When the weight of social realities, irritating cultural quirks, and all the other assorted nonsense becomes heavy enough to dull the shine of your new homeland, you inevitably begin to wrestle with fundamental questions about integration. After living long enough outside the enchanted bubble of the Western world, everyone eventually experiences moments of pure frustration…
Tag Archives: Education
In the previous post, I listed the most common (yet often completely wrong) stereotypes about the Philippines and Filipinos. But that was only half the story. So here’s the rest – another five stubborn misconceptions that sometimes contain a grain of truth but collapse like a poorly built sandcastle when applied to an entire nation…
Is the Philippines truly a place where you can live like a “king” on a thousand dollars a month? Is it inherently dangerous? Is every Filipino genuinely happy, all the time? Many of the assumptions Westerners hold about the country – its cost of living, safety, or the nature of its people – are due…


