Maybe for some people to make a decision quitting their job, giving up their apartment and moving to Asia with a little kid is a crazy decision. But for some, it`s a way to continue travelling and to get exposed to other cultures and even finding their roots again. What is it like to be a Swiss mom in the Philippines? Michelle from Zurich is telling her story below.
Our life in Zurich was pretty good, but both of us love travelling and new experiences, and so we took the chance and moved our whole lives from Switzerland to the tropics. I lived as a child in the Philippines, and after 21 years in Switzerland, I wanted to know what it would be like to settle there as a couple with a child, at least for a while! We love the sunshine, so the tropics of the Philippines would suit us well.
Now we’ve been living here for almost 4 years. Our son is 4 and goes to kindergarten, my husband works from home for an IT company, while I do translations and transcriptions as a freelancer. This is the place where I found out how to be a mother, where we are all learning how to be a family. For that, I’m grateful to be here, because Filipino culture places so much value on families. They are generous with their families when it comes to their time and resources. I really appreciate that.
It would be easy to see the negative anywhere you live. The internet can sometimes be very slow, traffic is often terrible, politicians and police are pretty corrupt, and parts of the capital, Manila, are full of garbage and poverty. And yet Filipinos are naturally positive people. They have this natural ability to not dwell on their problems and difficulties and to see the good in everything. This is something we feel on a daily basis. And that is something we’ll definitely miss when we move back to Switzerland in 2018!
My husband has decided to return to Zurich for job-related reasons, and it would be great if our son would get to know Switzerland, where he was born, now that he’s going to kindergarten. We are not setting a deadline for how long we will stay, as long as we are happy with where we are.
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