This might not be the typical expat blog, written by a German expat, living in the Philippines since 1999. It's different. In English and in German. Check it out! Enjoy reading!
Dies mag' nun wirklich nicht der typische Auswandererblog eines Deutschen auf den Philippinen sein. Er soll etwas anders sein. In Englisch und in Deutsch! Viel Spass beim Lesen!
You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?
There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!
Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!
Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!
‘We look to strengthen the ties that brought us here and forge new ones that will take us further.’
Tourism is not a solo act. In this symphony of efforts, every collaboration, every handshake, every shared vision moves the Philippines further onto the world stage. It is a story written not by one, but by many.
Mia Borromeo, Kaye Tinga, and Ana Lorenzana de Ocampo
Live Nation’s Rhiza Pascua and daughter Isabella
Deputy Speaker Kristine Singson Meehan, Margje Duavit, and Tania Fricke
This is what Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Philippines honors in Pasasalamat, a tribute to the partnerships that have made the country’s rise in global tourism possible. It is an occasion to reflect, to acknowledge, and to set our sights on new horizons.
Universal Records Kathleen Go, TPB COO Marga Nograles, and Korean actor Kim Ji Soo
Rep. Inno Dy
Marga Nograles with Rafa Aboitiz
The past year, more than a year of growth, was a leap. In 2024, the TPB recorded ₱11.3 billion in sales leads, a 44.8 percent increase from the previous year. The momentum was driven by strategic partnerships that amplified the Philippines’ presence worldwide.
Global media giants like CNN, Bloomberg, and Euronews placed the country in front of millions while collaborations with Timothy Granaderos, Nico Santos, Josh de la Cruz, Korean actor Kim Ji Soo, and American pop-rock act LANY turned visibility into resonance. The result was over ₱1.44 billion in media values, proving that when the right voices speak for the Philippines, the world listens.
Paloma and Mariana Zobel de Ayala
Kai Lim and Vicki Delgado
Carlo Calma and Carmina Sanchez
The impact extended beyond media exposure. Participation in international travel fairs, including ITB Berlin and the World Travel Market in London, yielded ₱918 million in sales leads, further strengthening the country’s position as a must-visit destination.
“Pasasalamat is a celebration of what we have accomplished together through the unwavering support of our partners,” said Marga Nograles, TPB chief operating officer. “Their belief in our shared vision has driven remarkable progress. This year, we aim for even greater milestones, knowing that this journey is one we continue side by side.”
Randy Ortiz and Tim Yap
Ricky Delgado and Captain Stanley Ng
Tourism shapes how the world sees us, how we see ourselves. “It is everyone’s business,” Nograles added. “As we move forward, we look to strengthen the ties that brought us here and forge new ones that will take us further.”
Brian Poe and Rep. Inno Dy
Fely and Kim Atienza
As TPB steps into another year of challenges and possibilities, Pasasalamat is more than gratitude, it is a call to action--to tell our story with greater conviction, to showcase the Philippines not just as a destination, but as an experience, a memory, a feeling that stays with those who visit.
Do we ever learn rhythm in writing at grammar school?
BYAA PATAWARAN
Feb 7, 2025 02:20 PM
AT A GLANCE
Always be a poet, even in prose. —Charles Baudelaire
I’m usually very conscious of my deadlines when I write but only because I want time to read what I write over and over, sometimes aloud, and to change it here, there, everywhere I can make it sound better. Mostly, I only change for rhythm, what sounds good to my ears.
I have no idea how I trained my ear, but then I also have no idea if my ear is trained enough. I mean, it’s possible that the rhythm I hear in my prose is lost on everybody else. It’s also possible that what sounds like music to my ears is just jarring to somebody else’s.
Come to think of it, has any of your writing teachers in grade school, high school, or college ever taught you about rhythm? OK, we learned about poetry at an early age. In nursery or kindergarten, we learned everything in rhymes, even onomatopoeia (“Baa Baa Black Sheep,” “...with a quack quack here/and a quack quack there...”), but I guess you had to be so far advanced or specializing in language or composition or poetry to cover those things extensively. Otherwise, unless you had been lucky to have a poet on a day job for a language teacher, you were mostly limited to grammar and syntax.
James Ellroy
All I know is that you learn much about rhythm from reading constantly, the more diverse the material, the more you pick up. Some writers like Marcel Proust (Remembrance of Things Past) are generally slow and leisurely. Others are mostly fast and furious, say, James Ellroy (Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential). But all writers must accomplish rhythm by varying the length of their sentences from paragraph to paragraph, lest they sound tedious or monotonous and tire the reader out.
