Why Americans Love Filipino Culture

I'll definitely love the Philippines the people that really great I love the Filipinos I think Filipinos are the funniest people in the world I love everything about them Filipinos are so friendly and so loving there's anything I've learned from the Filipino people it's friendliness the culture is great the Filipinos are the best I think in the world the Filipinos and their culture I I love the culture in the Philippines the first thing everyone says and it's true is that they are happy people they smile even though they have a there are a lot of people with a lot of problems they know how to smile they know how to laugh they know how to keep pushing on through without you know just complaining and that's something you learn quick as a missionary and you learn from their example is you know you're thinking oh you know it's hot this is hard I don't know the language and you learn that you can do hard things and still be happy and still enjoy yourself that's something I love about the Filipinos is their ability to laugh and the smile it's unlike any any other people I know they can just smile no matter what situation they're in another thing I love is they're very just a very welcoming people they treat you you know you could something that's nice about the Philippines is you don't have to attract in the sense where you go knock on doors and say hi I'm their pet I'm a missionary from the church you just walk on the streets and you can just talk to people you can say how was your day how's your family and just start conversations with someone you don't know and it seems like after a minute you can feel like you've been friends for a long time they just are very open you can ask them things you know that people would think you're crazy in America you can know someone for a minute and ask how many kids they have and what their kids are doing and where they live and who their mom is and who their dad is and what they like and what they do in life you know you can get to know someone very quickly and it's awesome you know here in America sometimes I wish that we were more open just saying hey what's up who are you where are you from what do you like to do unfortunately we don't do that accredits not here but the Philippines you really can talk with anyone and I love that they're just a welcoming people I also love just the faith or the Filipino people how they're able to kind of like I said get through hard times and do a heart of things knowing that they will make it and believing in God believing in his hand to be there to help them and they have the faith to make that happen it's a country where you can promise someone that if they do something like it the there were those blessings and they will get those blessings because they'll do it they'll have their faith they'll make big sacrifices that something else is about Philippines they'll they'll sacrifice so much for you they want to make you feel at home so when you're visiting members or even people you don't know who've just recognized you as someone visiting and a servant of God bill you know they'll give you the food they had for their family and they'll put it in front of you and make you eat they won't give you the choice they'll they want you to feel at home they want you to feel comfortable and it's incredible to see how much they are willing to give up for for us as missionaries and for other people they have charity in that sense unlike really anyone else that I've known so I really love that the Filipinos are so giving I'll definitely love the Philippines the people that really great even though the culture is like completely opposite from America I really love it their lifestyle so simple and they just they just have a simple life they're always happy doesn't matter what they have or they don't have they're just willing to share with people they're very kind they're really easy to talk to usually you can talk to them even if they don't want to listen to those they'll still talk to you at least for a little bit and basically everyone has a belief in Christ different religions different beliefs but it's great to be able to just open up any conversation can just talk about Christ they have like Christ on there like jeepneys on their tricycles I runs very religious which makes missionary work sometimes a little easier sometimes not because sometimes they're very firmly embedded in their beliefs but they're very kind people though they're willing to share with the missionaries their food they'll help you like with language you can ask them how to cook stuff they'll tell you they're very nice humble people Filipinos are so friendly and so loving like they are so kind and so welcoming it was such a different culture than I was used to here in America and it surprised me at first how willing people were to talk to us to let us into their homes and to feed us they're so polite if you go into their house and they're eating they will offer you whatever they're eating just because that's the nature of their culture they're also very sensitive and can sometimes be easily offended but they always do everything to try to like save face so they won't let you know that they're offended and they'll kind of like clothes off from you and that's that's just kind of their culture so you have to learn to be sensitive to that and just love them despite that difference because I feel like here in America we're very straightforward we're very direct and sometimes if you're like that with the Filipinos they get offended because they're not used to that directness and their culture because they are so coy and so formal with each other but I love Filipinos they're so funny they have this this really funny sassy sense of humor that it takes a little bit to understand and to like find that their jokes are funny but after you start to understand it they are hilarious and they'll make you laugh and they love making people laugh so that's great I think Filipinos are the funniest people in the world they and that's just part of their culture they love to joke and laugh and that was a huge blessing on my mission to have that you know just to always be able to joke and laughing and they and they are always partying you know they even late into the night they're on their karaoke they love karaoke and so that's always so funny to hear even if it's like really off tune it's still really funny keep spirits let light let me see Oh funny things that are like funny to Americans that I had to get used to when this is just a Filipino thing when when they don't hear what you say instead of saying what they they open their mouth just like just like that and and so like when it first happened when I first got to the mission I'd say something like almost stuck idea and they'd be like and then if they didn't hear it they do it again like and just like keep getting wider and wider and and I wouldn't happen I was just like Oh what what's going on and it took a while to get used to it until I realized they're like saying what did you say you know that's just their thing another thing they use so many gestures their eyebrows up means means yes just be like and so I thought people were mad at me when they were doing that I