Terence’s take on it

So we’ve been here in the Philippines for 2 weeks. It’s been surreal. It was great of my Tita to come home and meet us. She is the matriarch of the Nava family at 85. She has graciously allowed for us to stay at her condo. I appreciate her and her all the historical information she has on my family.

So what have we been doing. Pretty much going to out eat it. There is a reason why Filipinos are know of their food, cause it’s pretty damn good. Been hitting up a bunch of malls to see family, which is btw a Philippines past time. You can pretty much get all your household goods, appliances, and groceries at a mall. Along with other normal mall stuff.

I’ve also been working. I’ve been keeping a 9pm to whenever I get done hours. It will change slightly when I get back in August. Time adjustment was a little difficult cause I had to add work in there. Also the first week seemed like we were going and going. Did I say my mom is here too? She’s was going and going and of course I tagged along too.

Since the we moved into the van in 2018 my workout regime and bike riding went way down. I put on a little bit of weight. So about 2-3 weeks before our move I decided I would do a full marathon. Why? Cause I can. Haha. My buddy Joe did a full iron man in which he did his 1st full marathon. I figured if he could do it, my fat self could do too. Since then I’m sure I’ve dropped some weight with running, the heat, and the heat. Did I tell you about the heat. It’s hot and muggy I love it.

So we got here then Almie and Tara left for Greece like 5 days later. They sure have had a kick ass time. It was Tara’s graduation present as well as her 18th bday present. What sucks is their flight to and back to PHI were changed. I leave Tuesday back to Seattle at 11:30 pm and they arrive at 800pm. They were supposed to arrive in the morning. So I haven’t seen them for 11 days and won’t likely see them till late July.

Terence why in your right mind would you leave your family for a month at time? Moving to the Philippines was a choice Almie and I made for a few reasons.

1) I don’t want to live with regret. The door was open for us to move. I would hate 10-20-30 years down the road for me to say damn I wish we would have moved.

2) The cost of living here is very very low compared to the US. I want to use this time to save as much money as I can. This is part of the 8 (now 7) year plan. When I’m 50 I want to bank enough loot to be able to decide to work or not. To not have to work, but to choose it. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my current job. They have allowed me this opportunity. The work is good and it suits me.

3) I missed growing up here. My mom made a hard choice after my birth father died. I want my kids to get a chance at “living Filipino”. For them to experience the culture, the food, the traffic <–I’ll save that for another day.

No pictures on this post because I pretty much didn’t use my phone while out because I didn’t have a load. Plus it got me to be in the moment while being out with family.