#expatlife — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #expatlife, aggregated by home.social.
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Two Years Later: A Record of What Was Promised and What Remains
By Cliff Potts
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 5, 2026
Why I Came Here
I came to the Philippines on September 5, 2023, because my wife asked me to. She told me I would not be alone here. She promised that her family would welcome me, that I would be part of something, and that as I grew older, I would be taken care of.
That was the understanding I built my life on.
What I Left Behind
I did not come here halfway.
I gave away what I could not bring with me. What remained, I left behind with the expectation it would follow later. It did not.
Within three months of arriving, my wife and I made the decision to surrender my vehicle in the United States. It was still being paid on, but it was worth less than what I owed. We chose to close that chapter and accept the consequences.
I left my country, my possessions, my financial standing, and any practical path back.
I came here fully, because I believed her.
What I Built Here
After arriving, I did not remain idle.
Beginning in 2024, I used my skills to build WPS News—an archive and reporting effort focused on the West Philippine Sea and broader global developments. This work is done daily. It is structured, documented, and preserved with the understanding that it may serve not only current readers, but future historians and researchers trying to understand this period.
It is work intended to have value—for the Philippines, for the region, and for a wider audience beyond it.
Yet this work, like my presence, is largely dismissed or ignored by the people around me.
What Changed
She died on September 3, 2025.
With her passing, the connection I had to this place changed in ways that are difficult to describe but impossible to ignore. The bridge that existed between me and the people around me was no longer there.
What remained was not hostility, but something quieter.
Losses That Followed
On March 22, 2026, my dog died.
She had been with me for about two years. She died of milk fever after feeding her puppies, a condition that drained the calcium from her body and ultimately killed her.
That loss sits alongside everything else.
It is part of this record.
What I Experience Now
I am not openly mistreated. There is no direct conflict, no visible rejection. Instead, there is absence.
An absence of inclusion.
An absence of support.
An absence of acknowledgment that I am here and that I matter.I exist, but only at the edges.
Adaptation and Expectation
I am adapting.
I am learning the language. I am learning the culture. I am adjusting to where I am, because that is what the situation requires.
What is not reasonable is the expectation that I should already be fluent in a regional language I had never even heard of before arriving in 2023. It is not an international language. It is not even a national standard across the country. It is local.
At the same time, English is an official language of the Philippines. It is widely taught and widely understood, even if it is not always the preferred spoken language in daily life.
I accept that. That is not the issue.
The issue is that adaptation is being treated as a one-way requirement.
Belonging Without a Bridge
In many countries, being the spouse of a citizen carries with it some degree of belonging, or at least recognition. Here, without the person who connected me to this place, that sense of belonging has not followed.
What I have found instead is that without that connection, I am largely invisible.
Not rejected. Not embraced. Simply not seen.
Work and Recognition
There is also a broader reality that cannot be ignored.
Work, no matter how consistent or structured, does not always carry weight in a system where recognition depends on who you know rather than what you produce. This is not unique to one place, but it is clearly visible here.
The result is that both the work and the person behind it can exist in plain view and still be overlooked.
What This Place Has Come to Mean
As of this writing, the meaning of this place in my life is not abstract.
It is defined by what has happened here.
It is defined by loss, by absence, and by the distance between what was promised and what remains.
Why This Is Written
This is not written out of anger.
It is written as a record.
Because this is what it has been.
If you read this and it matters, help me keep it going: https://www.patreon.com/cw/WPSNews
#culturalAdjustment #expatLife #familyDynamics #grief #memoir #Philippines #WPSNews -
Hello #Fediverse! #Introduction.
I'm Chas, I'm 65, and I've been married to the love of my life for 45 years. We have four awesome fur babies and two great daughters. We're from the US, but we're joyful vagabonds, having spent 30 years abroad in the UK or South Korea. We'll spend our remaining years in the Philippines. We're both long-time English teachers, avid readers, and aspiring novelists.
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Bookstodon #ExpatLife #ESL #DigitalNomad #Philippines #SouthKorea #UK
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Housing, Utilities, and Why Nothing Is Quite Standard
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 2, 2026
By the fourth month, you stop thinking about getting settled and start dealing with where you actually live.
Housing in the Philippines is not standardized. It is not built to a single expectation, and it is not maintained to a single system. What you get depends on where you are, what you can afford, and what has been added, repaired, or improvised over time.
If you expect uniformity, you will be frustrated.
If you expect variation, you will be prepared.
The Structure You’re Living In
Most housing outside major cities is a mix of:
- concrete
- wood
- additions layered over time
Houses are often built in stages. A room gets added. A roof gets extended. A wall gets reinforced. What you are living in may not be a single design. It may be a history of decisions.
That matters when something goes wrong, because you are not dealing with a blueprint. You are dealing with a structure that evolved.
Climate Drives Everything
You are living in a tropical environment.
That means:
- heat
- humidity
- rain
Homes are built to manage airflow, not to seal out the environment completely. Windows are designed for ventilation. Walls are not always insulated. Air conditioning, if present, is a supplement, not the foundation.
You will feel the climate.
