Our Retirement Haven

In five or six years time, we're going to be relocated in the Philippines. Our soon to be finished house already reached 90 percent funtionality. To live in our country is a mutual major decision for dirk and me. For the past years, Philippines becomes an ideal tropical haven for retirees because of the low cost of living.

It's my first time to blog about our retirement house but i'm doing so because i'm proud of what our contractor accomplished. It's a german technology house because of its highly insulated walls. Doors and windows came from here, roof tiles in malaysia, toilets in korea, insulation materials in the US, granite in china, etc.

Our terrace is 60 square meter complete with native sofa set, dining table and a kitchen. We're going to entertain our guests in the terrace rather than the living room.

our kitchen and living room which is 85 sq.m.

Longganisa and Tocino

These are two of my favorite foods. Longganisa is a Philippine sausage like chorizo, flavored with indigenous spices. Longganisa making has a long tradition in the Philippines, with each region having its own specialty. I also like the hamonado which is just a little bit thinner than longganisa. Last week, a friend gave me 10 pieces and it really tastes good. These foods fits my lifestyle because they are easy to cook.

Tocino, on the other hand is a cured meat product and it is usually made out of pork and is similar to ham and bacon although beef is also used. It is often reddish in color and has a sweetish taste. These foods frequented my lunchbox during the good old days.

Our New Gadgets

Last week, dirk bought three new electronic toys. The first is my Samsung S5230 GT touch screen phone which is subtle in appearance and very compact in dimensions. In addition, the stylish device makes it relatively easy to operate. The intuitive operation of the very responsive touch screen allows for easy handling of this mobile phone. I like it very much because it also comes complete with Facebook, MySpace and YouTube widgets, which is sure to appeal other social networkers.

The second toy is our very slim and light Sony Vaio laptop. The VAIO NS series notebook is easy to handle and great for on-the-go computing. The NS series notebook is designed to impress with its simple and contemporary appeal.

The third is our Sony e-book reader. The slim and relatively lightweight screen requires no backlight and is easy to read in bright environments. It is also capable of storing thousands of electronic book. It's good for my small eyes and i don't need anymore my reading eyeglass.

Belle's Management Training

My daughter requested me to blog about her basic management training at Mcdonalds. It was held at Mcdonalds head office in Makati and was attended by managers and future managers of one of the biggest fast food chain in the country.

Hopefully they can apply whatever they learned from the 5-day training.

(Above picture)My daughter is the third from left

Family Friends

Tomorrow, the Filipino Service is going to pick up our balikbayan boxes. So, i drive to the city for my last-minute shopping where I saw some family friends. I also buy some toys for my grandchildren and house decors for our retirement house.

The couples are a picture of happiness.

Friends and the City

Now i can feel the peak of summer here in Germany. It's so hot and humid and the rashes in my skin is now visible. It's a nightmare because of my skin allergy. But the sun scare doesnt stopped me from visiting my friends and browsing around the city. I just do some window shopping, i have to control my shoppingitis.

We visited Grace at her place and have dinner together.

A Productive Week

Finally, the window that we ordered a month ago at Hela is now finished. Dirk miscounted the number of windows of our retirement house so we're busy the past days preparing it for shipment to the Philippines.

The window was more or less 70 kilos and its good that a family friend, Michael König was kind enough to lent us his company truck.