Philippine Odyssey: "Character Forming" Experiences

Philippine Odyssey. These stories cover almost thirty years residence in the Philippines. The contents of the book stand alone and require no comments or introduction. I consider this quite ordinary life of mine as a relatively big adventure. Certainly it has been far more exotic and fraught with circumstances I would never have experienced if I had remained in my native England. It gave me opportunities to try my hand at activities I would not otherwise have even contemplated. Although my efforts have been rewarded with little success I have had a life of adventure and varied experiences. Whether these experiences have added to my character I'm not sure. But for sure I know they haven't done anything to alter my very introverted personality for the better. I came to the Philippines with a reasonable amount of capital saved month by month from my tax free salary of the previous five years working in Saudi Arabia. I have added little in my work and efforts to that initial nest egg but at least it has not in all these years depreciated. I have been able to maintain the status quo I started with, though I'm not sure I have increased it along with increases in living standards. Looking back, I have been very happy here in the Philippines. As well as variety in business I have had much variety on the personal level. Here also success also scarcely flowed freely, but at least my experiences even on this personal level have been, I am sure, far superior than they would have been if I had remained in England.