Water: The First Adjustment
Water systems are functional, but not always consistent.
You may have:
- variable pressure
- interruptions
- temperature limits
Hot water is often not available at night. Heating systems rely on daytime conditions or localized solutions. You learn quickly to adjust your routine.
Morning showers become normal.
Power: Stable Enough, Until It Isn’t
Electricity works. Most of the time.
But outages happen.
They may be:
- brief
- localized
- weather-related
They are part of the environment, not an exception to it.
You learn to:
- keep devices charged
- avoid relying on uninterrupted service
- plan around uncertainty
This is not a constant problem. It is a recurring one.
Internet: Your Connection to Everything
Internet service is one of the most inconsistent utilities you will deal with.
It can be:
- fast one hour
- slow the next
- temporarily unavailable without warning
This is not always a provider issue. It can be infrastructure, weather, or load.
You adapt by:
- downloading what you need ahead of time
- not relying on real-time performance for critical tasks
- having a backup plan if possible
Fixtures and Expectations
This is where American expectations collide hardest.
You may notice:
- different plumbing configurations
- different electrical outlets or wiring approaches
- repairs that look improvised
They are not necessarily wrong. They are simply built with different priorities.
The mistake is judging everything against U.S. standards.
The correct approach is asking:
Does it work?
If it works, you move forward.
Maintenance: You Are Part of It
In many cases, you are not just a tenant. You are part of the maintenance system.
That means:
- identifying problems early
- communicating clearly
- sometimes arranging small fixes yourself
Waiting for perfect, top-down solutions will slow you down.
Working within the system keeps things moving.
Supplies and Repairs
Hardware stores exist, but they may not carry:
- exact parts
- exact sizes
- exact brands
So you adapt.
You use:
- available materials
- workable substitutes
- local solutions
Repairs become practical, not perfect.
Noise and Environment
This is not a sealed environment.
You will hear:
- people
- animals
- vehicles
- weather
Noise is part of daily life.
Over time, it fades into the background. At first, it doesn’t.
The Adjustment Curve
The first reaction is comparison.
“This wouldn’t happen in the United States.”
That reaction doesn’t help.
The better question is:
How do I make this work here?
Once you ask that, solutions start to appear.
Workarounds
By the fourth month, your system should include:
- charging devices whenever power is available
- scheduling water use around reliable times
- keeping basic repair items on hand
- identifying local people who can fix things
Most importantly:
You stop waiting for things to be perfect.
You start making them workable.
The Fourth Month, Defined
Housing is no longer where you stay.
It is something you actively manage.
That’s the shift.
You are no longer adjusting to the environment. You are operating inside it, making decisions that keep your daily life stable.
Nothing is quite standard.
And once you accept that, it stops being a problem.
If this work helps you understand what’s happening, help me keep it going: https://www.patreon.com/cw/WPSNews
For more from Cliff Potts, see https://cliffpotts.org
References
Philippine Statistics Authority. (2025). Housing and infrastructure overview. Government of the Philippines.
Department of Energy Philippines. (2025). Power distribution and reliability reports. Government of the Philippines.
International Telecommunication Union. (2025). Internet infrastructure in Southeast Asia. ITU.
World Bank. (2025). Urban and rural housing systems in developing regions. World Bank Publications.
#expatLife #housing #infrastructure #Leyte #Philippines #utilities #WPSNews -
Next time I’ll buy something
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#shenzhen #china #chinarobots #robot #weekend #expat #expatlife #middlekingdom -
I should have just asked them about the name
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#shenzhen #china #expat #expatlife #middlekingdom #cafe #weekend #weekendvibes -
Whelp, now it's official. I am, once again, an expat. Details to follow, prbably in a few weeks. #expatlife
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🌎✈️ Thinking about moving abroad? Don't just fall in love with the view. Kick the tires. 🛞
What happens when the road closes, the power goes out or you need an ambulance? 🚑🌧️⚡Find out before you pack the bags.
#ExpatLife #MovingAbroad #TravelSmart #InternationalLiving #Travel
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Skip Baixa-Chiado and head to Arroios, Anjos, and Intendente instead: better street art, fewer crowds, and a much more honest look at how Lisbon actually lives day to day.
Full guide to spending a Lisbon summer like a local: https://travel.sidewalksafari.com/lisbon-in-july/
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Dad describes the moment he realized he couldn’t raise his daughter in the United States
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Years into expat life in Lisbon and I still get delightfully lost on the hilly mosaic streets. This list is the payoff of embracing wrong turns: a 16th-century chapel with views of the 25 de Abril bridge, a thrift store for treasure hunters, and a department store where I once made eye contact with Michael Fassbender in the spice aisle.
Full guide to 13 Lisbon hidden gems: https://travel.sidewalksafari.com/lisbon-hidden-gems/
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Foreign students completing PhDs in the US and then staying on to become residents is one of the things that has given the US a lead in technology.
Spending US money to train PhDs and then telling them to "get the hell out of the country, you're not welcome here" is the US shooting itself in the foot.
It took me 6 years to complete my PhD in the US. Would the border guards have let me back in to complete it after the new 4 year deadline? Who knows.
For more than a dozen years after I left the US, I always told European academics that they should definitely plan to work or study in the US at some point. Now I tell them they should live and work in another country than the one they were first educated in, but I wouldn't go to the US if I was them.
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I really enjoyed my time with Mahua (that's her name) but I don't see her anymore because she's been adopted
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#china #expatlife #shenzhen #travel #catlife -
How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner
https://mydiplomaticlife.com/how-to-survive-3-years-in-north-korea-as-a-foreigner/
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48776103
#HackerNews #NorthKorea #SurvivalGuide #ExpatLife #ForeignersInNorthKorea #TravelTips #CulturalDifferences
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I should relearn this
#kungfu #wushu #martialarts #china #middlekingdom #expat #expatlife #fitness -
A calm relationship starts to feel wrong somehow.
https://wp.me/p84YjG-aYo
#loneliness #mentalhealth #selfawareness #relationships #personalgrowth #modernmen #marriageadvice #emotionalintelligence #expatlife #menandmentalhealth #selfimprovement #zsoltzsemba -
Google AI Overviews cost one Berlin expat guide 70% of its traffic: All About Berlin lost 70% of search traffic to Google AI Overviews, its founder reports, threatening 8 years of independent publishing on Berlin immigration. https://ppc.land/google-ai-overviews-cost-one-berlin-expat-guide-70-of-its-traffic/ #GoogleAI #Berlin #ExpatLife #ContentMarketing #DigitalMarketing
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Coming to Croatia but are wondering about safety precautions? Get answers to your questions on crime rates, scams, and dangers for travel in Croatia. Includes solo female and LGBTQ tips
Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/ArnvA
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📖 Pre-order the Kindle edition now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H4DLT5BZ
One more week.
The Four Seasons of Rascal publishes June 15 on Amazon — paperback and Kindle.
🌐 www.RascalTheBook.com
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends #RascalTheBook
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🎉 The Four Seasons of Rascal digital pre-order is now live on Amazon!
Paperback available June 15th. Full-color Collector's Edition coming soon.
👉https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H4DLT5BZ
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends #RascalTheBook
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No China memoir has told this story
from the inside through a dog.
Not with this depth.The Four Seasons of Rascal
Available June 15
Amazon— paperback and Kindle.
For up to date information, follow Rascal’s Facebook page: facebook.com/rascalfromharbin
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends #RascalTheBook
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A Decade Abroad: The Shifting Sands of Belonging for a Former Expat
A 31-year-old who moved to Tokyo at 22 to cope with depression now feels displaced after a decade abroad. What does this mean for long-term expats?
#ExpatLife, #TokyoLiving, #MentalHealth, #Belonging, #CulturalIdentity
https://newsletter.tf/expat-in-tokyo-for-10-years-feels-lost/
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After living in Japan for 10 years, a former expat now feels a strong sense of displacement. This is a common issue for many long-term residents abroad.
#ExpatLife, #TokyoLiving, #MentalHealth, #Belonging, #CulturalIdentity
https://newsletter.tf/expat-in-tokyo-for-10-years-feels-lost/ -
June 15 would be my mother's 100th birthday.
She met Rascal.
And always asked when I would write the book.
It's time this story enters the world.
The Four Seasons of Rascal —June 15 on Amazon.
RascalTheBook.com
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends #RascalTheBook
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"A Chinese-US cross-cultural journey — told by a dog from Harbin and his American dad."
📖 www.RascalTheBook.com
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #booknow #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends #RascalTheBook
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From a stork and mountain storms in Bansko 🇧🇬 to lush forests, deer spotting, and horses in Oregon 🇺🇸!
Episode 19 of Penguins on Tour is officially live, including a look at Linda having an entire cinema to herself for Star Wars! 🍿🎬
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pue3mFQK6Tg
#ExpatLife #Bansko #Oregon #TravelVlog #PenguinsOnTour -
There is a Chinese word — 回家 — that means "go home."
It was the last thing I said to him.
The Four Seasons of Rascal — June 15.
www.RascalTheBook.com
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends
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"A memoir about belonging somewhere you were never supposed to belong."
www.RascalTheBook.com
facebook.com/RascalFromHarbin/
#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends
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Rascal traveled from Harbin to Beijing. From Beijing to California and Colorado.
He always knew where home was.
The Four Seasons of Rascal
— June 15 on Amazon.
www.RascalTheBook.com#dogmemories #chinamemoir #expats #expatlife #harbinwinter #memoirwriting #dogsofinstagram #chineseculture #booklover #comingsoon #memoir #memories #booksbooksbooks #books #rascal #RascalTheDogFromHarbin #rascalandfriends
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From the chaos of overstaying visas in Laos to the warm greetings of Cambodia before even stepping foot there — travel teaches you patience, frustration, and unexpected kindness. Soursdey, Cambodia!
https://whothefami.substack.com/p/an-overstay-a-fine-and-a-new-beginning
#SoutheastAsia #TravelStories #Laos #Cambodia #ExpatLife #DigitalNomad #TravelReflections