“FACTS” ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES

OBSERVATIONS

~It’s 85 God Damn degree’s outside and everyone wears sweatshirts, flannels, pants, and hats.
It’s insanity.

~They have no laws about texting/talking while driving, because if you did – you would die.

~Like Egypt, drivers (of anything with a motor) use horns to communicate with other drivers.

They say things like:

Toot = Excuse me, sir.
Toot Toot = I’m around the corner!
Too-too-too-toot = Get off the road dog.

Ta-toot = Thank you
TOOOT = I’m comin in hot!

Notice there are no “fuck you’s”. Contrary to what it literally looks and sounds like, they seem to be the happiest drivers ever- And have absolutely no reason to be (from my standpoint…which happens to be completely irrelevant – Go Filipino’s! More power to ya!)

• I am starting to think that they may melt in the rain.

• There appear to only be flying insects here.

• You know how your skin feels when you take a really hot shower, “dry off” in the steamy bathroom, then apply a moisturizer? You feel like that 24/7 here. All the fucking time.

• Dogs here eats whole fish and chicken bones and do not choke like their American relatives. They also don’t need that much water, which is weird. There are 5 dogs where I’ve been staying for the last 5 days and I’ve never seen them take a drink of water. Literally. One dog followed me down this steep cliff that had about 4 feet tall grass and bushes. It was 85 degree/100% humidity. I could see him leaping about 5 feet in the air and disappearing again, over and over, up and down this steep drop-off just doing circles around me. About 30 minutes later I tried to give him water and he wanted nothing to do with it.

• One of their most popular beers in this area, Red —-, is basically Beast Ice (aka Milwaukie’s Best)

“FACTS” About The Philippines

• Most dogs here are not pets. They are guard animals. Even if they appear friendly, you do not pet them, they will likely bite.

• There aren’t mean people here like in America. People aren’t sad here like in America. They don’t try to hurt people intentionally, like people do in America. Nor are they entitled. They know what America is like… or Americans, I should say… they know that in comparison, I’m extremely wealthy, but they don’t treat or look at me different (except the initial white awe factor) or expect things of me. They’re kind, not jealous or rude… you know, shit people do back home. I’ll touch on this again in the next section.

• So far, everything is WAAAY cheaper here -EXCEPT FOR GROCERIES!!! You can get cheaper food from the locals, but grocery stores are the same, and in some cases more expensive than home. A small bottle of Belvedere Vodka cost me $50 USD.

On the contrary, I went to Robinsons (their version of Macy’s) and got all this shit for just over $100 USD

• 2 Queen Comforters
• 2 Flat Sheets
• 3 Decorative Pillows
• 5 Fancy Pillow Cases
• 2 Bench Cushions
• 2 Citronella Candles
• 1 Decorative “Lantern” Candle Holding-Thingy
• 2 Santa Candle Holders + Candle
• Like 5 Gold Decorative Leaf-Stem-Things
• Bag of Candy
• 1 Shower Rug
• 2 Hand Towels

• There’s no Halloween really. They celebrate “The Day of the Dead” pretty much, which is on November 1st. It’s a freakin’ shindig if I’ve ever seen one. Everyone goes to the cemeteries to visit their loved ones. There are vendors everywhere, police on every corner, people even camp out next to their loved one’s graves. It’s pretty cool.

• No smoking is allowed in the city {Booooooo}

• There are no stop signs or traffic lights. People drive all over the road, super-fast, some slow, bust U-turns, stop randomly- no one cares! Except apparently, you can get a ticket for having a taillight out. We did.

• Gas in Leyte is $5.65/liter that is about $21.39/GALLON
• Electricity is expensive AF
• The water bill where I was staying was about $30 USD/month

• The girls working in the clothing store at the mall in Cebu, made $10/DAY
• A baby turkey in Leyte goes for $10. A baby chicken, $2,
• They do not call elders by their name… they call them by their ‘title’, per say. I, for example, to
  the children, am “Tia”.
• Did I mention they don’t have traffic signs or lights (in Ormoc)??!! Lol