A lot of conversations and disscussions here revolve around expats coming to Dumaguete or the Philippines and discovering it is not like back home. Subsequently, some at least, start complaining as if it were a right of theirs to demand service and infrastructure as it existed back home in Kansas or where ever.
OK so I will start a list of things that are not like Europe or the U.S. Maybe this will be of some use to future expats wondering what life is like here and instill some tolerance in them... before they arrive and see a different culture with very different priorities and customs.
please add your own, and humor works wonders.
You know you live in Dumaguete if:
They turn the electricity off on Sundays to fix the tangled lines
advertised broadband is often dial up speed
there are no traffic lights
They turn off the electricity any time they want, especially during elections
rainy season ends in December, unless it is typhoon season
the dry season is when it is not raining
ATM's issue 500 Peso notes... no one in town has change for these
there are 2500 tricycles in town, at 4PM they are all on Perdices street...
If you stop to ask directions, often you get pursed lips and a pointing arm, that means far in the general direction of the point. prepare to ask 5 more people.