At 68 a Cook Too Broke to Eat, I Moved to the Philippines

At sixty-eight, my Social Security check comes to sixteen hundred dollars a month — the exact same number that once had me eating instant noodles out of a foam cup back in Tulsa, and now buys me a life I couldn't have dreamed of. 00:00 — Instant Noodles, Same Paycheck 02:16 — The Tuna Capital Nobody's Heard Of 03:06 — The Wet Heat That Grabs You by the Throat 04:19 — A Photo of a Stove at 2 A.M. 06:31 — One Word, Then the Brownout Hits 08:24 — The Port That Never Sleeps 12:02 — Fooling No One at the Fish Stall 16:27 — Jomar, Bening, and the Net-Mender 21:40 — The Real Numbers, Item by Item 26:04 — A King Eats Alone? 28:29 — The Call From Derek 32:19 — Sick, Alone, and Then the Knock at the Door 36:45 — Thirty Chairs, All Taken 39:18 — The Name a Child Gave Me My name's Curtis. Forty years I ran the griddle at a diner in Tulsa, Oklahoma — short-order cook, up before the sun, fast on my feet, the fella who fed a whole town its breakfast. Then the arthritis chased me off my feet, and the government handed me sixteen hundred a month for a lifetime of it. A cook who couldn't afford to eat right. That was the part that stung. There was a month I put a can of coffee back on the shelf because I couldn't do the coffee and the eggs both, standing there doing that math with people behind me in line. So I did a thing nobody who knew me would've bet a nickel on. I sold my truck, my knives, everything that was left, and bought a one-way ticket to a city I'd never once heard a soul say out loud. General Santos. Down on the southern tip of the Philippines, a bay called Sarangani, a place they call the tuna capital of the country. I didn't know the half of what that would mean yet. This is where my story really begins. Footage Attribution: Portions of the video footage used in this production are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. The original footage has been edited, color graded, trimmed, or combined with additional footage, and paired with original narration and storytelling to create a new transformative work. Credit for all original creators is provided below in accordance with the CC BY license. Video Credit: "Walking the 2nd Most Densely Populated District in Manila Philippines [4K HDR]" by Krypto Trekker Source:    • Walking the 2nd Most Densely Populated Dis...   Video Credit: "Exploring Masville Parañaque Metro Manila Philippines [4K HDR]" by Krypto Trekker Source:    • Exploring Masville Parañaque Metro Manila ...   Video Credit: "Watch This Before Visiting Manila Philippines [4K WALK]" by Krypto Trekker Source:    • Watch This Before Visiting Manila Philippi...   Video Credit: "SUPER HEAVY RAIN HITS MANILA CITY-Afternoon walk in tondo Manila [4k]" by JOHN WALK TOUR Source:    • SUPER HEAVY RAIN HITS MANILA CITY-Afternoo...   Channels: Krypto Trekker —    / @kryptotrekker   | JOHN WALK TOUR —    / @jwtrealninja   Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY). — #RetireInThePhilippines #RetireAbroad #RetirementPlanning #CostOfLivingPhilippines #ExpatLife #RetireOverseas #GeneralSantos #RetiredCook #RetireOnSocialSecurity #StillSomebody retire in the philippines, retire abroad, retire overseas, retirement, retirement planning, cost of living in the philippines, retire on social security, retire on a budget, american retiree philippines, moving to the philippines, living in the philippines, general santos, general santos philippines, gensan, sarangani bay, tuna capital of the philippines, mindanao, fish port philippines, retired chef, retired cook, short order cook, fixed income, pension, retire at 68, starting over at 68, second chance, another life abroad, philippines cost of living 2026, retire in asia, southeast asia retirement, filipino hospitality, filipino kindness, healthcare in the philippines, retire cheap, best places to retire abroad, senior expat, expat life, retire with dignity, how to retire abroad, instant noodles retirement