Eye-Opener: Memo

Culture Shock

Hola everybody!

I've landed back on American soil and wow, I'm either culturally shock at the obvious difference or I'm missing Philippines (P.I.) already...

I drove today to the Ardmore area (I still remember how to drive after a three month hiatus).... I'm actually driving rather than riding Philippine public transportation which may consist of tricycles, jeepneys, bikes, buses or FXs,

the traffic here is minimal,

the cars are not lane hopping and zigzagging like crazies- I'm not worrying about being "held up" for my borrowed cell phone, I don't see people walking on non-existent sidewalks (aka on the road with the vehicles)

the roads are wide and fixed

I'm finding speaking English weird (I'm finding myself not saying the right tense or missing articles). My pronunciation has stressed vowels everywhere. My F sounds had become P sounds and v became b. just as I'm getting used to 'dipthongs' before I left for P.I., now I'm starting from level one again...I feel shy when speaking English, it's like when I utter an English sentence the volume of my voice hits the nadir (pits of the Pacific abyss)...

the unpredictability of the weather is gone, eating taho is no longer possible, "makulit" JB et al. are at distant shores...

hopefully all are aware of the terror alert and liquid bombs... they were enforcing it, I went to at least three personal check-in place at the three airports I entered, I shouldn't have worn a belt because I had to remove it for every checkpoint, my baggage went to several x-ray machines... in Japan a guard personally checked through my hand carry full of "pasulobong (gifts)," I had to recheck my baggage once in Detriot for my transfer flight to Philly.. the weirdest thing I did was go through this stall-like scanner that shot burst of air, which came down on me from head to toe...

the only somewhat rude incident that occured to me happened when an airport official in the claiming area asked if I can read English, I said Yes. He circled the word 'food' and pointed to my pastries. I didn't declare them because the column included articles I didn't have (which were fruit, vegetables, seeds, live animals, plants etc.) I thought if I circled one thing from the list I would be implicated for the other things as well... so I was directed to follow the green arrow where a nicer officer learned of the details of my rationalization....

another incident was when an officer asked me what kind of gifts I brought home. I said toys (without thinking), and he immediately asked what kind of toys. I said dolls, stuff toys, and other souvenirs like magnets and keychains. Then the crux of his paranoia was revealed. He asked me if I had any toy guns, then jet-lagged me with minimalized brain functioning realized the whole terror alert (dah)... I felt safe either way, and I just bared with the meticulousness of it all

the world we live in?...

Posted by Michael Diezmos at August 22, 2006 1:04 AM