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.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
The mythologization of the United States of America
As I previously stated in my last paper on the subject....
Here in the Philippines, there are a lot of things that annoy us Americans. People say yes when they mean no, people don't show up for things when they're supposed to (or don't show up at all), the pollution is out of control, people burn trash and the smoke fills our house, they yell at you in the street (in a friendly way at least), etc etc. The food sucks! There, I said it. It's easy to pick out these annoying things in your everyday life because they're different than what you're used to. It's always easier to pick out things based on differences than it is to pick out things based on similarities. This of course leads to a lot of bitching on all of our parts, and sometimes a little fun is poked. I think this is pretty much normal, because I remember being in Europe and thinking "who the hell charges for condiments at a fast food restaurant?" Answer: the Belgians, and maybe more! It was a constant battle in France to not have your meat served bloody, or your pizza un-burnt. The French were always out burning piles of crap in their yards, and there are strikes approximately every 3 days.
The problem with this is that sometimes you get so caught up in being pissed off about things that soon everything is annoying and everything is the US is awesome! What a glorious land of traffic laws and ethnic food! Sure, the US is a great place to live, I'm pretty happy I'm from there, but those of us living abroad sometimes fail to remember all the things we hate about the US. Here is a short list of things that I don't miss even a little bit about the US:
o Everyone having to be on time
o People getting mad because they had to wait in line for 4 minutes
o The Bush White House
o Republicans
o Fast food (except for maybe Jack-in-the-Box tacos late night)
o Celebrity worship
o Celebrity magazines
o America-centric news
o Having to hear about the latest "miners stuck in a well" story for 3 weeks straight without any regard to what's going on in the rest of the world
o The war in Iraq
o Drinks larger than 20oz
o SUVs
o Giant homes
o Teenagers driving luxury cars
o 6 freezer aisles in the grocery store
o An entire aisles devoted to soda
o Having to drive everywhere
o Walmart
o Obsession with gadgets
o Luxury goods of any sort, or even worse, having to hear about them
o Car commercials
o The cost of insurance/health care
o Having to hear about goddamn gas prices
o People saying they care about global warming, then doing absolutely nothing about it
You get the point, nowhere is perfect, even a country with baseball, good beer and great food.
Here in the Philippines, there are a lot of things that annoy us Americans. People say yes when they mean no, people don't show up for things when they're supposed to (or don't show up at all), the pollution is out of control, people burn trash and the smoke fills our house, they yell at you in the street (in a friendly way at least), etc etc. The food sucks! There, I said it. It's easy to pick out these annoying things in your everyday life because they're different than what you're used to. It's always easier to pick out things based on differences than it is to pick out things based on similarities. This of course leads to a lot of bitching on all of our parts, and sometimes a little fun is poked. I think this is pretty much normal, because I remember being in Europe and thinking "who the hell charges for condiments at a fast food restaurant?" Answer: the Belgians, and maybe more! It was a constant battle in France to not have your meat served bloody, or your pizza un-burnt. The French were always out burning piles of crap in their yards, and there are strikes approximately every 3 days.
The problem with this is that sometimes you get so caught up in being pissed off about things that soon everything is annoying and everything is the US is awesome! What a glorious land of traffic laws and ethnic food! Sure, the US is a great place to live, I'm pretty happy I'm from there, but those of us living abroad sometimes fail to remember all the things we hate about the US. Here is a short list of things that I don't miss even a little bit about the US:
o Everyone having to be on time
o People getting mad because they had to wait in line for 4 minutes
o The Bush White House
o Republicans
o Fast food (except for maybe Jack-in-the-Box tacos late night)
o Celebrity worship
o Celebrity magazines
o America-centric news
o Having to hear about the latest "miners stuck in a well" story for 3 weeks straight without any regard to what's going on in the rest of the world
o The war in Iraq
o Drinks larger than 20oz
o SUVs
o Giant homes
o Teenagers driving luxury cars
o 6 freezer aisles in the grocery store
o An entire aisles devoted to soda
o Having to drive everywhere
o Walmart
o Obsession with gadgets
o Luxury goods of any sort, or even worse, having to hear about them
o Car commercials
o The cost of insurance/health care
o Having to hear about goddamn gas prices
o People saying they care about global warming, then doing absolutely nothing about it
You get the point, nowhere is perfect, even a country with baseball, good beer and great food.
Monday, September 17, 2007
random pics of people and places
American contests promise millions of dollars, hovercrafts, personalized helicopters, luxury mansions and free burgers. We've got generators and goats. Now who's laughing?
This is the mountain at the end of the street. I think it's Mt. Halcon but I'm not really sure. It's usually shrouded in clouds, and coming from the Midwest, I love seeing mountains in the morning.
At MST, we had a bowling alley. It was duckpin bowling though, so a couple brave people had to volunteer to be pin monkey and risk being nailed by flying balls.
Traffic in Manila sucks. Especially when it's 98 degrees outside, and you're stuck in a taxi without aircon, there are four people crammed into a seat that only comfortable accommodates three, and it takes an hour to go about a mile.
Kate and Reyna eating pakwan (watermelon/squash) seeds. Kate is directly responsible for about half of all PCVs becoming addicts, which leads to Pakwan Seed Zombieism (as seen above).
Went to Puerto Galera for my birthday. There are always amazing sunsets there, and a point-n-shoot digital camera can never do them justice.
Beads are super cheap here, so Abby usually makes a bead pilgrimage to the Quiapo district any time we're in Manila.
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