Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
TikToker Is Sharing 15 “Culture Shocks” That She Experienced After Moving To The USA From The Philippines
Moving to a new city might feel disastrous to a teen. But leaving your life behind and starting a new one in another country? That's a real challenge for anyone.
Christen Eve grew up in Davao City, Philippines. However, when she was 15, Christen had to pack her bags for the US. Now 28, the singer/songwriter has been revisiting the big transition in a TikTok video series where she reveals the "culture shocks" she had experienced back then.
It provides an interesting comparison between the two countries so we figured you might enjoy it as much as Christen's 395K followers.
P.S. If this turns out to be something up your alley, check out Bored Panda's publications on the "culture shocks" this Canadian woman went through after moving to Sweden as well as the ones this American woman faced in Australia and this Brit was exposed to in the US.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
When I moved to the U.S. at 15 I was surprised to find out that not everybody in the world uses cement and shards of glass as their security system. At our house in the Philippines we didn't have an alarm system, hell, we didn't even have a smoke alarm, but we had broken bottles of glass dammit and that's all we needed
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
Used to see this in the UK, I think it's illegal now. Imagine if the emergency services had to break in, for example.
ric carter 4 years ago
Very common in Guatemala, too, where the state of the nation can be judged by counting shotgun-armed guards at street corners.
Mark Melton 4 years ago
Razor wire, shards of glass..... All easily defeated by a cheap thrift store jacket thrown over it.
Brian Brown 4 years ago
This is a great deterrent, but I think that it is illegal to do this in the US... Imagine that, protecting your home...
MCathenaE 4 years ago
I don't know if it is illegal, but you are responsible for any injuries sustained by someone because you knowingly set the trap, even if the injured person is trespassing.
Load More Replies...
RELATED:
#2
Breakfast in the Philippines vs breakfast in America. A huge adjustment for me when moving back to the States is how sugary the breakfasts are here.
"What do you want for breakfast?"
"Oh oil and sugar pls"
In the Philippines we always had rice for breakfast. I mean you had rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but like with fried spam, egg or like fried sausage w/ eggs. When I first moved here and I would try eating the typical American breakfast I would feel sick afterward honestly cuz it's just so bread-based and corn syrup and sugary
Sara Rosen 4 years ago
Don't believe the sitcoms. The "typical American breakfast" is pretty rare. Most people just have a piece of toast or some yogurt and fruit. The whole eggs, pancakes, sausage thing is just a special treat.
Pilot Chick 4 years ago
I’ve always wondered is people actually eat the breakfast pictured above for anything other than a special restaurant visit. I’m an American and my breakfast never looks like that. Too much carbs and sugar to stick with you until lunch.
Tami 4 years ago
Plus, who has time or wants to take the time to make that big breakfast on most mornings?
Load More Replies...
beastmachine. 4 years ago
Yeah even I find it pretty strange to have so much processed sugar early up in the morning, eating fruits is understandable but all those heavily coated doughnuts and maple syruped pancakes are a bit too much
tuzdayschild 4 years ago
I don't think anyone eats pancakes every day. I have them 2 maybe 3 times a year.
Eucritta 4 years ago
Here in the Western US, a breakfast of flapjacks (pancakes) & some kind of pork & eggs is Anglo traditional, and it's got connotations of hospitality & plenty. So outside of restaurants, if someone makes you flapjacks & bacon, it's like saying, We're glad you're here, it makes it a festive occasion even if it isn't a holiday. It's -not- a typical breakfast.
Nicki 4 years ago
Living in Hawaii for a few years gave me a newfound appreciation for Spam! Yum! 🤤
Load More Replies...
Cheryl O'Meara 4 years ago
This is bullshit. The typical Filipino breakfast is full of sugar - longaniza (sweet sausage), tocino (sickly sweet sugar-coated pork), and rice. On the rare occasion that bread is served, it will be something similar to Wonder Bread, but sweetened. I have asked for brown bread in the past and was given chocolate bread, a lovely combination with the smoked meat that I had imported and saved specially as a treat.
