older.  Many expats have a pension but some come with very little more than the clothes on their back.  It is likely you’ve ignored the people you know here, and flew 12,000 miles to meet a girl.  I hope you have a backup plan as that usually does not go well.  If you have that special person that you’ll be with as much as you would be with a wife, she can help your transition a lot.

My first hint that things would be different is my arrival in Manila to catch my connecting flight to Cebu City.  It was hot!  There was no aircon.  If you say A/C here people generally will not know what you are talking about.  But you’ll see aircon painted onto many cabs and that is what the air conditioner is called here.  By the way, a fridge here is a ref.  They likely wont know what a fridge is.  But back to the airport.

I had to go through line after line once I arrived.  There were at least two security check points.  One Immigration Officer commented to me that next time I should bring my wife.  While it is best to just say okay, I told the truth. I told him “I just got rid of her and I’m looking for a new one.”  He laughed.  Never be rude or talk back to  anyone representing the Bureau of Immigration (BI) here.  Doing so could quickly get you blacklisted and turned around to go back where you came from.  Try to say no more to BI than you must and always be respectful.  It is very likely they will be very respectful and polite to you. There is the chance the difference in cultures could cause you to say something that may be misunderstood and escalate into one big mess for you.  A mess you’re likely to come out on the short end of.

The heat going through that area was hard for an overweight and out of shape American that is use to everything being air conditioned and I was sweating profusely.  This heat was my first clue as to how different things would be.

Besides BI, I also got to go through customs at least twice.  Once I got through all that an airline employee picks me out of the thousand of people in the basement of the Manila airport to weigh my carry one luggage and she insisted I go through another line to check one of my bags as it was too heavy.  Why I was the lucky one, I don’t know but the bag had three digital cameras in it!  They guy at the check in asked me if there was anything valuable in there.  He grimaced when I told him what as in there.  He asked me more than once.  I was trying to figure out if I should give this guy some money or not but I wasn’t sure.  He put some security tape on the bag and off I went thinking I had seen my cameras for the last time.

This time I managed to get through all the lines and up a level or two and back into civilization.  And most important, air conditioning.  Now it was warm here, not the good old 70F that I’m use too but at least not the steamy 95F of the basement.  Once I managed to sit down at my gate, which, as always, was the very end of the long terminal, I could cool off.  But I was exhausted and sweating profusely by the time I found my gate.  You probably won’t have as hard of a time as I did, I was in really poor shape when I first got here and not at all use to the higher temperatures.

Once I arrived in Cebu, I had to go through customs again!  But that went without issue except they sent me to the wrong exit point.  And my greeting party (Jessie) was where I was suppose to be.  My phone was not working as it couldn’t find a signal so I could not text her (My phone started working fine later.  If you should have international service but it did not at first, try turning your phone on and off if you run into this.)  An airport employee insisted, he would not accept no for an answer, and started pushing my luggage.  I finally gave up and let go.

Once he figured out I was having problems with my phone, he got the number from me and called Jessie then handed me the phone.  Okay, now the guy had earned his tip.  Jessie was not far away and made her way to me.  I’ll refrain from going through how stunningly beautiful she is.  Except to say Jessie is from the tribe Waray Waray and has wavy hair making her even more beautiful than your average beautiful Filipina and there are a lot of beautiful Filipina.  She stands out even among those.

I had planned to put on a dress shirt and tie once in Manila.  Jessie really likes that.  But the heat of Manila caused me to reconsider that.  It would have been about the worst thing I could have done.  Besides after a day an half on airplanes and crossing the international date line and thus loosing a day  some where along the flight, I was completely wilted.  The excitement of being in the Philippines and with Jessie gave me new life.

Part of the casual atmosphere here is found in the dress.  Not a lot of suit and ties here, even among the executives.  It is just too hot for that nonsense and I considered it nonsense way back in the day when I wore them.

I had sent a package with my medications ahead of me.  There were lots of them and they filled an entire carry on bag by themselves.  So I sent it via UPS ahead of me.  Jessie tells me they want $300 in tariffs for the package.  What!  This is a disaster as I had spent most of what I had getting over here.  And this $300 hit would have made for a hungry expat my first month here.  I only had $400 left and that’s all I needed as my rent had already been paid.

