I have been a fan of social media sites for awhile. I started off with MySpace and then got into Twitter, Friendster, and over the last year or more, Facebook. I have met many new friends and connected with old friends that I had lost touch with long ago. These friends are scattered all over the world and many I probably wouldn’t have got in touch with had it not been for social media sites.

Not all of the contacts I have made have been just a real person but groups of people and sites about things I am interested in. As I am planning my move to the Philippines I have come across some interesting businesses and informational pages as well, including one that I visit with everyday. It’s a Facebook page for a site called Definitely Filipino. This site describes itself as “The Blog for Online Filipinos“.

Not being Filipino, but interested in many things Filipino, I visit this site to see what is happening in the Philippines and topics involving the Philippines. It covers such things as Philippine culture, economy, living, and news, among other things. It is basically a non biased view of what is happening to Filipinos with a chance for them to interact through their Facebook page.

Ben Totanes, the creator of Definitely Filipino, says on the about page for this blog that the philisophy behind this Page is that “It’s the place to come, learn, interact and belong….” My favorite feature of Definitely Filipino is the identification of many famous people that I didn’t know were of Filipino descent. Did you know that Tim Lincecum who pitched a winning game in this years World Series is the son of Filipina Rebecca Asis? I didn’t until I read it on Definitely Filipino. They cover many other movie stars, athletes, and famous people who share Filipino heritage.

I suggest you go to their Facebook page and add them plus check out their blog for daily updates and keep up with what is going on with Filipinos worldwide. You may learn things you didn’t know or just get updated on current events or maybe interact with some interesting people.

I have added some of the most updated pics of our house in the Philippines particularly the kitchen cabinets. These cabinets were chosen by my wife and in these pictures all but the final finishing touches have been made. By this time I’m sure that they are completely done but I haven’t got those pictures yet. To see the latest pics plus others just click on the following link Our House in the Philippines Pics.

Just wanted to let the people of the Philippines know that Me and my family as well as people worldwide have been keeping an eye on Hurricane Juan and praying for the safety of the Filipino people. I know firsthand how terrible these Typhoons are because I have experienced a few while living in the Philippines and I’m sure I will experience more when I’m there. It looks like the worst of it has been done but the days after will probably be quite hard for cleanup and such. Once again, we are all praying for everyone there to be safe.

The latest pictures of our house construction in the Philippines will show you what is going on inside our house. As you can see we have picked the cabinets and they are almost done. The counter and sink are in and we are almost ready for appliances. That is something I really look forward to as I actually have some ideas that my wife will agree with. Visit our Facebook album of the house construction by clicking on the following link: Our House Construction in the Philippines

On another note there is a video making the rounds of the internet, news stations, and social websites. It is the video of Flight Attendants for Cebu Pacific Airlines performing a choreographed routine aboard a Cebu Pacific flight to demonstrate safety procedures. The video received more than 7.3 million hits in less than a week. Cebu Pacific based out of Manila decided to use this way to “draw more passenger attention to its in-flight safety reminders”. If you haven’t seen it yet I’ve provided the video on this website. It is very good and shows how Filipinos have found a way of mixing their love of music and dancing with something many of us travelers ignore.

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Being involved in the past in project management, I can tell you as a project is coming to an end there is an excitement going through the project team. It is pretty much the same here in our household as the outside work on our house construction in the Philippines is wrapping up. There is still some painting to be done before it will be complete but we have moved most of the work to an inside project.

The most recent pictures in the album are pictures of the sliding door and windows that we have added going to the outside terrace. This will be a place where we will spend much time entertaining and celebrating with our friends and family in the Philippines. It looks like we may have to have another house blessing done. If you’d like to see the whole album including the latest updates please click on Our House Construction in the Philippines.

Also I have had a few questions about the size of our home in the Philippines and I have been responding with measurements of the original size as I haven’t been able to do another measurement. I am just providing the basic measurements from the home package we purchased when we originally had the home built.

