As an expat who retired to the Philippines, I sometimes find things interesting, strange, funny, or just worth noting. Yeah maybe this is my marites memo area.
I will try to just keep this to light humor and fun. I don’t wish to offend anyone and sometimes it is calming when I can laugh at something vice getting upset about it. Hopefully you think of those things I post here in that way, just for fun. There are plenty of things about the USA or other countries that might offend people there too. I hope it doesn’t offend, sometimes I laugh when I just bring an observation to the forefront. Again, no offense intended.
Another interest of mine is culture, history, and traditions of the Philippines. Living here sure helps experiencing those things that much easier.
Language
If you are like me maybe your grasp of the language is still developing, well I dont actually learn much. This has been a major issue for me. I might try posting some blog stuff using Bisaya, but I want to do it for me to learn NOT for me to teach.
And about the Philippine language, there isn’t ONE. In my area they mostly speak Bisaya, in my house, there is Bisaya, Tagalog, slang, Marites, Yaw Yaw, and talking with a mouth full of food(that is another language, believe me). Oh and another fun thing is that the TV is almost 100% Tagalog, but then again on TV they can talk and 3% of the words are in English, but maybe Spanish numbers.
I am not kidding, I have learned other languages, but this one wow. Did I mention there aren’t really books to teach Bisaya, the local dialect spoken in many places here in the East-central Visayas.
People say that in the Philippines everybody speaks some English. Yeah, good luck with that. Go to a family event and listen for English. Maybe a birthday party, nope, no Englih there either.
Sure, go to a restaurant and maybe a younger person speaks enough English to make ordering food easy. That is NOT living here. Talking to a Filipino when they are working is quite different than talking with filipinos while they are living a normal life, especially in the province.
Philippines blog posts
- Philippine languages
Philippine languages are many and varied ones. I dont even wish to get into the diversity of language or dialects to be honest. Let’s just agree that the language you may need to be good in, may not be Tagalog. I’m living in the central VIsayas region and more specifically on the island of Cebu.… Read more: Philippine languages - Rainfall in the Visayas
I remember checking the annual rainfall chart and seeing the seasonal variance between the Feb-May and the other part of the year. We went to asian countries and basically experienced little to no rain while traveling. A pretty good thing for the trip, but not for the garden we left behind. Summer in the Visayas… Read more: Rainfall in the Visayas - Singapore travel
Singapore travel: I guess I am going to try and cover our Singapore trip in a mostly chronological way. So the blog posts are just going by timeline and the content is based on what we decided to do each day. March 18 – March 22, 2026 Getting there Our trip began on the 18th… Read more: Singapore travel - Compostela Public Market, NEW!
I went to the NEW Compostela Public Market today. It is really going to be a amazing space in the very near future. The Compostela Public Market is now operational and beginning to see some businesses move in. It was built in the Seafront Reclamation Area and there will be more to come here in… Read more: Compostela Public Market, NEW! - The Prosperity Bowl
This is a prosperity bowl
