Originally posted by ginapeterb@Feb 12 2006, 12:16 PM

Pauldo, said recently in one of his posts, that his wife and him and the children used to look out of the window at the grey weather, and the houses, and wonder why did they come back here to live in UK"

I thought there was something very true about what he said, as we look out of our window, we certainly wont starve today, we have food, as much as want, we have a nice family car, we have nice toys in the house, we are ok, we are not rich, but we have a comofortable lifestyle, but I can t help feeling, that for the Filipina emigrant, it may not be so much about having the comforts of sustenance and covering, but more about quality of life, better life and quality of life, just do not have the same meaning for me.
You're right, the sun makes a hell of a difference in the way our bodies feel. Once you've tasted it as an everyday certainty, it is just 'missing' when you move to the UK. I lived in Asia for thirteen years, and even started resenting the heat towards the end. When we moved to the UK I actually enjoyed the brisk chill of an early morning, rather than the gradual creeping sweat of a similar morning in the PI.

But, it didn't take long before the novelty wore off.

As for my wife, she is the one I felt sorry for, as I work away 6 out of every 12 weeks, so get chance to visit the sunny places, or just different places. She was the one stuck in the UK, no family, no friends, just my parents living nearby. It took maybe a year before she actually met any friends there. The first was an Indonesian girl, just a 100 yards down the road.

Now, nearly four years later, she knows about 20 Filipinos in just our small town alone. In fact, she has far more friends than I do. I know maybe a half dozen guys, and rarely see them. I'm often alone, but never lonely, whereas my wife is a Filipino, and they pine when they are alone, like a dog locked in a kennel. She always had our daughter for company, but conversation was limited.

My wife is at university studying nursing now, our daughter is in first year school, we also have my wifes mother living with us. Life is getting settled, but we still miss the sun, we miss the blue sky at 6am, the brightness of the afternoon, the dryness, the guarantee of warmth all day every day.

I'd love to move back to the PI, but simple logistics keep us in England for now: my wives uni, my daughters education, my job security, or lack of. If we moved back, and I lost my job, we'd be living on savings, for as long as it took to get more work, which might be a long time, in an industry that is being overrun, ironically, with young asian university graduates.

Nope, looks like we are stuck in the grey old UK for the foreseeable future.

But hey, summers coming :blink: :mellow: :mellow: :unsure: