One thing that is quick to notice in Cebu as an Expat is the quantity of Americans living here in comparison to other nationalities. If your used to being within your own community of Americans its very easy and quick to find others from the U.S. either by hanging around on the internet on forums such as LivinginCebu.com or literally loitering around the malls. Socially the groups vary and I would advise keeping your personal life personal and most people at arms length until you know them properly. But due to the number who retire in Cebu as an American citizen most must be here for a better life as Cebu does offer some pros and cons to U.S. lifestyles and generally most American Retirees seem to be on a low end budget of around $1000 for retirement which here in the Philippines you can easily survive on if you adapt some of your lifestyle.
On the negative side though alcoholism is a problem due to broken social connections with peoples usual crowd they are used to in the U.S. same as bordem creeps in a lot. Its all about making Cebu work for you otherwise your not going to enjoy it at all. There are plenty of things to see and do here and many things are dirt cheap or even free. The best thing to do though is not scour the internet but take your vacations here on the run up to retirement to start get an understanding of the culture, costs and way of life as it will be a complete shock to the system on first arrival.
Originally posted 2011-05-26 08:16:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