David Beaulieu 4 years ago
I dont think I know anyone that eats like that for breakfast more than once or twice a year.
Lynne Harbison 4 years ago
On United Airlines our "breakfast" was a small sausage looking thing, a rasher of crispy, fatty bacon, an egg, a pikelet (too small to be called a pancake)...all swimming in Maple syrup. And what I thought was cake, was actually cornbread. Nearly vomited looking at it. Inedible. 😡
#3
Note: I understand this doesn't include everybody in the U.S.
At our house in the Philippines we always had lizards or geckos, whatever you wanna call them, all over the walls and they were great at taking care of flies and mosquitoes. It was common to just be, you know, going about your day in your house and all the sudden just hear *gecko noise*. And the other thing we always had was ants - ants all over the kitchen, forming a line, doing their thing. We didn't bother them they didn't bother us. When I moved here I was so surprised at how much people freak out over having these things in their house and ants in their kitchen, and they buy all these chemical things to get rid of them.
Valisbourne Spiritforge 4 years ago
Yeah... I love our lizards. Outside, doing their thing. They are even fun to watch. Gonna say no to ants in my house though, every time.
Stephanie IV 4 years ago
Plus: German ants are tiny! And they’re not very intrusive; you’d have to be very slobbish to get them in your house. And if you do, it’s mostly ok if you just get rid of whatever attracted them in the first place.
Load More Replies...
Lunar Bicycle 4 years ago
We get ants occasionally. We seal whatever they were getting into, and keep our counters clean. They just go away in a day. No need to kill them.
Lolliegag 4 years ago
Exactly. Why kill them. They're not trying to hurt you, just trying to survive just like we are.
Load More Replies...
lara 4 years ago
Lizards and spiders are welcome as well as snakes in my house. Ants, no problem, they come in under the door or through the window, I just pour dishwashing liquid where they come in, they can't cross it, they don't come in. But ants, no. They get into everything. I put the snakes, spiders and lizards outside, else the dogs will eat them.
#4
I moved to the U.S. when I was 15, I'm 28 now... I still don't know how to not stare. In the Philippines, staring is not a big deal. It's not considered rude or bad manners like it is here in the States. Staring is Caring OK. If there was an accident on the road, you would always know, because a huge crowd would form in the middle of the road watching whoever got injured, yes, in the middle of the road with traffic continuing to go by, and of course because I grew up there since I was a baby, it is very normal for me to just sit and watch people. People would stare at me and I would stare at them. Now in America my boyfriend has to tell me all the time to stop staring
Mark Melton 4 years ago
There's areas of America where holding a man's stare is the same as saying, "I want to fight you". So don't be rude and stare!
Katchen 4 years ago
Albuquerque: “Are you looking at me?” Answer: “No.” ABQ: “Oh, so you’re too good to look at me?!?”
Load More Replies...
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Not all Europeans stare, not even a bit. In some European countries it can get you in trouble when you're staring or when someone thinks that you're staring.
Load More Replies...
Sanne H. 4 years ago
Don’t know if “watching people” is considered staring, but it’s a nice way to spend time and relax at the beach
Eucritta 4 years ago
It's not, but you're expected to look, look away, then maybe look again sometime later. Staring fixedly will make people deeply uncomfortable.
Load More Replies... Valisbourne Spiritforge 4 years ago
I grew up here and will stare absentmindedly from time to time. It's considered apparently aggressive and provoking?
Lolliegag 4 years ago
I will do the same, sometimes not even realizing I'm doing it because I'm actually just lost in my own thoughts. Whoops
Load More Replies...
Malwin Wellham 4 years ago
It is called minding your business, not staring is a positive thing. In many third world countries people stare at you and watch your every move especially if you are out of town or a foreigner. if wearing something different.
Potato 4 years ago
You like being watched as you go about your business? I guess some people just like attention...
Load More Replies... #5
McDonald's, McDonald's instead of McDo and not being able to order chicken and rice or spaghetti at Mcdonald's. That was a really weird one and I was super bummed out about it. Because the brown gravy that goes with the chicken and rice at the Mcdonald's in the Philippines is to die for and yes I would drink it
Nicki 4 years ago
My absolute favorite order at McDonalds when I lived in Hawaii, I miss it soooooooo much!
