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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 final
decision. 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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