I am living here for almost 11 years....no matter how nice how caring or how many nice friends I have here....Foreigners are also treated here discriminatory....at times....We are sometimes thinking wow this is a sensitive culture...okay for them to do certain behaviorism but lord forbid if a foreigner does the same sometimes offensive actions of the Filipino (double standard), look at places to buy things at with no menu and no price tags....We often talk among ourselves in groups at the malls comparing news and experiences and touching basis with one another some of the male foreigners tell me that some Filipino think this is the only country that exists in the world...It is all about being a Pinoy....
This could be true here in the US too. Although you get varying degrees of uber tolerance to people saying something. It depends on where you are. In the less educated and travelled populations of the US, the people are rude too...rude enough to ask you to your face if you're a mail-order bride...or ask if we have plates, forks and spoons in the Philippines ! I've been to places where big, fat, unkempt ugly American ladies stared at me up and down, sniffed and refused to look at me while she waited on our table, once at a Cracker Barrel in Georgia and another at a barbeque place in South Carolina !
On the other hand, when you are in educated company, the experience is total different. The conversations are meaningful, and there is mutual respect where nobody thinks that they are above anybody.
While there are Pinoys who think that Philippines is the end-all, be all, there's a good number of Americans who think that way as well. You only have to turn the TV on to see Americans making idiots of themselves and recording it too. Same goes for pinoys...Anybody remember that air headed "actress" who actually tried to put on her lifejacket on a plane as she followed the flight attendant step by step ?
Don't forget, ex pats are not only "suffering" for being expats themselves but unfortunately get lumped in with all the pervs and pedophiles that find their way into the Philippines.(which is lots) Its unfair, I know, unfortunately, people would sooner believe the bad stuff rather than the good stuff. Both in the US and in the PI. You hardly hear of the good-natured ex pat sending needy kids to school but oh, the whole community will hear about this perv who is banging his wife's 3 teenage sisters who got them all preggers in a New York minute !!! LOL ! Same thing goes here with Filipinas who marry Americans. Even without having seen us or met us, we're already labelled gold diggers, hookers and visa hunters. Even though sometimes, the Pinay's life was easier here in the Philippines rather than the life her American husband can offer her in the US. I know a few who are honestly richer and more educated than their American husbands. Not the norm but there is a good number where the Pinay wife makes more money than the American hubby even if you added hubby's ex wife's income to his, they are still short a few thousand of what Pinay wife makes.
Guess we could blame the G.I.s for bringing back hookers and the scammers who really do this stuff. Even if they're probably just 1 for every 100 girls.
I ask them then why do they stay here and why do they take GF Filipino.......the answers vary....Look at adoption fees in the country foreigners pay more to file a case versus Filipino? And go through the same amount of hearings....in a speedier amount of time.....but the foreigner has 10 times more requirements to obtain in comparison to Filipino in the court systems here...some people here will even cut in front of foreigners who are already at the counter next to be served and if you call the one cutting in line in front of you you get looked at like oh well....Last night three students from USA standing in line at the counter they were being cut in front of and they had no qualms telling the ones in front to have some manners...
1.) PALAKAS <-- its the case of who they know and probably a case of beer to grease the wheels. The people in the system know they can squeeze more out of foreigners and there is something to squeeze. They know that no matter how hard they squeeze some fellow pinoys, they can't get anything. As for requirements, I think whoever is a foreigner in a country will have more requirements. Just think, as a green card holder in the US, you are limited legally compared to a US citizen.
2.) Cutting in line <--- Priscilla dear, I suffer this almost every day in good old Houston with a good wallop of it this morning. With the exception of people staring, here,if they're not involved, they don't give a crap while the aggravated parties give each other the bird and yell at each other. They come in all races and shapes too. White people, Black people, Asians, Euros etc. Not as bad in the more affluent areas of town but darn, even a Home Depot or a Best Buy in the poorer part of town have super crappy service, rude ignorant associates and to top it off, they make you see and feel how they don't give a rat's ass about customer service. Really go out of their way, I think. DOn't know which is worse, but still frustrating all thesame.
Ermmmm....remember, a good number of Filipinos are poor. Yes, its frustrating, but if you can't beat it, join in and be good at the game !
I remember being in Hong Kong where they seem ruder than anywhere I've been in my life. They shove you out of the way, scurry and when they hit you, they don't even apologize, just look away. Guess if they don't see you, you don't see them. You can't speak Greek to an Inuit, so when I had the chance to shove back, I did so with gusto. Fair Play Senior ? hahaha !
Look at Filipino abroad they have communities of they're own race....one time I tried to have an expat group here.....but the people were so appalled about the ideal as if it were ganging up on the Filipino...do we as Americans say that about Filipino's having their communities....I think not....Racism is not just about being victimized as one nationality....racism comes in all forms and all nationalities...
Wow, this I never knew. When I was still living there, there were always Euro communities in Bohol. They stick together, specially the Germans and Swedes. Complete with their flags on their front porch. Although, I wonder who were appalled, the other ex pats ? or the Filipino community ?
For Ex Pats who just want to enjoy retirement, I don't see why there's a problem with having an Ex Pat American community in Bohol, Lord knows there's quite a few. Most of them decent family men who could be a force for good if they work together.
Now, if the men in question are in the Philippines for some unwholesome reason aka sex tours, bad behavior and perverts,
OF COURSE, they would NOT want to be in a community with decent people. They know that while most Pinoys won't call them out, you guys might and will. THey also know that if a Pinoy without any money were to file a case against them, its not gonna stick unless its really blatant, but they know most fellow Ex Pats have the money, education and resources to hold their butts accountable for their actions so they stay away.
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