A Worker’s right
Every employee in the Netherlands get financial support when they are disabled. The level of disability is calculated as a percentage and determines the amount of money the employee will get from the social security system in the Netherlands. E.g. If somebody cannot walk anymore but still can work behind a desk, he/she is said to be 40% disabled.
In the Philippines, it is also possible to get disability appeal if you have worked and paid your contribution to the SSS or Social Security System faithfully.
Buying a car
We recently bought a car in Manila and it was not as easy as I thought it would be. First of all, it took a couple of weeks before our car is ready because the color we wanted is not readily available but that’s not really an issue.
The problem is that we wanted the car be shipped to Palawan from Manila and the agent that we bought the car from apparently didn’t have much experience with this. I even think that this his very first sale because when I asked for car insurance quotes from the dealership, he encouraged me to just buy it from his because it would be cheaper. So I told him to give me a quotation, he says I shouldn’t worry about it because he will take care of it. I was a little bit skeptical and didn’t really find that very professional of him so at the the end we decided to just talk to his boss and tell him we want to get the insurance from the dealership.
Our house on the hill
The building of our house is coming pretty good. They have started putting the tiles in the bathroom this week and it’s looking better and better each day. We are really very happy to see our ideas materialize right before our eyes.
The materials used for building our house comes from our surroundings. The walls are made of river stones and the roof of our house is made of cogon – it’s basically grass that you can find growing in the fields.
The grass are cut and dried and tied together in a bundle. These are done by our caretaker’s wives. It’s a good way for the ladies in the farm to earn something extra. But when we have enough for our house, this ends. I hope I can find some buyer for this product so that the ladies can continue working.
I want to do so many things for the people here but for now I cannot do much as we have so many things to deal with first so we can settle in soon. That reminds me, I need to find a place where they do business card printing as hubby’s cards is running out.
How are we doing?
We have been here in the farm for about a month now but we haven’t really settled in yet. I think it would take quite a while before that happens. Our house is still under construction and unless the building is finished, we won’t be settled. We are staying at our guesthouse temporarily but hubby is trying to get the men work more efficiently so we can move in a month.
Our stuff from Singapore has arrived and been delivered safely here in the farm as well. It’s one less thing to worry about. I am glad we have our stuff here with us because we have some items that we really need like tables and some kitchen appliances and I prefer not to buy a new one if we already have it. If we could just find where in our storage these items are…I know I have seen a box with men’s clothing and women’s clothing but that we have enough with us at the moment.
We haven’t had the chance yet to check if all electronics are working properly…I do hope to find the time to do that one of these days because we only have a month to claim any damage from the insurance if ever there are any.
Life here is very slow paced and we still need to get used to it. There are times we get impatient because we cannot get what we want in an instant. There’s still so many things that has to be done around here in the farm…I know in due time it will all happen. We just need to be patient.