I’ll start off by saying our house construction in the Philippines is getting recognizable as what we envisioned when this all began. if you are interested in how it looked before and what the home has progressed to, feel free to visit the photo album I have been keeping. Just click on the following link: Our House Construction in the Philippines

I just wanted to pass along a blog I have been following which I may have mentioned before but I’m not sure. You see when my wife moved to the United States she moved from Israel, although she is a filipina.
She was working there when we met and had worked various places around the world as an OFW. Generally she lived in areas of big cities so when we moved to Virginia Beach it wasn’t that big of an adjustment. When I retired we moved to West Virginia into a smaller city but still a city with not all the comforts of other places we had both been over the years. It took us a little while adjusting to the advantages and disadvantages of being close to everybody and basically being in a place where you were no longer just a face in a crowd. With this new arena we were exposed to other things such as becoming the topic of people’s Sunday dinner conversations, and everyone knowing our every move. Now that may appeal to some people but for me it’s too Mayberryish (made up that word). I appreciate the closeness to family and such, but I am more of a face in the crowd person and enjoy my anonymity.

What this is leading to is the author of the blog I was referring to and his wife, a filipina, seem to live in even a smaller town than we do with all the advantages and disadvantages. Ben and MaryAnn seem to enjoy it where they live and that is fine but as I read I can recognize some of the things that are driving me to get back to the larger cities where I feel I belong. Anyway, the name of Ben’s blog is My2Pesos and you should read this blog to see how an American and Filipina have made their marriage work in small town USA. That’s all I have until next time Salamat Po!

For all you interested readers I have updated my photo album of pics of our house construction in the Philippines. Looking at the weather news in the Philippines it looks like a good chance of rain for the next few days so I would say the outside should be complete soon and they will be moving inside. For all you Americans living in the Philippines and experiencing rainy season for the first time, I know how you feel because I’ve been through it and I actually like the rainy time of the year there.

I’m still here in the U.S. for football season but soon I’ll be back in the Philippines and working on furnishing the house and getting the kitchen appliances installed. I’m really homesick for the Philippines right now and look forward to getting on that airplane and returning. Until next time………

As you can see from this and the other pictures in the album our house construction in the Philippines is in the latter stages. It’s a good thing because in our phone conversation with family it was raining so hard in Laguna that we could hear it through the headphones. I’ve posted one of the pics from the album at the beginning of this post and the rest can be found in our Moving to Philippines photo album. Click on the link to see them.

In other news, I have been contacted from a tourism student at a University in Manila to be interviewed for her thesis entitled “The Philippines as a retirement destination for foreign tourists” If our schedules match up I may accept her offer and get together with her and her group for a sit down. I’ll post more on this later.

Well thats all I have right other than to say I’m counting the days until my return back to the Philippines. As soon as the college football season is over I will be on my way. See you all soon!

This August 23rd was a little eventful for Filipinos and the Philippines in general. One of the events was on the good side and ended less than good and the second event was bad all the way around.

The first event I’m referring to was the Miss Universe pageant where Venus Raj, the Miss Philippines, had a misstep in answering the question at the end. IMHO she could have answered much better, but I still think she wouldn’t have beat out the winner, Miss Mexico, anyway and probably would have made first runner up. The good part of the night was that Miss Philippines reached the final five runner ups and that the Filipinos in attendance were definitely the loudest cheering section which shows how Filipinos will rally behind each other and show their pride.

Also on August 23rd there was a tragic event where hostages were taken and a few were either killed or injured. This event may have hurt the tourist industry slightly but you can only look at London and New York to see how they have recovered after even larger terrorist events happened in their cities. Look, it could happen anywhere, and it does quite often. If people are afraid to visit places and see the world because of  isolated incidents such as this they will be living in a bubble and will never experience what this world has to offer. As for me it doesn’t change a thing about how safe I feel in moving to the Philippines.

Well the worst part for doing outdoor house construction in the Philippines is beginning so I think by now most of the outside work is done and we can work on getting the inside complete. I’ve added some more pics to the album and one of my favorite pictures is the planter and calamansi tree that my wife made sure everyone knows is staying. If you are interested in the progress check out the latest at Our Home Construction in the Philippines

Sticking with the same theme of our moving to Philippines blog I have updated my album of pictures of our house construction in the Philippines. We are still working hard on the interior and these pictures are showing some of the additions with paint. Included in the latest pics are the downstairs bathroom which is the room that is now painted checker board style and also the kitchen sink and part of the work is done on the counter. I think it looks pretty good and will continue to post updated pictures. To link to the total photo album click on the following link: Pictures of Our House Construction in the Philippines.

In other news there is a video out making the YouTube rounds of our favorite singer from the Philippines, Charice. It seems she is getting ready for an appearance on the show Glee and she is getting Botox treatments. In my opinion Charice you are beautiful as you are but it’s your body do what feels comfortable. Until next time Salamat Po!