Load More Replies...
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
No Spagetti, no rice and no gravy in our McDoofs either. I would think it weird if they had it.
A Head 4 years ago
No spaghetti and no blankets! Mitch Hedberg: https://youtu.be/F8kmeCAd4no
Load More Replies...
Jesse Whitfield 4 years ago
I been living here in the Philippines now for 4 years. I miss McDonald's in America because I can have salad and fruit with my meal. Here, in Philippines, lots of deep frying, animal inards, chicken feet, intestines, such an unhealthy way to eat. But different culture. Rice and unli rice (70% of population has diabetes). I only know that because I own 11 restaurants here.
Patricia Montenegro 4 years ago
Yeah but your salad dressings are rich with preservatives and stuff and your fruits are kinda eh. What on earth and where on earth are you eating? There are a lot of vegetable dishes and fish where I am from (Northern Luzon) and while fruits and vegetables are aplenty in the southern part of the country. A lot of our elderly where I am from tend to shun meat-based dishes even and turn to stuff like pinakbet, dinengdeng, seaweed salad (lato), kamote tops salad (I bet you haven't eaten this), tortang talong and etc. You should explore more besides those animal innards (trust me a lot of people are getting uric acid from those).
Load More Replies...
#6
In the Philippines I was so used to just leaving the house with my hair wet. Everyone did it, all the women did it, that's how I grew up doing it there. Take a shower right before you leave the house, and you just leave with your hair completely wet and not dried or styled. When I mover here and found out that's not really a thing I was like *squeak*. I still didn't care. I was like "I can't do this" even in winter I would leave the house with my hair wet and it would get so hard and cold
Random Panda 4 years ago
I'm in the US and I leave the house all the time with wet hair. Just did it yesterday while going to the store. Why do people think that's weird?
RMA 4 years ago
A number of people from European countries (eg Italy) are convinced it will make you sick.
Load More Replies...
KatHat 4 years ago
More people should do this. Shake the norms around appearance. If you're clean and mainly covered up then people should mind their business. I'm so much hoping that post-pandemic people won't want to go back to the same levels of make-up, styling, high heels, etc. Save money and time and effort.
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
Bras. Goddammit don't let's go back to 24/7 compulsory bras.
Load More Replies... Martha Meyer 4 years ago
I had a Spanish colleague do this in Germany in the middlwe of winter and end up with icicles in her hair.
Shannon Soltesz 4 years ago
I do it. But I have naturally curly hair that I wear curly. If I blow dry it, I end up with a fizzy mess on top of my head. :) But I do feel like it's rare where I live in the Great Lake region of the US.
Honu 4 years ago
I have curly hair. I can dry it without frizzing with the right diffuser or a bonnet, but I don't do it often since it's damaging. Plus, my hair just looks better when I air dry. It doesn't get terribly cold where I live, though. When I'm going somewhere cold, or if I'm on a business trip and need to look professional early in the morning, I pack a cloth bonnet attachment that hooks on to the end of a dryer. It takes up about as much space in my luggage as a shirt and can dry my hair enough to be presentable in 5-10 minutes while I'm doing my makeup.
Load More Replies...
Whitney Anderson 4 years ago
my hair air dries in the ugliest way possible so I could never do this, I'm always jealous of people whos hair dies completely straight and nice.
BetweenTheCracks 4 years ago
I use conditioner in the shower and a leave-in and still end up looking like an electrified Cocker spaniel. So I just dgaf anymore, ha!
Load More Replies...
Gabrielle Daylano 4 years ago
I live in the Netherlands and I do this too.. I really don't have the time to do my hair in the morning (I have really thick and long hair, drying it will take hours) and my hair is actually nicer when I just let it dry.
Big Chungus 4 years ago
I always leave my hair wet...going out, going to work, going somewhere...
Auntriarch 4 years ago
I do it too, people sometimes stare. There was a post here a few months ago suggesting that it is disrespectful to go to work with undried hair. I don't mean actually dripping.
