I won't be giving you like details or extremely bookish facts about my
country. You can search the net for that. Instead, what I'll be giving you
is a general information based on what's on my mind and a few stories and
commentaries to support whatever it is that I'm telling you. ;)
Let's see….first off…the Philippines is comprised of so many islands with so
many different dialects. Sometimes, one town's dialect is different when
you go to the town next to it. It's kinda crazy because it sometimes
create some sort of communication barrier between Filipinos (moniker for a
person born in the Philippines).
Population is a bit high because some people, especially in the provinces,
are like complete idiots when it comes to family planning and birth control.
I remember when I was like in Grade 3 or 4, the population was about 50 M.
Now after 15 years, it's around 70 M or something so that's a really big jump.
A large percentage of the Philippines is catholic and I'm a part of that
statistic. During the 1995 World Youth Day, held here, we made the Guinness
records with the most number of attendees at one event when the Pope held a
mass at the Philippine's national park. I'm happy to have been a part of
that event. The Pope's visit here during that World Youth Day is really
something special and also something every Filipino catholic will remember.
You may not believe it but during the Pope's brief visit, crime was almost
non existent. As short lived as it may have been, at least in that brief
moment, everyone felt really good, blessed, and very close to GOD. The
Pope's presence gives you that kind of feeling if you're catholic and this
may also be true for some of those who aren't.
Filipinos are known to be very warm and good people and that is true. Of
course, we also have our share of the opposite but hey, doesn't every
country. I know of this French guy who just quit his job and was feeling a
little lost and needed time think about where his life's headed who came
here because he heard that the Philippines is generally a catholic populated
country. So he went here and met this girl whom he fell in love with. What
surprised him the most is how Filipinos can be so friendly and hospitable
even with foreigners like him. They knew him for like 30 seconds and
already, they treat him like they've been friends forever.
The city isn't a very nice place to live in but once you get out of it,
you'll find that there are a lot of very beautiful places here in the
Philippines. The weather is mostly warm even during the rainy season. The
only problem here is that you do need a lot of money to get to these places.
That's why foreigners get to visit these places more than the locals. I
for one have only been to a few of these places.
This year 1998, we are celebrating the Centennial, which means that we are
celebrating our liberation from the Spanish colonialization a hundred years
ago.
