Showing posts with label Filipino customs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Filipino customs. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Day of the Dead
Last night was the biggest holiday here in the Philippines, the day of the dead. Multitudes of people go to the cemetary and spend the day and many all night at their loved ones grave. You would think it would have a somber mood, but in reality it is like a huge outdoor concert scene. Drinking and barbecues, card playing and romancing. Their need for a reality in Christ is great. Please keep the Philippines in your prayers.
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Sunday, July 02, 2006
One of my favorite photos
These are stacked graves illuminated by candle light on the "Day of the Dead" a yearly holiday here in the Philippines. Click on the image to get a larger view.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Cultural Observations
A few recent cultural observations:
Old ladies who smoke their cigarettes backwards! The burning side is held inside their mouth so as not to lose any of their “precious” smoke. Though I am sure there are others who do this, I have only seen some old ladies doing it. Of course they have to “cup” their mouth to keep from getting burned, so when they speak, they are very hard to understand.
Funny Signs: On a bottled mineral water store “Body Fluids Mineral Water”…..hmmmm….not so thirsty after all.
“U-Nick barber shop.” Now to be fair, the Filipinos pronounce their I’s with a long e sound, so it didn’t take me long to figure out it was supposed to mean “Unique”, but as I pondered, what kind of a barber shop advertises the fact that you will be cut or nicked, or worse, it could be read eunuch barber shop, I definitely won’t be going there.
(1/06) The power went out about 15 minutes before service tonight, and stayed out through most of the service. We scrambled around to light candles and try to situate everyone, but it was a chore. Large congregation was there,(no, not body size :) ) without any fans, no PA till we remembered we had batteries in our little karaoke machine, and many restless kids. It sure makes you appreciate the power when it comes back on. Follow @ddevonshire
Old ladies who smoke their cigarettes backwards! The burning side is held inside their mouth so as not to lose any of their “precious” smoke. Though I am sure there are others who do this, I have only seen some old ladies doing it. Of course they have to “cup” their mouth to keep from getting burned, so when they speak, they are very hard to understand.
Funny Signs: On a bottled mineral water store “Body Fluids Mineral Water”…..hmmmm….not so thirsty after all.
“U-Nick barber shop.” Now to be fair, the Filipinos pronounce their I’s with a long e sound, so it didn’t take me long to figure out it was supposed to mean “Unique”, but as I pondered, what kind of a barber shop advertises the fact that you will be cut or nicked, or worse, it could be read eunuch barber shop, I definitely won’t be going there.
(1/06) The power went out about 15 minutes before service tonight, and stayed out through most of the service. We scrambled around to light candles and try to situate everyone, but it was a chore. Large congregation was there,(no, not body size :) ) without any fans, no PA till we remembered we had batteries in our little karaoke machine, and many restless kids. It sure makes you appreciate the power when it comes back on. Follow @ddevonshire
Saturday, June 03, 2006
The Day of the Dead
Nov. 1st and 2nd are the two biggest holidays of the year here from what I have been told. The 1st is All souls day (The Day of the Dead) and the next day is All saints day. The people all go to the cemetery and spend the day and many spend the night there. Some are lighting candles, praying for their dead, praying to their dead, or just honoring their dead. We went there and I guess I expected a more somber note, but the atmosphere was more like a huge party. They were grilling, drinking, playing cards, and selling their wares. I include some pics of the day and then the night.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Cultural tidbits and adjustments
(From 8/05)
Text messaging is in every nook and cranny of society here. You can watch
people driving their motorcycle and staring down at their cell phone at
the same time, they text and walk, text and talk, text and drive, text and
text and text.
The septic smell is intermixed with the constant burning of vegetation and
trash, this, I believe, is so your nose won't get used to the sewage smell
and tune it out, it always stays fresh! Really it is not so bad, just
part of the culture.
We have pared down to two dogs. The other couple that was here, took one
with them to the island of Cebu, and a mother and her three pups were
given away. Hurray!!! Christine is the caretaker of the pups, and
although she says she is not a "dog person" I sense she is growing fond of
them.
Hot Water!!!! We have hot showers now. I luxuriated last night for the
first time in almost three weeks in a hot shower. (See, the air IS
smelling better around here!) We looked into installing a hot water
heater for the house, we actually already have one, but found out it was
much better to install a small unit that attached to the shower head,
heats the water, and then out it comes. Truly wonderful. It ran about
$100, which is quite a chunk on the mission field, but I chalked it up to
preparing the homestead for the next 4 years. (I found an Air Conditioner
for the living room too!)
The motorcycle.....Well, I really don't want to use one. The economics of
it all point to one, I have looked for a car, but at the moment, I will
have to wait. The last man has left his motorcycle and sidecar here until
we can ship it out, so it provides a temporary form of transportation. I
drive it back and forth to church and try to avoid traffic.
The church...it is not in the same subdivision, but very close, as far as
the growth, well, the church has hit a high number of around 400 about 2-3
months ago. We promoted for his last Sunday and got up to 372. It
dropped off quite a bit the Sunday after, which is not unusual, and now we
are in building mode again. We have had to do a lot of settling in, and
have not worked the church work as much as we need to, but now that the
other man is gone, we will.
The school is still in the making. I am watching the people and seeing
who is real and who isn't. We will see. Follow @ddevonshire
Text messaging is in every nook and cranny of society here. You can watch
people driving their motorcycle and staring down at their cell phone at
the same time, they text and walk, text and talk, text and drive, text and
text and text.
The septic smell is intermixed with the constant burning of vegetation and
trash, this, I believe, is so your nose won't get used to the sewage smell
and tune it out, it always stays fresh! Really it is not so bad, just
part of the culture.
We have pared down to two dogs. The other couple that was here, took one
with them to the island of Cebu, and a mother and her three pups were
given away. Hurray!!! Christine is the caretaker of the pups, and
although she says she is not a "dog person" I sense she is growing fond of
them.
Hot Water!!!! We have hot showers now. I luxuriated last night for the
first time in almost three weeks in a hot shower. (See, the air IS
smelling better around here!) We looked into installing a hot water
heater for the house, we actually already have one, but found out it was
much better to install a small unit that attached to the shower head,
heats the water, and then out it comes. Truly wonderful. It ran about
$100, which is quite a chunk on the mission field, but I chalked it up to
preparing the homestead for the next 4 years. (I found an Air Conditioner
for the living room too!)
The motorcycle.....Well, I really don't want to use one. The economics of
it all point to one, I have looked for a car, but at the moment, I will
have to wait. The last man has left his motorcycle and sidecar here until
we can ship it out, so it provides a temporary form of transportation. I
drive it back and forth to church and try to avoid traffic.
The church...it is not in the same subdivision, but very close, as far as
the growth, well, the church has hit a high number of around 400 about 2-3
months ago. We promoted for his last Sunday and got up to 372. It
dropped off quite a bit the Sunday after, which is not unusual, and now we
are in building mode again. We have had to do a lot of settling in, and
have not worked the church work as much as we need to, but now that the
other man is gone, we will.
The school is still in the making. I am watching the people and seeing
who is real and who isn't. We will see. Follow @ddevonshire
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