Eglė Bukauskaitė 3 years ago
i do that too in northern europe. They dry up within hour or two, so by the time i get dressed, they're almost dry, so meh 🤷♀️
Huddo's sister 4 years ago
In Australia it is quite normal for people to go out with wet hair, but I get weird looks if I say I go to sleep with wet hair. My hair curls so much more naturally if it's wet when I go to bed.
#7
The brooms! This freaking "broom" doesn't do s**t. My boyfriend and I got into an argument about this one day when we were cleaning the house because he was like "What's wrong with the brooms here? I don't understand. There's nothing wrong with them" I was like.. this thing you're gonna defend this really? When I had to sweep with this crappy thing for the first time here in the States, I was like I'm not gonna survive here. This thing does not do anything and it's awful it's stiff and just bleh. Now this is a broom that actually sweeps PROPERLY
Susie Keegan 4 years ago
I hated those brushes when I lived in Thailand, you need a proper sweeping brush like we have in Ireland otherwise its back breaking!
Steve Wilson 4 years ago (edited)
You are confusing a broom with a duster. Two different things here.
Stannous Flouride 4 years ago
Well, if you're playing Quidditch there's nothing better than natural bristles.
Yoga Kitty 4 years ago
My thoughts exactly - if I even take the broom out of the cupboard I swear I can see my five cats dying from internal hysterical laughter!!!
Load More Replies... Yoga Kitty 4 years ago
Straw brooms are really good for outdoors, however, I assume OP is talking about brooms for indoors?
Load More Replies... #8
Everybody eating bread with almost every meal here and barely eating rice. Bread is a snack and rice is a staple
Caro Caro 4 years ago
This I totally get. Even here in France bread goes with everything, even a meal with potatoes or a pasta.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Yeah but US bread is so saturated with preservatives that it won't even go moldy when you leave it on a shelf for 6 weeks. And if you watch some youtube videos of Americans living in France you'll find that most of them are ecstatic about how good bread tastes in France in comparison with the stuff that American factories sell as bread.
Load More Replies...
Öz Deniz Boro 4 years ago
I think this mostly depends on the agricultural position of a country. In Turkey people eat bread with everything and when you go to a restaurant there is a bread basket on the table and bread is for free just like cutlery.
Sanne H. 4 years ago (edited)
On a three week trip to SE Asia I had this experience the other way around: rice with breakfast, rice with lunch, rice with dinner…. On the airport back to Europe the entire group was so fed up with rice, that all of us went to the Burger King, because they had meals without rice there 😀
Mark Melton 4 years ago
My hardworking Daddy used to always sit down to each meal with a loaf of white bread, and eat half of it! And he was skinny as a rail!
Celtic Pirate Queen 4 years ago
We love bread, okay? I'm not all that crazy about rice unless I make stir-fry or jambalaya. It's all in how you were raised.
#9
There weren't any Sari Sari stores anywhere. Sari Sari stores are everywhere in the Philippines and our neighbors had one next door so we would always go there and get snacks. You walk up and just pick out what you want, pay for it and just get it out of that little window right there. Also if you were out and about and you were thirsty, you could go up to one of these, you could get a little plastic bag that had been filled with water, tied at the top and put in the fridge. You'd just bite the corner and drink some cold water
Troux 4 years ago
Sized between a kiosk and a convenience store, they are usually in a permanent fixture. Snacks, cigarettes and basic supplies.
Load More Replies...
Mazer 4 years ago
Ban single plastic use, I get the convince but our planet is suffocating in discarded single use plastics
BukkitBrownie 4 years ago
My grandparents are in the phillipines and my grandma owns one. Theres another right at the house down the street and the sodas less than a dollar in usd. Quick snacks
Tammy Ung-Brown 4 years ago
I like how everyone is comparing it to a convenience store. We have these in Vietnam too. It's different because you can find them in practically every neighborhood and down every other street. If you live in a residential neighborhood in the US, you'd usually have to drive or walk a bit to get to a 7/11 or a gas station if you don't happen to live near one. Also, it's painfully obvious y'all live in a first world country. Yes, plastic bags are bad for the environment but in a third world country, people have to utilize what they can afford.
