Like most people, I dread getting phone calls in the middle of the night, for it usually means bad news – especially for me when it comes from overseas. It happened on Sept. 23rd (our 10th wedding anniversary), when the news came that my brother Fred had passed away. Fred had actually enjoyed an extended lease on life, receiving a kidney from our youngest sibling […]
Before coming back to the reality of our life and adventures with friends here in the good ‘ol USA, I just had to sneak in one more quick post related to my trip to the Philippines that I thought was interesting. My recent return flight to the states included an 11+ hour layover in Seoul, South Korea, and I feared I would […]
I survived the brutal heat and humidity during the three weeks I spent in Moalboal, my hometown on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. Whew, summer in the Philippines is like living inside a broiler oven 24 hours a day, not to mention the ever-present humidity and stickiness on the skin. But I endured it for the love of family, and to attend […]
I promise this is my final (delayed) post covering our trip to the Philippines, then I’ll get back to reality here in southern Texas. To view my previous Philippines stories, check out: The wonderful people and places of the Philippines Quality time with family in my hometown – Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines Days filled with outdoor fun – Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines A slice […]
Let’s see, where were we? I have obviously fallen behind in my blogging. I took some time off to socialize here in Texas, while enjoying the holidays and pausing from any activities that might tax my brain. So here we are in a new year, and I still have stories to tell from our trip to the Philippines! Anyhow, in my previous […]
My country is an archipelago of 7,107 islands brimming with wondrous natural treasures and beauties – both in nature and in the people. Among many other things, white sand beaches, beautiful jagged mountains and amazing scuba diving locations can be found there. Unfortunately, some islands are overdeveloped and others overrun by tourist and entrepreneurs, but many remained unspoiled. One island that is […]
This is the 3rd in our series of posts about our trip to the Philippines. Check out #1 here and #2 here if you’re interested in the first two installments. Aside from spending quality time with family, we also sneaked out to have some outdoor fun with my longtime hometown friends. A favorite pastime during our visit was to show up at a friend’s house where we would […]
After 17 days in the Philippines visiting family and then enjoying some island time on Palawan, we are back in Texas. We picked Betsy up from storage and drove just 85 miles south to rest and get over our jet lag at Lake Texana Park and Campground in Edna, Texas (Steve’s review here). It had been a whirlwind trip packed with family […]
[This is Steve’s post about his experiences in the Philippines] My third trip to the Philippines during the past 12 years has inspired me to think about all the good times I’ve enjoyed during my visits, while also reflecting on what I’ve learned about the good people there. I’ve also found that I get somewhat depressed about the hardships that folks have to deal with in their day-to-day lives on the many beautiful islands (7,107 to be exact). I want to stress that this post is a very general comparison of life in the Philippines, in contrast to living in the good old USA. Like any place in the world, there are many exceptions to the following characterizations, but I thought it might be worthwhile to offer my insights into what I observed while there. My recent trip reminded me how upbeat, tough, resilient and flexible the Filipino people are. These folks generally work hard for extremely low wages, and there are no pensions, retirement plans or medical benefits in sight. There’s no “attitude” here as there is with many young people in the USA, and these are non-violent people. Their biggest joys are spending time with family and chatting comfortably with complete strangers. They are friendly, helpful and respectful with anyone they meet. Life is much more leisurely, and it’s almost as if time is not a factor when trying to get their jobs done (ie. a very low-stress lifestyle). […]
We (Steve and Mona Liza) retired early at the beginning of 2012, sold our house and almost all of our belongings and moved into our RV. We are pursuing our dream of traveling the U.S. and Canada for several years and seeing everything and everyplace we can.
