To be an OFW -- What are the Tradeoffs?

[omad]

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As a result, I would recommend places like Southern Florida, Southern California and Hawaii. I would not recommend ANYWHERE in the Northeastern or Midwestern United States because the weather is very cold and depressing and generally everything is old and gloomy.

Southern Florida and Hawaii have the country's best weather from a Filipino perspective. Southern California is dry, not humid, and it can get a little chilly during the winter. Southern California very rarely gets as cold as your refrigerator; it never gets as cold as your freezer. Areas in the Northeast and Midwest get as cold as your freezer, in fact, colder, for months at a time. In addition, all the leaves fall off the trees, and the plants all die. Winter is extremely depressing even for me, and would be far worse for you.

California in general is an extraordinarily wealthy region. This means that prices and salaries are sky-high. A $90,000 salary in Silicon Valley or Los Angeles is barely enough for half-decent housing. I believe Hawaii is even worse. So South Florida, almost by default, seems like the best place for a Filipino. Housing is not ultra-expensive everywhere, and the weather is very similar to the Philippines. [br]_________________________________________________

Mr. Dennis, I'd like to welcome you in my country. I hope you'll cherish your experience there and most of all I wish you'd help us tell your friends about the Philippines.

Now back to topic: In a perfect world those states you mentioned: Florida, California and Hawaii are the most suitable places for Filipinos to live in the US because of the similar weather it offers to our countrymen. BUT before we all forget, OFWs are here in the US for work. Not R&R, leisure, enjoyment or anything else. WORK. So if you're an OFW leaving your country and looking for greener pastures you don't have the luxury of CHOOSING where you want to live. Your employer almost always have the last say where you'll be assigned in the first few years of your contract and you can't do anything about it. If we only have similar paying jobs in the Philippines, why would I leave in the first place? Florida and Hawaii are not Boracay, Bohol nor Palawan. Not even close. If you've been in the US for awhile and have saved money then that's the time you can choose wherever you wanna live in the US.

The Northeast and Midwest are really cold places but if you're a Filipino you can easily adapt to the climate, one good example, Pinoys in Alaska and Canada. Honestly, I've never experienced "depression" let alone experienced it back home but I've heard about that word when I first arrived here. But it would only take a couple of new-found Filipino friends to take "depression" away from Filipinos. Just a couple bottles of beer, magic sing and some funny jokes then we're all good. Specially if you're just a minimum wage earner back home, adjusting to a new place where you earn a little extra is incentive already. There's a lot of job opportunities for Filipinos who are not in the medical and IT field in New York and Chicago. That's the reason why the bulk of the Filipino population are located in the Northeast. That's proof enough that weather is not a problem with Filipino OFWs.

[omad]

If you're used to having easy access to beaches and the water in the Philippines, you will hate the USA. Beach areas in urbanized areas are bone-crunchingly expensive. Newport Beach, California, for example, has very little housing under $1,000,000 (P40,000,000). Even humble Venice, a slum 10 years ago, starts at $795,000. In both cases these are for homes fairly far from the beach. A house right on the water in Newport Beach costs from $3,500,000 to $15,000,000! [br]_________________________________________________

Like I said in my previous post it would be well and dandy if Filipinos could live in Venice Beach, Newport Beach or Malibu Beach in CA. but not all of the OFWs are doctors or have high paying jobs to afford buying homes there, so those places are out of the question. It's really simple when you talk about those million dollar homes, if you can't afford it why bother? There are really good places to live in the US anyway with real estate at $200,000 for a 5 bedroom, 2 story, 2 car garage house. Just like I said, most OFWs are in the US for work, not leisure and relaxation. We have an option to go home annually for vacations anyway so why bother working your tail-off just to pay for mortgage of an ultra expensive house on a beach in the US? Most Filipino families are buying decent homes in the US BUT saving enough money to buy their dream beach-front homes in the Philippines. Almost all OFWs plan to come back to the Phil and retire there anyway so we'd rather have a beach house in the Phil than in Cali. Going back home is priceless. No beach in California, Florida or Hawaii can replace the feeling when you're in a resort in Mactan enjoying the sun with the whole family.

[David Dennis]

@Cebu1029

Thank you for your kind words.

To be honest, I was a bit shocked at the cost of places like the Cebu International School - I remember it seemed very expensive compared to what I would think their costs would be. So no, I would not suggest sending Filipinos to Taipan school as a practical plan.

What I would think of as worthwhile, though, is if a private group donated time and expertise to an informal institution that offered education on business to people interested in learning. You could have something on the order of a week-long program that would teach the basics of business yo anyone interested.

I'm sure you could poke holes in this idea and I present it as just food for thought.

My Internet access is down and so I'm tapping this reply out on my iPhone. I will take a look at the longer responses tomorrow. Thanks again for all of them!

[Ferl]

Basta naa na ka'y mga anak? You'd do everything to give them a comfortable life. Basta just make sure you communicate with them, usa na sa pagkuwang ang presence nimo but as long as maayo ang gibinlan nila, you'll get by. Just make sure you go home pud. Ingna nuon, what about those filipinos let's say who come to the US then mag illegal? Goodness, abtan ug 8, 10 years before makauli makakita sa lang mga anak. Kana pud, di na pud ko uyon ana. Daku na na nga butang nga wala ka sa imong mga anak and they deserve your presence at least bisa'g kausa sa duha ka tuig pero ug abtan pud ug napu ka tuig, abandonment naman na. Doesn't matter pila pa nang kwarta imong pada.

ana man jud ang maningkamot bay. maayo gani US na inyo how about if you are in the middle east. the risk is very high but sticking to the subject i gues what you are sacrificing if you are an OFW is the PRESENCE and RELATIONSHIP. tinuod gyud ni dili kabayrana ang mga adlaw nga makita nimo ang imo family ug ang imong anak.

