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ABC's of Living in the Philippines Title: ABC's of Living in the
Philippines |
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N- NOSES
The proverbial "nose-sticking-in-everything." Yup, that's another one. Filipinos are known to be nosy and just have to have their noses in everyone's business. Two main words to remember : tsismis (gossip) and pakikialam (meddling). Object as my country men (especially the women) may, these two are like oxygen to most humans in my country. O- OCW's (Overseas
Contract Workers) Dubbed the modern heroes, these workers leave behind family and warmth of home to work abroad and be able to send home dollars. Dollars that not only send their children to school and pay for their family's expenses but also help support the country's ailing economy.
P- PRETENSION and PLASTIC Filipinos are very simple people. They simply have to have the latest model in phones, latest fashions and accessories, oh and add to that whatever their neighbor has, they simply have to have too. This is one thing that can be rather sad. Forget it if your family has a low income and you hardly get to pay tuition fees just as long as your phone is totally phat and your furniture are way better than that snotty next door neighbor. PLASTIC. The very thought of slipping and sliding on all that plastic covering up furniture, carpets and car seats just makes me gnash my teeth. How some people can take that irritating sound of plastic rubbing against plastic just boggles the mind. Q- QUEK QUEK Have you ever seen an orange egg? One of the leading Filipino street foods around, Quek quek is made up of peeled, boiled quail eggs which are then coated in flour and orange food coloring before being deep friend in oil. Cheap, filling, don't ask how sanitary. R- RELIGION The Filipinos are a very religious people. They attend masses almost everyday, kiss the feet of wooden and marble religious images, flock to every "miraculous" site imaginable, and yell "Ay! Lord!" when winning at the card tables or taking in the latest and most scandalous gossip. "Pray." This is the Filipino's answer to almost all problems. Got dumped? Pray. Owe a mountain of debts you had no business running up? Pray. The Filipino devotion can be, at times rather touching. Fanatical, sometimes obsessive, but still touching. S- SAN MIGUEL (Beer) No, this isn't the saint in Catholic religion, neither does it make saints out of men, but Filipinos the world over sing its high praises! San Miguel Beer is the country's leading beer brand with its strong lager taste with citrus notes. Those who get soused quickly go for the classier sounding "San Mig Lite." It's a pretty good brew and can be bought rather cheaply from the sari-sari or variety stores (roughly $5-6 US Dollars for a case.) T- TEXTING
Otherwise known as SMS. The Philippines is among the top SMS users in the world. Never mind if they can't call as long as they can text. TxtLingo is another thing. Messages like " wer r u, nid t tel u wer t mit l8r." ("where are you, need to tell you where to meet later") can drive non-txt savvy people nuts. Not to mention how it doesn't exactly help develop the Filipino's spelling capabilities. U- UTANG (Debt) This is something a lot of Filipinos have. Mind you, I'm not talking about bank loans or things like that. This is more of a "I-desperately-need-500-pesos-to-pay-off-a-debt-will-you-lend-me-the-cash?" (never mind if it's payday) kind of thing. Other countries use credit cards out of necessity. In the Philippines, the more credit cards you have, the "classier" you look. Forget it if you use your cards to pay for bills racked up on your other cards. To some it may be completely necessary. To others, its a compulsion. Take note when lending to Filipinos though. Some may be offended when you try to collect the money they owe accusing you of thinking they're welchers. V- VICTORS Filipinos can be very competitive. Victory is an all-important thing in everything. Hence, this has given birth to two concepts: Crab Mentality where "If-I-can't-have-it-you-can't- either." and the "loser-less" fights where the philosophy is "There are no winners and losers. Only cheaters and the cheated." (eg: national elections, sports fests, etc.) The fight goes on! W-WHITENERS (skin) Now this is the quirky thing. Caucasians flock to Philippine beaches to burn and work on their tans. Filipinos on the other hand spend small fortunes on creams and lotions to whiten their naturally tan skin. Go figure. I remember we had a couple of maids who used to spend their salaries on the latest skin whitening treatments. After a time their faces did start looking fairer and awfully stretched thin. Their bodies were still dark but at least their faces were fair. Suddenly, images of Michael Jackson cross my mind...wonder why... X- X-RATED DVDS DVD's or De-be-des (as the local vendors pronounce it) proliferate in the Philippines. More so with pornographic industry. Making like coat-and-dagger spies, these vendors would approach people saying "de-be-de sir, de-be-de." This has been an ongoing joke that has been played out in satires and comic parodies.
Y- YAMASHITA'S TREASURE Experts from all over the world have already come with all the sophisticated tools they can bring yet the legendary treasure of Japanese General Yamashita has yet to be found. Does it really exist? Or is just another case of Saddam's nuclear arsenal. Well, your guess is as good as mine. Z- ZZzzzzs
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I
refer to noses in two aspects.
The physical nose, and the
figurative nose. Filipinos generally have flat noses with the
exception of a lucky few who have
inherited aquiline throwbacks to
some European ancestor. Short
of using a clothes clip to pinch their nostrils together,
most Filipinos massage and pinch the bridge of their noses to make it
more aquiline. Does it work?
um...illusion makes a person feel
good.
Siesta
is another one of the things the Filipinos inherited from their Spanish
forbears. Besides this, the warm, balmy, tropical weather that is ever
present in the Philippines is just conducive to snoozing. Take a
walk in Manila's streets and you find people napping in all kinds of
positions: sitting up, leaning against a wall, even leaning on one arm
inside the jeep. | || Submit your own article. Inquire Here » |
