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Who to ask when moving here?

When moving here try to ask people that know a lot about the PI. I’ve been hearing lots of foreigners asking Filipinos abroad of what would they think of the Philippines now? To think a lot of those Pinoys that live abroad never been back here for ages. Then of course their opinions of the Philippines would be the time when they left.

Just like when I was there that’s over 20 years ago. Many Pinays that I knew there had different opinions of the Philippines. Some that wanted to retire here had the positive attitudes. Others really hated even visiting here. Some even made bad comments even though they’ve never been back since going there. It used to irritate me when they made not so true comments about Mindanao. And the one that’s bad mouthing she’s never been to Mindanao in the first place. To be honest the people that bad mouthing about the Philippines are really the Filipinos. Even the Filipino people that live here, they still talk against the other place other than the place they’re residing. As if it’s the competition of every place.

At Starbucks with Michael and Malcolm

At Starbucks with Michael and Malcolm

Like me I’m originally from Sarangani Province. To be honest I love my place, only thing it’s not really the place for our family right now. Maybe later in time. When we first arrived here, we settled in GenSan. We liked it there. During the time we just arrived here too many bombings happening in GenSan. Really it didn’t last long for that, now the place is booming. I highly recommend for expat to stay there too. So many malls were built there for the past 5 years. The place really improved a lot.

To be honest I highly recommend living here in Mindanao. There’s just certain area here that I will not recommend. I’m pretty sure you can find that immediately on the internet where that place be. Bob went to those areas a while back. I will not recommend for any of you to go there if you don’t know anybody there or you had no good connections there (I mean people from higher places). It just happens that Bob was invited by somepeople there and was accompanied by a friend that had good connections. I’m pretty sure same thing if any of you will visit to any place here in the Philippines that you’re not familiar with. You will ask person that you know about the place.

If you had the desire to move here for good or part time try to ask the people (either Filipinos that used to lived a long time abroad and retires here and even an expats that lives here already for awhile). Also try to research the place that  you want to retire here. With the power of the internet you can now find anything. If people tries to say negative things about the place try to ask around. Lots of write ups now regarding living here.

Today Bob and I met a couple (Malcolm & Jenny) that we’ve known on the internet for a long time. Jen is from Davao and Malcolm is from the UK. They’re really very nice people. They knew Bob through our website. They’re one of the couples that will constantly communicate with Bob. They also love Mindanao.

I hope that sometimes the not so nice opinions of my fellow kababayan will not deter you from retiring to any place  here in the Philippines. I’m not saying it’s perfect here, it’s so far from it. Just as I always said here Please carry with you LOTS of  “patience” everyday.

“The challenges ” its adds to more fun in living here in the Philippines!!!

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Hair coloring for pups, is it happening here?

Just a month or two ago I was telling you guys about our dog Fluffy that we put to sleep. So then Bob and I had promised the kids that we will be getting a new pup for them after our other dog Chi Chi gets used to being without Fluffy around. So a few weeks after Fluffy was gone I was looking on the internet for a puppy that’s for sale in Davao City area. Really I found a few that caught our attention. So I began texting one of the owners that we like the puppy that she had advertise. We already agreed on the puppy we want and the price and set the place and the time to met the next day. Reason I brought Jean because she’s the one that really is into dogs.

We agreed to met somewhere and we went there 15 minutes ahead of the time schedule. We waited for the owner for over an hour though. With some excuse of course. I was proud of myself because I was being patient. :-). Finally the lady showed up. Geez, it was really a disappointment. She brought a puppy that’s not what she advertise on the net and it looks sickly. It really made me mad because I could see Jean’s disappointment. But still I held off from saying something, but oh boy inside of me was boiling already. I told the lady politely that I am not buying the puppy that she’s showing us because that’s not the one she’s advertising and it’s not even the breed that we want and what she said on line. I told her to take care of the puppy that she’s showing us and good luck to her business.

Our new puppy, Pepper, is getting friendly with our older puppy, Che Che

Our new puppy, Pepper, is getting friendly with our older puppy, Chi Chi

Jean is looking happy!

Jean is looking happy!

