I want a traditional wife I had stage three pancreatic cancer some expats don't want anything to do with their spouse's family on the opposite B to seu hated it B to Manila hated it don't like big cities the
only thing I'm going to have to be careful with with Jane is Jane is tight with a peso you want to find a woman in the Philippines hang out at the UK UK she is more religious than I
am she's 7th Day Adventist I'm Roman Catholic Oh the title's clean no it's not and so I stopped for a moment I said cancer man I'm glad I served in the Marine Corps because it's the finest team in
the world hey YouTube Alex here and in today's video you're going to meet my good friend Anthony Anthony is a retired American from the United States he started out his career serving in the US Marine Corps he went
on to work as a professor of accounting and more recently he dealt with a battle with cancer he was very strong and overcame that and most recently he has moved to the Philippines as of 6 months ago and
met his lovely wife Jane so we want to thank him and extend our gratitude to him for taking time out of his day to sit down and talk with us without further Ado let's get into Anthony's Story please
introduce yourself Anthony sure Anthony Joseph catalo II but I go by AJ it's easy to spell and uh been in the Philippines since about July 17th I will not be returning to the United States I love it here
uh lots of positives some negatives how did you discover the Philippines probably the first time was mid 7s I was in the Marine Corps a lot of Marines and navy guys were coming back from Subic Bay and they
were coming back with Filipino wives and they were pretty happy and they were talking about the Philippines and it stuck in my mind I've been to Malaysia in Singapore about 22 years ago uh my wife died I'm a
widower or yeah I'm a widower there was really no reason for me to stay in the US I have no children no biological children I helped her with her children my wife and she had two children six grandchildren
we even bought one of them a house so we did a fair little bit for them and so I thought uh I want to live at first I thought Ecuador I was thinking about Mexico I was thinking about
Costa Rica but I was looking at places near the beach because snorkeling is my favorite thing to do in the world and Ecuador is near the West Coast snorkeling wasn't quite that good Costa Rica looked like it might
be okay but cost of living was a little higher stumbled on to some YouTubes about Philippines and when I saw the numbers on the cost of living and started researching and saw around is it down d i n
uh I saw all these great snorkel sites and the turtles Appo Island I've been there twice but by the way and uh I thought you know what cost a living and the turtles and then I was hearing about
the women and I'm a widower I was' 66 at the time i'm' 67 now and uh I want a traditional wife my wife was a traditional wife she was a homemaker uh I brought home the bacon and she
cooked the bacon okay uh she would do all the cooking she was a great cook great Homemaker and that's that's what I wanted and you're not going to get that in America or you you might but it's really
hard especially at the age of 67 so I decided to sell the house sell the car gave away everything in a 3,000 squ ft house gifted it to a local charity actually a church organization that had a resale
shop uh donated some money to the Catholic church I'm Roman Catholic uh gave some money to my family members packed my trash and moved here with two suitcases you know I I am I am by the way also
I I should probably mention uh Mark Thornton me I talked to him on an interview before he passed away uh I had stage three pancreatic cancer I got it about diagnosed four years ago my wife had femoral cancer
she was supposed to live I was supposed to die the opposite happened okay I had stage three 7 months of chemo just had my fourth year check up here locally looks like I'm going to be okay for a
while longer in fact uh prognosis is pretty favorable so I I just came here and uh and I found Jane how did you meet Jane Filipina Cupid I said Look No Strings I just want to have dinner with
someone I met the why not Dane drove in torrential rain on her scooter I met her uh and the smile that was it it was done her smile that's that's all it took and she's very soft spoken she's
from uh negr ocidental the culture is a little different she smiles she's happy she has three wonderful daughters I got to meet all of them uh 22-year-old Radiology major going to school in Manila 19-year-old uh pastry chef major
going to school in Manila and then we have her 16-year-old who I call the vampire cuz she likes to stay up all night and I know I know she's out there doing vampire stuff you know so things are
pretty good all of her kids are good her family is good that's really important you don't you want to marry into a good family I think that's at the age of 67 I know these things you know and
