Family (Manila, Philippines)

So we finally made it to Manila at 9pm on the 25th. Right after getting off the plane, there was an attendant with a sign "ESTRELLA" on it ready to escort us through the immigration line, VIP style. Then my cousin who works there was on the other side to help grab our luggage and zip us through customs. The whole process which normally takes 30 minutes or more, took 5.

Outside the airport (awaiting family/friends are not allowed in the airport, they have to wait outside underneath signs indicating surname letters), I was greeted by my Aunt and Uncle and then my father and his friend. Wow, was a welcome wagon.

Once back to my Mother's house everybody greeted me and we all sat around and had some wine and cheese. At the house, there's a patio where everyone always congregates, next door to the house lives my cousin and his family and beside him, live my Uncle with his family. They all congregate at my Mom's house though. The whole thing was really surreal, people I've never met (except for my Aunt) were all calling me by my Mom's nickname for me, Deannie.

Everybody just hangs out all day, nothing to do but eat and talk, eat and talk. People come and go, play a game, come in for a few minutes to see what's happening and then leave, come back later, eat again, etc, etc. Have you ever seen the movie 'Friday'? The whole day, just sitting around, well its like that, minus the drugs. Maybe, once the holidays are over it won't be so much people, I'll find out soon enough.

Culture Shock

As for the public, its weird to hear everybody speaking in Tagalog, the Pilipino language. I can understand most of it, but have trouble when its being spoken quickly. Everyone keeps urging me to speak it but I'm scared to try and embarass myself. Last night my niece was speaking to me in Tagalog and I felt bad because I couldn't communicate with her, I knew what she was saying to me, but I couldn't talk back. Well I tried to, it worked somewhat. The thing is everyone speaks english just as well as tagalog. They do a mixture of the two langauges. Quite odd.

I'd say that its very different here from the rest of the countries I've visited. I think its a little different though because I'm out of the backpacker scene. But regardless, it feels much different, maybe it because I'm Filippino myself, I don't know.

It very westernized here. We went to a huge mall yesterday, crazy busy, filled with almost all the fast food chains from back home, lots of similar stores, etc. However there's also lots of Filippino food as well, yesterday I ate 'day old chick', not chicken, chick. You figure it out.