After seeing Jean’s sad face, I had to do something. My niece Glenda reminded me of the place that that sells puppies.. So we went there right away, the place is just near JS Gaisano (Gaisano South now). We already bought a puppy there before and we were happy with the pup that we got there. So we searched for a bit in the area when we got there. Luckily we found one vendor who had 3 puppies (2 light brown- one of the brown pup was a bulldog, and one black) in the cage. I could see Jean’s eyes were sparkling. LOL. She was playing with the pups. I could tell she wanted them all. Ha ha ha. Well, we settled for the black pup. He looks appealing because his hair so shiny and so dark black on top.

As soon as we got home he looks kinda sickly. As usual if we got some pets here in the house we bring them to the vet right away. Since the puppy looks a little sick and had runny nose. My niece and Aaron brought him to the vet that afternoon. He has a little bit of fever. Maybe because it was too hot when we took him home. We felt sorry for him. So the doctor gave him some meds and vitamins. The vet also gave him medicine for de-worming. Doc said to not bathe him for a few days.  Take note I said his hair color was black.

So far, Pepper is a good dog!

So far, Pepper is a good dog!

The next day we noticed that his color was changing a little, brown color was showing a bit on top. When Bob picked him up, he immediately said “I had a feeling those people colored the hair of this puppy”. I told him no way they’ll do that. That’s insane, it might make the animal feeling sick. Hmm to think our puppy was sick. Day after day his color really kept changing, showing more brown and a little bit of white on his legs. Really me and the kids were convinced by Bob now that those vendors really colored the hair of the puppy. I know it’s weird to think but how could the hair change in span of just a few days? Well we are not animal expert here we are just animal lovers. :-)

So if you ever buy any pets here ask the vendors if the color of the pets is natural. We had so many pets before but first time for us that the hair changes.

The name of our pup is Pepper. Getting so spoiled. He’s friends with all of our cats and Chi Chi now. LOL

Cheers!

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The people close to my heart in the States: Part 2

The people that I’m describing right now were really one of the families that Bob and I will never ever forget in our entire life. It all started when we moved to Ridgefield from Vancouver in Washington State. We used to live in a very nice subdivision in Vancouver. We were house sitting the house of my in-laws while my father-in-law transferred to Canada for his job. Before living in my in-law’s house we used to live near the downtown Vancouver area. Really just 5-7 minutes away from Sylvia’s house (She’s like my sister there). It was really convenient for me to be going to Sylvia’s for a visit. When we transferred to the other part of Vancouver, it was harder for me to see Sylvia more often. She’s kind of scared driving on the freeway by herself. But guess what I learned easily on driving around the area.  Being far from Sylvia I had to learned to drive the freeway quickly and liking it a lot. Going to her house through the back way takes way longer. Driving the freeway it’s much easier than going through the busy streets of Vancouver with so many traffic lights to go through. IMHO.

Nader - the Dad
Namer with his cousins
When they were kids
Zade and Namer

So we transferred to Ridgefield in 1993 just a few months after my father-in-law passed away. We had to find a house because Mom is moving back to Vancouver. So we found a house in Ridgefield. It was a nice acreage subdivision with only 8 houses inside the subdivision. Really it used to be farmland. Even the original farm house was still there. In every house it has 5 acres. So that’s what we had. Our house was one of the newly built house in the subdivision. When we moved in the next door house was about to be finished. When the owner moved in we don’t really know them. Both husband and wife usually were not home during the day. Seeing them sometime we just say hi whenever they pass in front of house . Just months after moving in, they sold the house. The owner moved away, the guy was transferred somewhere for his job.

Dalal (the Mom) and her boys
Dalal with boys in Jordan
Julia having a drink
Julia
Keith, Zade and Namer

After a few months of the house next door being empty, we saw some Middle Eastern people with their 4 kids going through the house. the kids were playing outside. We thought they’re just looking at the house. The next day they came back, so we went there and say hello and just being a friendly neighbor. They informed us then that they already bought the house and they will be moving in in a few days. They’re just waiting of the moving truck that’s carrying there stuff all the way from California.

