One of my tips for culture is to just embrace them and really learn their language well and learn as much as you can about their culture. They love to talk about it and I think that will really open their hearts and your heart as well for them.
Filipinos just love to have a good time. They're super friendly. They like to joke around. They like to talk to you, really get to know you. They like to kind of tease you good-naturedly. And so culture tip is just, you know, try your best to fit in, crack some jokes, have a good time because the people will, they'll really open up to you if they trust you and if you have a good time with them. Filipinos love to play basketball. It's their favorite sport. They're really good at it. They play in their flip-flops, but they'll still, you know, they're still fast. They still cross you over. That's a lot of fun. They're fun to play with.
Definitely don't take yourself too seriously when you're around Filipinos. They're very joyous people. They love to joke around. They're very happy, always smiling. You'll get called fat sometimes and that's just, that's a compliment in Filipino culture. It's just saying that you you live well enough to be able to feed yourself. Another thing is people are going to take photos of you, whether with your permission or without your permission. They just, they love Americans so much and people will come up, want to touch your skin, want to touch your face and your hair. It's okay to politely tell them no, but a lot of times they'll do it anyway. They love Americans so much and they'll always want to photo.
Don't be too serious around Filipinos. A lot of times they feel like it means you're angry. They're really light-hearted people. They like to make jokes. They're a lot of fun. They like to laugh. So, just go out there and expect that people are gonna be making a lot of jokes. But they don't ever mean it in a mean way.
The culture in the Philippines was unlike anything I was used to. I had major culture shock. I like to compare it to camping when I tell people about it because motorcycles burning their trash, they'll always smell like smoke, using lanterns and fire for light at night time, washing our clothes and showering from a bucket. I just wasn't, I wasn't prepared, but as soon as I embraced it and became Filipino, became one of them and did everything that they did, it is so much fun and you become so enjoyable and you can connect with them on a level that is so real and they just love it. So become one of them, just embrace the culture, embrace eating with your hands and not using toilet paper and all that fun stuff because that's what makes the experience the best.
So Filipinos, they're pretty friendly people and if you're white, they will shout you out on the street, you know The whole hey, Joe still happens have to meet multiple times every day, you know So you'll get lots of attention from you know, your classic punk teenage boys Your old drunk men the old nana's any and all teenage girl So don't let it bother you. It's fun. It's a great opportunity to talk to anyone around you because anyone will talk back to you
Just embrace it. Like, Filipinos love it if you just go ahead with their culture and say, oh yeah, I love this, I love that. Like, you eat all the food, you talk about how much you love it. There's pros and cons to every culture. You find the pros to Filipino culture, and you say, hey, this is better than even in America. They'll just love you for that. They'll think it's awesome.
Culture tips when it comes to the Bawenyo and Cebuano, they are very hospitable. They are very cool, accepting us, talking to us. So when it comes to culture, when it comes to their culture, they are very hospitable to us. They accept us. They are very, you know, smiley.
My biggest culture tip is to be Filipino. And to me that means embrace their language, speak it all the time, learn it, and learn it well. Don't just be content. Eat their food. Live how they live. Wash your laundry like they wash their laundry. Just be Filipino. And one way to do that is to be generous. Filipinos are extraordinarily generous. One cultural tidbit is as you walk down the street, if anyone has food, they will offer you to come eat with them. They say, which means, let's eat. And they're just extremely aware of people in need and want to share what they have where others don't have anything.
Filipinos are so sweet and I love them to death. Because they don't want to offend anyone, they tend to be a little bit more sensitive and can get their feelings hurt pretty easily and might hold a grudge. And so just be sensitive to that as you're interacting with them. And I just noticed that it seems like Filipino culture, they tend to beat around the bush a little bit more just because they don't want to offend people. Whereas American culture, we're a little bit more blunt in certain things.
Learn a few things of the language. You don't have to learn everything in the language. You don't even really have to learn the grammar structure, but if you can talk to someone or talk to a Filipino who's been there and learn a few key phrases that are funny or that, you know, are common, Filipinos will love you for that. They just think it is the coolest thing if an American can speak really obscure phrases in Filipino. The other thing I'd say is eat everything they give you. Even if you don't think you like it, just eat it with a smile and you'll find you like a lot more things than you thought you did. Always be very courteous. They're blunt, but they're in a different way than, well, how we're blunt. So be just very courteous, especially to old people because they will get mad at you.
Just stop being an American and be a Filipino. The things that they do aren't weird to them, and the things that we think are weird to them, or the things that we think are normal are what they think is weird. So when you get there, you just gotta learn how to go to the bathroom like they go to the bathroom, how to eat food like they eat food, how to talk to other people with respect, and just how to live a crazy and fun life like they do. They're all really nice and accepting people. Treat them like you are, and not like they're a foreign, someone foreign, or like you are foreign to them. Just connect with them on a personal level as a person, and when they see that you're striving to be like them, they'll tend to like you a lot more.
So the Filipino culture is obviously very different from ours, but it's one of the most beautiful cultures in the world. And I'd say that my biggest tip for adjusting to the culture is just to remember that everything that they do is normal for them, and to not make a big deal out of your Americanness and trying to stay American, but just to completely let that go and immerse yourself in the culture. So when you go to houses, to sit on whatever seating they have, not be dramatic about it, just be completely down to earth, take your shoes off before you enter the house, bless the old ladies and men, and I promise you that's the fastest way to their heart is if they see you trying to really become Filipino, not just to kind of go through the motions that you have to do, but if you're trying your hardest to live the way that they live.
They love to have fun. Have a good time, laugh with them, have fun, and eat a lot of food. In Filipino culture, it's a compliment to tell somebody that they've gained weight because it means that they have a good life situation because they can afford to eat really delicious food. And so don't be thrown off because you're going to probably either gain weight or lose weight. Everybody's going to comment. They're going to be like, oh, you lost weight or oh, you gained weight. But they mean it as a compliment. And so you just own it. You're like, heck yeah, I gained weight because I eat a lot of delicious food like this now and later than I'm eating right now. Anyway, don't be thrown off by it. It's the culture.
So the people in the Philippines are awesome. They're always super nice and they love to feed you. So usually, even if they've just met you, they'll offer you something to drink, something to eat, like a small snack or like Coke or something. It's super cool. But the Filipinos are, yeah, they're super nice, but they're also really blunt sometimes. They're basically not afraid to tell you what they're thinking. Like they'll tell you, say they haven't seen you in a long time, they'll tell you if you've gotten fat, they'll tell you if you've gotten skinny, and they'll tell you if you're good looking, if you're not as good looking, or if someone's better looking than you. It's kind of fun. But the Filipinos are just generally very generous people.