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A Senior Comes To Paradise

Part I

Every Paradise has snakes and bad fruit so what !

I post this because my short time in RP touches on many of threads that have been related in LinP3. But this is my experience and is not necessarily representative or presented as such.

I am a senior as defined by my chronological age of 84. I was struck by a thread sometime ago about transporting elderly to RP. There were no comments from the so called elderly only about. I recognize the transposition of age groups when we old farts fall into the senior category. Children become the authoritative, managers of the parents. I decided as a last gasp of independence to make a life changing decision by myself and for myself!!

At the time I was living in a Retirement Community with about 200 residents. I paid $2300 per month for a one bedroom apt. three meals daily, limited transport and entertainment.

While there, I indulged my digital photography hobby and bought a good SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera's took thousands of pictures of the old folks during my two and half years, especially when there were family visits. Thus my announcement to leave was very unpopular., I must confess that my decision to move to RP was met with shocked disbelief! So much for senior enthusiasm for a RP move. But none had the advantage of my research.

I had discovered the brilliantly comprehensive
http://www.livinginthephilippines.com

I then corresponded with its' author, Don H, Bob S, and several others who were very helpful I am very thankful to them. All encouraged me to make a visit. I joined this LinP3 digest and read and saved, then I decided I had enough information to make a finaldecision. I am a retiree of United States' federal service, a fortiori, living on a fixed income.

I decided to outsource my quality of life. I would move to the Philippines!!! Outsourcing to maximize benefits is not uncommon in our industrial democracy, therefore I reject out of hand those who are critical of expats who have come here because their dollars gain value. Haven't most of us? That was not the only reason. I had dreams of beach front living and opportunities to take pictures of idyllic scenes of mountains kissing the sea and shapely bikini clad golden bodies.

I have four grown children with successful career They are very protective of me, especially from myself. On June 5th,2004, the day before my birthday, I told my very responsible oldest son, an executive with NASA, my decision. I did not ask his permission or opinion,

His initial reaction: "Dad, how long will it take me to talk some sense into you? "In other words:"

Are you out of your cotton-pickin' mind!!!"

Bear in mind that on Nov. 7th without his knowledge but with the support of my commercial airlines pilot ,former marine fighter pilot, second son, I did a sky dive.

I was prepared for son's reaction. I handed him a folder of excerpts from the digest and a link to the website. That was the last time he raised an objection.

A week later, he told me of a work colleague married to a Filipina who suggested that I move to Iloilo where her family is. I agreed.

My son then became project manager of my move which I never would have accomplished

without his hours of sorting, distributing, trashing, storing and arranging of affairs. I am a packrat. My second son loves to entertain with stories about my resisting discards by insisting on the historical value of a certain paper clip.

Then number one son bought business class tickets on PAL for me and him. We are big men. My second son helped out when not flying. My only contribution was the decision.

He arranged a limousine to collect me and many bags to go to San Francisco airport. When we checked in we knew we had excess baggage.

The first surprise PAL waived the excess baggage fee !! The flight was uneventful until we left Honolulu for Manila.

The second surprise: three hours out, the pilot announced we would have to return to Honolulu because of a medical emergency. We were concerned because a nursing mother was the emergency and our Filipina wife of my son's colleague had decided to take the same flight with us. She is a nursing mother but to our relief, she was not the emergency.

The third surprise: The flight took 22 hours ! I asked one of the charming flight attendants about crew change. There was none and would not be, thus I learned first hand the effects of brain drain in the Philippines. Of course, I had considerable concern about the alert health of the pilots. They should not be subjected to this especially when I am on board ! lol

Fourth surprise: At the airport in Manila, we stayed close to our Filipina. Son had ordered wheel chair for me, although at that time I did not think I needed one. Actually, I was grateful. I was wheeled furiously to the domestic terminal and when I expressed concern
about customs was told everything was taken care of. However, when we arrived in Iloilo, there were no bags! AHA !! customs !! The next morning bags arrived and there was NO evidence of custom examination !!!

Fifth surprise: This was more dumb oversight than surprise. I was taking considerable medication about nine pills daily . During the trip I had neglected to take any medicine for about 30 hours. Consequently, the second day in country I was hospitalized.

Sixth surprise: My new adoptive family had met us at the airport. The second day we went on an unsuccessful house hunt-still no medicine. The next day the `family' produced a doctor for me and he immediately ordered me into the hospital. Two members of the family moved into my private room and stayed 24/7. Nurses brought doctor's orders to them and they, my new caregiver/companions procured cash from my son and bought the medicines or paid for the tests. Throughout the night I could not move without someone at my bedside. I played a game of sneaking out of bed without awakening them to go to the bathroom ("CR" for the learned here). I succeeded in fooling them only one time, the last day. About the hospital, if fully supported the popular impression of hospital bad food with the added twist. It was always cold. I could not eat it. On the other hand, the nursing staff was always warm and pleasant. In no way did they support the experience reported, of sullen inefficiency. In spite of that, I am not anxious to repeat the experience.

When the doctor finally discharged me, I had a party for the family. The family arranged it and I was overwhelmed with extent of this family. A disc jockey, music and food - endless food for a joyous horde! This was impressive for me because I grew up in foster homes without a mother and father. It seems as though I inherited a family. Party cost $300.00.

So ended my first week in Paradise.

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