Manila Wrap-Up!

Ug!

Ok, so the trip home: not so much.

The plane in Manila needed to have the main fuel pump replaced…they determined this once we were on the plane. So, after 3…count’em *three* hours of sitting there, we took off. The flight was uneventful really, but we ended up missing our Seattle connection and stayed at the nearby SFO Westin, sleeping for whoopin’ hour! I’ll stop complaining now. I’m waiting for my Seattle flight, it’s 5 a.m. and I’ve slept a total of 7 hours in the past 48. Oh yeah, I go to New York at 8 a.m. Friday. I heart airplanes! (not).

Needless to say I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my time in the Philippines. Here are my wrap-up thoughts:

*First, the pig ear/snout dish is called Sizzling Sisig and we had it at the Krokadile Cafe

* I spelled Kalamansi wrong. It starts with a "k" - my bad. Click on the link to see the photo - this fruit looks like a little key lime, but tastes very different.

*There’s this thing called “Taglish” that is – a mix of English and Tagolag – and it’s spoken often in that there are not English translations for many words. So you’ll hear a sentence like:

“Nuck bang gung jing nach SEATBELT may bong jung” or “nuck gong guy zan PASSPORT ding guck.”

Don't think I'm a racist - we talked to them openly about this and they all 'own it' - they're like, "yep, we all switch between the two all the time...it's horrible! We call it Taglish." It’s funny to hear and amusing what you pull out of these things. Sometimes it’s entire phrases too, like on a dating game show, a girl was rattling on in Tagalog and at one point I heard “going all the way” and then she giggled…

*The sense of group/belonging is huge in Filipino culture. There is very little people do for themselves; they really are always focused on the best thing for their team, their family, the group, etc. It’s a total “pack” mentality overall. Just an observation.

*Driving in a car, crossing the street or interacting with a moving vehicle in any way, from inside or outside, is scary business. Think Frogger on foot; crash test dummy from behind the wheel. Perhaps I’ve mentioned this already, like 15 times, but it is a significant part of the culture that bears repeating.

*What an oddly-employed nation! They seem to be overstaffed everywhere. For example, at the department stores, two people check you out. One does the register, the other bags up your single item and staples the receipt to the bag, while “overseeing” the cashier. Really. And at our hotel, there were 2 people on security, one opening the door, one by the flowers in the lobby and one waiting to press the elevator button for you – so you had 4+ customer service “touches” before hitting the elevator. It’s great there are jobs for people, but the overall efficiency is very low, especially compared to the world I work in where we do 2+ jobs in the span of one work week for the most part. In the Philippines, I think they would assign 8 people to do the work I do. Not kidding. And this sort of odd sense of efficiency expands elsewhere as well in that they are in no particular hurry to do anything, figuring it’ll all get done.

*It’s hot, but the heat is appealing at times in the day. It’s humid as all hell though; and there is nothing ever appealing about that. Nothing. Ever. I felt like I was wrapped in a hot wet towel walking around. Ick!

*Staying at a 5-star-geared-to-the-white-professional hotel, while not culturally interesting, was very comforting. I like to see myself as versatile, well-traveled and willing to endure the nuances of a culture…and I am, when traveling personally and for fun. When it comes to work trips, I heartily embrace all 5 stars.

*Personally, I find it weird that it’s the Philippines with a “p” but when you switch to an adjective, it’s Filipino with an “f”. How come???

I'll add some photos to this post soon!!