Well, the big surgery adventure is over, and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. For those of you who don't know, Abby has had an ear infection on and off since May and due to various factors, it ate a hole in her eardrum. After about two months of travelling to Manila every week to see the doctor, PC Philippines consulted with PC Washington, who decided she could reasonably get the surgery done here. We were skeptical to say the least because provincial hospitals leave a lot to be desired, like doctors, or equipment. But hospitals in Manila are a lot nicer, and we actually ended up going to the newest and nicest hospital in Manila. It was even nicer than Makati Medical Center, which is, as my host father explained, "Where movie stars go." I would say it was even as nice as an American hospital. So anyway she got top notch care, terrible hospital food and I slept on some kind of fold out chair that was really uncomfortable and of course, way too short. The doctor decided she needed to stay in Manila for a week, so after a little dicking around with Peace Corps, they put us up in what was to us a luxury hotel. All that meant was a private room with a tv and minifridge, but it was a lot better than getting stuck in a room at the pension we normally get sent to. She was in some pain, and rested the first day or two, but we did some Christmas shopping and saw the new Bond movie, so it wasn't a total loss. Other than that we stayed in bed until 2pm every day and ate some cheese.
Manila is kind of fun in small bursts, but it quickly gets old. The pollution gets you coughing after a few days, the poverty becomes depressing, the puddles of piss and street grime blacken the soles of your feet and you can't stand to see one more hooker. The area we stay in Manila is called Malate, which is actually a pretty nice area. There are a lot of hotels and tourists, some pretty good restaurants and even a few good bars. But with tourists come beggers and GROs (Guest Relations Officers [prostitutes]). Every fifth bar you pass is a GRO bar with a gaggle of little Filipino girls in small dresses standing outside (by little I mean in size, not in age), trying to get people to come in. In and of itself its nothing new, but seeing it over and over for an extended period of time, it starts to become depressing. And seeing these beautiful Filipino girls in their early 20s/late teens with fat, ugly white guys gets depressing too. The poverty there is also weird because Manila is way richer than the rest of the Philippines, so the poor stand out way more. Out here in the provinces everyone is poor, with the exception of a few people, so it's just a way of life. People are poor, but still generally happy, they have a home and a family, they still participate in daily life, going to the market, farming, whatever their thing is. In Manila it's by and large dirty shoeless kids, a good portion of which sniff something called "rugby," which is just industrial strength glue, to kill their hunger. Seeing a brand new car drive by a woman in rags putting her two kids to sleep in a pile of trash is fucking brutal. Top all of that off with the fact that Manila is drenched in piss and is full of terrible smells, and we were more than ready to come back to site after our week there.
Thanksgiving was really nice, we went down south on our island to hang out with some friends in their nipa hut. They built it themselves; its the traditional Filipino home, made of bamboo and nipa leaves. It's really nice though, they're out in the country a little bit, so it's quieter and more relaxed out where they live. Not that where we live is that crazy, but it's still a city. Since they're vegetarians we roasted a chicken at our place and brought it down, as well as a homemade apple pie and some Stovetop stuffing from home, and they made mashed sweet potatoes, fruit salad and green bean casserole. Top that off with a little wine and brandy and we had a feast. It was really nice and relaxing, and it was great to be able to pull off a semi-traditional Thanksgiving, since that is my favorite holiday and all.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Po troubles
Something that's interesting and a little frustrating for me in trying to use Tagalog is the word "po." It's not even really a word. In english it would be a tone of voice, or maybe a manner of speaking to someone. Basically, by adding "po" at various points during a sentence you are showing the person you're speaking to respect. You really only use it when speaking to older people, especially older people of some importance (mayor, your boss, etc). Some places use it more than others, some places use "ho" more often, which is slightly less formal. They use "po" a lot in Manila, apparently, and I'd say they use it a lot on Mindoro too. At least I do. Actually I probably over use it simply because I'm still not %100 on the terms and conditions of using it. I think the main problem for an english speaker is that we don't really have a direct equivalent to it. I think "sir" or "ma'am" is about as close as we get, and even then you probably have to think of 1950s US when that was much more common. Basically to give a quick example I'll give you a few very common ways it's used. The word for "yes" in Tagalog is "Oo" (pronounced 'o' and then 'o'). If you want to say yes in a respectful way, you say "Opo." "Good morning" is "Magandang umaga" but if you want to make it respectful, you just add a "po" (magandang umaga po). When you get into sentences it gets a little more complicated as the po does not always get attached to the end, for example "Magcano po ang pamasaje?" is a respectful way of asking how much fare is (for the bus, etc).
Now people say the english language, and American english in particular, is very informal, which is somewhat true, I suppose. We have less formality built directly into our language, but although there are many informal workplaces, I think it's safe to say most business still maintain some sense of formality. There's the tone and manner you use with your boss, and then there's the one you use with your coworkers. I mean, it's not like people here don't kid and joke with their superiors at work, but when it comes down to it there's still a hierarchy that people stick to. And out on the street, I'm not "sir-ing" and "ma'am-ing" every older person I see, and even if I do start out respectful with certain people, that usually breaks down after a while into a more informal tone. My problem here is I still am not sure about those kinds of things. Don't get me wrong, it's not that big of a deal. If I "po" someone I'm not supposed to, or I forget to "po" someone I am supposed to, it doesn't make that much of a difference, especially since I'm a foreigner. They're amazed I know anything at all (and rightly so). But I'm always wondering if I should "opo" the older tricycle driver or waiter. I mean, they're older than me, but they're also serving me. Is there a point at which you stop "po-ing" someone and speak more informally? I've discovered there is, but I still feel uncomfortable sometimes.
