Pasko sa Sugbo

Well, Pasko sa Sugbo (Christmas in Cebu) has been amazing so far. The Christmas season goes until the feast of the Three Kings, which is first Sunday in January.

There is no snow here, no pine trees, and Santa Claus is not very prominent. However, the Filipinos celebrate Christmas in a grand fashion. It is one of, if not, the biggest celebrations they have here.

A lot of their traditions come from when the Spanish ruled the Philippines. Since the Spanish ruled during the same time as Mexico, a lot of the traditions are the same as Mexico today.

It starts formally on December 16. That is when they start the Misa de Gallo, or Mass of the Rooster, which is Mass at dawn. Many churches have this at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. These Masses continue for 9 days until December 24. Nine is the number for a novena, which is done for special graces. Filipinos believe that special graces will be granted by God on the last dawn Mass.

I only got up early enough on the last day to attend dawn Mass. I was amazed how crowded Mass was for so early in the morning. There was standing room only.

On Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena, many Filipinos attend evening Mass. Most churches around Cebu had Mass at 10:00 at night. Just like the US, the Christmas Eve Mass is filled with a lot of additional ceremony than usual.

We attended Mass with Glyn's brother Coning, sister Jen, and nephew Josh at the Basilica del Santo Niño. Again it was standing room only. There were several altar boys and celebrants at the Mass. The lights were turned off as the procession was made to the altar. After the blessing of the baby Jesus (Santo Niño), the lights were turned back on.

After Mass, we went to one of Glyn's cousin's place to celebrate Noche Buena. It is traditional to have lots of food and celebration. On the way to Glyn's cousin's place, we saw (and heard) many firecrackers going off. This is very typical to do on Noche Buena and Media Noche (New Year's Eve). I had lots of food, beer, and good times there. We didn't leave until 3:00 on Christmas morning.

On Christmas Day, it was more quiet. A lot of people, I am sure, slept in from all of the reverly the night before. Glyn and I spent Christmas at the condo opening presents.

We are going to Bohol to celebrate Media Noche. I will report on how that goes. I am looking forward to seeing how it is celebrated in the provinces here.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Pictures from Christmas in Cebu

Here are more pictures from the Philippines. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! You will see many pictures from the Christmas season here in Cebu. Included are pictures from outside the balcony, at the Mall, at Fuente Osmena, from the Christmas Party we had at the condo, from Misa de Gallo, from Waterfront Hotel, from Noche Buena, and Christmas Day. Happy New Year!

Remember you can also click the link "Pictures from the Philippines" in the Links section.

My Grown-Up Christmas List

Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee;
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies.

Well, I'm all grown-up now,
And still need help somehow.(can you still help somehow)
I'm not a child,
But my heart still can dream.

So here's my lifelong wish,
My grown-up Christmas list.
Not for myself,
But for a world in need.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,(and wars would never start)
And time would heal all hearts.

And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.

This is my grown-up Christmas list.

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree.(wrapped beneath the tree)

Well heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.

And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.

This is my grown-up Christmas list.

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth.
(there'd be)

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.

And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end, oh.

This is my grown-up Christmas list.

Oh this is my only Christmas wish.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.

Dirty Fingers

When eating any meal out here in the Philippines, I am amazed by the lack of napkins. One of the treats I like to take is going to Jollibee or McDonalds. In the US, usually you can get your own napkins....and I must admit, I take more than my fair share. I guess I don't like feeling that I won't have enough napkins. Well, here, they usually give you one per person.

I guess that would actually be fine if they gave a napkin with the same thickness as I am used to in the United States. Instead, every napkin that I have seen here is tissue thin. It just doesn't cut it when eating fried chicken.

This absence of napkins is pretty bizarre to me given the fact that Filipinos eat with their hands a lot. Many times, instead of using a fork or a spoon, they will just grab rice with their fingers.

The lack of paper doesn't just stop at napkins...When I go to the comfort room (restroom) at a public place, there is usually not paper towels to dry your hands. Sometimes, they have those air hand drier things...but many times, it is nothing.

I have heard also that there is not always toilet paper in the public toilets too. Luckily, I have not had the fortunate to discover this for myself.

Even at Mass, there is no bulletin, no missalette, and no song book...no paper again!

When I think about it, I don't really see the kind of trees here that we have in the United States. You know, the ones that the environmentalists keep telling us we shouldn't cut down. Well, I guess if they saw the lack of napkins here, maybe they wouldn't scream so hard about not cutting down trees.

I guess it is a good thing that Filipinos don't really shake hands.

Pink Stripes

Tonight I was over at Glyn's apartment and watched Catch Me If You Can, a movie starting Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. It is a great story about a guy who pretends he other people and writes fraudulent checks for over $4 million. Supposedly it is based on a true story.

I am not going to write a movie review...I want to talk about the DVD. We were watching the movie on a pirated DVD. By pirated, I mean, it is not the official DVD that was released by the studios. From what I hear, sometimes the movies are shot with a video camera in the movie theater. As I walk down the street in the city here, I see DVDs for sale of movies that I know are still in the theater or just stopped being in the theater. I know then, that these are pirated movies.

