Additional Web-Sites of Interest

In addition to the wonderful Blog "an American in the Philippines," additional web-addresses I follow that other readers might find of interest include: http://cebu.craiglist.com.ph/apa/ re: private property in the Phiippines listed For Sale on Craig's list and http://cebuexperience.com/ re: expats living in Cebu province.

Another Great Site regarding expats around the entire world is

http://www.expat-blog.com/

The EXPAT

EXPAT is an abreviated reference to expatriate, a foreigner resident, a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country or within a culture other than where that person was originally native or born and raised -- sometimes mistaken with "EX-PATRIOT" but this is derived from the Latin, EX - out of - and PATRIA - country or fatherland. Some famous examples of American EXPATRIATES would include writer Ernest Hemingway living first in Spain during that country's civil war and later in Paris, France during WWII; African-American singer and entertainer Josephine Baker living in Paris during the 1920s; and rock musician Jim Morrison living in Paris during the 1960s.
According to the U.S. State Department there are now over 250,000 U.S. citizens currently living in the Philippines.

New Book about Growing Up in the Philippines

New book describing daily life and growing up in the Philippines:

MIRROR OF MY PAST, THE REFLECTIONS OF A FILIPINA AFTER IMMIGRATING TO AMERICA, IS A REFLECTION OF THE AUTHOR'S THOUGHTS LOOKING BACK AT HER LIFE GROWING UP IN THE PHILIPPINES AND HOW SHE IS NOW ABLE TO SEE MANY OF THE EVENTS OF GROWING UP QUITE DIFFERENTLY WITH MORE EXPERIENCE IN LIFE. SOMETIMES EMOTIONAL BUT ALWAYS BRUTALLY HONEST, SHE LOVINGLY EXPLORERS THE COMPLEX ASIAN MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP AND PROVIDES DEEP INSIGHT INTO THE EVENTS THAT AFFECTED HER SO AS SHE WAS GROWING UP. SHE TELLS OF HER STRUGGLES WITHIN HER OWN FAMILY TO MAKE HER WISHES KNOWN TO REALIZE HER DREAMS OF COMING TO AMERICA. AND HOW PREJUDICES AMONG HER OWN RELATIVES AND IN HER OWN NEIGHBORHOOD HAD A PROFOUND AFFECT ON HER CHILDHOOD. SHE OFTEN FANTASIZED OF LEAVING THE PHILIPPINES AND GOING TO AMERICA -- PERHAPS, IN-PART, TO FULFILL THE LIFE-LONG WISH OF HER GRANDFATHER WHO HAD FOUGHT ALONG SIDE AMERICAN TROOPS DURING WORLD WAR II. AND HOW HE, HIMSELF, HAD FILLED HER WITH MANY STORIES ABOUT AMERICA AND ABOUT AMERICANS BEFORE SHE HAD EVEN REACHED SCHOOL AGE. AS A RESULT SHE TELLS OF THE HEARTBREAKING EPISODES OF GROWING UP POOR WITH HER CLOSE-NET LOVING FAMILY AND, EVENTUALLY, HOW A CHANGE IN ENVIRONMENT CAN SOMETIMES CREATE A WHOLE NEW OUTLOOK ON LIFE AND THE LIVES OF EVERYONE CLOSE TO HER. MIRROR OF MY PAST REFLECTS ON HER LIFE AS MELBA FINALLY SUCCEEDS GAMBLING WITH HER LIFE, BENUMBED WITH THE ATTITUDE BAHALA NA (COME WHAT MAY) GETTING TO AMERICA TO REALIZE HER DREAMS. FINDING IT DIFFERENT THAN SHE HAD EVER IMAGINED, MELBA EXLAINS HOW SHE IS GRATEFUL AND THANKFUL FOR FORTUNATELY FINDING A LOVING AND CARING OLDER MAN AND NOW REALIZES HOW MUCH SHE HAS CHANGED, HERSELF, BY THE EXPERIENCE. ONCE REGARDED AS A TREMENDOUS OBLIGATION TO HER FAMILY, MELBA IS NOW LOOKED UPON AS THE GRANDE DAME OF HER FAMILY. MIRROR OF MY PAST EXPLAINS HOW THAT CAME TO BE.

(Xlibris Publishing, illus., 177 pages, HB $35, PB $21, available through your local book store)

I HIGHLY recommend this book. Not ONLY because it was written by my wife, but because it is so inspirational!

BEWARE of local Attorneys

I have been informed by my Filipino friends and relatives that when buying land in the Philippines to Beware of unscrupulous real estate lawyers. Supposedly there have been cases of attorneys drawing up legal documents that transfer property ownership to themselves once purchased.

Like anything else, it is best to check with past clients and locals to determine if any attorney you intend hiring has a good reputation, is trustworthy and has provided good representation to his previous clients.

All business and legal documents in the country are supposed to be conducted in English anyway, according to the law, so I don't know if such rumors are true or not. It is probably best, however, to check at the Registar's Office to make certain the proper names are listed as the owners afterward. -- if not, then you have another problem of finding an attorney to straighten it out and to deal with the crooked one.

The EASTER HOLIDAY

I have already experienced a number of holidays in the Philippines such as Christmes, New Year's, and Easter. However, I am NOT into dragging American customs into the islands in an attempt to pollute or Americanize the Filipino celebration of any holiday. I prefer, instead, to experience the differences and take part in how they observe the events. Easter is a good example of those differences.

Easter week is an intensely religious period of observance in the Philippines. Many Philipinos return to their family homes from all around causing delays and crowded conditions at airlines, ferries and bus terminals all around the Country during the week before the observance. In addition, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are ALL Official Holidays. It is sadly observed as "the Day God died" and on Maundy Thursday all the shops close, Postal service stops for the week and Banks, too, close for the period -- so if you are going to need money, plan ahead because ATMs often run out of cash. Also, by Thursday nearly all the traffic stops, as silence reigns throughout the country as people somberly attend church services. Even Philippine Airlines' flights stop and do not resume until the following Saturday in observance of the period.

Beginning that Thursday night, and during every evening afterward, long processions of people, many carrying various-sized floats displaying statutes of "Mama" Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and a number of different Saints, slowly walk through the neighborhoods gathering additional followers on their route, reciting the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary as they parade along. All along the route, family members come out of their houses and join in with the procession.

On Easter morning before dawn, every neighborhood church presents a widely attended Passion Play at the end of the Saturday night procession, and then at dawn everyone attends the Easter morning Mass.