girls are easier than boys boys would be more likely to challenge you you've heard the expression mama's mama's boy Daddy's Daddy's girl that's kind of where they originate from so a boy when they hit their teenage years might
challenge you a girl would be more likely to challenge the mom at that age you know just the way it is I don't know why uh so I'm pretty happy and we're meeting with the lawyer today might be
able to buy a house we're hoping uh I call it the termite house because Jane discovered there were termites in the tree well if the floor is cement and the walls are cement and the roof is metal all
I have to worry about is the trusses right if there wood and we're getting it a at a price that I'm comfortable with if I have to replace them with metal uh I'm okay with that you mentioned in
your backgrounds you had family in the trades you think that's helped you with evaluating a home for sale well it's different they have stick houses in the US so I can mix and pour and finish cement I can
do any kind of floor I can do ceramic tile but why would I I mean at $67 a day there's no no way in the world I will ever do any of those laborious tasks again I did did
rewire a house I did all the home runs on a house but I did not install the 200 amp box and I would not connect to the Box because a guy was explaining electricity he said here's an 100
amp pole here's an 100 amp pole touch issue die touch issue die touch isue die I said okay I'm running the home runs I'm hiring an electrician to connect and that's what I did on the on one I've
remodeled two houses so remodeling here is different it's more with a cement wall you know and a cement floor you're talking about paint spackle and paint that's about it uh it's not like well you can knock out a
wall here but it's not like you're as likely to do it uh in America if you have a house built in the 50s you want to open up the floor plan yeah I could I could do that I
could knock out the ball put in a beam $1,500 you're done you're ready to go um here I guess you could do it something kind of like that but the house we're looking at is western style the rooms
are big that was one of my criteria I want a big Western bathroom we have two I want a nice kitchen I do not like tiny little kitchens and the living room or the the main area is huge
it's open I like open floor plan so I'm pretty happy and it's a three-bedroom two bath Jane came up with the idea and I think it's brilliant of turning the carport into a fourth bedroom that would mean we
could be now I'm different from some expats some expats don't anything to do with their spouse's family I'm the opposite I want them I want their family involved with us as much as possible three daughters four bedroom house
perfect each daughter has a room when they want to come and visit uh we've talked about a livein made uh I know how much that costs I can swing it uh I that might might be a really good
idea live in housekeeper uh they're so cheap here I mean it just doesn't if it takes us 3 4 hours to cook and do dishes and clean maybe 5 hours a day maybe it's worth 150 us a month
plus room and board to have buying extra time with your loved ones yeah and the place we're getting I hope is uh it's it's a fairly healthy walk but I can walk to the beach and I love snorkeling
I've been on 35 snorkel in Mexico Southern Caribbean Eastern Caribbean Western Caribbean did a lot of cruises and did excursions off the cruises and apple Island I had a blast she uh Jane and her three daughters had never
snorkel and you know they put on a vest you've got a vest you're not going to sink no I mean I can't even swim to the bottom without the vest I have trouble getting getting down that deep I
probably have to leave the air out of my lungs and I'm not confident enough to do that yeah so they all had an experience and they had a blast and Jane's holding on to the life preserver with both
hands and her oldest daughter is not the so I I asked the daughters I said okay how many of you want to go uh skydiving with me cuz I've done some skydiving wow I said it's going to be
tandem you don't have to worry well the two Thrill Seekers yeah yeah let's do it and then the one the oldest no no I'm not going to do it and and Jane won't do it and but I think
the closest place to skydive might be S Sabu and it would be tandem these would be tandem you're connected to someone who's done 1500 jumps you're not going to have a problem Life's good and uh I if we
get the place close to the beach or close enough to the beach I've already ordered metal detectors I'm going to be that old guy on the beach that 67y old decrepit guy with the metal detector looking for pesos
and centavos and bottle caps and the occasional ring I'm I'm probably talking too much no no no worry what was the moment like when you realized I'm here for good in my case I probably made that decision before
I left America and I never wavered really uh look the cost of living here the weather I've lived in a a variety of places in North America the last place I lived was Pennsylvania 6 months of snow I