#10
Barely any honking! Now I don't know if this is just something from when I lived in the Philippines in the 90s and early 2000s it could've changed by now... I don't know. But when I lived there, honking is all you did on the road, honking is all you heard. Just honk honk honk and when I moved here I was like OMG the streets are so quiet. Why is nobody hoking?!?
Kiss Army 4 years ago
I think the last time I used my horn it was to get a squirrel that was chilling in the middle of the road to move so I wouldn't hit it.
Load More Replies...
Claire Conroy 4 years ago
In some U.S. cities you can get fined for honking unless it's a true emergency.
Daphne Williams 4 years ago
The U.S. has a lot of problems, but this is not one of them. It's awesome that no one honks.
Eucritta 4 years ago
I've been places where people honk a lot. How on earth does anyone know when it actually means something?!
Load More Replies...
kennedy1209 4 years ago
When I drive in America I never honk - But I when I travel for work (Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, etc) I Always Honk - Honk to say "thanks for letting me turn", honk for "get the hell out of the way".
Celtic Pirate Queen 4 years ago
We're taught not to honk unless it's an emergency. If everyone's honking, how would you know there's a problem?
Jesse Whitfield 4 years ago
I am am American, and I own 11 restaurants here in Philippines. I live here. Yes, honking is still a pass time here. Way overboard with the honking, but the driving is like the bumper cars at Six Flags. It is crazy on the road here
#11
No stray dogs all over the place. Now again this is when I lived in the Philippines in the 90s and early 2000s things could be different now but when I lived there dogs were everywhere, all over the place and when I came here I was like "Where're all the dogs?" There are cats everywhere but no dogs
Troux 4 years ago
The stray dogs in Philippines are still there and they are usually in pretty bad shape. Mange, starvation, broken limbs and wounds are common to see.
Load More Replies... Kona Pake 4 years ago
I have been visiting Thailand for many years and I have noticed dogs everywhere until about seven or so years ago. Now you rarely see a dog out on the street. Then I found out they were collecting them and sending them to Cambodia and Vietnam for slaughter.
Eagle Girl 4 years ago
Cats are quick & stealthy. Dogs trust even those with bad intentions & get caught.
Satya Bain 4 years ago
In the Philippines and a few other places, the natives take care of the strays. Not so much in the US. We're apparently more interested in farming them out to homes that eventually abandon them and they end up back on the streets.
Debra Timah 4 years ago
There were more dogs and cats running loose before there were cases of rabies in the county in US where I live. Now Animal Control picks them all up, for safety.
Amy Sadler 4 years ago
I thought there were no dogs in the philippines becos they eat them all...
Amanda MacDonald 4 years ago
Yeah stray dogs can be dangerous sometimes. I like that my kid can play or we can walk down the road without worrying too much that a wild dog is going to come up and bite us. It still happens but not all the time.
Jesse Whitfield 4 years ago
Many more dogs now. It's insane now that there's a law against eating them here
#12
In the Philippines the uterus is called Matris(In Bisaya). It's what I heard my whole childhood when older Filipina women would talk and I literally thought it was English term for it too. We took a trip here to the States one time when I was like 7 or 8. I was with all my girl cousins and our aunt was telling us a story. She said this woman couldn't have kids and I was like "Did she get her Matris removed?" All my cousins started laughing at me and I was mortified
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
I hope this does not come off as rude. I just don't think 7 to 8 year old children in the US even know what a Uterus is, judging by everything I've read about sex ed, biology and prudery in the US.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
There are only 13 states where sex-ed must be medically accurate. In the rest of the states they can tell kids whatever lies they want. Only in 20 states sex education must cover contraception. In 12 states sex education must cover abstinence, but in no less than 25 states sex education must stress abstinence. To top this off; in Arizona, if HIV education is taught it cannot “promote” a “homosexual lifestyle” or portray homosexuality in a positive manner and in Oklahoma mandated HIV education teaches that, among other behaviors, “homosexual activity” is considered to be “responsible for contact with the AIDS virus.” Source: https://nursing.usc.edu/blog/americas-sex-education/
Load More Replies...