Marcel Proust
To illustrate the wonders a variety of sentence lengths can do to your writing, here are some basic tricks I learned, which I try not to keep in mind, except unconsciously:
—Start with a short sentence. It gives the reader a jolt, which allows you to hold his attention long enough to follow it up with a long sentence that gives away the reason he is jolted in the first place. (Note: The preceding two sentences are an example of the trick we can call “The Short Sentence Followed by the Long Sentence.”)
—A short sentence that follows a long sentence packs a wallop, wrapping it up, if not punctuating it. Exactly what this sentence does. (Let's call this trick “The Long Sentence Followed by the Short Sentence.”)
—There’s a short sentence. There’s a long sentence. There’s a way these sentences connect. That’s what you call rhythm. (This trick invokes “The Power of Three” or “The Rule of Three,” which is to use a succession of seemingly repetitive sentences, usually short and snappy and most effective if there are three of them. Again, the sentences above are an example: The first three are similar in length and style, and the fourth, departing from what the preceding three sentences have in common, strings them all together into one whole idea, instead of three separate ones.)
—Whatever you do, don’t just do the first trick or the second or the third. You have to do them in combination and together with all the other tricks you might find in the book. In fact, all these three tricks you have to do sparingly and only to great effect.
Maybe, it’s all technical. When I started dabbling in poetry, I used to just play it by ear. I didn’t even know the first rule about haiku, which is to stick to three lines, the first and third line each with five syllables and the second line with seven. In the beginning, it sort of made it easier for me to do haiku, confident that I was at least technically grounded. Later on, however, I started to feel I was counting syllables rather than writing.
In my book Hai[Na]Ku And Other Poems (2016, Anvil Publishing), I wrote “D|SLOYALTY,” a poem of nine passages, each of the five lines in each passage only 10 syllables long, no more, no less. That was a poem of nine passages, 45 lines, and 450 syllables, but I’m not sure: Do nine passages, 45 lines, and 450 syllables a poem make? Surely not. It’s always the beautiful thought, but it doesn’t hurt to make a beautiful thought even more beautiful in a thoughtful package.
At the School of Fashion and the Arts (SoFA), where I taught Fashion Journalism, I had a Filipino-American student, whom I considered the best among all the writing students I’d ever had in that school and in others. She wrote as she spoke and even verbally she was articulate, not eloquent, but articulate. At some point, I told her, “I would be the last one to tell you not to write as you speak because you can’t get more authentic than that, but given that you seem to have ease with words, I’m looking for some craftsmanship in your work.”
Don’t get me wrong: I had no objections to her style. I only wanted to push her further because since her writing was flawless, grammatically at least, I believed she could worry about other things and elevate her writing to an art form, the words well curated to provide images similar to that provided by a painting.
I guess that as her reader, at first impressed by the ease with which she took me from idea to idea, I began looking to be entertained not only by what she had to tell but by the way she told it.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
All of us who went to grammar school (and took it seriously) can write, but not all of us are writers. As Alexander Pope wrote in his Essay on Criticism, "True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.”
‘I associate Sundays with my mom’s famous kare kare and salmon sinigang.’
Odette Pumaren wears many hats. She’s one you’d like to run into at parties because she is always oozing with energy and style. One glance, whether she is a friend or not, and you know she’s fun. She’s also girl boss, VP at Luminax, a company involved in design and construction, particularly of sports facilities, where she is in charge of business development and strategic partnerships. But of all the hats she wears, she is most happy wearing that of a family woman, wife and life partner to basketball hero and Quezon City representative Franz Pumaren and mother of three, Luigi, Nico, and Maxine. It’s a role she cherishes the most, what she considers her proudest life work, so even now that her children are all grown, raised to be independent, always able to stand their own, Odette sees to it that they continue to strengthen their bonds and make more family memories, if only on Sundays when they are all most available. This is why, to Odette, Sunday is sacred. “Having a busy family means less time to connect,” she says. “So I really look forward to being with them on Sunday, sharing stories about their experiences over the week.”
TOKYO DRIFT Traveling with the family is one thing of Odette's favorite things
What is your idea of a perfect Sunday?
It would be a day spent catching up with my family after a long work week.
Best word to describe Sunday
Sacred
LAZY AFTERNOON In Amsterdam
Book you recommend as a Sunday read
Daily devotions like Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
Best Sunday companion
The best Sunday companion is always the family, with whom to reconnect and recharge. But, aside from family, if I could be with someone I’d really like to meet on a Sunday, it would be Michelle Obama. I have always admired and looked up to her.
DREAM UPON THE SKYLINE In Hong Kong by Victoria Harbor
What is the most extravagant thing you could think of having or doing on a Sunday?
It would be traveling. My family and I enjoy traveling to new places, trying different cuisines, and exploring new cultures.
What would be the perfect topic for Sunday brunch conversation?
