Living in Cebu

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Hi and welcome to Living in Cebu, a website offering information about Cebu City and Province. My name is Paul. I am an American who has lived in the Philippines, since 2002. I began visiting the Philippines in January of 1992.

I hope you find the information you seek here, as that is my goal. If I can help you gain more knowledge and information on Cebu in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.

During my years here, I have gained a fair amount of knowledge about the Philippines and its people, the wonderful, humble, always happy and smiling - Filipinos.

Even with as many as are in poverty here, I see more of them smiling, on a daily basis, than I ever saw smile in my home country, the USA. In fact, Filipinos are the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. They have taught me a lot about their culture and language, during my time in country.

Unlike some foreigners who live in the Philippines, you will find that I do not sugarcoat anything. There is good and bad about living in Cebu, as well as elsewhere in the Philippines. I would be lying to you if I said otherwise. However, there are many more positives and good things about living in the Philippines, living in Cebu and in other areas of the Visayas, than there are bad. Besides, anywhere you choose to live in the world will have some drawbacks about it, wouldn't you agree? After all, I don't believe anyone has found Utopia. This is as close as I have come, though. For me, living in the Philippines... better yet living in Cebu, is the single best place in the world in which to live. Once you come here and see for yourself, I believe you will agree.

If you ask for my opinion about a topic of which I am familiar, I will give it to you whether positive or

negative. I (and a number of others who live here) look at it this way, if you are going to take time to

pull up stakes, liquidate your entire life and then move half-way around the world, you don't need someone selling you a line of garbage trying to make you feel as though everything here is peachy keen. To do so is simply not right.

As I previously stated, there are negatives about the Philippines, but the positive points outweigh any negatives one-hundred to one, for me anyway. But, even with the way of life here, being immersed into a laid back and somewhat passive culture still isn't for everyone. In order for you to see if living anywhere in the Philippines is for you, I suggest locating (and digesting) as much information as possible about this country, and then come here for a visit. There are many good sites from which to get information. Links to a number of them are listed on this very site. If we can help you locate as much information as possible, you can get an idea as to whether or not it's for you.

Would you like to learn the language spoken in Cebu and elsewhere in the Visayas and Mindanao Regions of the Philippines? If so, this is an excellent introductory book for you to begin learning the basics of Cebuano.

The book is titled Conversational English-Cebuano Made Easy, by Cristina Canonigo, a Filipina who has authored more than 100 books, to date.

An earlier version of this book, the 2001 edition, is the version I used to begin learning Cebuano, when I first arrived in Cebu, to live. It was a great first book for me. I assure you, if you spend a few minutes per day with it, you will begin to learn Cebuano as well.