If you spend one weekend in the Philippines, you will never want to leave! An old retired US Navy guy told me this not so long ago and he shared his many wonderful experiences in the islands. He met the love of his life in the Philippines, as he married one of the lovely local ladies and is still married to her today, some 35 years later. I already knew about the grandeur of the Philippines but I did not want to spoil his story telling, as I also have so many similar and wonderful experiences in the Pearl of the Orient over the past 27 years. The great news is, I am adding to those fabulous experiences every single day that I am living here! It is not only a cliche when I tell others that everyday unfolds a new adventure in the Philippines! At age 58, I am thankful for even the small discoveries and new things that come up.
What’s So Great About The Philippines?
I recall my last year living in the USA way back in the year 2000. I was sitting around with a number of my American friends one afternoon and they were grumbling and unhappy because they said they did not have any extra money. Yet, they all had good paying jobs, a nice home that was nicely furnished, they had newer pickup trucks or other vehicles and they were all in apparently good health. However, the way they were talking, they were down and out!
Some of my Filipino friends are not nearly as blessed as my American friends, yet everyday they have a big smile, they laugh and they know how to have a good time. Not long after I moved to the Philippines, I also found it easier to have a good laugh everyday! It feels great. I had not laughed so easily and so heartily in years but it is not hard to do when you are around such fun loving and positive thinking people. Many Filipinos do not worry about anything because they realize it is a waste of energy and it is a stress in life that none of us need. Tomorrow will take care of itself! What is going to happen will happen and only God can change it, is often the attitude. A strong Faith is one of the characteristics of many Filipinos, which sees them through day to day.
Psychology was my Major in the University and I know it is true that the type of people we surround ourselves with can have a strong effect upon our own mood. Positive thinking people with excellent attitudes about life is infectious and so is the negative thinking people with terrible attitudes in life!
I recently shared to a group of expats my very first experience with Filipinos back in the 1960s. When my dad was still in the US Navy and when he had the weekend officers duty, he would take me to his ship on Saturday mornings. While he attended work, he would leave me with the ship stewards and the stewards were all Filipinos. They would entertain me with games, singing, dancing and they also gave me a lot of good food to eat. They told me when I got older, I must visit the Philippines and I did! I discovered the people here to be as hospitable, friendly, happy and fun being around as all the guys on the ships over the years!
Everyday A Fiesta
Most Filipinos look for something to celebrate, to dedicate, or honor. With so many barangays or villages in every city, there is a fiesta going on in one of them at any given time! Beauty pageants are very popular in the Philippines and there is probably no other country in the world that holds more beauty pageants than the Philippines. On the international scene, Filipinas are most always in the Top 5 of the final contestants in every major pageant held in the world!
If there is not a formal fiesta, one is often held in the homes. Good food, drinks and singing karaoke is a most popular family activity. I join right in because I enjoy singing and can sing many different songs of various types of music. Despite being a Southerner from the USA, Country Music is not what I enjoy singing!
For the disgruntled expats living in the Philippines, who always have something to complain about, I came to the conclusion that they would be unhappy no matter where they lived! Those guys are at the top of my list of people to avoid, at all times. Some just cannot stand to see others being happy. There is much wailing and gnashing of the teeth when they see a simple, fun loving people having more fun than they are because they do not know how. And they are not willing to try!
OUCH! I had typed my comment before clicking the link above to join the mailing list – and it disappeared! Anyway – Very well written and very truthful post. You’ve described well the wonder of the Philippines! I love Gary’s attitude and can easily understand why he and became friends so quickly and easily a few years ago. Gary is much like a Filipino himself. I think I also might have a bit of Filipino blood running through MY arteries! I’ll be seeing you and your beautiful family soon, my Kano-Filipino friend :-)! God bless you all and God bless the Philippines. May God HELP and bless America as well. I’m sharing this site on my Facebook page. It might help my American friends to think about their own lives and to better understand my love for the Philippines!
Hi Randy
Not sure why the newsletter signup would have disappeared. It’s not supposed to do that 🙂
If you want to email me directly I’d like to try and figure out what you did to make it happen
so I can correct it. You can email me at steveATretiringtothephilippnes.com
I’ve just added a signup option to our facebook page so now there’s more ways to get it.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Retiring-to-the-Philippines
Hope that helps
Steve
Hi Randy! It is nice to see you here on Retiring to the Philippines. Thank you much for your compliments. Yes, I have been referred to as an “American Filipino” a few times over the past 27 years, so I must be doing something right!
