I have several friends who live in the Philippines and we converse on a regular basis over the internet. What is so unique about this experience is the fact that our two countries are on opposite sides of the planet, and somewhere around thirteen hours apart in time, yet we manage to be able to chat as clearly as if we were right in the same room together. Of course, when it is evening here it is morning there, and vice-versa, which can be confusing if you do not have your mind in gear to start with. Never mind the fact that the two of you may not even technically still be in the same day, it certainly feels like the same day when you are chatting in live time with a microphone and headset.
Add a webcam into the mix and you are all set to create the illusion of close proximity, which will never fail to amaze both of you to no end. Of course this technology can screw up at times, like when you are listening to what your friend is trying to say and there is an accent involved, which can make it difficult to decipher to begin with, and suddenly, one of the microphones decides to cut out, and you end up listening either to an electronic growl, or to static, whichever comes first. That's when you have to stop the other person in mid-sentence and ask them to repeat something they said two minutes ago. Then that person wonders what kind of drug you are on, and you realize that it is much easier to simply laugh at odd moments and pray that laughter is called for.
When you hear nothing but silence at the other end of the net, combined with a polite chuckle, then you know that your guess is incorrect and you need to re-think your philosophy a bit. Then you have to admit that you missed something along the way and once you get that cleared up you can both get on with life. Plus, if the person in the Philippines has a window open in their home you get the distinct pleasure of listening to 5,000,000 motorcycle engines racing past throughout the entire conversation. The motorcycle is the automobile of choice in the Philippines, so you will hear a lot of them to the point where you will begin to believe the Hell's Angels are sitting on your head.
I have one friend who consistently greets me with a “good evening” when it is actually morning where I am, and a “good morning” when it is evening. Then I have to correct her, with a reminder that we are thirteen hours apart. Then she tells me she is confused by this because I have just greeted her with the salutation representing her own time of day, which leads her to believe that it is the same time of day where I am, which it is not. In my attempts to greet her according to her own time of day, I manage to successfully confuse her every time. This lady is and forever shall be, one of my all time favorite people. You just have to love someone like that.
She gets even however. This lady is trying to teach me the Philippine dialect, Cebuano. It is an easy language to read if you have never heard it pronounced. But listen to a native speaker pronounce it sometime and you will soon be put securely in your place. I struggled to pronounce some Cebuano phrases one evening/morning and had my Filipina friend laughing her head off. She was laughing so hard I could not even hear myself mutilating her language. When I got it through my thick skull that Filipino languages have the same general vowel sounds as the Spanish language, it became a bit easier. I flunked Spanish in High School.
This same lady will meet me in one particular website and will send me a wave. “Hi, I'm waving from the Philippines.” Some crazy part of me will crack at that moment, and I will tell her, “I see you waving. Can you see me waving back?” Five minutes later I get a reply back, which is how long it takes her to get her composure again. I need to establish the point that I am only as crazy as the friends I keep. Another friend of mine from the Philippines always calls me “ate”, (ah-tay) which means, “older sister”. This is not an insult, unless you happen to live in the United States and lie about your age for forty years. In the Philippines this is a mark of deep respect. Call yourself that same name spontaneously sometime in front of a different Filipina and prepare to be laughed into submission.
I love the Filipinos, they are a wonderful, polite, and gentle people. They are also incredibly friendly and they adore Americans to no end. This, in itself, is a refreshing change, but combine that with the fact that most of them speak better English than Americans do, and you have the recipe for a mutual friendship that can go nowhere but up. It also helps to know that the Philippines is an almost entirely Christian country. They will still laugh at you when you attempt to speak their languages, but they will love you to pieces regardless. They have a great admiration for the occidental look, so don't be surprised if you meet up with a Filipino someday and he stares at you shamelessly for the longest time. It is not an insult, as he is merely admiring your non-oriental face. The skin-tone, the shape of the eyes, and yes, the nose. I have been told that my long nose is beautiful. Wow. What a um, unique compliment.
On the other hand, how many times does one get complimented for the shape of their nose anyway? Yep, the Asian people are wonderfully unique, and I for one, just love them to pieces … short noses and all. God bless all of my special friends from the Philippines. I adore you characters.
