One Month Anniversary in the Philippines

As today, January 19, is the one-month anniversary of my stay in the Philippines, I wanted to share some of the cultural items that are unique, or at least somewhat unique, to the Philippines:

Food

• ·        Rice is in nearly every meal, even breakfast. A typical breakfast is rice, hotdog/Filipino sausage, and scrambled egg. If they see you are a foreigner, they may offer white bread in place of the rice.
• ·        Lechon (Roasted Pig) is at every celebration, from birthdays to baptisms. Not just part of a pig, but the entire pig.
• ·        Pizza, burgers, and donuts can be readily found here, especially in the cities. There are the typical major chains, but also local businesses with the specialties.
• ·        Seafood and chicken are the biggest proteins in addition to pork. Fresh seafood is not much more expensive than chicken in the Philippines, and is readily available at most Filipino restaurants.

Language

• ·        Code-switching – switching between two different languages even in mid-sentence is very common. Although English is one of the official languages – and is the language of nearly all written text and spoken on most TV and radio programs – in daily conversation Cebuano or Tagalog is generally spoken.
• ·        There are a multitude of languages in the country – the two mainly spoken are Cebuano (South and Central Philippines) and Tagalog (Metro Manila and surrounding areas). Most people who speak Cebuano are tri-lingual (Cebuano, Tagalog, and English), which those who speak Tagalog can generally only speak Tagalog and English.

Transportation

• ·        First impressions of the major cities such as Manila or Cebu would lead one to say the traffic is a nightmare. It is pretty congested, but if you dig a little deeper and understand the infrastructure and populations of these areas, maybe it could be even worse.
• ·        Jeepneys are the most common form of public transportation – with each ride typically costing about seven pesos. Buses are common on long haul routes to smaller cities and run fairly frequently. Except in the Manila area, there are no trains. As the Philippines is 7000+ islands, medium to large size ferries are also common and run on regular schedules. They are used for freight and are the most affordable way to travel long distance within the country. Some run overnight with bunk beds from major metro areas such as Cebu and Manila to smaller municipalities.
• ·        Tricycles are the most popular way to travel in smaller municipalities, and substitute as a taxi.  Each tricycle holds five people plus the driver. Typically where there are taxis, they are no tricycles.

Stores

• ·        Customer service and attention is on another level in the Philippines. There is always someone ready to help you while shopping, in the restaurant, or even parking your car, and often there are four people ready to tell you about their product. 
• ·        Every major store, including restaurants and coffee shops have at least one security guard. They are typically friendly and let you in and out the front door.
• ·        Many orders are handwritten by the cashier. The bagger will seal the paper bag with the receipt stapled to the bag.

Climate

• ·        Although the average temperatures in most parts of the Philippines are pretty warm year round, air conditioning isn’t really that necessary during the cool season, in my opinion. It’s not oppressively humid and there’s often a breeze in Cebu City if you open the window.
• ·        It can rain anytime in the Central in South, the North has a more distinct dry season during the cool season. We’re starting to enter a somewhat drier season here in Cebu, I do believe.
• ·        I tend to forget about the climate since there is little variation.