So we head off to the UPS store.  Not what you might be expecting in a UPS store, especially in the States.  This is where I ran into my first shotgun carrying guard.  We had gone in the wrong way and he was on full alert.  Once the two Filipina told him what we were doing, he relaxed and sent us to the correct door.  Not speaking a word of the language I’m lost.  I have no idea what is going on.  You will see many guards at places of business and many of them carry shotguns.  If you go into a mall, you can expect to be frisked.  I had real problems with  that at first, now it is second nature and I”m glad they do it.  They don’t do that in Bogo, they don’t do it as thoroughly in Cebu City as they do in Manila.  You’ll be patted down at the airport too.

After some negotiation, I managed to get the $300 tariff removed but it took a couple more days.  It seemed someone had made a typo and added a zero to the value of the medications.

I didn’t know that I wouldn’t need a prescription to get most of the medications I take. Jessie didn’t know I had to have a prescription in the US so she never thought to tell me.  In the Philippines, you only need a prescription for what would be a controlled drug in the US and probably most other parts of the world. Another important clue to just how different a world I was going too.

Something interesting happened while at UPS.  I was with two women but a UPS employee got out of his chair from behind the desk and pushed his chair out to the customer area and offered it to me.  I’m like whoa.  I certainly can’t take that seat with two women standing.  I told him thanks but no.  I asked Jessie am I suppose to tip him and she said no.  She must have seen my perplexed look and she said get use to it, you’re white. That doesn’t happen often and I still don’t understand it. It is not just about money.

On my way to UPS, I asked if this would be a safe place to walk around.  There were lots of Filipino in the streets but from the looks of it, it would not be a safe place where I was from.  In Memphis, Tn. walking around a place like this for a guy like me would probably be a death sentence.  But they all assured me it was a completely safe place to be.

I found it a place screaming to have pictures taken.  Nothing like this in the US.  Everything needed painting.  Street vendors trying to sell water.  Their eyes often pleading for a sell.  Everything was dirty and in need of paint but at the same time it all has a simple beauty about it.

Then I noticed the driving.  It is a style of complete chaos to the unfamiliar. I called it commando driving. I couldn’t believe these people were not killing each other.  They style is often described as left overtake. Meaning expect to be passed at any time.  Though it is usually on the left, by no means is it only on the left.  They pass on the right too.  And what happens at corners cannot be described.  It can only be witnessed.  I have video tape, it will be coming.

Then we came up on Fuente Osmeña Circle and I think I literally closed my eyes when we negotiated our way into that.  Obviously we survived but I’m still not sure how.  It is a beautiful area of Cebu City, Near the governor’s home and capitol of the province.

I saw the sign on back of one taxi that displayed “hows my driving” which brought laughter from me and the comment your driving is horrible, just like everyone else.  The Filipino in the van didn’t seem to understand my observations though.

I noticed that the driving seemed to be working.  After several months here, I’ve seen very few wrecks.  Only two, one of them serious and caused by too much speed while growing through a small mountain town in Leyte.  Now that I’ve been here for a while, the driving seems mostly normal to me.  Jessie still reminds me to avoid the corners and we usually don’t cross the street at a corner as it is safer to do it before you get there.

Another thing you’ll notice quickly is the amount of horn blowing.  Such behavior in the US could likely get you shot.  Just last week there was a road rage incident in Memphis resulting in a gun being drawn and a fatality.  Some of the horn blowing is almost polite, to let you know they are there as they overtake you, that is pass you on the left.  Often they will overtake you in the same lane.  But some of it is to tell you to get out of the way.  A normal thing to do here.  The same behavior in Memphis could very likely get you shot.  There are no limited access expressways in Cebu Province.  If there are any at all, it would be in Manila.

Filipino are far more polite and a bit formal at the same time.  It is a curious combination of casual yet formal.  When you do business with people here, they are for the most part very formal.  Yes sir Rusty, yes ma’am.  Some what rigid.  I notice it more in women, they stand very straight.  I do what I can to rip all this pretense down and I’m usually pretty good at it.  If I could speak the language, I’m sure I’d be even better at it.  I can get only so far though.

Lots of Adjustments for The Expat

Jessie would often tell me to get use to the changes, so now I use her own words on her.  At 79F Jessie is cold, so much so that she often wears a scarf when we are home.  I laugh at her.  She made this scarf for me, mostly just to practice this new craft she is teaching herself.  I asked her where I was going to wear a scarf at and we had a good laugh.  Then I suggested she wear it next time she is cold at home.  She “reminds me” that it is cold at 79F about 26C and when she reminds me she is cold you might guess what it is I tell her.  Yep, “get use to it” and she usually responds with laughter.

