Hellobee

We leave for the US in one week, so we’re busy preparing for our departure since we’ll be gone for three months. Mr. Bee hasn’t left the Philippines since we moved here six years ago! So much has changed since then. The US has had three different presidents in that time, and of course there’s this whole pandemic thing. I’ve flown back to the US every year with the kids to visit my family (luckily just before the pandemic too), but I think Mr. Bee is in for some culture shock!

Whenever we would leave our town (population 46,000) and go to the island capital (population 307,000) five hours away, we would say, “Civilization!” The island capital has 2 McDonald’s, Coffee Bean, Seattle’s Best Coffee and 2 Shakey’s Pizza. I used to crave civilization when we first moved here, but I don’t miss it that much anymore. I do miss things like concerts and museums and cultural events, but these are some of the mundane things you might not think about that we always look forward to when visiting the US!

cobb salad via Natasha’s Kitchen

1) Food. I already have a checklist of foods I want to eat, mostly consisting of my mom’s Korean home cooking. But also on my list are big beautiful salads, sandwiches of all kinds, lobster rolls, raw oysters, dungeness crab, brunchy foods like eggs benedict, all the fast food, and all the ethnic foods, particularly Mexican, sushi, and pho. For the kids it’s mochi ice cream, berries, peaches, plums, bagels with cream cheese, smoothies, and Greek yogurt.

2) Baths. I actually don’t take baths, but the kids love them and take one every night. Bath tubs are very rare in the Philippines and are usually only found in 5 star hotels. I always go to Target and buy a big bottle of bubble bath when we arrive.

3) Target (and other big box stores). Target is one of the first places I go after we arrive to buy toiletries, makeup, snacks, clothes, etc. I love the Cat and Jack line for Olive, and we always need cold weather clothes coming from a tropical climate. My kids’ minds were also blown when I took them to Costco and they filled up on samples. They had never experienced the glory of Costco when we lived in New York, but my suburbanite parents go once a week.

4) Supermarkets. We only have an outdoor wet market and small grocery stores so the variety in American supermarkets is mind boggling. There are like 100 different breads and cereals to choose from! The sheer abundance is overwhelming. America literally has everything.

5) Barnes and Noble. We don’t have any bookstores, so we go to Barnes and Noble at least once a week when we’re in the US. My parents live close to a huge one, and we use it like a library. It’s my kids’ idea of heaven.

6) Public transportation. We don’t have any public transportation in our town other than tricycles/tuk tuks. We were used to taking subways in New York, but we also take it frequently in Los Angeles too. My parents live in the suburbs and there’s horrible traffic going into LA. So we take a train into the city and switch to the subway. I grew up in LA when there was no subway, but they’ve expanded it now that you can get to most popular destinations. Everyone in my family, except me, suffers from car sickness, so they prefer taking public transportation over driving as well.

7) Efficiency. Pretty much nothing is efficient or logical or expedient where we live. Our friend told Mr. Bee that this will be the thing that will amaze him most after six years away from the US because we get used to the inefficiency living in the Philippines. Mr. Bee needs to renew his driver’s license and we need to renew the kids’ passports while we are in the US. I renewed my driver’s license in the US 2 years ago, and it was remarkably efficient!

8) Pet stores. Not with animals for sale, but pet supplies for sale! The pet products available in the Philippines are limited, poor quality, or from the US and greatly marked up. My shopping list for the US mostly consists of pet supplies because Americans treat their pets like family!

9) Snow. There is no snow in the Philippines and we’ve been lucky enough to see snow the last three times we visited the US, even in May! When we lived in New York we were used to cold weather, but now 60 degrees feels downright freezing. I hit up Goodwill and buy snow clothes since we’ll only get a couple wears out of them.

10) Customer Service. Perhaps because there isn’t a tipping culture, there isn’t great customer service at places like restaurants where we live. Waitstaff will never come check to see if you need anything, and it often takes lots of arm waving to get their attention. I love the experience of eating out in the US because you get such great service.

11) Trader Joe’s. My kids adore their freeze-dried fruit, and I stock up on all my hipster goodies. It’s also where I often buy gifts to take back home like Everything Bagel Seasoning, cookie butter, and chocolate.

12) Air Conditioning. There are virtually no places with air conditioning where we live. It was so hard to adjust to the heat and humidity when we first moved. I sweat buckets upon buckets wearing shorts and tank tops while locals wore long sleeves and jeans. While I still can’t wear long sleeves or jeans, my body has adjusted and I don’t sweat as much. That said I still love me some strong air conditioning.

13) Ice… in large cups. American love their icy beverages and they come in such huge cups. There is a serious dearth of ice where we live and beverages are so small, I usually drink them in one shot. The portions are even too small for my kids! I’m looking forward my huge, ice-filled American beverages!

14) Holidays. The kids will be in the US for Halloween for the first time since we moved to the Philippines. We actually moved to the Philippines on Halloween after trick or treating six years ago. I love Halloween and am so excited for them to be able to celebrate while they’re still young enough to enjoy. We’ll carve pumpkins, dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating. We’ll also celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in the US too!

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If you lived on a remote island abroad, what do you think you’d miss most?