A Cultural Melting Pot

From its 327 year Dominion under Spain, to the half century spent under the US's watch, in addition to the Asian culture it has been constantly surrounded by, the Philippines is the definition of a cultural melting pot. The recipe contains a dash of Malay warmth and generosity, a sprinkle of outgoing Latin temperament, and a pinch of Asian tradition combined with European pop culture to create the unique Filipino way of life.

The Philippines has adopted much of their culture from other countries, including greetings. When greeting a person, it is common to shake hands(softly), as we do in the US. Sometimes women may hug one another, or men may pat each other on the back, but men and women are expected to shake hands. To show respect for an elder, a younger person may bow towards the elder's hand and raise it to their forehead (if the hand is offered by the elder first), this is known as mano or pagmamano and is also to accept a blessing from an elder.

Family unity is a term that the Philippines has earned. Family members love each other and are always looking for a way to spend time together. Family also means sacrifice, what ever it takes to keep family close and doing well. Although Filipino culture is very polite and warm, parents have the right to command their children, and children are expected to obey and respect their parents.

The Philippines is a country that communicates indirectly. This means that body language is used to communicate, as well as asking questions instead of giving commands. One example is that "yes" is signified by jerking the head upwards, while "no" is shown by jerking the head down, because of the indirect culture, many times people while say yes while signifying no, which still means no. Talking in circles is also common, which may be different to many Americans, but it is the polite way in multiple other cultures.

Another thing that I found interesting is that the Philippines is a Republic, and they elect a president like the US does! Each President serves a term of six years. The current President is Benigno Aquino III, and the Vice President is Jejomar Binay. While I don't know too much about their politics, I am hoping to learn since it will be election year while I am there!

So, I hope this post is a good overview of Filipino culture, and I will be posting more about the Philippines and YES Abroad as time goes on. Feel free to comment with any questions you might have about me, my exchange, the Philippines, YES Abroad, or anything else! 

Beginnings

As many already know, I have been accepted to spend my 2016-17 Junior year of high school abroad in the Philippines with the YES Abroad state department scholarship. While this is a very well known fact due to all my excitement, what isn’t so well known is the story of how I got here. This post is the beginning of a story about one of the most exciting, challenging, life changing, rewarding experiences in my life.

When I was five years old, my family decided to host our very first exchange student, little did I know that this would be the beginning of a life filled with exchange. Since then I have gained 13 exchange brothers and sisters from all around the world; South Korea, Germany, Brazil, Jordan, Australia, Hong Kong, Russia, Spain, and Slovakia. Up until I was 14, I always said I would never be an exchange student, that it would be too hard, and I wasn’t interested. All that changed the second I began looking into what it really meant to be a youth ambassador for the US by going on exchange.

I just want to pause for a second and explain why I chose YES Abroad and not a different exchange program or scholarship. When I decided to apply for exchange, I wanted a scholarship that fit my goals, which were to learn about another culture by becoming a part of it, while sharing a small piece of my culture with the one that surrounded me. With many other scholarships, it is about the language, or the politics, but with YES, it’s about gaining a cultural understanding. While I am sure the other state department scholarships are great opportunities, each one has a specific aim, so I felt it important to choose the one whose purpose I would best fulfill.

The day I decided to apply for exchange, the waiting began. First, I waited for the applications to become available, which was about two months for me. When they finally came out, it took me about two months of dedicated work and perseverance to complete and turn them in. Once they were turned in, I had to wait to find out when and where my interview would be held. All this time I was praying, more and more each day that God would do what was best for me, which of course, I thought was exchange.

On Friday, March fourth, I got the most exciting, disappointing, confusing email of my life; I had been placed as a YES Abroad alternate. I wanted to jump up and down, because I hadn’t been rejected, yet cry for hours, because I hadn’t been accepted. The more I looked into it, the more grateful and hopeful I was to be an alternate, although still confused to a degree. In doing research I found out that in past years, over three fourths of the alternates had gone abroad, and in some years all of them had been offered a finalist status! This was the most encouraging news I could I could fathom at the time.

After exactly two weeks of agonizing waiting, on Friday, March eighteenth, I was one of the first alternates to be upgraded to finalist status. I would be spending my next school year in the Philippines! My first thought was to calm down, which lasted for about half a second, and then it hit me, all I could do was scream, and cry, and laugh. It was impossible to express or explain the excitement I felt, but that didn’t stop me from trying!

As my orientations and departure draw near, my excitement continues to grow for everything that God has in store for next year in the country which I’m sure will become a second home to me. There are so many more little facts and details which were too much for this post, but I will continue blogging to keep everybody updated! While in the Philippines, I will try to post every week or two, but until then, it might not be so regular. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!