So, they don't really celebrate Halloween here, for whatever reason. I don't even care. However, two interesting things.
This morning at 5am, a loudspeaker was going off around our house, with what sounded like chanting. It was later identified as a prayer. I saw the following from my window: a small candle procession, a lit up float of the virgin mary, and a car following the procession with the aforementioned loudspeaker. Abby asked about it at work and it turns out it's a superstition, they are warding off evil spirits on Halloween by praying to the virgin mary. How did I miss this last year, did I sleep through it?
Also, I got the following text from Abby: "Some of da kids r dressd up 4 halloween. I think theyre supposd 2 b da white witch, but they look like klansmen."
The White Witch is a local legend about an evil white witch. If white is evil, why is everyone always bleaching their faces here? Something to think about...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
interesting note
Other than the homepage, the page that gets the most hits in this blog is this page.
Why? Because it mentions GROs (prostitutes), and more specifically, how depressing they are. So people searching for information about/pictures of hookers in Manila routinely stumble across that page. You guys are gross.
The prostitution here is nothing new for a lot of countries, but I still find it really weird. Weird because Filipinos are fairly devout Catholics, or at least that's what they'll tell you. High school aged girls can't even look at me, let alone talk to me, because they're so shy. Dating doesn't really happen in the sense we're all familiar with, and usually around 18-20, out here at least (not in Manila), it's time to make babies and get married. There's very little birth control (I guess we have the Pope to thank for that one), and the vast majority of people are church going, Jesus-lovin' Catholics. And yet a common expression here is "when two are apart, four are happy."
I'm in a relationship where I wouldn't consider cheating, but I don't find it morally objectionable or anything. I'm not going to slap a scarlet A on anyone, but it blows my mind sometimes that not only is it acceptable in a certain sense to cheat, but if you're going to cheat, then if it's with a prostitute that's something people can live with. The problem is, of course, that these are desperate people being sometimes literally forced into these roles. This isn't "single mom who starts stripping to pay the bills" desperate, this is truly desperate. A lot of the girls who end up in these situations, especially in Manila and Angeles, are lured there with promises of jobs, etc and then are stuck there because they have no way to get back.
But hands down the worst part of the whole thing are the guys who come here as sex-tourists. They contribute nothing, exploit people, and then return to whatever they came from, all because they're too fucking pathetic to get a girl they don't have to pay for in their own country. It makes me mad, and then it makes me sad.
Why? Because it mentions GROs (prostitutes), and more specifically, how depressing they are. So people searching for information about/pictures of hookers in Manila routinely stumble across that page. You guys are gross.
The prostitution here is nothing new for a lot of countries, but I still find it really weird. Weird because Filipinos are fairly devout Catholics, or at least that's what they'll tell you. High school aged girls can't even look at me, let alone talk to me, because they're so shy. Dating doesn't really happen in the sense we're all familiar with, and usually around 18-20, out here at least (not in Manila), it's time to make babies and get married. There's very little birth control (I guess we have the Pope to thank for that one), and the vast majority of people are church going, Jesus-lovin' Catholics. And yet a common expression here is "when two are apart, four are happy."
I'm in a relationship where I wouldn't consider cheating, but I don't find it morally objectionable or anything. I'm not going to slap a scarlet A on anyone, but it blows my mind sometimes that not only is it acceptable in a certain sense to cheat, but if you're going to cheat, then if it's with a prostitute that's something people can live with. The problem is, of course, that these are desperate people being sometimes literally forced into these roles. This isn't "single mom who starts stripping to pay the bills" desperate, this is truly desperate. A lot of the girls who end up in these situations, especially in Manila and Angeles, are lured there with promises of jobs, etc and then are stuck there because they have no way to get back.
But hands down the worst part of the whole thing are the guys who come here as sex-tourists. They contribute nothing, exploit people, and then return to whatever they came from, all because they're too fucking pathetic to get a girl they don't have to pay for in their own country. It makes me mad, and then it makes me sad.
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