As you know I’m always on the lookout for sites that are related somehow to the Philippines and or of people moving to the Philippines. Recently I checked out a couple of sites of young people with Filipino blood and thought that I would share them with you.

The first site, or should I say two sites, are written by Jeps from Davao City who describes his occupation as bum. The sites, Gelatin Silver World  and Photo Kalamy are interesting sites in that they show a very artistic person. Although they are relatively new I see great potential in the writings and photographs of Jeps. Visit the sites and see what a young Filipino is doing.

The second person’s blog I am recommending is Waiting for Wonderland  authored by Drea a young woman who describes herself as a mix of Chamorro, Japanese, Pinay, and Caucasian who loves animals, art, and music. She is a very good writer and shares her life in Guam with the readers. Again this is a blog that I recommend you spend some time to visit.

On the personal front it looks like I will be making a trip to the Philippines in May or June to supervise putting on a new addition to our house in Laguna. We wanted to expand the kitchen so we can put more modern appliances and such in. Since these months are the busiest months for my wife’s business I volunteered (LOL) to go and supervise the workers. This is my first trip to the Philippines alone in many years. Usually I travel there with my wife but before we were married I traveled around the country alone. I am just so happy that I get to make this trip and I plan on visiting with some of the bloggers and readers of this blog while I’m there. if anyone would like to meet, I’ll be staying in Laguna but will be spending time in Manila also.

I just learned today that an older couple who had moved to the US years ago and whose children grew up there are moving back to the Philippines. Why? Because they lost their jobs and house in California and can’t afford to live there anymore. Luckily this couple planned ahead and have a very nice house in the Philippines and can come to the US to visit whenever they please. It is happening all over and many people who after visiting this blog and reading my posts ask me about the advantages of moving to the Philippines. Of course, I always tell, them my first rule, that you don’t move to someplace you have never been. Rule 2 is when you go there you need to live on the economy and see if it’s for you. I would also recommend anyone who previously didn’t have plans to move there to wait a little while and see if the economy improves.

On another note I have new site to recommend to you. It’s called Kat’s World 3 and first of all it is written by an English teacher. But there is so much more to the site such as things about Filipino life from a nice young woman. Add the beautiful pictures and you have a great site please check it out.

Wow, it’s been almost a week since my last post but I’ll let you all know I haven’t been laying around being lazy. I am working very hard to get certified for teaching English and getting my TESOL Certification. I am making this a top priority because getting this will be a major step in when I move to the Philippines.

A couple of things have happened in the last week that are kind of interesting. My wife and I visited Columbus Ohio to see a couple of old friends. While there we got to visit the Filipino store and stock up on groceries that we can’t get in West Virginia. There is a big Filipino community in Columbus and we plan on visiting more often since it is only a three hour drive. If I had to choose a US city to live in it would either be Columbus or Virginia Beach, VA. The reason I would choose these places is because of the Filipino communities and Filipino eateries and how the Filipinos celebrate Filipino culture.

We haven’t heard back from the Philippine Embassy about my wife’s dual citizenship request. If anyone has submitted papers before, please let me know how long it took you. I know many times Government paperwork runs at a snails pace so I’m not worried yet.

Lastly, I have discovered a source for more things Filipino. I have found Justin TV , a video webcasting site which features Lifecasting which is basically people with a webcam on them 24 hours a day. There are a few lifecasters from the Philippines but the ones I want you to check are KissYa FM which plays Philippine Love Songs from the 70’s,80’s, and 90’s 24 hours a day. I really like that kind of music, it brings back the memories. Another lifecast to check out is Ape’s Life which is the lifecast of a singer from a Filipino band who is currently doing shows in India. She gets on cam and chats between sets and when she is not on stage. I’ll talk to you all soon, I promise less than a week!

I always like to inform readers of this blog when I find good sites about the Philippines. I especially enjoy the sites that feature pictures of this most beautiful country. In my daily search I think I may have found the mother lode of websites containing pictures of the Philippines.

I’m not so sure if the website I found is connected to the original website but where I started was the Guide to the Philippines Website which boasted of many pictures. This site had a link on it to the Philippine Photo Guide which boasts galleries containing over 11,000 pictures of the Philippines. I am not going to count them for you but there are certainly enough to keep you busy for awhile. These pictures cover about every area of the Islands. So if you want to see some great pictures of regular Filipino life check it out!

While studying an assigment for my English as a Second Language teaching certification a question came up that got me to thinking. The question basically asked the student to name and tell 3 teachers who had an influence on our life and why. My answer was my first grade teacher and a couple of other teachers later on in my schooling. The second part had to do with what age group would I like to teach and why.

From the first time I lived in the Philippines until recently I have observed examples of Filipino classrooms whether it be in movies or actually visiting schools. The latest example was when I visited the large school that my niece Zyra attends in Laguna. I spent much time there and observed the behavior of the children, which impressed me very much. These young children, all in uniforms, were respectful to their teacher and answered yes sir, no sir, and Thank you. The teachers were smiling and looked like they enjoyed themselves and their jobs.

Now lets look at my experience in the US with same ages. The students were not required to wear uniforms in most cases, and the classrooms were very unruly. Not all of the children were loud and noisy but the ones who were, ruled the classroom. The US teachers looked worn out and looked like they couldn’t wait to get out of there and go home. As the ages advanced it got worse until it is at the point now that assaults on teachers are not uncommon in US schools. I am not going to judge the learning abilities of these schools in different countries but I am just questioning why the big difference?

Again, I am sure there are unruly classrooms in the Philippines but I haven’t seen any as well as there are quiet respectfull classrooms in the US. I did notice that the children attending private schools where their parents were paying were better behaved than in  the public schools. Does that make a difference?

By the way  on the question of what ages would I like to teach, I chose 8-10 year olds because worldwide they seem to be the most eager learners and these years were my happiest school years.

As I reported to you last week my wife and I had decided that she would apply for dual citizenship. We weighed the pros and cons, the pros being extended stay for me and the chance for her to acquire more property. I can’t remember the cons but they must not have been important enough to sway our decision to not applying.

So everything is decided, right? Wrong, less than 12 hours after sending the paperwork in, her Filipino co-workers convinced her that the US would revoke her citizenship if she took the oath of Allegiance to the Philippines.

I had already researched this and assured her that the US citizenship she had worked so hard for would not be revoked and she would not be sent back to the Philippines on the next flight. But, is it true that she could be sent back? From what I have researched and studied on the subject including court cases I say no.

Law have changed in recent years and Constitutional Law cases have defined how US citizenship can be taken away. Actually you would have to perform certain actions including declaring before a US consular that you intend to give up your US citizenship. To read more on these cases and changes in the law please go to the website US Law Relating to Dual Citizenship. So, if you are worried about losing your US citizenship because of dual citizenship read this site and take comfort that it won’t happen.