don't ever I don't ever see it again uh I've lived in places where you get eight months of snow people complain about actually Jane complains about the heat here sometimes but I'm originally from Tucson Arizona which means in
July and August you hit 115 so when it hits 88 here or 90 it doesn't bother me it's like nothing you know uh is it a different kind of heat yeah in Tucson it's a dry heat you open
the door it's like opening the door to a blast furnace it just hits you head to toe do I like the heat here better yeah I do I'm in a talkative mood today yeah yeah I'm sure I'm jazzed
I had my cancer test yesterday and found out I'm not going to die real fast so I'm kind of I'm kind of feeling up you know haven't come down yet so I'm a lucky guy I'm living where I
want to live I can live okay on my Social Security with a livein housekeeper made I've got some trips planned few little trips planned hopefully we'll do a 16 17 day to it'll be guided tour Lao Cambodia Vietnam
and uh Thailand after that after Jane gets uh used to traveling with that passport uh I'd like to do a Mediterranean cruise I've done I've done 10 Caribbean cruises in one Alaskan but I've never done a Mediterranean and
I I was watching once again I was watching uh you know every Mark Thornton I was watching Mark and he's spent his life on cruise ships and he said the best was the Mediterranean Cruise so I made a
mental note and I I want to do one of those you know uh before I croak it and uh before I get too old to enjoy it what are some other places you'd like to see in the region
oh here in the Philippines um well let's see we've been to Bayan we've been to balad been to SIU hated it been to Manila hated it don't like big cities don't like tra Apple Island we've been there twice
I haven't really thought about that because was kind of focused on the next big trip which is uh like I said Lao Cambodia Vietnam Thailand and then after that I want to do the mediteran I haven't really thought
about more Philippines places uh it was interesting ban uh is that where the trikes were electric and they were very quiet and you sit really low and it only seats one person usually that was interesting uh the trikes
are different in Sabu the strikes are different in ban I just assume they'd all be like here no balad is that how you pronounce it uh the people here are much my perception much friendlier here than there in
fact I would say of the places I've been the people here are friendliest of any place I've been so far which is a handful of places that's my perception yeah and maybe sikor siky wh for a day trip
maybe you mentioned previously you want to go for 16 days are there certain highlights like Cambodia for example uh and corada is very popular well I haven't digested that because I haven't been there I just looked at 16
days for four countries and I looked at the price and I thought I can afford this I think for both of us it would be five 5K us 5 grand us I figured I looked up the flight real
quick and I figured and I I did contact him and I asked him I said this is 16 or 17 days if you're traveling with just one suitcase are people shipping stuff home and they said yes they do
and I said okay that's what I wanted to know so I'm figuring maybe a th000 bucks for Trinkets and stuff because we're going to want to buy stuff for daughters three daughters and stuff like that whenever I go
anywhere I've traveled a little bit not not as much as you but I have traveled a little bit every state in the US other than Hawaii wow uh Canada even worked there one summer taught at a university there
uh Italy England Ireland Cancun KML uh Jamaica I think that's it um and whenever I go somewhere if I go on a trip and I'm spending all that Mone on a trip I'm coming home with some trinkets it
doesn't make sense not to I mean if you're spending 5,000 on a trip spend a 100 bucks and get a piece of artwork or something right yeah uh it just cuz you don't know you may never go back
there again and you're decorating a home right so yeah you and your wife have a lovely home to decorate to yeah she told me she said you know when we get she said this about 10 days ago probably
doesn't think I was listening she said you when we get the home you know I want to buy stuff to decorate it with I said of course of course the only thing I'm going to have to be careful
with with Jane is Jane is tight with a peso She's Tight with a buck and I'm going to have to encourage her to buy high quality stuff maybe at a little slower Pace right but I I want her
to buy really good stuff that will last our lifetime please give us a thumbs up if you enjoy this content please comment down below if Anthony's story resonates with you and finally subscribe to the channel down below if
you want to see more content like this back to Anthony's story what has Jane taught you you know I'm always asking guys what what has your Filipino wife taught you the correct price for a trike how to take
