Kumusta to everyone!

[South-east boy]

Well hi to everyone on here! I joined this forum several days ago and have read quite a few threads/topics which I've found very interesting. There seems to be quite a few friendly and helpful peolple around here which is great. I wish I'd joined a while ago but didn't know of it then. Thought I'd better say hello before I started posting on here! Am sorry if this turns out to be rather long and boring!

Anyway, my name's Tim, and I live near Maidstone in Kent and work as a Technical designer for an upmarket interior furniture company in Tunbridge Wells.

So how did I come to join this site? Well last year I was seeing a Filipina for a few months and it started out great, but sadly in the end she said that she didn't want a relationship. I was quite hurt at first, I have realized that she wasn't for me and we now chat again as friends. Since then I've chatted to a few Filipinas who live over here & in Phils, some briefly (including one who asked for money in our first chat!) and some for longer who I've made friends with & chat with now & again. I've also met up with a couple bit we didn't really 'click'.

I have been in contact with Suzie who lives in Mandaue city, near Cebu for nearly 6 months now. She's nearly 25 and is a senior teacher at a language school that teaches English to Japanese and Korean students. I was ideally looking for someone in the UK as of course it would be a lot more practical, but from day one she has always been interested, makes an effort and is so sweet & caring that I couldn't but help write to her. Of course by now we have been emailing and chatting on Yahoo a lot, also on webcam + texting & chatting on the phone, although she is still getting used to my English accent as she is used to the American English accent! We do have a bit of a laugh when I have to repeat myself a few times so she can understand what I'm saying! she comes from a large family -13 brothers & sisters (can anyone beat that?!) and is no.7 in line.

Sadly her dad passed away about 6 weeks ago, so now things are even harder she is also doing some private English tuition to her students in the evenings to bring in more money for the family. It's also harder for her to use the PC at the school (there's only 3 anyway) as she now has more students to teach than earlier in the year and as well as the extra work in the evenings, her younger siblings need to use the home PC for their studies. As you know the time difference doesn't make it easy to chat to each other, but luckily I have Yahoo on my mobile phone and as I'm mostly signed in, if she has some time when she is able to be on a PC, then we will chat. She has mentioned about coming to the UK to work, but after reading on here and the Home office website, I can't see a way for her to be able to do that.

So there you go, that's my bit about me and sorry for having gone on a bit! :D

[liane]

Hi Tim, Welcome to the forum:Hellooo::Hellooo::Hellooo:
Thank you for sharing something about yourself and I hope you'll enjoy being a part of this friendly forum:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Sophie]

Welcome to the forum tim and thanks for sharing you story, hopefully things will work out for the best with suzie in the future :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Mrs Daddy]

welcome here:)

[Sim11UK]

Hi good that you joined up here. :Hellooo:

I think your next step, would be to book a flight & get over there & visit her.
If you have some time & can afford it, it's the natural progression.
She'll love it, when you can confirm a date & tell her you are coming.

Good luck! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[September]

Interesting intro,dont say its boring i wish you good luck,asking how she can come here ? marry her or push thru the relationship then...

[girl england]

Hi Tim, Welcome to the forum

[Florge]

welocome to the forum Tim! hmmm... sounds like you are getting serious with suzzy? well, whatever the outcome would be, I wish you goos luck and enjy every moment of it.

[Arthur Little]

:Hellooo: Welcome, Tim from the South East. Thankyou for sharing your *story with us. :Erm: You seemed concerned that *it might appear "long and boring". :rolleyes: Hmm ... on the contrary, I think it's rather interesting, actually! And your having struck-up an online friendship with Suzie [who comes across as being a really nice girl] is the 'icing on the cake', as it were.

Good luck to you both!! :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[whiteraven]

your intro makes a pleasant change from "hi im new here" and thats all we hear from them again:D methinks we will hear a lot more of this developing relationship in the future. welcome to the forum:Hellooo::Hellooo:

[lavander]

Hi Tim,

a very warmth welcome to you... a good start for your 1st post...
do take note that will be expecting more post from you.... :D..

keep it going and goodluck!

[South-east boy]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! Just seen that the spacing in my message has gone weird! Guess it was because I typed it on my phone and was unable to see all of it properly. Are you unable to edit your own post until you have made more posts?:Erm:

I'd love to go and see Suzie asap, but the economy/recession has affected me quite a bit over the last year. I had to get a new mortgage in summer 2008 when the interest rates were high and I took the advice or mortgage advisors in getting a fixed rate, which turned out to be the wrong advice when a couple of months later the government started reducing the interest rates time & time again! :rolleyes: The difference between what I have been paying and what I could have paid a few months later with better rates over the last year would have paid for a decent holiday to Cebu!

Also at work I have had 28% of the bonuses that I had during the same period last year, have had no overtime whatsoever, no salary review and they changed pay dates so we had to work 2 extra weeks compared to normal before being paid. I had major expense with a car as well, so all these things together would have paid for at least 3 decent holidays to Phils. :bigcry: Just so frustrating (& gets me down if I think about it too much) that all these things have happened just when I really didn't need them to, but I guess at least I still have a job. For the moment, the only things that I can do that will help is looking for another job and also get on with with renovating/DIY on my place so I can get a lodger in.

The main reason why Suzie said about coming here to work was so that she would be able to earn a better wage to support her family back home (which is quite an immediate need since her father passed away and things not being easy). Of course it would have the added bonus of us being near to each other, but as I said before, I can't see that it would be possible for her to come here to work in the very near future since the government have cracked down on immigration and the economy/recession has got worse.

I just hope that we pull out of the recession soon! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Ji&Ma]

Hi Tim, welcome in here :Hellooo:
No worries about your situation - sooner or later you will be able to make that crucial trip to Philippines.

Then you will be lost as majority of us in here is...

...eyes, those eyes... ;) :D :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[whiteraven]

im afraid there is no going back now the addiction is worse than heroin :Cuckoo:

[darren-b]

The main reason why Suzie said about coming here to work was so that she would be able to earn a better wage to support her family back home (which is quite an immediate need since her father passed away and things not being easy). Of course it would have the added bonus of us being near to each other, but as I said before, I can't see that it would be possible for her to come here to work in the very near future since the government have cracked down on immigration and the economy/recession has got worse.


You don't have to explain the reasons for wanting to work in the UK on here :)

Unless whe meets the requirements for a tier 1 visa (an open work visa) which not many filipinos working in the Philippines do, she would need to find an agency in the Philippines recruiting for a UK company. But as language teachers do not appear on the UK shortage list it's unlikely that she will able to get a suitable job through that route. Unfortunately recession or no recession I can't see it becoming easy for a non-EU citizen to get a work visa for the UK for a long time (if ever).

Obviously there is one way she can work unrestricted in the UK, but you need to go out there and meet her first :)

[simplyxiao]

hi, welcome to the forum :)