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Showing posts from May, 2021

The Filipino Toxic Culture and How to Deal With It.

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I have been married to a Filipina for 20 years now and I know a thing or two about the Philippines and its culture. I do love the Philippines and its outstanding landscapes, its mixture of Spanish, Asian and American architectures, its cuisine and so much more, and I would go back there one million times to explore every nook and cranny of the archipelago. What are some of the toxic traits of the Filipino mentality? But, unfortunately, the Philippines is not just those amazing and fascinating things. It is also some of the nasty things that, from time to time, I mention in my blog and that qualify as "toxic". These include: Bahala-na (basically leaving things to chance and then expecting a higher power to take care of the consequences) Ningas kugon (when Filipinos have no clear plans or goals and their plans and goals easily fizzle out) Filipino time (the habit of always showing up late at an appointment or not showing up at all)
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The "Bawal Umihi Dito" Sign as a Metaphor of the Pinoy Mentality

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One of the many "bawal" signs in the Philippines I remember riding on a trycicle with Tito  Benje, my Filipina wife's uncle.  After overtaking a bus on a double solid line (as Filipinos always do), he said something along the lines of " sa Pilipinas lahat ay pwede", basically meaning that in the Philippines you can do whatever you want and that road signs and markings are, more often than not, mere decorations. Bawal Umihi Dito, Bawal Magtapon ng Basura Dito.... One of the features of the Philippine landscape is the huge amount of signs that remind people that urinating against a public or private wall, on a sidewalk or against a pole and disposing of the garbage on the side of the road, in a river or a canal is not socially acceptable and that the offender might (theoretically) be given a multa, should a  buwaya be around. My bayaw told me in a very straightforward manner that Filipinos love urinating and disposing of their garbage exactly there where a sign s
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Kung Bakit Takot sa Akin ang mga Unggoy sa Pilipinas

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Karamihan ng mga lalaki sa Pilipinas ay walang balahibo sa katawan. At, syempre naman, ang mga unggoy na nasa kagubatan sa Pilipinas ay sanay sa mga lokal na tao at hindi sa aming mga foreigner. Sa aking bansa maraming lalaki ay may makapal na balahibo sa katawan. Ako ay may tunay na gubat sa katawan at makapal pa! At syempre, kapag nakikita ng unggoy na nakatira sa gubat ang isang taong may makapal na gubat sa katawan, medyo takot iyon..... Unggoy na nasa gubat malapit sa Biak na Bato Ang makapal na gubat sa katawan ko Biak na Bato
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