a jeepney we take jeepy all the time uh how to stay in the distance when she's at the market buying vegetables fruit and Fish and Chicken so that I don't have to pay we she doesn't have to pay
Foreigner price Jane is very softspoken which and I'm a loudmouth American I'm scary you know cuz but you know as well as I do when you get two Filipinos talking on the phone you think they're angry with each
other and they're not right cuz they're they're going very animated very animated so it's just a perception thing um and what I did and what's going to work for us is my Social Security check I'll just put it
into a joint account and see how she does with the budget cuz she's going to do better than I am you know and on the big purchases I'll probably have to Bumper up and say don't buy the cheapest
recliner buy the next step up something like that I might have to do that a couple times but today I mean I love it when the best way you want to find a woman in the Philippines hang out
at the UK UK if they're shopping at the UK UK they're good if they're shopping in Robinson's you just don't know but when there's a a sign that says P10 everything P10 yeah she also taught me how to
ask for the bill you do this when you're ready to leave the restaurant that's what you have to do maybe she's going to teach me to be a better man you know that would be good we say grace
before meals she's she's religious I'm religious she is more religious than I am she's Seventh Day Adventist I'm Roman Catholic I respect her Sabbath and they're both Christians so it doesn't matter it's not a problem it's not an
issue uh the people at her church are very nice some attended our wedding one gave his Blessing one of the elders right yeah oh when I went to book the second trip to Appo Island I came up I
got a deal for 21,000 and change for the five of us she got a deal for 16 and change she it did take her 10 minutes to beat me uh what that's just really impressive you know that I
think that's one of those things where you know you found a nice wife is that she's trying to save you money right well she's saving us money because the money is going I'm not doing the allowance thing I
understand some guys do maybe it works for them my Social Security will be going into a joint account here monthly and I'll just I don't really worry about it I'm having a tough time getting her to take money
out I told her go up the bank take 50,000 PES so out or whatever she said that's too much and she did finally take 30 out so I'll just have I'll just have social security check every month go
in and there and we'll see how we do uh and if if there's a big purchase we want to make we might have to save for a few months you know and she can manage that I think she's
probably very good with at managing money I'm not worried about the money okay it it's not I think a lot of guys are I I'm not we're married man it's I'm from a community property State what I have
is hers and I think too with your accounting background you've learned over many decades how to manage money right how to doesn't mean I don't make stupid mistakes doesn't mean I don't pay three times what I should in
the market doesn't mean that the trike driver doesn't get uh $150 for a $20 trip or 20 peso trip trip it it's different you know oh and this is interesting I I have to tell you this it's it's
fascinates to me fascinates me you know when you buy a house the taxes have to be paid up okay you cannot transfer the title the people were buying the house from the woman is not poor she's obviously wealthy
she traveled from Florida to Australia she's traveling in Australia right now she's not a poor person has not paid her real estate taxes for 20 years since 2005 72,000 pesos which to an American or that's nothing I I
paid property taxes that was my property tax for a year ditto ditto so and you sometimes hear the story the reason the rich people get rich is they don't pay their bills they don't charge any penalty or interest
here this woman is brilliant you get 20 years of interest if someone gives me 20 years of interest fee use of their money I'm not going to pay my bill I'm going to put it in a a savings
account earn interest right now in America where I'm from in Pennsylvania 3 years of no taxes you have a Sheriff sale man it's it's in Most states I think yeah the real property taxes fun the schools fire police
right uh so it just fascinates me that in the Philippines they haven't figured out that if you give me Interest free use of your money I'm not going to pay my bill I'm just not going to pay it
why would I why would I pay my bill the woman is is brilliant she's behaving completely rationally right it's just interesting it is interesting if you studi finance your whole life you know it's well you don't have to
study Finance to know that if you're going to give me Interest free money I mean I know guys who get these credit cards with I don't do this but but you could you get these credit cards where you