Miss Cris 4 years ago (edited)
Utero and matriz are synonyms in Spanish. Matriz is a little bit more usual or colloquial word while usually utero is more used in science environment. As Spanish was spoken there, it might be influenced a bit?
Stannous Flouride 4 years ago
Matris (or matres in Tagalog) means womb and is likely related to mater/madre/mother and was inherited from Spanish during their long occupation of the Philippines. Uterus is the Latin pronunciation of the Greek word hystera [υστερα] (as in hysteria from their belief that the behavior originated in the womb). Getting her 'matris' removed would be a hysterectomy so her question was really not far off.
#13
Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s in the Philippines, you would refer to pads for your periods as napkins(In Bisaya). And then I come to the States and learn that it mean table napkin. Like to wipe your mouth with. I was shocked. And it was so hard to adjust to changing it in my brain
Helen Haley 4 years ago
I wouldn't say often. I think maybe older generations called them that. Most everyone says pad.
Load More Replies... Mark Melton 4 years ago
When I was a kid, my mom sent me to get napkins at the little local store. I was maybe first grade. I looked at the napkins and picked out the cleanest ones I could find.... My mom thought funny when I brought home, " sanitary napkins".
Miss Cellania 4 years ago
Trevor Noah had a great routine about his first encounter with a taco truck in the US. The guy who sold him a taco tried to give him a napkin, said he would surely need it. Trevor was disgusted, because "napkin" means the diapers that babies wear in South Africa.
Susan Thomas 4 years ago
Yeah, we said sanitary napkins (or Kotex which is a brand) before we just started calling them pads. But napkins were on the table,
Evelyn Haskins 4 years ago
In Australis napkins and (or were ?) what babies wore until the were toilet trained. I still cannot cope with "diapers" . In English this means what I always called serviettes. Thought now I tend to call paper ones "Double Damask Dinner Nipkins"
Jesse Whitfield 4 years ago
And you cannot find tampons here because Filipino women don't wear them. Most don't even know what a tampon is or how yo use it
#14
Ok story time of when I was leaving the Philippines to come back here to the States. I used Cream Silk conditioner basically my whole life in the Philippines and I knew they didn't have any here in the states. And they won't allow you to bring bottles on the plane of course. But in the Philippines they sell packets of conditioner that are attached to each other in a strip, like a strip of condoms. So we get to the airport and they start making a fuss about it saying I can't bring it with me and I start having mental breakdown. They finally decided that they could duct tape it in a box and put it with the rest of the luggage
Troux 4 years ago
Single-use packets are common in SE Asia, but I hope OP came to see just how much litter they create! Detergent, coffee, shampoo, medicine, etc.
Ozzie Ogawa 4 years ago
Most people that use them are workers who got paid daily or weekly, it's "cheaper" for them to buy those than the bottled one. And if you are camping, going to swim, etc, it can be pretty helpful for making your carry as little as possible.
Load More Replies...
#15
The way people would make a big deal or freak out over words being shortened or how I referred to things. For example, when I would say "Hey can u go put this in the ref for me?" They'd be like "In the what?" "The ref.. you know... refrigerator
Aahzmandus Pervect 4 years ago
Isn't fridge short for refrigerator? Ref is referee, no wonder they were making a big deal, they didn't understand you.
Prestigous Cactus 4 years ago
Basically every culture shortens words. They just need to make sense. Ref doesn't make much sense in the way refrigerator is said in English: we say it re-frigerator, not ref-rigerator, hence the confusion. It honestly irrationally (admittedly) annoys me that this person really thinks people freak out over shortened words when really its just that their shortenings make no sense
Load More Replies...
Prestigous Cactus 4 years ago
Everyone shortens words. Most have found a better way to shorten refrigerator though.
Ronualdo 4 years ago
We like to shorten words or names here..my brother in law, american, was surprised when se call him Ry and his name is Ryan, he was like, how can you possible shorten an already short name.
Auntriarch 4 years ago
Wales too. My cousin Karen is referred to and addressed as Ka.
