Life Style of an Expat. Teacher
We taught at the International School Manila for four years and decided to return to our home country, Canada. After spending two year in the home that we built, the opportunity to return to Manila arose and after considerable thought and debate, we decided to return to the international scene. One of the main reasons was the superior lifestyle that we could lead compared to life in Canada.
We love our lifestyle in Manila. After a hard day at work, you can return home and really relax and enjoy the abundance of leisure time that is available. This happens because we are able to hire a full-time helper who will take care of all the household chores. Really, back home in Canada, taking care of a home and family is a ‘second’ job that take time and energy.
For those who live a traditional North American or European life, try to imagine coming home from work to a clean house, with the laudry done, the beds made and best of all, a delicious dinner almost ready to be gobbled up. That is our typical day.
We live in an apartment with an infinity pool, so if we get home early enough from school, we might go for a swim before dinner. After dinner, there are no dishes or other chores to do. We take the time to help our kids with their homework, do some of our school work and then we have the rest of the evening to watch tv, read a book or go out to the movies.
It wonderful to be able to have so much time to choose the activities that I want to do. An added bonus is the fact that the cost of living in Manila is extremely reasonable. So, we have the time to do what we want and it doesn’t cost an arm or a leg.
Some of the best quality time is spent during our holidays. When it’s holiday time, the question is not, are you going anywhere, the question is, where are you going this time? We have a week off in October, three weeks at Christmas and and week in March for our holidays. During these breaks, we are either relaxing at a beach resort in the Philippines or immersing ourselves in a different culture in South East Asia. There are also weekend trips that we take throughout the year.
So far, we have experienced life in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Australia and Bali. We still have plans to visit other exotic countries. We budget for our travel and can still save a substantial amount of money that will probably go to our retirement account. If you love to travel, you’ll love this lifestyle.
There still a lot more I could tell you but this post is getting a little too long. If you want to know more, just ask. Have a good day! Mabuhay.
