And then she said, "It's Just Like The Philippines"!

[Mark Berkowitz]

23 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

I'll hand you this, Mark. You seem to be an indefatigable optimist!

Only because my Filipina wife always keeps me from going the other way.  She's a very positive person and her 'can do' attitude is always rubbing off on me.

23 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

but I think we have strayed way off your original topic about... just like the Philippines? hahaha

hahaha, and so we did... welcome to the Expat Forum 

[Mark Berkowitz]

3 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

and she still loves me... sigh...

There's nothing else in this world like the love.  The Beatles were so right about that with their song:  https://youtu.be/0zRW-A5aDuU

 

[Tommy T.]

How does your wife take to life in the "land of the big smoke?" specifically Texas? Y'all come back now, heah? And how is she coping with being - probably - mostly on her own as far as being a Filipina in that huge foreign country?

[Mark Berkowitz]

2 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

How does your wife take to life in the "land of the big smoke?" specifically Texas?

Actually, she is quite happy to be in a land where there is no black smoke from Jeepneys, and the overall air quality is very good over here in San Antonio. 

2 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Y'all come back now, heah?

Most folks over here speak just like Yankees, at least they do in most of the Texas cities, which are the 'Blue' parts of the Lone Star State.

2 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

And how is she coping with being - probably - mostly on her own as far as being a Filipina in that huge foreign country?

She loves it here, and she has made friends with other Filipinas... some are even from the same province (Pampanga) and she gets to chat with them in Kampangan.  There's an ever growing community of Filipinos in San Antonio with many Filipino restaurants.  There's even a Jollibee on it's way here, once they fix their building code problems.

[Tommy T.]

2 minutes ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

There's an ever growing community of Filipinos in San Antonio

That sounds fantastic... Of course you remember the ads on TV about - La Victoria(?) - salsa... made in San Antone... Not New York City!!! Interesting that she is concerned about air quality, although maybe not so surprising when I consider seeing so many locals here in Davao City wearing masks or covering their faces with scarfs to reduce the intake of particulates/.

I am interested just because L is interested to "maybe" try USA or Canada (I have two passports some day... no rush. I know she would enjoy the benefits, but not sure how she could endure being away from family and close friends...

[Mark Berkowitz]

3 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Of course you remember the ads on TV about - La Victoria(?) - salsa... made in San Antone... Not New York City!!!

Of course, but nobody speaks like that over here... just an old stereotype.

4 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Interesting that she is concerned about air quality, although maybe not so surprising when I consider seeing so many locals here in Davao City wearing masks or covering their faces with scarfs to reduce the intake of particulates/.

She doesn't miss any of the smoke and dust of the Philippines.  In her eyes, the US is a very clean country with clean air and plenty of trees, especially since San Antoino is chock full of Oak Trees, which are just about everywhere.

4 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

not sure how she could endure being away from family and close friends...

Thanks to Skype, FB, and Messenger, there's no problems with that at all! 

She now has very close (new) friends over here, and we often get together with them... when we do, I get to speak to the other American bros while she speaks to the Filipinas in Tagalog and Kampangan.

[Tommy T.]

2 minutes ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

She now has very close (new) friends over here, and we often get together with them... when we do, I get to speak to the other American bros while she speaks to the Filipinas in Tagalog and Kampangan.

Ah... Excellent! So you don't have to endure the rather typical Filipino party here as someone else described recently where you would sit around with a beer and nobody to talk with... I like this!

[Mark Berkowitz]

2 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Ah... Excellent! So you don't have to endure the rather typical Filipino party here as someone else described recently where you would sit around with a beer and nobody to talk with... I like this!

Been there, done that... but it's a different world over here. 

I get to drink beers with my bros and we talk about guy stuff (while the women cook Adobe and Lumpia)... we Joe/Kano types are having fun with lots of belly laughs.... a completely scene than the typical Filipino party that most Foreigners tend to abhor.

[Tommy T.]

1 minute ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

I get to drink beers with my bros and we talk about guy stuff (while the women cook Adobe and Lumpia)... we Joe/Kano types are having fun with lots of belly laughs.... a completely scene than the typical Filipino party that most Foreigners tend to abhor.

Good for you and I am glad you are enjoying that! Maybe some day in the intermediate future I will be able to experience that again too. But, meantime, I am okay here - just don't do any parties with L since I would be the only foreigner - and she recognizes and appreciates that... But I think I will soon be meeting some other foreigners if I meet up with them...

[Mark Berkowitz]

1 minute ago, Tommy T. said:

Maybe some day in the intermediate future I will be able to experience that again too. But, meantime, I am okay here

If you spoke to me 10 months ago, coming back here was not even on my radar.  I would have been happy to stick it out as a foreigner in the Philippines...

but whenever I would look at my little boy (a dual citizen of the US and Philippines, thanks to filing a CRBA), I wanted  him to have a better future... plus, I've read too may stories (on this Forum) about how bi-racial children are sometimes treated badly in the Phils.

Plus, none of this would have ever been possible if not for a few things, which included a small inheritence (maybe not small, but it was $10k), plus one of my OFW brother-in-laws loaned me some money.  Even with that help, I really couldn't afford to bring more than myself and wife over to the US, since I was starting over here from scratch in the US.  

It's still a financial struggle, but my 'always positive' Pinay wife always tells me:  "You can do anything, just stay positive!"

My goal, which I'm still working on, is to bring my son and step-daughter over to the US.  My son is the easy one since he has a US passport (in addition to his Philippine passport), but I'm still waiting for my step-daughter's final visa approval.