Getting use to it for the expat can be made a bit easier by using a shipping company in the Philippines known as Johnny Air Cargo (JAC).  I know they are in Luzon and Cebu.  I don’t know about other locations.  The cost of getting things here through JAC is much less than it would be by UPS or FedEx and often faster than UPS.  More important to me is they handle customs for you.  I’ve been forced to pay custom duties when none should have been due.  Let alone it taking three months to get to me and then half a day going through the process to actually get the item and the $75.00 I had to pay in customs duties.  There should have been no duties as these were used items and below $1000.  Either one of these reasons should have exempted the items from duties.  But my protest went unheard, the customs official simply said this is what it is, P3000.  With JAC you’ll have none of those issues.  I’m not related to or connected to  JAC in anyway other than as a customer, they have just provided excellent service.  Even if money is of no concern, I would still use them.  It takes about a week.  If you don’t have a credit card, they will even purchase the items for you from the US or other country.  For me there are some things I must get from the US. Because of lupus my skin is extremely sensitive and being a diabetic it is hard to get sugar free items.  There is a Sugar Free Haven in Cebu City though and that is very helpful.  Selections are limited at Sugar Free and not everything is sugar free there. If you’re on a limited budget, I would use JAC as little as possible.  But if you must have something from the US, this is the way to do it! I’ve decided I’ll just have to “get use to it” and do without some of my favorites.  What I miss most is Nestle’s Quick No Sugar Added for my milk.  If you decide to use them call or text Jesse at +639176233910 or email her at jessep_johnnyair@yahoo.com.  You can mention my name if you like, she will know me as I have recommended her online before and have her permission to put her information online. It is not required though as I gain nothing from it.  She calls me Mr. Sir Rusty as many Filipino will do, even some Filipina friends that I am not doing business with.  Part of that curiously casual formalities you are likely to find here.

Remember, you’re the one that is different here.  They don’t do things strange here, you do!  So make the adjustments as best you can, try to learn to speak the language too.  I think I’m going to look for someone at one of the schools to help me with the language.  Jessie is not the best choice in my case because she is Waray Waray which speaks a dialect of Tagalog. Cebu speaks a dialect of Visayan called Cebuano.  Jessie’s accent is one from a warrior tribe and you can hear it in her speech.  The other day she tried to ask a girl how old she was in Visayan\Cebuano and the girl looked confused.  So she repeated the question in English and the girl answered that she was four.

Your in the Philippines, be ready for some adjustments.  Not all of them will be easy but some of them are quite required.  While American’s are rather rebellious in nature and don’t like to just accept things the way they are, Filipino are often said to be far more compliant.  While it is often a source of irratation for the westerner, including myself, it is important to remember, you are the one that is different.  It is a society formed through thousands of years and to be a part of a society, you must make the changes or be an outcast and probably bitter.

Rusty Ferguson: My Introduction

Welcome to Live in the Philippines and welcome to my space on it.

I’m quite honored to have been asked to provide my outlook and experience in the Philippines and living as an American Expat in Cebu Province. It is smart on Bob’s part and it is good for me as well. Working together on the net is extremely important but it is often hard to get others to see that. I’m glad Bob is not one of those!

Who am I? My name is Rusty Ferguson but that wont tell you much about who I am. Who I am is a pretty complicated matter as it is with all people. First a little only how I see me. I am a contradiction. I’m a liberal Christian. I’m a gun totin’ fan of the ACLU! And if you haven’t already figured it out from the contractions, I’m a southerner. I have always marched to the tune of a different drummer which isn’t always pleasant. I don’t like staying on the surface, I like to go deep, beyond the obvious. I’m an explorer, always have been and I love to learn. I’m an American expatriate that is living the good life in the Philippines and trying to grow in the process.

I was born in 1959. I grew up in Jackson, Ms. Some say that gives me the inherent ability to tell a story. My English teachers, especially those from my college days might say you were wrong. I went to Millsaps College and earned my bachelor in Business Administration with my major in accounting. From there I worked as an accounting clerk at a bank for a short time and then on to the IRS as a revenue agent. Most people refer to a revenue agent as a field or business auditor. We are often confused with revenue officers who are the tax collectors and probably have the hardest job in all of the IRS. After 10 years or so I became a computer analyst, again with the IRS. In part, I took this position as result of being diagnosed with lupus around 1993. The travel required of revenue agents became a bit more than I could handle.

