The only constant thing in life is change. We thought Samal Island was the perfect place for us, but now we will spend our last days here.
In the mornings, I usually tend to my plants.
I also planted some herbs, vegetables and fruit tree seeds.
After that, I pick up a hook and proceeds to my favorite meditation.
The chickens are having a great day, too. They got a whole bunch of bananas.
In the evening we had an unpleasant surprise. A colony of red tropical ants attacked our seeds. Pharaoh ants are some of the most aggressive here in the Philippines.
They are omnivores and lead a mostly nocturnal lifestyle. I found a solution online and sprinkled them with black pepper. But it didn’t work. I guess these ants, like the Filipinos, like spicy food.
At night, some animals started running around on the roof. I love horror movies, but gets scared so easily.
The pots of plants on our doorstep grew larger by the day. We don’t have our own land or house yet, but we already have our own vegetable garden.
To work in the Philippines, foreigners need a certain visa. Boris on a tourist visa and can’t work yet.
We decided to create a YouTube channel called “Island Life” where I would dub our videos in English. I didn’t like the idea. The Internet scares me. I just wanted to write for my husband and support him. But Boria talked me into giving it a try. These videos are our memory and a gift to our future children. Also, he wants to share with foreigners like him his unusual and simple moments from life in the Philippines.
The place where we live is in the no-fly zone of the airport.
We decided to take a walk outside and find a place to launch our drone.
On the way, Boria noticed an unusual fruit on a tree that looked like a cone. It’s called an atis, or sugar apple. I told him that we had such a tree growing on our farm, but we rarely ate its fruit. The ants raided them faster than they were ripe. In India, the seeds and dried fruits of atis were used as a fish poison and insecticide, so you have to be careful when eating them.
We found an open field where children play, cows graze, and dogs run around. There is plenty of room for everyone to relax, be happy and joyful.
The children themselves gather in small groups according to their age and interests and have fun.
Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines. It is played at both amateur and professional levels. The countryside even has its own barangay league.
In the evening, a large insect flew in through our window. We found out it was a cicada. They are so noisy, especially at night. We always hear them but have never seen them before.
This bug must be ticklish and it really amused me. We let the cicada outside and quickly closed the window so it couldn’t come back in.
The next day we returned to the field where the children were playing. Not far away we noticed an avocado tree. It had so much fruit on it. I love avocados.
The children sold us some avocados for 10 pesos apiece. In the Philippines we make it as a dessert, with condensed milk and ice. At first my husband thought I was joking. But the dessert turned out to be really good.
This cute little goat is curious about what’s in our bag.
And kids are always very curious when we launch our drone. Their little smiles and the way they sign “peace” with their fingers is so cute. That’s what we should be teaching children – peace and love.
Samal is a beautiful place. It was our dream island. But after living here for four months, we realized it wasn’t the place we wanted. We wouldn’t be able to buy a good piece of land here to build a house someday. Land prices are going up now because they are going to build a bridge here. We don’t have kids yet, so there’s time to try other places. We decided to move to the island of Mindanao. It’s big, and there’s so much more to see there.
We found a house in the province of Davao de Oro and went to see it. The house has a separate kitchen, a bedroom room, a living room and its own small yard. The back side of the house has a view of tall coconut trees. The owner also let us use the double bed. The rent is cheaper than on Samal. We really liked it and decided to move here.
The day before we moved in, I swept the front of the house and got rid of the weeds. It was clean when we arrived. I made sure the place is clean when we leave. Mom and I are a little scared about the move. In the new place, we are basically starting all over again. On Samal, the locals already know us. And where we’re going, we again have no one, no friends.
The plants from our vegetable garden are also going on a trip to another island.
In the evening, Kuya Ben and Ate Mila came over and brought wine to celebrate our departure. It was sad to say goodbye. They are very good people and good friends. They have always helped us. We are very grateful to them and glad we got to know them.
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