Friday, March 21, 2008

Patience Really is a Virtue

As Americans we have many different methods to show are impatience. When we felt like we have waited too long in a line at a grocery store we can start tapping our foot, check our watch repeatedly, letting out long sighs, or if all else fails ask to see the manager. Oh how those days are so long ago. In the Philippines waiting is expected and just a part of life, sort of like breathing. No matter what you do you are going to wait. There was the time when my supervisor told me to meet him at a random guys house at 9 am. Now at this point I knew better than to show up at exactly 9 am so I made a nice late appearance at 9:30 am. The owner of the house invited me in and fed me crackers and soda and we just sat around not saying much. I finally checked my cellphone and it said 10:30 am and my supervisor still wasn't there. I sent him and text and then waited some more. At about 11:30 am he texted back and said he'd be there in a couple of minutes. Okay I thought not too big of a deal. So of course I was invited to eat lunch with the strangers family which I did and after a meal of fish and rice I texted my supervisor again (12:30pm). I waited for a response and got one at about 1 pm. The message said I won't make it but two other guys are coming buy and he asked me to wait for them. So after a day of doing nothing I took a little nap outside and woke up at about 2:30 pm. The guys hadn't shown up yet and at this point I decided it was time to go home. So I told my host thank you and walked home. No one ever showed up, I checked with my host.
Then there was this morning. Rebeka and I run an English club at her school at 8am on Saturday mornings. Rebeka checked with her other faculty members and two of them said they would be there at 8am for graduation practice. Now Rebeka and I made the mistake of being early we were there at about 7:30 am but there were four or five seniors there also. Anyways we sat around and more kids showed up. By 8 am there was half of the senior class there and some of our English club kids. At 8:30 am we just started holding the meeting outside and the seniors were still waiting. However there was no foot tapping or watch checking. They were just sitting around chatting and joking not even aware of the time. At 9:30 am we heard a cheer from the seniors and it was a signal that the gates to the school were unlocked. We finished our meeting outside and went into the school yard at 10 am. The gates were opened but the seniors were in their classroom still waiting. The graduation practice hadn't started yet. I guess an hour and a half late is better than.....
Two last points. One point is showing up for an event an hour and a half late isn't being late at all. It is called Pilipino time. This is by no way a negative term. Then there is American time which means arriving at an event at least ten minutes before it starts. When people are going to an event they sometimes clarify the start time by saying 9 am Pilipino time or 9 am American time. The translation is show up when you want for the former or you need to be there at 9am for the latter.
The last point is less of a point and more of a joke. The background to the joke is this: many Pilipinos think that they have stubby noses and Americans have long, beautiful noses. So the joke goes something like this. God told all the people that he was going to hand out noses at noon. The Americans arrived at 11:30 and were rewarded with the first choice of noses. The Americans choose all the long, beautiful noses. The Pilipinos arrived at around 2pm and all that was left were the smooshed noses from the bottom of the pile. They couldn't choose there noses and had to take the smooshed noses! Joke, joke, joke.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Click

What an odd feeling to be on the other side of the camera, to be the abnormal and fascinating creature who is worthy of sharing with family and friends. Its never someone by himself, and they are almost always younger than 30, but it starts with "Americana, Americana", a hurried search for the cell phone, clearing the camera lens from the numerous cell phone bangles, a discussion with friends about who will take the picture first and then pscchhht, the fake click sound of the cell phone camera. I don't know how many people I have photographed without their consent, but I'm sure it is a fair amount, so I guess it is only just that I am on the receiving end for a change of pace.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Introductions

When two people meet for the first time in the states the conversation might go something like this:

Joe: Hi, my name is Joe and you are?
Jill: I'm Jill and I work with your wife, Rachel.
Joe: Oh really so are you a lawyer also ?
Jill: No, no I'm a paralegal but I'm currently taking night classes and hope to take the bar exam in a couple years. I've been so busy lately with school, work, and my cycling classes. So what do you do for work Joe?
Joe: I'm an engineer with McDermott and Smith. We have an office uptown near the park. I have a great office with a view over the park.
Jill: So what kind of work do you do exactly?
Joe: Talks about his occupation for next 5-10 minutes
Jill: Wow that sounds amazing.
Joe: Yeah it's not too bad, so you said you take cycling classes?
Jill: Talks about cycling class, goals etc.
Joe: Well Jill it was good to meet you.
Jill: Yeah you too Joe, hope to see you around sometime, maybe you should sign up for cycling.

In the Philippines a first conversation would probably go something like this (translated version):

Lito: Hey where are you going?
Rommel: I'm heading just over there.
Lito: Where are you from?
Rommel: Barangay Putingbuhangin
Lito: Oh really I have two cousins and a nephew in Putingbuhangin. Do you know Mary Lou Gallop, Mary Chrisa Lasat, or June Hernandez.
Rommel: Yeah June is my neighbor. Are you married?
Lito: Yes
Rommel: How may kids do you have?
Lito: Four, two girls and two boys. Are you married?
Rommel: Yes
Lito: Do you have any kids?
Rommel: No not yet.
Lito: Why?
Rommel: My wife hasn't been able to get pregnant yet.
Lito: How long have you been married for?
Rommel: About five months now.
Lito: Don't worry about it, hey I'm having a party won't to come over and have a couple shots.
Rommel. Of course.

After reading this you might think that there not that different and you have similar conversation in the states. But remember that your conversing with a complete stranger. The first 50 times a complete stranger asks you where your going, where you live, if your married, have kids, and a bunch of other personnel questions it really throws you for a loop. However we have definitely grown to appreciate the straight forward ask any question you want approach. Your able to learn so much more about a person. The biggest problem is when we meet the random American here and start asking those questions. They usually look at us like are you serious. No big deal though right?