The Philippines Ain’t All Puppies and Rainbows, Part Two

Well good morning, dear readers.  Yesterday was one of the hottest days that I have experienced here. What with the nice series of cooling Low Pressure Areas that had finally moved out (along with a LOT of rain) my trusty Weather App noted that it was 89 in Dumaguete, with the humidity adding to a Real Feel temperature of 105 degrees. With our dark metal roof and concrete walls, I felt just about every one of those stifling degrees! Luckily, it was Wednesday, so when Michell got out of work, we blasted down to Dauin to cool off at the beach-side pot luck that we have every week down there with some local expat friends and their better halves. Ahhhhhhhh, those tropical breezes…….. Sadly though, once I hopped in the water, there was not a single turtle to be seen.

In our last blog post, we had discussed some of the negatives about living in the Philippines. Among them was the unrelenting heat, widespread poverty, political corruption, deficiencies in infrastructure, natural and manmade noise, and the high price of electricity and gasoline. In this blog post will be examining the last four negatives that we noted, namely a lack of social network, local Filipino cuisine, crime,and scammers seeking to separate you from your money.

So without any further ado, let’s get to it.

7. Lack of Social Network: Typically, when you first arrive in the Philippines, you’re not going to know anyone. The social network you had– namely, your friends and family – are thousands of miles and multiple time zones away. Coming to a foreign country and not knowing anyone can be a bit unsettling. Human beings are by nature are social animals and not having that component in your life can be very disquieting. And although Filipinos are naturally extroverted and gregarious, they are still from a different (foreign) culture and you might notice that when you first get here you don’t share many similarities. I say “first get here” as this can actually becomes rectified over time as you learn a bit of a language, absorb the local culture, and start partaking in local activities. And, although there are numerous expats – especially here in the city of Dumaguete – you might find that you don’t have a whole lot of common with them; that is, with the “limited” pool of expats, you might not share the same interests, beliefs (especially politics, ugh…..) and background. Also, from what I’ve noticed in my short time (8 months) here, expats tend to be loners art at heart – rugged individualists, if you will – and connecting with them can sometimes be a challenge. 🙂 I was fortunate enough to be welcomed into a local expat community just south of the city soon after I arrived, so I able to meet some really wonderful people there and make some friends . And again, even though you don’t have that social network in place when you get here, it will develop over time. Until that happens though, you might find yourself feeling a little lonely. Ah – Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

8. Filipino Cuisine: There are some that say that the Philippines missed the boat when it came to fine Asian cuisine. You will hear expats complain time and time again about the low quality of the food here in the Philippines. In some ways they are correct – in other ways, they are not. If you limit yourself to roadside or even more formal city carrenderias, you will find that the food has been sitting around for a while, is cold, and is basically turned into a congealed porridge over which hovers a crown of buzzing flies. If, however, you are lucky enough to partake in a home-cooked meal by some locals Filipinos or find a good Filipino restaurant, you will see the other side and realize that Filipino cuisine is actually quite good. The best thing and the worst thing I have ever eaten were in the Philippines. The worst thing was unripe mango slathered in shrimp paste (a local snack – Michell LOVES it), and the best thing was homemade yellowfin tuna kinillaw (raw fish salad) which was actually stunningly delicious. One complaint that I have is that even though the country is filled with incredibly diverse produce markets, you rarely see good quality vegetables prepared at restaurants. The onus of responsibility for eating healthy, therefore, rests solely upon our shoulders.

9. High Crime Rate: the Philippines is a poor country, and as such, it is subject to a rather high crime rate. Just like everywhere else in the world there are robberies, rapes, murders, assaults, burglaries, and the like. From what I have seen, most of this crime takes the form of petty, opportunistic sneak thieving. Houses here are veritable fortresses. Each is built within a compound consisting of a high concrete wall topped with razor wire or glass shards and fronted by rugged steel gates. The houses themselves typically have heavy deadbolts on the doors and steel rebar security gratings over the windows. Guard dogs are also very common. Despite all these precautions, thieves will still find a way to break into homes and carry off valuable objects. Murders also occur, and every now and then you’ll see a story about a foreigner expat being murdered in the Philippines. I myself have never had any problems with violent crime in the Philippines, but due to the vagaries of the human condition, the potential always exists, and it’s always something to keep in mind. Like anywhere else situational awareness is very important. I’ve also heard about pickpockets operating within heavily urbanized area, but again I’ve not personally been a victim of that.

10. Scammers: In the video outlining some of the negatives of living in the Philippines, Michell noted that there are a good number of scammers operating within the Philippines. what she was specifically referring to was occurrences of Filipinas (or persons pretending to be Filipinas) putting time and energy into actively separating foreigners from their cash. This can take the form of girls working Internet cafés and chatting with multiple foreigners overseas and coming up with any number of reasons for money requests or it could take the form of more long-term scenarios in which opportunistic Filipinas seek to ensnare a foreigner in marriage, have a house purchased or built and her name, and then suddenly create the necessary domestic drama needed to separate the foreigner permanently from that property. If you have been following Henry’s videos over at LifeBeyondTheSea or if you have been a member of a Philippine expat forum you are aware of these issues. If this is the first you are hearing of it, please, please, please make sure you do the research and put in the time and energy needed to fully understand the full range of these scams. I would assume that many foreigners coming to live in the Philippines would be looking for a healthy, long-term relationship with the possibility of starting up a new family and perhaps a new life. If, however you get in with a scammer, you might soon become jaded that that possibility will ever coalesce. As with crime noted above in number nine, situational awareness is very important here. Don’t let your heart overrule the gray matter between your ears.

So, those are just ten of the negatives associated with living in the Philippines. Like we said, it’s not all puppies and rainbows – this is a developing nation, and it continues to face a large number of challenging domestic issues. These challenges – in turn – have a direct effect on the lives of expats here, and they are something to keep in mind when weighing out a possible long-term moves to not only the Philippines but to ANY foreign country. Also, note that there are also a number of other negatives that we didn’t fully get into: lack of quality medical care, transportation delays, typhoons (and super typhoons), floods, earthquakes, lack of store stock, traffic, pollution, and the like. Still, though, even while staring at my computer screen and seeing all the negatives listed out before me, the positives far outweigh the bad! And with a little ingenuity and diligence, there are a number of ways to deal with the negatives and this is topic that we will be discussing in the future.

Take care, loyal reader, and we will see you next time in My Philippines Dreams!