1) More expats. In Clark, getting stared at (and I mean really STARED at, like eyes burning a hole in me) was an everyday, all day occurrence. I was over that in about a month.
2) Clark is a nice, sleepy bedroom community suitable for families and retirees. I am neither. Clark is, even in the kindest mention by guidebooks, "not very much to look at". It's culturally barren. Because of its central location to the provinces, most people here are rural and provincial and make me feel like Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast singing "There must be more to life than this provincial town" with my nose in a book.
3) Manila offers much more opportunities for career advancement. So to make a long story short, after almost two years of solid (dare I say, even "very good") performance at my current post, I took the plunge and chased after (and landed!) a new post in the same company. A promotion and a 10% raise followed, and now I'm on the Instructional Design Team.
The process of getting there I'll detail later, because I'd rather talk about how KEWL my new digs are and how happy I am to be here, finally! I have been to Manila a handful of times, each time clocking the city a bit more, and having been in the Philippines for almost 2 years now, I feel much more comfortable finding my way around and figuring out what's what.
So I looked up budget apts in Makati (the area of town my work is in) and found a little place that's a residential hotel for a reasonable rate. Water, hot water heater, electric, cleaning and all the basics (such as a few plates and flatware-- my plates are from that well known restaurant "Pizza 10-4")are included in the very reasonable rent, which can be paid in advance but in any allocation you like (daily, weekly, monthly, etc).
I checked the online recommendations and then sort of closed my eyes and wired them a one day deposit. I arrived around 2 pm and requested the 3rd (top) floor so I wouldn't be disturbed by the amateur clog-dancer one always encounters when one accepts the mid floors. The place is about 400 square feet or so (I'm notoriously bad at estimating such things, but it's about as big as a studio apt), and it's major selling point (in my eyes) is that the bedroom is partitioned off (via a wall of drywall that's about 6 feet high, topped with sections of corrugated glass.
It's kind of like a set from a 1960's movie about a hospital, so naturally I love it. It's very spare and neat, with the unexpected luxury of excellent hardwood floors in what looks to be very expensive, well preserved heartwood in a dark chocolate brown, and real marble counter tops and shower walls. The sink is a sunken square of all marble. These touches, combined with the surprisingly good art and the light fixtures (the fact that there ARE any is a boon and a rarity)makes it delightfully chic, in a very 1970's art student way. There's a press board wardrobe for clothes, and the bathroom fixtures are a lovely mint blue.
Someone else might recoil at the flaws (among them the flimsy rusty-black painted trim and doors, the lack of a toilet paper roll holder (!!!), the only-florescent lights,the miniature furniture in a style that was a bit over even when it was made and the (almost stereotypical) 'view of an air shaft' out the window.
But I tell you, it's really somehow me. I might even just move in there and call it a day. The view from the common area is lovely and the neighborhood is a nice mix of residential with just a few small shops in it-- the apartelle (as they're called here) is down a side street with blessedly little noise and very few families can
afford to relax in "high style" at the place, so I'm not plagued by the drippy-nosed under 3 set and their ambulance screams.
Once again, Channel 23 has come through for me, and HOW! plates
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