Nothing really! I was fortunate enough to be happily married to one for 24 years before being widowed in 1991 at the comparatively early age of 47. In the period since, I'd dated literally scores of British women (and, no, I'm not bragging ... honestly!) but never seemed to meet anyone who matched up to her standards ... until September 2007, when I began corresponding with a similarly bereaved Filipina lady from Mindanao, with whom I continued to communicate by email on a regular daily basis for a whole year - throughout which time, the "conversation" flowed naturally between us on all manner of topics. We soon discovered that we shared many of the same qualities, and steadily built up a good online relationship.
So much so, that I travelled out to the Phils last month to meet her. Each of us more than lived up to the other's expectations. Indeed, from the moment we first met in person at Davao International Airport, there were absolutely no feelings of "strangeness"; it was almost as if we'd known one another all our adult lives, and we spent a wonderful three weeks together.
In fact, I shall be returning to her homeland towards the end of November in order to at least partially fulfil our plans to marry - subject to her (hopefully) being granted a spousal visa to enable her to live with me in the UK. She is a highly intelligent lady of mature years, who has taught in a Government High School since the late 1980s, and would very much like to resume her teaching career (if this is possible) on coming over to Scotland.
Now, far from "condemning" the entire British female species, it has to be said that it's been a long, long time since I've experienced such unswerving loyalty and affection from another human being. Likewise, I don't mean to be critical of Western women but, yes, by and large, they could learn a lot from their Far Eastern counterparts.
