• We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

My move to the Philippines

They are definitely made to different standards.
The Philippines bathroom has tile walls and floors with a drain as so much water hits the floor.
The American one while spacious, has linoleum floors, no drain, pressed wood cabinet.
When I build my house here I will combine the two.
More spacious with the tile walls and floor, with a drain. Have a tub and separate shower.
 
I was at an airport once and they had a variety of toilets to choose from. I tried the squat style one just for the novelty, it was a modern type with a flush and spotlessly clean. Besides having to entirely take off my jeans and underwear before doing what i had to do it all went well. I could imagine if you were constipated you could end up with very sore legs from squatting so long.
 
It's been awhile since I updated you all.

Nothing much exciting to report. Weather has been nicer, slightly cooler days and nights. More rain. Some days it feels almost the same as a springtime/summer rainy day in Portland.
Me and Cristine are doing great. Making wedding plans for about six months from now or there abouts.
Currently I am buying the things we need for a house. Houses, apartments her only come with the water fixtures. No appliances like stove, fridge etc. The house we are renting now has it all, but is more costly rent wise due to that. A brand new Samsung fridge is about 20,000 peso or $341 usd. Same for a 50in Samsung TV. Dinning set about 3500 peso, couch 5000 peso. After all the required bills I have about 15k pesos.
I have to keep an American phone number for incase Social Security needs to get ahold of me. Currently my line is $80 a month. Going to change to Mint due to it being only $15 a month. Have to get a new phone first though as mine is too old to support e-sim cards.

Christmas was a bit different than in the states. Generally they can't afford a tree and lights and all that. So they do this fancy setup with balloons.
 

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So the reasoning behind buying all these things is to either move into a cheaper rental. Because if you look around you can find decent places for 7 to 10k pesos a month or $119 to $170 usd. Currently I am spending 15k pesos or $256 a month on rent. Or after we are married I can do an Assume. Basically you take over a loan that been defaulted on from a bank owned house. But we foreigners can't own land here so we have to be married. As Cristine being a native born can. But the bank won't give the Assume to a person with no job, but if she has a foreigner husband they will. These houses could for example have started with a 10 year loan, maybe 7 years is paid already so you just pay the remainder off and the house it yours. This is what I want to do. We may have to extend the lease here for another six months to get all the things we need and do the wedding before we move.
 
Assume sounds like the way to go for sure. Glad to see you’re doing well. Keep us posted and congrats on the wedding plans. What a huge change from just a year ago
 
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