[David Dennis]

Omad, I thank you for your kind words and warm welcome, one of the things I appreciate the most about the culture of the Philippines.

We were basically talking about what the tradeoffs were between becoming an OFW and making money, and a life of poverty but emotional richness in the Philippines. Many OFWs who have spoken here are obviously unhappy with their lives in the US.

When a prospective OFW makes the decision to research possible new positions, I simply believe that they should be aware of where they would be moving, and of all the possible opportunities out there, they should consider accepting the one with the climate and environment most congenial to them. My guess was that many OFWs are not aware, or do not think about what their prospective destination is like. I think that with more knowledge of this information, they could make better and more informed decisions of where they want to live.

And I agree, a Filipino would never buy a $3 million house, but I was pointing out that the real estate market is amazingly different and life is very expensive in the USA overall. I think it's worth noting that if they hear they're going to make US$50,000, which is millions of pesos, that will not enable them to live as though they had millions of pesos back in the Philippines, and they will not be able to send nearly all of that back.

OFWs cannot choose their jobs, no, but they can choose their recruiters, correct? I would think that just selecting a recruiter specializing in jobs in a desirable region of the USA, instead of picking the first recruiter they talked to, would be valuable.

Miami is not Boracay and it's not time spent with your wonderful family. But I think it is still offers a nicer life for most Filipinos than Anchorage. I don't think pointing that out is a bad thing.

D

[DEMONOCIETY]

if not OFW think about earning peso5k or peso10k per month mabuhi kaha ka ana? samot nag naay pamilya? GATAS para sa imong anak pwerting mahala dong! your dream house is IMPOSSIBLE! so no choice abroad na lang

[rishee]

I am annoyed.. hehehe..

ubber long replies.. I lost my glasses and I am virually blind...

People complain a lot about everything these days, and that includes me.

People are never contented and that is in nature as well. Also, to get away from being guilty of doing anything wrong, people blame other people for all bad things in life.


This doesn't only happen in the Philippines, am I correct?

People are everywhere.

Anyway, I don't care about the government, but I talk about them twice a month when I get my payslips and see how much taxes I pay. I get over it after an hour anyway. I hope you guys feel that way too so I don't feel weird.

Being an OFW is.. cool and uncool in so many ways.. Its cool to talk about how...

[David Dennis]

I don't think you can say people are never contented. For example, I am sure there are many people who never really aspired to great fame or fortune, who have steady jobs and who are contented enjoying their social lives as they are, with the center of their lives not being work at all. I'm sure many of those people are in the Philippines.

And I think Mr Gokongwei of J G Summit is a happy person. Not because of his vast fortune or accomplishments, but because he's figured out that what he really loves to do is found companies and make them work, and he's performing that work at this very second.

I think economic success on the whole increases contentment. But only to a certain point. Super-success is often driven by unhealthy comparisons with other people that create a drive that can never be satisfied. But there is no question for someone like me that if I have enough money to buy essentials of civilized life like a Nikon D300, a new MacBook Pro 17" and a few odds and ends, my happiness does increase.

My understanding is that being discontented with your situation and blaming others for it is indeed a universal trait, that exists everywhere, especially in politics. However, I think it's harder for Filipinos to look beyond that and understand how things could be changed in order to improve the situation. Consider an unemployed Filipino who's sitting at a bar griping about his situation. It may not be his fault that he can't get a job, but it's far easier for him to change himself than to expect the entire Philppines to change on his behalf.

So first, breathe a sigh of relief. You are not alone, and your thoughts are not uniquely Filipino. But being Filipino may make it more difficult for you to overcome your feelings and do something great with your life.

And if you do find something is your fault after examining it, correct it but don't make a big fuss out of it. We are all entitled to plenty of mistakes, because to err is human. But to fix our mistakes and move on ... that's what makes us heroes in our own lives.

D

PS The solution for your problem with your payslips might be not to look at them, unless the amount on the check changes significantly. Does Filipino law offer tax advantages to home buyers like it does in the USA? When I lived in California, I was able to virtually eliminate taxes by buying my home. Most of the money used for taxes went to pay my mortgage.

[Ferl]

if not OFW think about earning peso5k or peso10k per month mabuhi kaha ka ana? samot nag naay pamilya? GATAS para sa imong anak pwerting mahala dong! your dream house is IMPOSSIBLE! so no choice abroad na lang

sakto ka bay. pang ulitawo lang na nga range pero maski ulitawo maglisod gani kay maghatagan pa man sa ginikanan ug mga igsoon nga nag iskuwela. pero ang ubang bilib ko kay ka survive man pero mao lagi grabeng paningkamot sad mao na ila ingon diskarte lagi kuno bay.

[DEMONOCIETY]

sakto ka bay. pang ulitawo lang na nga range pero maski ulitawo maglisod gani kay maghatagan pa man sa ginikanan ug mga igsoon nga nag iskuwela. pero ang ubang bilib ko kay ka survive man pero mao lagi grabeng paningkamot sad mao na ila ingon diskarte lagi kuno bay.

mao lagi kanang mga dili ofw sa ato lupigon lang sa stambay ky ang mga stambay mabuhi ra mani cla magmintinar rag hantak kadaadlaw unya paniudto ug panihapon dukot/bahaw! y sud-anay mao na ang daily life nila kung partig pinuy-anan y blema basta naa ly kapasilongan para d lang mabasa sa uwan ok na