I was so ecstatic having them around they’re so nice and loving people. The kids ages at that time, the youngest must be like 3 or 4 years old, the oldest I think like 8 or 9 years old. The husband he owns a few gasoline stations in Portland area, the wife she’s just a stay at home mom. She already finished up college just didn’t work because she concentrated on taking care of the kids. Both husband and wife were very generous people. The kids they’re loving and thoughtful kids too.

I will give the names of my ever so favorite neighbor.

  • Nader, the dad (very generous & thoughtful man)
  • Dalal, the mom (very kind and very generous)
  • Julia, the oldest child (the reader)
  • Zade, the second child (the serious one :-) )))
  • Keith, the third child (the studious one)
  • Namer, the youngest and the naughty one (his eyes gives it away… LOL)

We do a lot of fun stuff with them like going to the Oregon Coast for a day or two just hanging out at the beach and see the aquarium, eating at the restaurant after Sunday church. Go with the kids games in school or during summer games. Going to see some Disney on ice show in Portland. Going shopping at the mall or go to the play area like Discovery Zone or Chuck E. Cheese or the Clark County Fair and many others.

Chris and Aaron really adored those kids. They thought highly of those kids. They really want to hang out with them almost everyday. Ha ha ha, really we go there to there house every night during summer. They always invite us for BBQ. Dalal wants that we’ll be at their house, her statement would always be “Feyma it’s better that we’ll hang out here at our house, I had 4 kids and you had only 2 kids. Much easier for me here if they messed up something, easy to clean up”. But when I’m baby sitting the kids they’re at our house. Bob and I fed them Filipino dishes. They liked it, especially the lumpia. Sometimes me and Dalal would go out just the 2 of us for some girl time. Bob & Nader and one of our friend from church Randy go out together too, sometimes they went out of town for some conference. It was fun for everyone. It’s really a good bonding.

Seeing the kids on Facebook now really makes me happy. They’re all successful kids. I’m so proud for all of them. So thankful of the Facebook. I’ve been hooking up with all of them. So happy seeing all of them still so loving and so thoughtful.

To you our Best Neighbor Ever, I really missed you guys. Thank you so much for the friendship and the love. I do appreciate a lot what you guys did for me and Bob. I really treasure you guys forever. I love all of you!!!

Cheers!

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New show on E News Channel-Asia!

I was just surfing through our TV in search for a good show.  I stopped on one channel; 608 on our sky box, It’s the  E News Asia. On screen the teaser of their upcoming line-up for there month of June shows. I saw one of the famous families here in the Philippines. That Pinoy family will have a show on E News-Asia. That really surprised me that they’re going big in Asia. I just thought that there just big in the Philippines only. I guess I was wrong on that. LOL. Well, I think Filipinos will be proud of them being famous in Asia. The show called “It Takes Gutz To Be a Gutierrez“.

It Takes Gutz cast

It Takes Gutz cast

It takes Gutz to be a Gutierrez geared up similar towards “Keeping Up with The Kardashians” in the USA. That show’s been going for its 9th season.  My understanding from the one of the Gutierrez they will copy the Kardashians being family oriented people like they will be all together as family through ups and downs. But I don’t think the Gutierrez will copy the way the Kardashians dress up and behave in public like going to some events just wearing almost nothing. Few stars did that and they were criticized badly. I think Filipinos are still not so open yet to wearing almost nothing in public. Thank God for that. Luckily few girls on the Gutierrez clan compared to the Kardashian clan. I guess the viewers can compare the Asian reality TV family life to the West reality TV family life. It’s really similar because the matriarch woman, she’s a momager to her husband and her kids and other famous stars here in the Philippines.

One of the big thing that came out on the first pilot of the It Takes Gutz, one of the main guy there ( he’s a big actor here in the Philippines), he announced that he and his girlfriend already had a love child that they keep from the public for over a year. We’ll see what the people think of that, him being so famous with the girls, would they still follow him? Are they going to be criticized having a child out of wedlock? We’ll see in a few months I guess on that.

