Cutting in Line

I have experienced an annoying phenomenom here in the Philippines...people cutting in line.

Now, this is not something totally foreign to me. I have had people cut in line in front of me several times in my life. However, this has happened to me many times since I have been here in the Philippines.

I will be in line at the store waiting to buy something, and someone will just walk in front of me and stand in line like they belong there. At first, I thought it was because I was a foreigner. Maybe they think the foreigner won't say anything, so they do it. Recently, I was in a public restroom, waiting for an open urinal, when two guys walked in front of me and went to urinal instead of waiting behind me.

After it happened to me for the 7th or 8th time, I asked Glyn about it. I asked her if it was usual for people to cut in line. She said that it was not uncommon. However, she thinks that it is still rude when people do it.

It really made me think about the way people drive around here too. Cars cut in front of each other with great frequency. There is no road rage or anything like that when it happens. People sort of expect it. I have never seen a taxi driver yell and scream or honk their horn in anger.

I have joked with Glyn about going to the front of a line that we are standing in to see what would happen. I am learning to stand a little closer to the person in front of me...and to take a deep breath when I get cut in front of again. Who knows? Maybe I will try it myself sometime...

The Angelus

Glyn and I were walking through a department store in the mall today. At 6:00 pm, all of a sudden everyone stopped what they were doing. I asked Glyn what was happening. She told me that they were praying The Angelus. It is traditional to pray the prayer at 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm.

The prayer is a devotion to the Incarnation. So over the loudspeaker, the prayer was broadcast. It goes like this:

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

I was amazed to be standing in a public place and see all people stop what they were doing for prayer. I have never known anything like it in my life. I have grown up in a place of supposedly religious tolerance. However, practicing one's religion in public is not really tolerated in the United States.

We have freedom of religion, but what has happened instead is that we can practice whatever we want, as long as we keep quiet about it.

It was also surprising, in a predominately Catholic country (over 80 percent call themselves Catholic), that they have a national holiday for the end of Ramadan, which is a Muslim holiday (only 5 percent of the country are Muslim).

The Pac Man

Remember that game from the 80s? You know, the little character that would eat the dots? They even had a Ms. Pac Man...

Well, I am not going to talk about video games today. Instead I am going to talk about Manny "Pac Man"Pacquiao. Manny is a hero here in the Philippines. He is an actor, a singer, and probably one day will be a politician. Oh yeah, he is also a boxer!

Today, I joined what seems like the whole country in watching him fight Eric Morales of Mexico. The fight was being billed as the Grand Finale to the Trilogy of Morales-Paquiao. (That means they fought twice before...each fighter winning once.)

The fight was being fought in Las Vegas, but Glyn and I headed up the street to a restaurant/bar (they call them restos here) called The Wine Shop (a wine and Spanish tapas restaurant...er, I mean resto) to watch the fight live on the big screen. The fight was also being shown on commerical TV here in the Philippines. However, because of commericials, anyone watching it over "free TV" was seeing it an hour or two behind.

So at 8:00 in the morning, we walked in and sat down at one of the tables. However, we found out that the tables were already reserved. So we sat at the bar to watch the fight. There were a total of 3 fights before the main event. So we had breakfast at the bar and watched all the fights, which started at 10:00 am here.

We even ordered a bottle of wine before the big fight. I know I am going off on a tangent... those who know me well would say that this is normal for me to do...I could not get over how cheap the wine was. The bottle that we ordered was 210 pesos, which is just over $4.00 US. In fact, it is cheaper to drink the wine in the restaurant than to take it out!

Anyway, back to the fight...What a great experience it was. The place was packed! They played the Philippines, Mexico, and US National Anthems before the bout. I was impressed at the great reception the US National Anthem got in the bar when it was played. The crowd was into every punch that Manny threw! They would roar with every good hit, and they erupted at the end of the third round when Manny won on a KO (that is knockout to the uninitiated).

It seemed like the whole country celebrated this victory! The priest even talked about Manny during his homily at Mass. (Hey, he knows how to play the crowd!)

Honestly, I cannot tell you the last time I watched a boxing match, but today it was a real joy to celebrate with all Filipinos the Pac Man's victory.

Here! Here! Blogging from the Philippines

Well, here it is...my first blog post here. I have had this blog for probably a year and a half, but never did anything with it. I guess I didn't have much to say.

Most of you know that I am currently in the Philippines. I have been here since November 1, which is All Saints Day, a national holiday here. Being here is really amazing...I get to experience a different culture than my own for the first time in my life.

I will post some thoughts on what it is like here in the RP, as well as other things that are in my head. Thanks for reading.