get where you can transfer a balance for free for 120 days or 6 months they'll borrow money against it sometimes with no fee it's an introductory offer and they'll take that money and put it in a bank account
and earn interest on it I knew a guy who did that all the time and maybe he's making a couple hundred bucks on each card so he's behaving in a completely rational fashion you know it's kind of fun
it's interesting other thing when looking for a house here I as like you ask a question uh oh it's it's 7,000 square m looks like it's 1.7 km off the main highway is the road okay oh the road's
perfect so you take the road and the road is so bad we've had this happen twice when we were looking road is so bad bad that it would destroy a car destroy a scooter destroy a 4x4 and the
only way you can get in and out of 1.7 km rather is uh dirt bike but the lot is great it's 7,000 square met it's beautiful you just can't get to it because they have these dips with these
big boulders that'll destroy your vehicle but it's interesting they'll say oh the road's great well it isn't oh the title's clean no it's not you need five signatures uh and two of the people have died or you need
eight signatures and the lawyer will I have a good lawyer I think uh he said oh it'll take more than a year to get clear title and I said well but they you know they're trying to sell you
because in this culture clear title they don't care but where we're from title is everything it's everything it's it's just real different I'm merely describing I'm not really well I am complaining a little but cuz they wasted my
time you know we have MLS you look at the real estate you look at the price here they don't want to give you the price first right so I've actually got nasty on Facebook and I said this house
has no price it must be free or if they don't show pictures of the kitchen or the interior this house I'm I'm a I'm a jerk this house has no interior sorry oh I'm sorry that's okay this house
has no kitchen this house has no bathroom uh and then they'll they'll respond and I'll say look just give me all the information in one shot you're wasting my time and every once in a while one of them
gets angry and says you're wasting my time I said okay block did you share you mentioned um the difference in time has it has it been an adjustment for you to you you go from the pace to the
US which is super fast to here it's much more relaxed has it been a a significant adjustment for you you're a happy gol lucky guys so that's where I think you have an advantage of some guys but yeah
if you could speak to that I do move faster than Jane the other day she cooked me a a great breakfast I did the dishes which I enjoyed doing cleaned the floor took out the garbage organized some stuff
spent about 3 hours running around she's lying on the couch looking at me like yeah uh and so I stopped for a moment and I said cancer man I always I said I said American time not Filipino time
and she has a good sense of humor she understands sarcasm but yeah I work uh I move faster no question about it I get more accomplished I'm a getter done kind of guy Larry the Cable Guy get her
done the culture here is not so much in Mexico it's Manana man tomorrow man uh the Spanish of course occupied Mexico and Mexicans came from the local indigenous people and the Spanish and here I think Chinese and Spanish
primarily yeah mixture of Chinese Spanish and Indigenous yeah yeah well the Manana part appears to be consistent between Mexico and Philippines the only difference is here we call it Philippines time uh it's funny man it's funny uh but
I don't get angry so if I'm waiting for an hour in the grocery store in line I don't get angry it doesn't bother me uh today I went into the bank they could I guess they could tell I'm
over 60 took me to the front of the line I've had that happen a few times senior right took me to the front of you haven't had it happen you're not a senior no uh very polite very nice
there's no crime here that I'm aware of I'm sure there is but there's no crime and I'm and you're safe and it's pretty good do you feel safer here than back home in America yes yeah not even close
different different world and I was living before I left America I was living in a relatively safe area and yes I feel safer here I I mean just look at 2 am on a Friday Saturday Sunday take a
trike take it down the National High Veterans Highway maybe the reason is because there's security everywhere who knows don't misunderstand me I own eight Firearms before I left the US I gave them to my cousin I have nothing
against guns but I it may be here that's and that's probably why less of a drug problem here they can't afford the drugs can't the drugs can't afford the guns I think there too there's a greater sense of
community here you know you go out and and you see you know I found in America that the social climate kind of went down over the course I mean I'm only 32 but when I was a kid uh
