Why Retire in the Philippines/Marinduque Vacations: The Use of the Internet by American Seniors

Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Sunday, September 23, 2018

The Use of the Internet by American Seniors

I just came back from the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco the other day. While waiting for my turn I had a chance to converse with a number of Filipino-Americans Seniors about the Internet. There were ten seniors in the waiting room. About half of them have companions helping them with the paper work regarding renewal of visa, special power of attorneys and dual citizenships applications.

One of the senior citizen has no paper work ready and was asking me where I got my forms. I told her I downloaded it from the consulate website. Another senior in our group commented, So you are one of those rare seniors who uses the Internet ? Here's a sample of our conversation:

Me: I used the Internet not only for Face Book( social media) but I also do on-line banking and shopping. I also watch movies on line do a lot of blogging.

Senior Citizen 1: What is blogging?

Me: I have seven sites for personal blogging (writing articles) on any subject except sex, religion and politics.

Senior Citizen 2: When my grandson visit me once a month, he shows me pictures of our relatives in the Philippines in Facebook.

Senior Citizen 1: When do you have time to do your blogging?

Me: Being the primary care giver for my wife who is on a wheel chair and has Parkinson, my time for blogging is only from 9 to 1PM Monday to Friday, when Home Care Aides that I hired from two private agencies come to the house to take care of my wife. Also on Saturday and Sunday, another Aide ( personal friend of my son) comes to the house from 9 to 5PM. Our conversations ended when my number was called.

The above conversation aroused my interest, so I went to the Internet and found the following information about Use of Internet by Senior Americans.

More than 1/3 of Americans aged 65 or older do not used the Internet.

The top 5 reasons why they are not Internet users are

1. Just not interested (21%)
2. Do not own a Computer(13%)
3. Too Frustrating(10%)
4. Too old to learn (8%)
5. Lack of skills(8%)

For details visit the following site: https://thehustle.co/meet-the-11-of-americans-who-dont-use-the-internet/ll

Note: Anyone know about Senior Internet Users in the Philippines? My educated guess is probably less than 1%.

http://newsbytes.ph/2018/01/30/ph-now-has-67-million-internet-users-all-active-on-social-media/

The above article discuss the number of Internet users in the Philippines, but did not discuss age groups participation. Majority of Internet users in the Philippines are for Social Media Interaction.

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Fruit Trees in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

The Mango Tree-I have three varieties in my Garden-The Indian, Guimaras and Carabao Mangoes My caretaker/gardener informed me last month that due to the El Nino drought in Marinduque, two of my Durian trees died in spite of his vigilant watering. One of the tree was attacked by insects that looks like a big fly but yellowish in color that sucks the sap of the seedling. The roots of the other tree was attacked by ants residing in the soil. However, my other fruit trees, the rambutans( 2), the lanzones(2) and the jack fruits ( 2) trees are doing well. The above eight fruit trees were given to me by Retired General Recaredo Sarmiento of Boac and Lucena., about three years ago. General Sarmiento is the “atid” of my wife. “Atid” is the colloquial term for brother. Evidently, Macrine's father, the late Bernardo Jambalos was the Godfather of General Sarmiento during his baptism and comfirmation. Gen Sarmiento's hobby is orchard planting, reforestation and farming. The other fruit trees in my garden are guayabanos, cashew, avocados, starapples, duhats, ates, guavas, mangoes( 3 varieties) and papayas as well as several varieties of bananas . Of the above fruit trees, my favorite is the guayabanos, also known as soursop tree known for its anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties . The following are photos of the fruit trees. The Durian photo is from the web. Note that it almost look like a jack fruit tree, except that the leaves are bigger and shiny. My desire is to have a passion fruit tree in the near future. You are welcome to visit my orchard and flower gardens any time, if perchance you are in the vicinity of The Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center.

The Rambutan Tree and Fruits

The Lanzone Tree and Fruits

The Jack Fruit Tree

The Durian Fruit Tree