feel like do do you want to come to church on Sunday they'd be like and I'd be like excuse me yeah just like seems kind of smirk but what that mean they're like saying yes like yeah yeah [Laughter] and then I'm sure you've heard of the pointing with the lips you know over there and and that's really funny too he'd be like where's the bathroom and I didn't think they heard me and so I'd like repeat myself all the time let me see they they oh they all do like this Filipino squat everywhere just like to chill they they just squat on the ground and and that's really funny to see like a 90 year old man doing it and then like a three year old sitting right next to him doing it I love it and I actually still do that today they oh they what was I gonna say Oh some of the food is kind of funny to me for one birthday party there's there was like like hot dogs on a stick but there was like marshmallows in between the hot Oh Lex that was funny they I think sweet spaghetti is really funny too you know that they're just putting their own twist on it they hate to get wet in the rain they that's like the worst thing that could happen and so when it's raining everyone's like ducting with their newspapers or like anything that they can grab like banana leaves and everyone's like ducking and we probably looked crazy cuz we're just out there getting wet and and yeah we were probably the funny ones to them and oh when they when there's two people talking talking to each other and somebody has to pass between them they get down they like crunch really really low so that they can go by and they'd say couscous because they're just so polite you know and I always thought that wasn't funny because I'd be like talking to somebody and then I'd be like oh oh this right by me ducking so far down also there's the last one they there's this word in in the Philippines that we don't have in America or we don't there's not an English equivalent and it's kilig and k-league is the feeling that you get when it's something so cute do you know and something's just like I don't know when something's romantic and you just can't take it and they'll be like II so so anytime there's anything like romantic like like even like in a testimony meeting somebody was like my mission president he was talking he was like I met my wife back in college and I loved her from the moment I saw her and everyone's like II just like no matter what they can't control it it's geeky like Sheila take it so kilig and then just like crunch of it so yeah I wish we had a word for that in English because we we feel it to it you know you see something on TV you kilig yeah they are the sweetest most kind people they're so welcoming so receptive and they're always willing to help other people around them and they're always giving you food always giving you food every house you go to there's some sort of snack or full-on meal if they can they just they love to help other people that are so generous even though they have so little they because they have so little when they have they give what they have they give to other people and they're just so concerned about you and they're so cute they're so shy they are terrified to speak English and mess up but they they're so friendly especially to Americans they love Americans I love the white skin the different hair colors they're fascinated by freckles I don't know how much now like because Americans have been there for a while but they're just they're so cute and friendly I love them so amazing definitely like one of the best parts of the mission is getting to know the people and the culture there and really embracing the culture that's there cuz I feel like sometimes it's easy to just want to like you know I have my culture you have yours and try to keep yourself separate but I personally loved that my chain there was like no you need to really try to adapt to our culture and like try to take on our culture and I think that helps me a lot because I understood my investigators at a deeper level and I was able to help them more because I was willing to really understand and live the way that they lived there's anything I've learned from Filipino people its friendliness they're really friendly really handy sometimes overly friendly like you're walking down the street anybody will be eating like if you see someone eating while you're walking down the street they'll call out with you on that counter they want you to come eat with them thank you just be polite mm-hmm that's a gate of it but they're very friendly um everyone says hi everyone greets you they're smiling all the time so yeah just learn how to be friendly because it's the Filipino people are friendly I love everything about them I don't know they the people are probably my favorite just because like going in kinda like I said earlier I was like really scared like I didn't know the language I Xena speaking I didn't know anybody there but they just they accept you so quickly and I I feel like I learned a lot about loving people from them and that they didn't care where you came from they didn't care why you were there but they loved you anyways and they'd share anything with you even though they were a lot of times short for themselves and their family but they would give anything that they could just because of who they were and that was probably my favorite like being about the Philippines but I mean it's a beautiful country even though I didn't serve in like the tropical like beaches or anything like that like it was so beautiful in it it really like opened my eyes to like the world that God created for us it's so diverse and it's so beautiful I like saw animals and never seen before and I mean food I never eaten before and and like just like experiencing something completely different was really a good experience and it was very life-changing I guess too and I mean and even just like the little things like the way they get around like transportation is so much different it's like mostly public and people like I said don't really own their own cars and so like they take buses and jeepneys that are kind of like old military like Jeeps and they just open the back out and you just kind of squish yourselves in and and you know they have people like taxi so like little bike and you hop on and then take it around so everything was just so different the language was great too like I've never even heard of it and it's such a unique sound but it's like so beautiful to me now because like I got the opportunity to learn it and to live like that for a year and a half that it was a really unique experience but it was so great in every aspect to the culture is great the Filipinos are the best I think in the world they have because they're third world country they're very humble and very nice and because they're also humble and they live in such humble circumstances they're willing to share the world with you and even though the world may not seem like a lot to somebody coming from out of their country it's a lot to them one of the cultural things is Filipinos will never eat the last thing on the plate like if you have a some food out they'll never eat the last rice they'll always leave it for somebody else because they're caring and they're thinking of