Will be in Manila next week

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BigDug
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Will be in Manila next week

Post by BigDug »

I'm heading there to check out some of the colleges. I'm going to try to figure out where I want to go to school, and The Philippines offers me an opportunity to make the military housing allowance for overseas schools ($1300 a month) and go to a fairly good school. Since $1300 is more than enough to live in The Philippines, it will offer me the ability to not touch my retirement pension and end up with at least $60k after my education is complete.

My goal is to get a degree in education (science or math), get an education cert back home (Florida), then pursue work in International Schools for my second career. Along the way I will take the month or so and get a CETLA or TEFL cert to help my chances, not that a regular ESL job is what I'm seeking, but I think having that on the resume is a good thing for International Teaching in general.

I don't need big bucks in my next job. I have zero debt and will have a $20k a year pension coming in that I don't want to touch...so as long as the job allows me to live, the savings will take care of themselves. Never been married and no children, so still...no debt or baggage.

I'm going to visit The Philippines to really get a sense of what it's like. I can't really make my final decision without setting foot in the country I'm thinking of living for 3-4 years. Hopefully I can meet up with a couple of you who are still living out there while I'm visiting. I'll be there for about 2 weeks total. I'm not sure yet if I will also visit Silliman campus in Dumaguete City as that would involve another flight...but I may if it would be a much better place to live than Manila.

I'll have to weigh all my options after my visit as well. I have a ton of "credits" on my Navy transcript due to my job and Navy schools, so if an American college is willing to give me a ton of legit college credits for that, it may sway me back to a home education as well.

Any advice for my visit?
filipina
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Re: Will be in Manila next week

Post by filipina »

hello,

I tried going to college in Manila but I backed out since I don't like the big city life, it was for me a very stressful place to live and study. I chose Silliman University instead because Dumaguete is a very peaceful city with still fresh air unlike Manila. Also the people in Dumaguete are way gentler than in Manila, aside from this, the cost of living expenses in Dumaguete is cheaper. I would suggest you go and visit Silliman even for a day. Good luck on your journey.
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Winston
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Post by Winston »

You should try out Cebu too. People say it's nicer than Manila. No one likes Manila it seems.

If you have a 20k a year pension coming, why do you even need to work or get a new career?
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BigDug
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Post by BigDug »

Winston wrote:You should try out Cebu too. People say it's nicer than Manila. No one likes Manila it seems.

If you have a 20k a year pension coming, why do you even need to work or get a new career?
I'm not so sure than 20K USD will continue to be worth what it does now. What happens when I only get 20 pesos per dollar?

I'm living in Japan right right now where we went from 120 yen per dollar to 75 yen per dollar in 10 years. My last trip to Singapore was nearly 1 for 1 when my trip before that was nearly 2:1 Singapore dollar to USD.

I've seen less Won, less Australian dollars, less Baht, etc than I had previously experienced. I'm afraid that slide isn't stopping.

I will try to make it down to check out Silliman too.
BigDug
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Joined: September 4th, 2011, 10:05 pm

Post by BigDug »

I'm here now. Posted in the trips section a quick post

If you are living anywhere close to Manila, I'd like to meet up. I'm buyin!
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