Catch Me If You Can was released in 2002. The DVD that we were watching was copied from a preview version of the movie. I assume that movie studios have these previews for the movie reviewers...or for Academy Award voters. My guess is someone gets a hold of them and makes a lot of money on the black market.

Since it is not an official copy of the DVD, the subtitles are the same as you would get. Glyn and her family watch DVDs with the English subtitles, because it helps them understand everything that is being said in the movie. However, the subtitles for this movie must have been added by someone who was not a native English speaker, so in this case, I can't see how the subtitles actually helped.

I laughed throughout the movie, but it was not always from what was being said or done by the actors. The subtitles were cracking me up. Sometimes the subtitles said things that were wrong...different than what was actually said. Now, at times, these errors were minor...like getting the grammar wrong. No big deal. Other times, the errors were getting peoples' names wrong. One of the main characters, played by DiCaprio, goes by a fake name throughout the movie. One of the names that he uses is Frank Connors. However, the subtitles kept referring to him as Frank Connell. This, despite the fact that they show his name several times on a plaque on a desk and on a door!

They also had "system prosecutor" instead of "assistant prosecutor" and "Bonds California" instead of "the Bar in California".

Sometimes, there is no subtitle at all, I assume because the non-native English speaker doing the subtitles couldn't guess what was being said.

My favorite subtitle goof is towards the beginning of the movie. It was kind of a critical juncture in the movie. The father of DiCaprio's character is trying to convince a bank into giving him money. He gets a store to loan his son a suit so he can help him go to the bank. In explaining the importance of wearing the suits the dialog goes like this:

You know why the Yankees always win, Frank?
'Cause they have Mickey Mantle?
No, it's 'cause the other teams can't stop staring at those damn pinstripes.

However, instead of "pinstripes", the subtitles had "pink stripes"....HA HA HA

I could not stop laughing about this throughout the movie. It was such an important point that was being made in the movie...however, most non-native English speakers probably are wondering why the Yankees wear pink stripes! Well, if it helps them win...

Like the tagline of the movie...it is a true story of a real fake!

My 60 cent haircut

Yesterday I got a haircut here in Cebu. I was a little nervous about it because I normally get my haircut by the same guy at home. I don't ever have to tell him how to cut my hair...he just cuts it.

The guy ended up doing a great job...I even got a great shoulder massage at the end of my haircut. What I ended up being surprised about is how cheap the haircut was. I paid only 30 pesos for the haircut. Thirty pesos is roughly the equivalent of 60 cents! At home, I pay $12 for a haircut. This means that I paid one twentieth of what I normally pay!

Afterwards, Glyn and I went and got manicures. Again, they ended up doing a great job. And, again, I was surprised about how much they cost...30 pesos each! (For those who think it is weird for a guy to get a manicure...don't worry, I have no polish on my nails.)

I still have not gotten a massage here, but they are relatively cheap too. A full body massage costs around $4. That's right....4 bucks!

That is how things are around here. Labor is so cheap compared to the United States. I first saw this when I arrived to Cebu for the first time. Taxi drivers were waving at me to give me a ride to the hotel. They were saying it would cost 1500 pesos ($30) for a ride to the hotel. From the airport, it is about a 40 minute taxi ride. From US standards, $30 for a 40 minute taxi ride is very reasonable. However, it was lucky that I did a little reading before I came here. I read that I should go to the metered taxis instead. So, that is what I did. I ended up paying 170 pesos for the taxi ride....which was a little over 3 bucks!

I have learned that many Filipinos will try to get foreigners to pay more since they are used to paying more. One hotel even told me that they have a different rate for foreigners than for locals. So, I get Glyn to do a lot of price negotiation for me.

Excuse me, I have a $4 massage to get to...

New pictures

I have posted new pictures from the Philippines. Included are pictures from around Cebu and from Glyn's birthday party on November 30. Glyn said it was the greatest day of her life. I think she was being overly gracious. You can get to the pictures by clicking on the "Pictures from the Philippines" link under Links, or by going here.

Eggcellent! Unrefrigerated eggs?

It is a sight that I just cannot get used to. Before I went back to the Philippines, Glyn told me that she bought eggs for her apartment. I did a double take and asked her if she really bought eggs, because I know she does not have a refrigerator (which they call a ref here BTW). She said it was no big deal to not have eggs in the the refrigerator.

Now, everything that I have ever been told about eggs says to put them in the refrigerator and keep them there. I mean, you would get sick if you didn't put eggs in the refrigerator, right?

Well, since I have been here the second time, I have seen it with my own eyes. I walk into the grocery store, and instead of the eggs being in the refrigerated section, they are sitting out on a shelf like bread! Are they crazy?? I even saw a truck carrying eggs that was not refrigerated.

I did a little bit of reading on this and it ends up that most of the world does not refrigerate their eggs. I actually have eaten these eggs and they taste just fine and I do not get sick.

Now, here at the condo I am staying in, the eggs are put in the refrigerator. It makes me feel a little bit better to do this, so I am not a complete convert.

Eggciting? Huh?