Thursday Thirteen # 8

13 Things That Are Uniquely Filipino

1. Balut. It is fertilized duck egg that's been boiled. It's commonly sold with salt by street vendors (usually after dark so you can't see how gross it is, hehe!). The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development but it is not considered "macho" to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. They say it's an aphrodisiac although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than munching on a partially-formed baby duck swimming in nasty fluid. FYI: I tried to eat it once but I just couldn't stomach it *bows head in shame*.

2. "Doorbell" Names. Everyone has a nickname here, no matter how old we are. One common practice is having names that are repeated like "Ding-Dong", "Bingbing", "Klang-Klang"… you get the drift. :)

3. The "P" and "F" syndrome. No matter how fluent in English a Filipino is, there will always be an instance when he'll pronounce the "F" like a "P" and the "P" like an "F". I have no idea why this happens but it just does. Puck you. :)

4. Follow my lips. To conserve physical energy from having to lift a an arm and a hand to point you towards the right direction, a Filipino will usually just pucker his/her lips and use it to point you to where you should go.

5. "Mano Po". This refers to the physical gesture of taking an elder's hand and touching it to your forehead as a sign of respect. Children, and most younger people, are expected to perform this towards adult relatives (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even close family friends). Failure to do so is a sign of disrespect.

6. DWT (Driving While Texting). Texting (or sending an SMS using one's mobile phone) is a phenomenon here. The Philippines is even known as the texting capital of the world. People use this form of communication so much that you'll actually find billboards that warn drivers, "Don't text and drive." Obviously, texting while driving is more dangerous here than drunk driving.

7. Food, food, food. In the US and other Western countries, you can have a party with just chips, dips and beer. In the Philippines, a party means having real food on the table… and a lot of it at that. We express hospitality and friendship through serving of food. If you bump into a Filipino friend, instead of asking "How are you?", he'll more likely ask "Have you eaten?"

8. Crazy pedestrians. It's only here that you'll find pedestrians who are crazy enough to jaywalk across 8 lanes of traffic and reach the other side unscathed.

9. "The Last Supper". Since the Philippines is the only predominantly Christian, mostly Catholic, country in Asia, it's quite common to find a framed replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper hanging on the dining room wall of Filipino homes.

10. The Jeepney. The exotic jeepney is a post-war creation inspired by the GI jeeps that the American soldiers brought to the country in the 1940s. Enterprising Filipinos salvaged the surplus engines and came out with unique vehicles of art. The exotic jeepney is our version of the jitney, the taxi/minibus that travels along a fixed route, found in many countries.

11. It's Christmas! Filipinos celebrate the world’s longest religious holiday. The Christmas season begins on September 1st, as chillier winds, Christmas carols and Christmas décor start filling the air and Filipino homes, and ends on the first week of January, during the Feast of the Three Kings.

12. Everything sweet. Filipinos have the proverbial sweet tooth. Aside from the usual sweet staples such as candies and cakes, where else would you find sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on? Only in the Philippines.

13. "Kuya" or "Ate". Our culture is very big on respect. The older an individual is, the more they call for respect. The term "kuya" (pronounced koo-yah), which means "big brother", refers to an older male person. Its verbal usage shows that you respect the older male and recognize the difference in age. The feminine form is "ate" (pronounced ah-teh), which means "big sister". Children are encouraged to use these terms with their older siblings. Adults can use these terms to address friends or co-workers regardless of whether or not they're truly related. It simply demonstrates a form of respect for the older individual.

And a little bonus…

14. Chocolate Hills. 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped limestone hills of about the same size, spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometers. They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name. Aren't they awesome? :)