you know people would get together they it seemed more social where it seems like especially after the uh Co era people are not quite as social where here I don't think it's co I think it's culture you think
it's culture yeah because I I can relate so let's say when I was I'm 67 say 50 years ago I'm working on my car in the front carport next door neighbor comes over he says hey what you working
on uh Neighbors come over for a barbecue um pretty rare to see that in America today uh I was when I was a little kid riding my banana bike I fell and skitted I guess I had time to
heal I I was bleeding all over my arms you were banged up Asphalt yeah rough asphalt uh two houses down from mine the neighbor brought me into their bathroom I'm bleeding all over their floor they clean me up
walked me home made sure I was okay today today they'd probably call an ambulance and just watch and wait uh of course I'm from the generation you didn't wear a helmet when you wore a rode a bite right
and you did things that sometimes kids can't do today because it's dangerous like play tag dodgeball right and some things they restrict today in schools because you might get injured U they're concerned about lawsuits yes they are the
lawyers it's the lawyers so has the culture yeah the culture's changed a lot used to be yeah neighborhood uh block parties uh cookouts neighbors helping each other out uh my father was a plumber pipe fitter a person had
a plumbing problem he was not the Tidy bow man he did new construction and uh neighbor had a problem and we went over there and spent a few hours didn't ask for any money anything just helped them out
I was raised like I said in the trades so I know how to do things just people help uh growing up my father was a plumber pipe fitter when someone wanted to build a house add a room to
a to their house house enclose the carport porch whatever garage they don't have garages out there really have carports um this is an Arizona this is in Arizona me and my father went I'm I'm 12 13 14 15
uh electrician and his son Carpenter and his son Mason and his son we go get it done and the men would have a beer and the kids would have hot dogs and soft drinks you know and and uh
mostly we were the Gophers right because we were learning the trade uh it was a good way to grow up it was a good way a lot of teamwork that yeah that is gone today yeah what what you
just said is so interesting a friend of mine came to visit and I asked him uh he went to Thailand and he asked him what did you notice about Thailand that was different from the US he said I
noticed that people work together teamwork I no that people seem to just collaborate and try to get things done uh more effectively than we do back home yeah well we're very individual oriented look at Superman Batman individuals right
uh the hero it's the individual isn't it uh keep in mind after World War II we were the only country with manufacturing ability you wanted to buy a car you had to buy it from us look what the
Japanese had to do for decades they had to pull together work as a team this way they like baseball by the way teamwork and it wasn't until the mid 80s when the Japanese automobiles started to overtake American and
Germany the same thing the German automobiles the technology started to overtake so you look at it in a historical contest you blow up the manufacturing capacity of the world Japan Germany Europe Italy you blow up all the factories
you have to buy your junk from us back then it took a decade uh to build a steel plant and you needed the steel plant to build more plants so things move very slowly they move slower they move
faster they you can build a factory or plant in like 3 years now or maybe even less back then it might have taken a decade you know so they had to pull together and be a team and be
selfless and uh one of the things some of my vet friends will appreciate this I'm glad I served in the Marine Corps because it's the finest team in the world selfless absolutely selfless your pal is there they're going
to help you out you're carrying too much weight here give me some of it just that simple you don't see that you know and part of it's the lawsuits you can't be the Good Samaritan if you're going to
get sued right uh it's a little bit a little bit difficult so these cultures in that regard they're Superior to ours thank you so much today Anthony for your time and we really appreciate the patience of your lovely
wife Jane as well I just want to give you the final word before we wrap up today well come here have fun go to the Marcado uh have a lunch for two for 300 pesos uh live it up
you know eat out uh eat a lot of fish I don't eat too much beef anymore my blood pressures Dro from 12080 which is normal with medication I might have to back off on the medication it's dropped to
100 over 70 the past few months so I must be doing something right here I think it's Jane's cooking you have a great day thanks for having me thank you for your service Anthony thanks so much everybody we'll
see you soon