Having a busy family means less time to connect, so I really look forward to being with them on Sunday, sharing stories about their experiences over the week. Most of the time we talk about politics.
SUNBEAMS AND PRAYERS In Florence
Best movie or series that once made your Sunday
Currently, it’s Nobody Wants This, the romcom starring Adam Brody as a newly single rabbi and Kristen Bell as a cynical sex podcaster. I’m a hopeless romantic.
A quotable quote about Sunday that’s made for you
I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. —Philippians 4:13
ON THE DANUBE Sailing in Budapest, with the magnificent Hungarian Parliament Building behind her
What does “wear your Sunday best” mean to you?
Sunday best means exactly what it does. It’s about putting your best foot forward, taking the time to honor the day, whether it’s through personal style or the significance of the activities planned.
If you were to write a book about the Sundays of your life, what would be the title?
Sunday Kind of Love
BEACH NIGHTS In Boracay on a sultry evening
Best Sunday ever in your memory
The best Sunday is whenever our family, including my parents and siblings, also nephews and nieces are complete. It’s always nice when, complete as a family, we hear mass together, especially since everyone is busy working during the week. The best Sunday ever is really about just taking the time to catch up and unwind together with the people you love the most.
IF YOU CAN MAKE IT THERE In New York
Worst Sunday in your life
The worst Sunday is when a family member is ill.
CENTRAL PARK New York in autumn
If Sunday were a flavor, what would this flavor be?
I associate Sundays with my mom’s famous kare kare and salmon sinigang.
TROMP L'OEIL In Lyon, the second most populous city in France
Where in the world would you like to be next Sunday, if you can just go there by magic?
Martinis are the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet. —H. L. Mencken
Images IAN SANTOS
Does James Bond really like his martini shaken, not stirred? Maybe if he prefers his martini cloudy, aerated, and diluted. Traditionalists like their martini, a mix of gin and vermouth in its simplest, truest form, stirred for 45 seconds.
Kyle Ley
There are other myths surrounding martini, prompted maybe by its uncertain origins, often attributed to the Martinez cocktail, a mix of Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and bitters, crafted in California for a miner traveling to or from Martinez in California.
Sebastian Fernandez and Daniel Obrado
Arrun Bhavnani and Antonio Ressano
Tricia Centenera and Mexican consul Octavio Vara
Winston Churchill, for instance, who was believed to like his martini without the vermouth, drank neither martini nor gin. But well, who doesn’t love a good martini? Holly Golightly did, who held it in her gloved hand at a house party in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, so did Jackie O and Frank Sinatra. Let’s not forget Sugar Kane, the Marilyn Monroe character, who makes martinis in a hot water bottle aboard a train in Some Like It Hot, mixing comedy with cocktails.
Rocio Olbes, Monique Madsen, and Ria Prieto
AFTER PARTY Spritz has become the pregame and postgame hotspot in Manila
And so when Spritz, the pregame and afterparty hotspot on Toledo corner L.P. Leviste Streets at Salcedo Village in Makati City, sent an invitation to a masterclass on martini, I signed up with enthusiasm, especially as Spritz owner and cocktail master Kyle Ley, who sneaked out of his parents’ company at the Peninsula Lobby and managed to get a cocktail out of The Bar when he was at the ripe old age of 10, was going to conduct it.
US consul Tyler Johnson, Isabel Francisco, and Katie Stuntz
Chinkee Koppe, Pepper Teehankee, Isabel Francisco, and the author
In the perfect martini, according to Kyle, simplicity reigns supreme, but it’s a craft that requires mastery, such as, he points out, “in the seamless pour—a single glistening stream, flowing gracefully from vessel to glass, reminiscent of fine wine being decanted.”
At Spritz, martini, using two distinct types of London dry gin sourced from Italy is an artful creation. “The Spritz martini stands out for its bone-dry precision, meticulously crafted with the freshest vermouth that elevates every sip,” says Kyle. “It’s uniquely aged in amphora to impart a rich complexity and finished with a house-cured olive to give it an artisanal touch.”
Chinkee Koppe and Angelo Comsti
Shauna Popple-Williams, Indu Vimmi Badlani, and Bianca Syching
More than a drink, the martini is an experience, enhanced by each element, from ingredient selection to presentation. It really is the drink to toast with on any occasion, gender-neutral, simple yet complex, flexible, and easy to drink, perfect for Bette Davis and Queen Elizabeth or Ernest Hemingway and Humphrey Bogart, even the fictional character Homer Simpson, and most certainly for you.
Ines Tambunting and Louie Alviedo
Paco Cojuangco and Alexandra Lisbona Cojuangco
Chase Crewdson and Matt Williams
In pop culture, its status is legendary. Its appeal is timeless, associated forever with sophistication, power, and style.