I know you are busy preparing for your upcoming return trip to the Philippines and I look forward to seeing you here. We will meet up one day, buddy, once you get settled in.
Take care and many blessings!
~ Gary ~
Thanks to you both – Steve and gary. Steve – if I have further issues I’ll certainly contact you. Gary – thanks for the welcome and even more for the friendship! Looking forward to getting back “home”…and seeing you soon! God bless.
Really good articles. I have not been able to move to the Philippines yet, but it is something I will do hopefully in a year to two. I absolutely love the Philippines. I love the people. To me the Philippines is one of the best kept secrets in the world.
Thank you much, Todd. That is great that you plan moving to the Philippines within the next couple of years. I agree that the Philippines is a fabulous place. My love for the Philippines, the people and the vibrant Filipino culture began 27 years ago and it has only grown stronger over the years!
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~
Gary, hello my name is Cali Larsen and I’ve come across your site and am very impressed. I live in Utah and my husband and I are launching a business in the Philippines and he will be traveling there next week and so I’m trying to gather some credible traveling info from some locals. Sounds like your the guy!!! Are you near Manila?
Hello Cali,
Thank you much for your compliments about Retiring to the Philippines.
I live in Bacolod City, however, I spent a lot of time in Manila over the years and I actually lived there two times during my lifetime. Several of my wife’s relatives live in Manila, so I am still in the loop about the city. How can I help you?
~ Gary ~
Hello out there in your beautiful Bacolod, Gary. This is my first day as RTTP member-so I’m no longer a bystander/troll. A great day for me, to say the least. This article was the first one among many that I read from your prolific pen, and it really touched my heart. I have been attending a lot of festivities sponsored by the Fil-American Association of Tampa to which my close friends – both doctors from Luzon – would usually invite me, and the attitude, easy camaraderie, and sunny disposition that you described eloquently above are always in full display, buoying me up for days and days to come. Most of them are like the navy sailors you described: gregarious, authentic, and positively radiant, making their guests feel embraced and loved. The wife and I are retiring there when we turn 62, and your blogs about Bacolod have made it a prime choice for us. You seemed so happy when you got back from your recent Florida visit, and we hope that the same measure of joy would be ours aplenty when we, too, have made the Philippines our adopted home.
Ron,
Welcome to RTTP and I am happy hearing that you are enjoying your experience on our site.
I was also active many years in various Fil-Am Associations in Florida during the 15 years that I lived there, from the panhandle to south Florida, over the years. Since I worked in the mental health field, I had many Filipino friends, who were also health care professionals.
Personally, I think you and your wife made a great choice in planning to check out Bacolod City in the future. During my recent trip to Florida, I had to spend one day and one night in Manila on both ends of the trip and all I can say is, I am glad I live in Bacolod and not in Manila!
I wish you and your wife all the best concerning your retiring to the Philippines.
Gary
Soon, when I retire there, the first thing I’d like to hear is Gary’s laughter. That would be priceless! Since you’re a psychologist, Gary, you must know something about social phobia and social anxiety syndrome. I guess people afflicted with those maladies should function very well in the Philippines. When they find themselves surrounded by happy Filipinos who don’t wallow in the paralyzing regrets of the past or the forebodings of what the future will bring, simply living at the core of each moment, they wouldn’t be too fearful or anxious anymore. Of course I am not trying to diminish the gravity of those two conditions, just saying. My daughter-in-law, an Ilocana, told me once that many Filipinos tend to be on the shy side. She’s very shy herself, but she laughs a lot, and my son who’s always wearing a grave demeanor only becomes animated and jovial when she’s around. So her laughter, the talisman of many Filipinos, has indeed become his drug of choice.
Thank you for this post and saying so many positive things about us Filipinos and our country, despite the numerous backlashes from other people who do not understand how we Filipinos live in our country decently.
It is an honor for us to be seeing more expats decide to do business and eventually retire in the Philippines. However, it should be planned, researched and decided well before finally making the choice. As we all know, our Philippines is still considered as the third world. But we are definitely rich in spirit and values, traits that can not be matched by any material things.
Thank you Mingquote, for your nice compliments.
Some expats do not realize or they have forgotten that the current Philippine Constitution was not ratified until 1987 and the Philippines is still a developing nation. Yes, there are still problems but those are being addressed. There are still growing pains in the Philippines as being a developing nation but it is getting there! I’ve personally witnessed the progress of the Philippines since 1986, the first of my many annual visits over a 23 year period and since I have lived here full time since 2009.
Have a wonderful day!
Gary