Expat Meme

From Heidelbergerin


5) Name five things you love in your new country:

1. Being able to wear what I want/ Fashion. Love the clothes!

2. To be able to walk around/bike around without being assaulted by pollution, noise, and traffic

3. The honesty of the people

4. Things get delivered/done when and as promised.

5. The Autobahn! Cheese! Bread! Cold cuts!

4) Name four things that you miss from your native country:

1. Malls! Mall of Asia, Megamall, Glorietta, Greenbelt.

2. People are friendlier in the Philippines.

3. Shops are open from 10 am to 10 pm, even on a Sunday!/Midnight Madness sales/Really cheap Chinese shit. There's also a lot of Chinese crap here but they're more expensive.

4. Filipino culture/Filipino Christmas/Filipino Food/Filipino weather/Filipino beaches/My Makati life/My family

3) Name three things that annoy you a bit (or much) in your new country:

1. Everything is so expensive, double or triple the price compared to the Philippines

2. The obsession over privacy. I understand it, but sometimes it gets too much. Being a Filipino, I have a much looser sense of personal space. When I first got here, I had to ask Barb's permission to enter her living room (because it was "her" living room)

3. Power-tripping inflexible government workers.

2) Name two things that surprise you (or surprised you in the beginning) in your new country:

1. They eat raw pork!!!!

2. They allow their children to roll around in the dirt! And clean them up later when they're really, really filthy. Filipino mothers watch over their children like hawks. Kids can't play outside unless their backs are caked with baby powder, with a small towel placed under the backside of their shirts. Pag pawis na, hala! Habol! May dala nang basang bimpo at kailangang punasan ang mukha!

1) Name one thing that you would miss terribly in your new country, if you had to leave it.

1. The lack of social hierarchies. Angela Merkel and the jobless single mother have equal rights.

I would encourage anybody living abroad to answer! What do you like/dislike about your new country?