Honestly, it’s so common nowadays to have kids without marriage. Even the momager she wants that her son should just live-in together for awhile first with his girlfriend before getting married. I can see her points on that since it’s hard to get an annulment here in the Philippines. It took forever for her oldest daughter to get one from her Turkish husband. Geez, now you guys are confused who these people that I’m talking about. Ha ha ha… I do encouraged you to watch the show “IT TAKES GUTZ TO BE A GUTIERREZ” every Sunday 9:30 pm. I saw part of the first episode and it’s a bit slow, I think because it’s new to them. Give them time to adjust to having people follow them around. My daughter and nieces keeping up with that and they will just tell me what’s going on. :-)

I hardly watch local TV shows, I’m not a soap opera fanatic. I just know that there’s new soap because I saw on my news feed o my FB wall. At first I don’t know what my friends were talking about until I asked my niece or my daughter. Ha ha ha. They know better than me. If it’s cooking shows or building shows I’m in for it. LOL. You know what I mean. I like the cooking show mostly in US (Top Chef) & Australia (My Kitchen Rules/MKR) when it comes to cooking competition. Any cooking shows that interest me , I’m going to watch it. Then I’m so into the new show from Australia “House Rules”. I also like decorations and renovation shows like “Treehouse Master”, “Flipping Out” and others.

Have fun watching your show. Cheers!

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My homemade “Pita Bread”!

I am writing about a simple recipe that I thought before was harder to make. I was wrong on that though.

Bob got a recipe and immediately me and Jean tackle it.

I try to buy a good active yeast and put the rest in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator, but I often find that the yeast here in the Philippines is already dead, or just not working very well.

 

We used to buy Pita Bread at our local SM Mall, but they have been “out of stock” for a long time, so Bob asked me to make some to satisfy his craving!

Pita bread can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Anyway here’s the recipe for the pita bread.

Pita Bread Recipe:

 

A few homemade Pita Breads

A few homemade Pita Breads

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water ( make it warm not boiling, on my water I just put in the microwave for 30-35 seconds)
  • 2 teaspoon active dry yeast (hard to find good yeast in the Philippines that last longer in the fridge, so I put 3 teaspoon)
  • 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour ( the other 1/2 cup use it when kneading the flour)
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil

Procedure:

  1. Put the 3 teaspoon yeast to a mixing bowl, put the warm water with the yeast. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes until you see the yeast dissolved. Add the flour, together with the salt and the olive oil. Mix it together until it formed into a dough.
  2. Sprinkle the clean surface of your counter with the flour and put your dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until the dough become smooth. While kneading you might have to add more flour for the dough not to stick with your hands and the counter.
  3. Put some olive oil to the mixing bowl, the one you used to mix all the ingredients. Put the kneaded dough there, put some oil on top of the dough. Cover it with clean cloth or cling wrap. I used cling wrap. Let the dough rise until its almost doubled when you originally put in the bowl. Approximately an hour to 2 hours.
  4. After the dough was rising, gently deflate the dough  and divide the though into 8 equal parts. Put all the dough again on the floured surface.
  5. Use a floured rolling pin, roll one of the pieces into a circle like 8 inches to 9 inches wide about almost quarter of inches in thickness. Keep turning and lifting dough as you roll the dough. Make sure the dough is not sticking on the counter. Sprinkle flour if its sticking.
  6. When cooking the dough, I put like a tablespoon of oil in the skillet in medium heat. Lower the heat if necessary. When it’s hot, drop the rolled dough and turn the dough every 3 to 5 seconds. Keep doing it until the dough is done. Keep an eye it gets burn easy. Just eyeball  the pita if its done cooking or to your liking.
  7. Let it coll in a plate and cut it in half with scissors. Open the inside of the pita and you can put anything you like. For us we like to put salad inside or some meatballs or some ham.
Sandwich on Pita

Sandwich on Pita

***I just used a small amount from the dough, so I just got one or 2 like an almost the size of tennis ball and keep the rest in the fridge. If you don’t use all the dough, wrap the one that you are not using in a cling wrap and put it in an air tight container. Put it on the fridge until the next time you use it. Pita can be in the fridge for one week.***

Good luck everyone and have fun cooking!

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