It basically just comes down to me wanting to learn the language a little quicker, because as true as this in most countries, it's doubly true here: you are automatically labeled "sucker tourist" from the get go, and knowing language is the only way to counteract that. The funny side effect to that though is that if you do know even the smallest bit of language, they automatically assume you are a missionary. I thought that was really weird that there are missionaries here since it's a roman-catholic country, but I forgot about the Mormons. Those little fresh faced kids in their white short-sleeved shirts and black ties are everywhere. There are also some born again types here too. I always get a laugh out of it though because they always ask me when I'm sitting shirtless on a beach drinking a beer or something, and I just want to ask them "do I look like a Mormon?"
The whole tourist image is an impossible and very annoying image to shake however, and it can really annoy you sometimes. Basically the only white people who come here or live here are rich by provincial standards, even if they're just dirty backpackers. Some guy asks them for p100 ($2) for a 15 minute tricycle ride and they think that's cheap, or normal price because they don't know any better, so they go along with it, even though it's double, triple the price. We were in a cab once in Manila, and the cabbie told us that an American had once paid him p3000 ($60) for a ride down to Batangas, which is about 2 hrs away from Manila. That's a great price by American standards, but the bus ride down there is p150 ($3). So it's no wonder people try and rip us off. And for us we know the prices, we know how to bargain, so it's much less of a problem. Unfortunately (I forgot to mention this in the last post), but the downside of living near a tourist destination is being labeled a tourist in your own town. More than a few times I've had this conversation, in Tagalog, with a tricycle driver:
"Where are you going?"
"Sta Maria Village" (the name of our barangay)
"Ok"
Two minutes later he sticks his head in an says:
"Jeepney terminal?"
"No, Santa maria village"
"Puerto Galera?"
"NO! Sta maria village!"
"Ok"
3 minutes later:
"Jeepney terminal?"
Pretty much except for the people we know and the places we frequent, we are assumed to be a) from Puerto Galera or b) traveling through to Boracay. Or secret choice c) Mormom missionaries. Ahhh! But by and large, it's not that much of a problem. Mostly people take us where we want, for the right price without having to quibble with them, and only occasionally do they try and rip us off, so it's not as bad as maybe I just made it sound, but sometimes, when you're having a rough day and you're tired, it's the last thing you want to deal with.
Now people say the english language, and American english in particular, is very informal, which is somewhat true, I suppose. We have less formality built directly into our language, but although there are many informal workplaces, I think it's safe to say most business still maintain some sense of formality. There's the tone and manner you use with your boss, and then there's the one you use with your coworkers. I mean, it's not like people here don't kid and joke with their superiors at work, but when it comes down to it there's still a hierarchy that people stick to. And out on the street, I'm not "sir-ing" and "ma'am-ing" every older person I see, and even if I do start out respectful with certain people, that usually breaks down after a while into a more informal tone. My problem here is I still am not sure about those kinds of things. Don't get me wrong, it's not that big of a deal. If I "po" someone I'm not supposed to, or I forget to "po" someone I am supposed to, it doesn't make that much of a difference, especially since I'm a foreigner. They're amazed I know anything at all (and rightly so). But I'm always wondering if I should "opo" the older tricycle driver or waiter. I mean, they're older than me, but they're also serving me. Is there a point at which you stop "po-ing" someone and speak more informally? I've discovered there is, but I still feel uncomfortable sometimes.
It basically just comes down to me wanting to learn the language a little quicker, because as true as this in most countries, it's doubly true here: you are automatically labeled "sucker tourist" from the get go, and knowing language is the only way to counteract that. The funny side effect to that though is that if you do know even the smallest bit of language, they automatically assume you are a missionary. I thought that was really weird that there are missionaries here since it's a roman-catholic country, but I forgot about the Mormons. Those little fresh faced kids in their white short-sleeved shirts and black ties are everywhere. There are also some born again types here too. I always get a laugh out of it though because they always ask me when I'm sitting shirtless on a beach drinking a beer or something, and I just want to ask them "do I look like a Mormon?"
The whole tourist image is an impossible and very annoying image to shake however, and it can really annoy you sometimes. Basically the only white people who come here or live here are rich by provincial standards, even if they're just dirty backpackers. Some guy asks them for p100 ($2) for a 15 minute tricycle ride and they think that's cheap, or normal price because they don't know any better, so they go along with it, even though it's double, triple the price. We were in a cab once in Manila, and the cabbie told us that an American had once paid him p3000 ($60) for a ride down to Batangas, which is about 2 hrs away from Manila. That's a great price by American standards, but the bus ride down there is p150 ($3). So it's no wonder people try and rip us off. And for us we know the prices, we know how to bargain, so it's much less of a problem. Unfortunately (I forgot to mention this in the last post), but the downside of living near a tourist destination is being labeled a tourist in your own town. More than a few times I've had this conversation, in Tagalog, with a tricycle driver:
"Where are you going?"
"Sta Maria Village" (the name of our barangay)
"Ok"
Two minutes later he sticks his head in an says:
"Jeepney terminal?"
"No, Santa maria village"
"Puerto Galera?"
"NO! Sta maria village!"
"Ok"
3 minutes later:
"Jeepney terminal?"
Pretty much except for the people we know and the places we frequent, we are assumed to be a) from Puerto Galera or b) traveling through to Boracay. Or secret choice c) Mormom missionaries. Ahhh! But by and large, it's not that much of a problem. Mostly people take us where we want, for the right price without having to quibble with them, and only occasionally do they try and rip us off, so it's not as bad as maybe I just made it sound, but sometimes, when you're having a rough day and you're tired, it's the last thing you want to deal with.
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