2 months in the province

It was my first time to stay in Leyte for a rather extended period.  Two months to be exact.  And honestly, I had learned a lot in those two months.  About things that I had been taking for granted about city life, and about the difficulty of living the simple life in the province.

• Groceries in Manila are awesome.  The selection is great as compared to the province where you can only find well-stocked groceries in the big cities.  In Manila, even the small neighborhood groceries pack more goods than some of the big city groceries in the province.
• Medicines that are easily acquired in Manila can be a challenge to find in the province.  I was looking for Dynatussin in Leyte and was only able to get a hold of it in a Mercury Drug branch in Cebu.  Some other medicines that we could easily get from the neighborhood pharmacy were very hard to get in Leyte.
• Current model parts of bicycles can be hard to get in the province.  And if ever you do get to find them, they're very expensive!  Even spokes for my 700c wheel sets were hard to find!  Argh!
• The pace of everyday life is very different to what I am used to in Manila.  It's like time flows slowly and it often drives me crazy!  It was so stressful for me sometimes.  However, people are generally kinder and warmer when dealing with each other.  Even government employees still smile genuinely and will help almost everybody who comes into their office.
• Internet service is definitely bad in the province.  Speeds are poor and even the net shops are few and far in between except for the big cities.
• Food in the province is definitely cleaner and fresher.  But surprisingly, it is not cheaper.  We think that food should be cheap since it's generally grown and harvested in the provinces and shipped to the big cities, but in the smaller towns where there are fewer people, very little produce actually gets trucked in. As such, food choices are also limited.
• It's a lot cooler in the province. Around 2 to 3 degrees cooler.  The presence of more trees is definitely the main contributor to this.  The air is also a lot more breathable as well since there are a lot less vehicles on the roads. 
• Garbage is slowly becoming a problem in the provinces.  The lack of urban planning is resulting in garbage not being disposed of properly.  I have seen some sites being turned into garbage heaps with garbage being openly burned.  Though waste segregation is beginning to be imposed at the barangay level, waste treatment and disposal at the municipal level is very poor.
• There are a lot of economic opportunities but you will have to work hard to make it happen.  In the cities where population densities are higher, there are more jobs and better business opportunities.   But in the sticks, it can be a big challenge to make money, let alone make a survive.

Will I consider making the big move to the province? I still don't know yet.  Economic opportunities are there but it will be a very big challenge.  Add to that, I don't have friends or relationships that will serve to keep me happy and grounded.  It had been very boring for me and maybe if I had friends and maybe even a romantic interest, I might have found the experience to be acceptable.

But for now, I'm sitting on the fence and having a teeter-totter moment.