Anyone to ask about living in the Philippines?
03-01-2012
, 06:59 AM
Quote:
I lived for three and a half years in a non-tourist area north of Cebu. I stayed with a Filipino family and was extremely comfortable. There were a handful of foreigners in the city (population 120,000); I usually tried to avoid them.
The only thing that may be uncomfortable is that the small children will watch you with curiousity for the first three or four weeks. I lived three miles outside of town and many of them had never seen a white guy before.
Wherever you go, you will be greeted with "Hey Joe!", a reference to WWII and GI Joe. They have great respect for foreigners and Americans in general (mostly undeservedly).
Don't be shy about stopping to talk to neighbors. Just walk right up to them and start a conversation. They will love to talk to you and you can make dozens of friends very easily. Keep your guard up as to who you can trust, but don't act defensive and mad. Be patient and try to understand unusual things they may do. If you do, they'll just laugh it off anyway, is their custom in uncomfortable situations.
Most Filipinos know English rather well, some BETTER than many people in America. I'm not exaggerating. I met a few people there that started a conversation with me in a PERFECT American accent. I asked how long one guy had lived in the U.S., expecting the answer of ten years or longer. He said...never, he works in a call center.
I know call centers have a bad rep here in the U.S., but I guarantee if you spoke with this guy, you wouldn't know he wasn't a U.S. citizen. He knew not only the language, but our idioms as well. He went on to explain that call center jobs are fiercely competitive and even he was always in fear of losing his job. They generally pay three to six times as much almost any other job, on par with doctors in some instances, but not as much as politicians.
Despite knowing English, many Filipinos are embarrassed to speak English to you, believing that you may think they don't know it well. I always tell them that they know Tagalog MUCH better than I know English. I won't be able to use this line next visit, however; I'm studying Tagalog using Rosetta Stone. It's AWESOME.
The only thing that may be uncomfortable is that the small children will watch you with curiousity for the first three or four weeks. I lived three miles outside of town and many of them had never seen a white guy before.
Wherever you go, you will be greeted with "Hey Joe!", a reference to WWII and GI Joe. They have great respect for foreigners and Americans in general (mostly undeservedly).
Don't be shy about stopping to talk to neighbors. Just walk right up to them and start a conversation. They will love to talk to you and you can make dozens of friends very easily. Keep your guard up as to who you can trust, but don't act defensive and mad. Be patient and try to understand unusual things they may do. If you do, they'll just laugh it off anyway, is their custom in uncomfortable situations.
Most Filipinos know English rather well, some BETTER than many people in America. I'm not exaggerating. I met a few people there that started a conversation with me in a PERFECT American accent. I asked how long one guy had lived in the U.S., expecting the answer of ten years or longer. He said...never, he works in a call center.
I know call centers have a bad rep here in the U.S., but I guarantee if you spoke with this guy, you wouldn't know he wasn't a U.S. citizen. He knew not only the language, but our idioms as well. He went on to explain that call center jobs are fiercely competitive and even he was always in fear of losing his job. They generally pay three to six times as much almost any other job, on par with doctors in some instances, but not as much as politicians.
Despite knowing English, many Filipinos are embarrassed to speak English to you, believing that you may think they don't know it well. I always tell them that they know Tagalog MUCH better than I know English. I won't be able to use this line next visit, however; I'm studying Tagalog using Rosetta Stone. It's AWESOME.
I also understand you playing it solo when it comes to other foreigners in the Phils. I tend to avoid them also when I am there. I have had too many disappointments when trying to be friends...
03-01-2012
, 10:11 PM
I'm planning on staying til early-mid December then head back to Thailand for a 4-6 possibly 8 weeks then make a decision as what to do next (assuming I can get my bz plans into full effect here).
Got a 2 bed with full on maids living area its about 150sqm, quite nice modernish, but a little ruff round the edges, 55k month, 6 month contract with option to extend. I don't know enough about rental prices here to say, thou last night met a guy who has a 40sqm studio right next to green belt for 18k per month he said he has lived there for 3 years so not sure if that means he has had discount or something, another guy says he has a big one bed for 25k he said its on the edge of makati near the skyway express.
To note, I think Makati is pretty ****ing cool place to live
