Davao Blogspace

Renting is something that I highly recommend for the first few years that you live in the Philippines.  Truth is, renting makes economic sense no matter how long you live here, because rental costs in the Philippines are relatively low compared to the cost of owning a home.  This is not the case in much [...]

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These days, living in Mindanao is a bit tougher than it was just a few months ago.  Frankly, the Island is on the verge of being powerless… in other words, without electricity.  I wrote a couple weeks ago how Mindanao was on the verge of having to resort to rotating brownouts, and it came to [...]

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In my ten years in the Philippines, I have lived in five different houses.  I’ve mostly lived in rather large houses, since I have a large family.  We did live in one house that was quite small, but it was only for about 6 months or less, because we could not find a larger house [...]

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A lot of Americans who plan to move to the Philippines and live here for good tell me the same thing – “I want to live in an American style house.“  I think it is kind of natural to feel that way, given the fact that mostly have lived in the USA for their entire [...]

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As anybody who follows any news at all knows by now, there was a major earthquake in Chile on Saturday.  The magnitude was 8.8 on the Richter Scale.  Remember the January earthquake in Haiti?  It was a 7.0 magnitude.  Do you know what the difference between the two is?  I knew it was a big [...]

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As I mentioned in an article earlier this week, my birthday was last weekend.  I woke up early on Saturday morning and had a number of plans for the day, and was in a happy mood.  It was my birthday, after all, so why wouldn’t I be happy.  Well, I suppose that if I considered [...]

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In the Philippines, there basically is no zoning when it comes to real estate, so you never know for sure what kind of neighbors you will be getting.  In most developed countries, land is zoned – there are areas that are designated for businesses, industrial, residential, etc.  In the Philippines you might have a business [...]

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Well, since you read my last article, I’ve aged another year!  Yep, my birthday was on Saturday!  I normally don’t enjoy having a birthday party or anything like that.  In fact, I can’t really remember the last time I had a party for my birthday, other than just enjoying a good meal with our immediate [...]

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Will the day come when the Philippines goes into perpetual brownout status?  Sometimes it seems so.
Firstly, for those who are new readers, let me explain what a “brownout” is.  Basically, it is what you would think of as a blackout.  Here in the Philippines, though, they call it a brownout.
When Feyma and I first moved [...]

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The Philippine Constitution was crafted in 1987, after Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from Power and Corazon Aquino took the reins.  After Marcos had seized power in the early 70’s (he was elected in the 60’s, but did not relinquish power), when he was finally thrown out in 1986, a new Constitution was crafted, and a [...]

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I am writing this article on the day before Valentine’s Day.  When it is published, Valentine’s Day will have already passed here in the Philippines, but for many readers it will still be Valentine’s Day in the location where they are reading this.  I will wish a Happy Valentine’s Day to all, though, whether it [...]

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Pretty much everything I write on this site is about having to make some kind of adjustment in your life when you decide to come and live in the Philippines.  Although I have lived in only three countries in my life (USA, South Africa and the Philippines) I would venture to guess that any time [...]

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Today, I would like to announce a new venture that I am embarking upon, beginning today.  It is a venture that is near to my heart, because it is something that has meaning to me.  It involves doing something that I believe I am good at, and helping others at the same time, another thing [...]

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Back when we still lived in the States, sometime in the mid-90’s, Feyma and I made a trip up north to visit my grandmother.  She lived in Port Townsend, Washington (where I was born), which was about 4 to 5 hours drive from our home.  While visiting with my grandma, she served us some bread, [...]

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If you are into entertainment, whether it be movies, TV shows or any kind of videos, I believe that I have come up with an expats dream package!  I have written about this before, but that was a few years ago, and I have made some major changes to my setup, which I want to [...]

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It’s time to get ready.  You should always be prepared.  Don’t say that you had no warning, because the alarm bells are sounding, sirens are wailing and emergency lights are flashing.
No, there is not a fire.  The police are not looking for you, don’t worry about that.  Well, maybe they are, I don’t know… but [...]

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A while back I wrote an article telling that I was Back in the Saddle, back to studying language again.  I had taken a short break of two months from my classes, and I was happy to get back to learning more of the local language.  In that article, I promised that I would be [...]

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Last week, a friend and I were exchanging e-mails.  He is also an American who lives in the Philippines.  He is going back to the States soon for a combination of a visit home and a “visa run” so that he can get his soon to be expiring visa renewed.  In our e-mail discussion he [...]

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If you have cruised the Internet much over the past 15 years or so in search of information about the Philippines, there is a good chance that you know who Ray Bacon is.  I first came to know of Ray about that many years ago, or so.  I used to operate an e-mail list in [...]

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Politics is the age old debate that mankind has been having for centuries.  In much of the world these days, no matter who is in power, half of us hate them (or more!).  If the party in power is liberal, we tend to be more conservative.  If the Conservatives are in power, our thoughts seem [...]

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Another week, and other new LiP writer!  This week, I’d like to welcome Trevor Bentley!  Trevor is a Canadian from Vancouver, BC.
Trevor has a few differences from most of the writers here on LiP, which is a good thing, because it means that he will see things from a slightly different perspective.  That is something [...]

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Regular readers may remember, back in September 2009, I came down with Dengue Fever.  I am over it now, but it’s a rough row to hoe.  About 5% of those who contract Dengue die from it.  If you don’t die, sometimes you almost wish you would because you feel so terrible.
Some of you may not [...]

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OK, it’s been rainy in Davao for about a week now, and even cold!  But, in the past half an hour or so the weather has cleared and I’m seeing sunshine for the first time in days!
So, I’m feeling good, and want to spread the good cheer!
What can I do to accomplish that?  Well, I’ve [...]

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I hear those words regularly from people… “I just sent her money for the airfare, she is coming soon.”  Hmm… Let me fill you in with a little more.
Because I write in a number of places, and most of my writing is related to the Philippines in some way, a lot of people contact me [...]

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Well, this is getting to be a regular thing lately!  Today, I am introducing a new writer to the site, his name is Jonathan Watson.  Jonathan is also known by a number of different nicknames, I especially like one that a lot of people call him “Jawz.” 
Last week, Feyma wrote about Jonathan.  He [...]

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