others same thing if you come into their home and you look thirsty even if they don't have like juice or something they'll go out and buy some juice with like whatever they have and share it with you they're just they're the nicest people there they're an Asian country so of course they have a lot of respect to their elders and I've got a lot of that Asian culture but they're also third-world so they're very very humble and very respectful and all they do they're just the nicest people ever you you don't really get your door slammed in your face ever because they're so nice you will have people turn you down and especially in the city it gets a little bit more people are think more busy so they're a little bit more edging they're a little bit more harder to get into the home but with Filipinos you almost always get a first appointment like when you knock doors you almost always be able to walk in their door the problem is in the second and third time they are so concerned about your feelings and how you feel they don't want to turn you down so they'll either just hide or avoid you and try to like not make contact rather than tell you upfront like hey we're not interested in the gospel right now they'll just be like oh yeah that's cool but I got to go to my grandma's or whatever and they'll make excuses they'll be very polite so sometimes you have to kind of fill that out and kind of feel where they are and just kind of understand where they're coming from because they're they're too nice to say no basically they're just really happy that can be a really good thing for missionary work because sometimes like they're just so like easygoing that when you set appointments you can co and you can have those appointments in they're great but sometimes that becomes a bad thing because then they commit like if you ask them like Oh will you read the book of one and they'll be like yes of course I'll read the book of Mormon you're the best don't read everything and then you come back the next day you're like so did you read and they're like oh I totally did and they're just committing basically to help please you and help you feel better about yourself not because they're actually committed to doing anything which is very nice and very polite but also kind of what makes it a little bit harder to read them and understand where they're coming from and their point of view so it's they're really nice really good people but sometimes you just got to work with them and kind of beef just straight and be like hey look we don't like your person you have feelings how do you feel about this and they'll be honest they're really nice like I said though I've literally seen Filipinos like stop what they're doing and come help the missionaries a lot of times you'll get people who don't even know you out in the countryside and you'll be writing you'll be walking down a long country lane trying to get to your next appointment somebody would pull over elders jump and you're like alright so you get on their little farm tractor or whatever it is they're driving at the time and then yes I'm like so are you a member like how did you know we're elders like nah the other just taught me once back like four years ago and they were really nice so say guys walking I thought it's too hot to walk huh and like they're just super nice that way so super super hospitable in all ways possible I would have to say they're they're very cheerful for the most part and they're very resilient very adaptive they live a very hard lifestyle half the time they never know where their next meal is coming from or are they gonna get a next meal you'll get hurricanes coming through we had to in a period of two weeks at one point caused massive flooding destroyed homes I don't know about casualties I didn't get to hear on that but yeah I mean they live in a very dangerous place if the way that doesn't get them illnesses well if that doesn't get them then there's the the militant factions that come out of the mountains and kill people just you know because there's it's a very difficult place to live life is incredibly hard and yet they are very cheerful they're very optimistic they're very happy they they look for the the sunny side of things quite a bit I was amazed at how resilient they were you'd see the children playing and they were just as happy as can be playing with bottle caps they'd find games to play with bottle caps something that we would throw away without even thinking about it they would play with for hours they had a blast with him they would play with a matchbox they would divide it into spaces and and save spiders and put them in they would play with spiders and let them crawl in their hand they would try and get him to bite their fingers yeah not my favorite thing but you know it was amazing what they could do to find enjoyment in life they didn't have to have fancy things not that they would have turned them down if they have the option I imagine but they didn't need them and they just they were a very feeling and a very believing people they're very religious it's a predominantly Christian nation but they are very they're very big on on living their religion at least according to their understanding they feel things very deeply they're very deeply feeling people and so it's really actually quite easy to help them feel the spirit because they look for it that's that's kind of how they live their lives according to the way they feel and the impressions they get and things like that it's it's not a very secular society in that regard where they live by logic it's it's more along the lines of does it feel right does it feel good does it you know does it ring true and so in that respect we had a lot of success as missionaries in bringing people to begin a testimony and they were they're the most caring and giving people I've ever met two strangers you'll be walking past somebody's house and that will invite you in for dinner just because you walked by they'll give you the shirt off their back they'll they'll help you they'll do anything they can to help you they're incredibly kind and just very giving there were many times where we would be walking by and they would invite us in for dinner sometimes we would accept sometimes we couldn't because we were on our way to someplace else but by and large they were very very kind and they would watch out for us they would they would warn us they would do anything they could to help us as I said they they believed that we were good doing God's work even if we didn't belong to their church they believed that we were serving him and that deserved respect and so they were very respectful towards us and they were just incredibly kind I don't think you could meet a kinder Bunch at least in my mission area I'd have to say you know by and large you know at least in that area it was that was their defining characteristic book hole it is known as the city of smiles because the people are incredibly friendly and kind

Channel: Lifey

Views: 509,892

Rating: 4.9405875 out of 5

Keywords: americans, filipino, culture, america, pinoy, philippines, Signs you are a Filipino, Hey Joe Show

Id: -NkPxyvAqzA

Length: 23min 35sec (1415 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2018