Ma'am

I was six years old when I first stepped foot on American soil. Sadly at that age, I don’t think I made a comparison between my native culture and the culture here. Though recently, I visited the Philippines last winter break and finally made that comparison. I experienced a slight bit of culture shock on my first day. When I arrived at the airport, I was greeted by “hello ma’am (or sir)” by those who worked at the airport. Then as we stepped out of the airport, a hired driver picked us up and also addressed my mom and I “ma’am” the whole time he drove us to our destination.

During my stay, I also remember visiting a fast food restaurant known as McDonalds which I’m sure isn’t known here. My cousin and I were greeted by the staff members with maximum kindness that it was a bit terrifying. After we finished our food, I picked up my tray and was about to throw out the content which is the usual custom here in New York, but a staff member stopped me and said it was their job to do it. He also mentioned that I must be from the US and I blushed. As we left, they excitedly greeted us goodbye with extremely happy faces.

Another custom (and that I practice here as well) is showing a sign of respect to the elderly by bowing a bit and moving their right hand toward your forehead; usually the back hand touching your forehead. I also had to greet my older cousins by addressing them either “kuya” (aka brother if male) or “ate” (aka sister if female) before I say their first name.

The most exciting part of my trip was New Years. The actual fireworks were in my cousin’s backyard. Everyone had a firecracker stick and it was just a beautiful eye-popping site.

One way of addressing the Filipino way of life is in the words of Anthony Bourdain from the Travel channel when he visited the Philippines, "You're just too darn nice."

introduction

I was born in the Philippines. I arrived here in NY when I was 10 years old and since then, I've been living in Queens. I know how to speak in my native language (Tagalog) and barely know Spanish. My major at Baruch is Public Accounting and I've joined various clubs in the beginning of my college years such as American Cancer Society and AIESEC. Other random facts include when I have time to watch TV (which is rare), I enjoy watching the Food Network, Travel Channel, the Colbert Report and the Office.
They might be the possible reasons for why I love ethnic food, the idea of traveling all over the globe, sarcasm, and dry humor. I am looking forward to this semester and this Management course.