I finally got tired of the politics of working in an office so I walked out the door. Also, the illness had progressed making it harder for me to be at a given place at a given time. I was missing a lot of work so I finally decided it was time to file for disability in 2002 and it was approved. I had learned there was potential to earn a significant income on the world wide web. That was appealing to me as I could work when I wanted or am able too. I’ve had some smashing success at times. At other times, it can get pretty dry. Now, I’m concentrating more on slow but stable earnings from the web.

I’ve been building sites on the web since 1988 or so. You might say there was no web in 1988 and you’d be correct. What we had then was Fidonet. The only web was the phone lines we used to call individual computers but it was the birth of bulletin boards or computerized communities. These early bulletin board were far more local though, not world wide like the web. The early web didn’t have much interaction, instead the web gave the user information. Now, websites need the interaction of users, like you.

My flexible schedule also made it easy for me to move to the Philippines. I made the move in February of 2008. While some people come here do so without any income, I’m one of the lucky ones that come with a solid pension provided by my Federal Employment. My health is not great, but I’m well enough to get out there and have some fun. I’m limited in what I can do, sometimes more limited than others.

As I learn about the Philippines, I’ll share what I learn here. I want and need for the reader to challenge me in my positions or just add to my positions. Just cause I say it, doesn’t mean I’m right. It is okay if you express you’re disagreement. In fact, that’s the best way to help me. I’ll either defend my position or I will change. In most cases, both will happen, I will adapt and learn. You might find the same is true of you.

I’m often asked why I came here. I came for two major reasons, the major reason is the lower cost of living. Though I give up some things here, I gain much more as my income from my pension is staggeringly higher than what most Filipino earn. Secondly, I came for the ladies. I had one female friend for a couple of years and she’s stunningly beautiful, even by Filipina standards. Things have worked out very nicely for us. I’m very happy with her. Careful though, I wouldn’t recommend coming to the Philippines for one specific woman. That’s a big move for that reason. I think you should be coming for other reasons and prepare yourself if that one romantic interest may not work out. You might get lucky and have things work out but most are not so lucky. Many leave here broken hearted. That can only happen if you count on that one person. Now if you have that one person you can trust, that can ease your transition a great deal.

This was my first trip to the Philippines and it is quite a different world. I had never been to a developing country before. I really had no idea of what I would find here. My first few moments were amazement, I couldn’t believe the people drive like they do. I was surprised at the beauty I saw amongst the poverty. The poverty being much greater than I had anticipated. I was also surprised by all the roosters crowing and the cock fights even on Philippine Television. You’re coming into a different world so be prepared and I believe it is up to me to adapt to their world, not the other way around.

I started my stay in Talisay City near Cebu City. After three months, we moved to Bogo City in the northern area of the Cebu Province. It is about 80 miles or 120 Kilometers north of Cebu City.
Bogo City is a beautiful fishing and agricultural city. Things are changing though, the Bogo just became a city in June 2007 as opposed to a municipality. This change should bring about growth, so things will be changing here in Bogo.

My biggest hurdles are the language and medical issues. I’m greatly limited by not knowing the language. On the other hand, because I’ve done so much walking around the city and going to local eateries, I’ve learned more than many others would in the same time period. Certainly more than the casual tourist.

I often walk through the city and take pictures. On one of those walks, I stumbled upon a Filipino home selling mostly birds but they also had a tame Filipino Monkey. His name was George. He was one of the coolest things that ever happened to me and he symbolized all the changes I am trying to make happen to me. I was coming to this wonderful land, I’m unknown and I can be anyone I want to be. I can re-invent myself and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. My illnesses can slow me down but I’m getting out in the world. I’m exploring. Trying to communicate with others as best I can not knowing the language. George my Filipino Monkey symbolized everything that was happening to me here. We lost George at the end of July in a mysterious death. It is still hard to accept. My girl and myself miss him a great deal. Until you’ve had a wild primate accept you and look up to you for care and protection, it is likely impossible to fully understand what it is like. I will get another Monkey when the opportunity is right. I’m not going to support taking one from the wild, George had been rescued. I wrote an article celebrating his short time with me and my new Filipino Family that you can read at Cebu Experience.

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of the regular visitors here, I hope you’ll offer help as I learn and perhaps, I can share a few things new to you or even better yet, cause you to rethink some of what you already believed.

One thing that is really hard for me is the expats that talk smack about the Philippines. I understand that there are some reasons to be critical at times but even during those times, I hope you’ll be respectful and remember that we are visitors here. What may seem odd to us may be the Filipino way and if your constantly putting things down, maybe you should go back to where you came. The Philippines is a different place but not a lesser place.