Update: House Hunting In Manila

Well it has been a long 2 weeks, but finally today we put pen to paper and signed the lease. I wish I could say that the process over the last 2 weeks has been great, but they haven't exactly been the easiest.

We found the perfect property for us in Legazpi Village. Less than 5 minutes walk to the husbands work, and 5 minutes to Greenbelt shops as well so both of us are happy. And we have an awesome pub across the road which has a 4 hour happy hour each night. Woo hoo!

We advised our real estate agent that we were happy with the property and to draw up the lease for us. If you are working for a large company that has an in house lawyer it is best to have them look over your contract just to double check there is no tricky wording in there for you. We had a few small changes be made to our lease after having the husbands work lawyer review it for us. Nothing dramatic though.

One thing to be aware of is the deposit (aka bond) that a lessor requires. The common deposit over here is 2 months rent - regardless of the amount of time your lease is for. We wanted our deposit to be reduced from 2 months to 1 as we are only signing a 3 month lease. However after many discussions back and forth we ended up agreeing on keeping it as 2 months. That just seems to be the way it is. If we decide we are going to stay for 12 months that 2 months will roll over we wont have to pay any extra.

Also make sure if you have a fully furnished unit that you sign off on an inventory list as well. Our list makes mention of curtains (which haven't been installed yet) so we have held off signing this until Wednesday when we move in and confirm all of this has been installed properly.

Filipino people are very polite, however they are not very time efficient. Getting the rent cheque from my husbands work was like getting blood out of a stone. That probably would of been easier to be honest. You just need to keep on their case and stress the importance of getting something sorted on time as if you leave it up to them they will not deliver on a promised time. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to paint the Filipino people as dishonest or untrustworthy but the way business is done over here is different to back home, and to a Westerner if you do not understand this, you can see them as dishonest people.

So today the dotted line has been signed, the cheque has been handed over to be banked and in 2 days time we move into our condo in Legazpi Village. I am very excited and cannot wait to get out of the hotel and start living life together, as locals in this city.

Until next time,
Jacs xx

The only blonde in Manila

Here's a joke for you:
So a blonde walks into a bar ....
and EVERYONE turns to stare at her.

Over the last 7 days I really have noticed a lot of people staring at me because of my blonde hair and pale complexion. It doesn't really bother me as I've never been in a situation where I have been made to feel uncomfortable because of it. If I see people looking at me I'll usually just smile and get a nice warm smile in response from them.
Apart from the 10 construction workers I passed the other day, they weren't getting shite from me haha

In all the department stores they have on the shelves Whitening Creams, whereas back home our shelves are covered in Fake Tan.
I find it quite funny how I am looking at them thinking 'gosh they have the most beautiful skin tone, I wish I was that colour and they are looking at me thinking the exact same about my white skin.

Hey Blondie ... come here often??