A View of the Philippines - Essay Example

A View of the Philippines I sat down to a casual snack with my neighbor Christine Dayrit over at her place last October 2. Christine, or Tine as herfriends call her, is relatively new to America. She married a Filipino immigrant two years ago and just recently had her petition to come live with him come through. I learned quite a lot about the facts and myths surrounding the Philippines during our time together eating a feast of Filipino comfort food composed of lugao (Filipino rice gruel) and Tokwat Baboy (Soy Bean Curd with Pork Strips). We started our talk with a basic history of the Philippines. It turns out that the country is geographically located in the Western Pacific Ocean and is a sovereign state of South East Asia. Its closest neighboring countries are China, Borneo, and Indonesia. I asked Tine how she has been enjoying her stay in her new home so far. She mentioned to me that although she loves the cold climate in the country, it sometimes make her long for the tropical weather in the Philippines. It seems that they have only 3 types of weather in the country hot, wet, and cold. The hot weather is felt almost the whole year round except during the so called Ber months when the cold winter air from China blows down to their area. While we partook of the Filipino snack, I could not help but mention to her that she did not look like a typical Filipino to me. Tine is relatively light skin toned with Latina features. She giggled a bit and thanked me for the compliment. She explained that the dark skinned Filipino is a myth perpetrated by their colonizers centuries ago. The Spaniards who were the first to colonize the country referred to them as Indios meaning “dark skinned” and the image seems to have stuck. I asked Tine to describe a typical Filipino to me then. She said that was next to impossible because of the diluted blood of the Filipinos. Tine herself has a mix of Filipino-Spanish-Chinese blood in her. While Don, her husband is of American-Filipino descent. She told me that there are no pure blooded Filipinos anymore. They have inter married with other nationalities so many times that one would be hard pressed to describe a typical Filipino look. It is because of their colonization by the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese that their customs and traditions have also become a hybrid of two or three various cultures that create a totally unique Filipino culture and customs. She used the Maskara Festival in one of their provinces as an example of the hybrid custom and tradition in the country. Their culture and traditions are strongly influenced by their colonizers own home traditions. Their festivals are normally counterparts of either the Spanish or American original tradition. Normally their countrymen would observe the festivities of their occupiers and then create a counterpart celebration that would hold a touch of what they believe to be a “Filipinized” version of the event. A sample that she gave me was the Visita Iglesia (Church Visit) that their country undertakes during Holy Week. Being a predominantly Catholic country, they follow most of the traditions of the Spanish people. However, other religions in their country, such as the Baptist, Christian, Evangelical, Church of Christ, and other denominations have slowly begun to develop their own traditions that their religious followers also participate in. As our meal progressed, I mentioned to her that I read about the native Filipino house called the Nipa Hut. It was normally made with tree leaves and tied together with twigs and twine. She could not help but guffaw at my description of their homes. She asked me “Do you believe Filipinos live in trees too?”. She then went on to explain about how modern the Philippines actually is already. According to Tine, most homes in Manila, the capital of the country are composed of either modern looking town houses or high rise condominiums. The country she said, basically patterns all of its buildings and homes on their more progressive neighboring countries and the American way of life. Even their occupations are reliant on their former colonizers for employment as their country has a high percentage of the workforce employed in call centers or manual labor in the hotel and tourism industry that is run by foreigners and either totally or partially owned by foreigners in the country, expats she calls them. Contrary to popular belief, they do not ride on the backs of Carabaos, neither are they always going about on the back of horses. Instead, the Philippines has one of the highest numbers of motorcycles on the city streets, followed closely by private cars, and public transport like the jeep, taxi, tricycles, pedicabs, and calesa ( horse drawn carriages) that are normally used by tourists. As she served me some Salabat (hot Ginger Tea) to help warm me up after the meal, I asked her to tell me all about their traditional meals and drinks. Tine, who is an amateur cook excitedly showed me her Filipino cookbook. She explained to me that most of their dishes are based upon their Spanish counterparts since they were a colony of Spain for over a hundred years. However, the modern Filipino cuisine successfully incorporates the international influences of American, Japanese, French and other fusion cuisines. I told her I could understand why. After all, the Philippines is an international business point of destination for most investors in Asia, so why wont their food be influenced by the international crowd right? I asked her how her life has changed since she came to the U.S. Was there a different expectation of her as a woman in the Philippines and in the U.S.? Her simple answer was no. Apparently the Philippines is a highly modernized country that allows more than equal rights for their females. So basically, she was not culture shocked when she got to the U.S. rather, she felt like a fish thrown into water which served to comfort her during times of homesickness. However, she did miss the Tagalog ( the spoken dialect in the Philippines) TV soap operas which is a staple of Philippine television along with their Tagalog news programs. Which is why her husband was forced to subscribe to The Filipino Channel and GMA Pinoy TV when she arrived in the U.S. She watches the American programs but confessed that she felt the shows lacked the heart and warmth that is exclusive to the Philippine shows. As a graduate of Physical Therapy in the Philippines, Tine is just waiting for the right time to take her US Board Certification exams. Their school system is no different from the Americans since it was the American colonizers who established their school system during their occupation of the country. The clothes she was wearing the day we were together were clothes that came from the Philippines, typical American outfits composed of T-shirts, rubber shoes, and jeans are normal wear for Filipinos although their traditional wear is known as the Barot Saya, a native dress that is worn only during the most special of occasions. At the end of our time together, I thanked Christine for shedding light on the truth and myths about the Philippines. She thanked me for the visit and told me that I was welcome to ask her anything about the Philippines anytime I wanted to. She enjoyed the trip home, even if only in her minds imagination. Read More