Culture shock in the Philippines

First of all this is my first post on the new blog, i'll be putting a lot of new content from the site here along with my own stories/ information and any recent news too!

I'm going to tell you a little bit about Filipino culture, these are mostly based on my experiences, both in socializing and in stories told to me by others.. or just things i've experienced myself.

Culture shock is common in the Philippines, but those who get past it really learn to love the place, the people and everything about it.. those who simply can't will end up hating it here and probably go home telling all their friends not to go to the Philippines. Which is fine.. everybody is entitled to their own opinion after all.

The weather

The first thing you will notice, which actually isn't culture shock.. more weather shock.. is the extreme temperatures during the peak of summer (one of the 2 seasons here, also refered to as the dry season). I first arrived here around the end of march.. and it was HOT!! When I got of the plane I could feel the intense heat though the roof of the walkway as I was getting off the plane!

I thought that was bad.. then I actually got out of the airport! Now considering i'd come from England where it was relatively cold around that time of year, then landing and getting out in the late morning when its starting to get to the hottest point of the day, it was roasting hot!!

Stepping out of the shade I thought I was walking into an oven, luckily an air-conditioned car was on the way so it was only a matter of minutes before it was back to comfort levels again. It took me a few days to get used to it fully.. but once you reach a couple of months staying here, you hardly notice it, unless its a super hot day!!

More about the weather in Philippines...

Aside from the weather, what else can you expect here??

Filipino culture is interesting, as a foreigner one thing you should know about, is that most people think you are super rich.. In terms of Filipino salaries/ money you probably are especially if you are just stepping off the plane to enjoy a well earned vacation in a tropical paradise!! But just beware! On many occasions, you'll see beggars on the streets, now sometimes there are a lot of them, which is fine if they don't bother you.

But, 90% of the time i've walked past (or even been across the road) from beggars (especially kids).. they've ran upto me sometimes quite a long distance and refused to stop bothering me, even running down the street. I try to give them a few pesos if possible, but sometimes there are just so many that its better to just keep walking and ignore them.

Another kind of person who especially love foreigners are taxi drivers, if they believe you've just stepped off the plane and don't know anything about Philippine taxi rates, they really will try their luck with crazy high prices and refuse to use the meter. They'll use every excuse in the book "too much traffic", "the meter is broken" or they might just say some complete jibberish thinking if they confuse you enough you'll accept. Just refuse if the price seems unreasonable.

What is an unreasonable price?

Well, meters start at 30pesos usually and a taxi drive for about 20-30 minutes might cost you around 200+ depending on the distance. Going to that 7-eleven down the road shouldn't cost you 500 pesos! So just negotiate!

There is a problem sometimes, in that there simply isn't many taxis around and you have no choice, either that or you've stopped a few and they've all trid to rip you off. In this case you just have to accept it and go along with it.. but personally I wouldn't tip on a fixed rate fare in any circumstances!!

Language confusion

Now the Philippines does speak English thats true, but the question is at what level? Actually i'd say that depending on how heavy your accent is and how slowly you speak. Some people just can't understand more than basic level, especially those in jobs that require them to be quick such as fast food servers and bar tenders etc.

Often, i've been to places like Jolibee, McDonalds or similar, only to find out that my order from the menu was wrong.. I learned to correct this by just using the codes on the menu (for example N2 in jolibee is a chicken + rice meal) and usually ordering drinks, you might get the wrong choice. 9 times out of 10 I just accept this if its similar enough to my original order. Getting angry just makes things worse since they might be more nervous and make further mistakes. My point being, just accept that their might be a few mistakes, be polite about it and it should be easy enough to get it write! or another idea is learn tagalog (if you plan to stay for a while) to make things easier.

A few other things:

- Lateness: If you have a business or have a meeting planned.. expect lateness, its a part of the culture of things been more laid back.. sometimes its kinda nice but other times its annoying.

- Friendliness: People will be overly friendly, but for them its just normal.. compared to the west, it can seem scary.. but don't worry my rule of thumb, is with friends or people you've got to know well its fine.. but try not to go with those who seem suspicious and especially random strangers. They could be trying to scam you.

Theres so much more to Filipino culture than I could possibly write, have a look at my page on the subject on the site.

Filipino Culture