banana-haters have feelings too

ten things you probably didn't know about the philippines.

1. people in the phils (including my family) eat with a fork in the left hand, and spoon in the right. this is the spanish style of eating, and it's how i was raised to eat. (however, i have since become "americanized" and now eat with only a fork.)
2. the crowds in manila are overwhelming. i have never been to the other crowded cities like tokyo or shanghai, but i think manila could compete. the city is only about 10 square kilometers, but to drive anywhere, don't give yourself any less than half an hour.
3. there is a large chinese population in the philippines. both of my parents' families grew up in the phils, and most of my mom's family is still there. the chinese in the phils are from the fujian province and speak an odd mixture of fukien/tagalog (emphasize the 2nd syllable)/english. there's actually a lot of words i thought were fukien that are actually tagalog because my parents mix them in with their chinese all the time. YES there are chinese dialects other than mandarin and cantonese, and YES people speak them.
4. the chinese consider themselves superior to the filipinos. it's kind of weird actually. most of my aunts/uncles have live-in maids/servants that do everything for them: cook, clean, laundry, driving, mowing the lawn, etc etc... if you're especially rich, you have a personal "ya-ya" as a kid. this is kind of like a nurse... she pretty much raises you. i think that's why some of my nephews/nieces (my cousins' children) are so misbehaved and rowdy. i felt like such a priss when my aunt's driver dropped us off in the front of the mall. it's so weird having everything brought to you and done for you... i wonder how my family would survive if they came to the states where the cost of labor is so much higher. most of those maids/ya-ya's get paid around $50 per month.
5. speaking of work, there are an incredibly amount of people working wherever you go. it's almost scary. i went into this clothing store at the mall and i was looking at a rack and TWO people were standing right behind me. it was kind of annoying. like they're worried i'm gonna steal or something? and at the grocery store, there's a guy who carries your bags and loads them into the car for you! there's just service workers EVERYwhere you go. i guess cuz the labor is so cheap, and people need jobs. i guess i'm just not used to having so many workers around. at this department store called Shoe Mart (which is actually more like a BIG k-mart or wal-mart), i was in the ladies' purses section, and there were probably 12 women working there! and that was just one section! every time i looked at a bag, a lady would come by and dust it off. goodness!
6. rich and poor. i think going back to the philippines was one of the first times in a while that i actually felt rich. first of all, my extended family out there all lived in houses with gates and many many rooms, lots and lots of cars, lots of maids... then, you drive by these shacks made of cardboard, they look like crap. but these are the homes of many filipinos. they just live on the street like that. when you stop at a red light, children knock on your car windows begging for money, and adults try to sell you random junk that you don't really need... but this is how they get by. it's actually really sad, and i felt really fortunate to not have to face that on a regular basis. if i were my extended family, i dunno... it would be hard on my conscience.
7. the fruit! yummm.... mangoes are awesome. i've never had them in season cuz the past three times we've been to the phils it's been december which is the off season for mangoes. but they're pretty darn good. =) we had some good pineapple too. there's a big assortment of other tropical fruits there: guava, guyabano, coconot, starfruit, chiko, jackfruit, kiwi... all very yummy, and cheap! it's amazing. oh, and the bananas are different. some are really tiny, like the length of your finger maybe. mind you, i tried some, to the request of my mom who claimed they tasted better. i didn't think so. :Þ bananas are bananas in my book!
8. the shopping. OH my goodness. and you thought the day-after-thanksgiving sales were bad. manila has several malls... i don't even know how many. we went to this one place called MegaMall and its name is very fitting. i didn't really get to walk around that much cuz we were in a big group. but picture somerset north and south times five! it was insane. and not only that, but everything is relatively cheap! and megamall is one of the nicer malls. this other shopping area called green hills is a place where you can buy a ton of knock-off stuff. like things that say they're brand name but really aren't. that stuff is mad cheap. i bought two necklaces for 100 pesos, which is the equivalent of $2. i thought that was a great bargain (my dad helped bargain for me...hehe...) but then my aunt and cousin were laughing cuz they know of another place where you can buy the same kind of stuff for only P20. goodness. it's weird how the standards of cheapness change when you get out of the US.
9. the weather. HOT and humid. all year. i dunno why people have a hard time imagining this. take a look at a map and check how close the phils is to the equator. it was kinda cool seeing palm trees in december. and i got to wear tank tops and skirts all the time. a VERY nice break from this yucky michigan weather.
10. the philippines is probably a bigger part of my culture and upbringing than china will ever be. i didn't even realize it until i went back this time. i'm realizing how much of it my parents took with them when they came to the US, especially my dad. like the way he drives... it's as if he was stuck in manila traffic all the time! it's kind of weird how i identify myself as a chinese-american, when actually i should be a chinese-filipino-american - the last two being my culture, the first being my... ethnicity? the chinese in the philippines are really different from those from taiwan or hong kong or mainland. not that i really know a lot about those other ones. but... from what i've observed, i know there are many significant differences. going back over break kinda reminded me of how american i am... i'm pretty grateful to be growing up in the US... i dunno if i could ever live in asia. at least not the philippines.

anyway... that's my little blurb abour the philippines. i hope you were educated! it's really important to me that people are aware of other asian countries aside from china/taiwan. i want people to know that not all chinese people come from china and taiwan. i'm one of them! and just because i have some filipino background does NOT make me half filipino or any fraction of filipino. i have 100% chinese blood. i just thought i'd put that disclaimer out cuz it's frustrating when people assume that.

alrighty, that's it from me. buh byee.

posted by Laura @ 12:00 AM