Load More Replies... 
Troux 4 years ago
Filipinos LOVE their abbreviations, in colloquial and professional settings. My favorite is MOMOL (Make Out Make Out Lang), which is when a young couple goes to a park, movie etc. just for an uncrowded place to make out. IMG_0249-6...a1e302.jpg 
Celtic Pirate Queen 4 years ago
You have to expect that different countries and cultures use different words and phrases. Was more than a little surprised when the Australian GM at a former company called a fellow (male) employee a c*nt. That's just not a word Americans are comfortable with as it is used as an extremely derogatory word aimed at women, (we will punch you for it).
What do you think ?
Kenny Kulbiski 4 years ago
Yeah, I'm kinda shocked that people are shocked when things are different in other places.
Load More Replies...
Ronualdo 4 years ago
So happy BoredPanda featured things about my country. If there’s one thing i can add, is that when someone would ask for direction, most of the time we use our lips to point the direction instead of our fingers. Like we pout our lips to show you the way. And also to foreigners, don’t get offended when filipinos would refer you as “Americans”, we were colonized by the Americans and they have heavily influenced our culture, so all foreigners to most filipinos are Americans. It’s not an insult, it is something ingrained in our minds after they colonized us.
Troux 4 years ago
Appear! 🙋♂️ I would also add the *way* of getting directions. In UK or US, you can always find your own way around without ever asking - multiple area maps, pointed signs, self-guided pamphlets, posted transportation routes and schedules etc. In the Philippines, the way from point A to point B is go to the nearest bus stop or busy hub and "ask somebody." Then they will tell you how to get to the next hub, where you "ask somebody," and so on. The best part is, it actually works! 4 AM on a Tuesday? Some random people will be there, and they will help you! Even inside some 2-story shopping malls there are no maps.
Load More Replies...
Vicky Z 4 years ago
Isn't anyone else a little tired of these "cultural shocks" articles that are more and more lately? Honestly it's ALWAYS a cultural shock when you move to a different country!
Shruti Patel 3 years ago
Afer reading all this i feel Philippines is 99.99% like India. Apart from ancestry and geography we are sisters.
Jose Carlo 3 years ago
WHY . . . on earth would you be shocked when going from one country to another? I had been to more or less 80 - I never experienced ANY culture shock! People and culture, as well as the language will be different EVERYWHERE! I too came from the Philippines - no culture shock when I got here in the US and assimilated in a a FEW DAYS!
Yehudit Hannah Cohn 4 years ago
There's no real shock here. Things are different. Wow. Hey, everyone else said this, too. Culture shock is much more than differences in what McDonald's serves in countries other than your own. The McD's in Jerusalem is serving mini pitas and falafel, which I find just useless, but not shocking.
Łukasz Markuszewski 4 years ago
"I was shocked. And it was so hard to adjust to changing it in my brain" TF girl? It's just a naming, nothing serious. Also you had mental breakdown over conditioner? Seriously? What's wrong with you?
Auntriarch 4 years ago
When you've spent your life using a word for a sanitary product and hear it being used for table ware, I imagine it would give you a mental jolt, and take some getting used to.
Load More Replies... Kenny Kulbiski 4 years ago
Yeah, I'm kinda shocked that people are shocked when things are different in other places.
Load More Replies... Ronualdo 4 years ago
So happy BoredPanda featured things about my country. If there’s one thing i can add, is that when someone would ask for direction, most of the time we use our lips to point the direction instead of our fingers. Like we pout our lips to show you the way. And also to foreigners, don’t get offended when filipinos would refer you as “Americans”, we were colonized by the Americans and they have heavily influenced our culture, so all foreigners to most filipinos are Americans. It’s not an insult, it is something ingrained in our minds after they colonized us.
Troux 4 years ago
Appear! 🙋♂️ I would also add the *way* of getting directions. In UK or US, you can always find your own way around without ever asking - multiple area maps, pointed signs, self-guided pamphlets, posted transportation routes and schedules etc. In the Philippines, the way from point A to point B is go to the nearest bus stop or busy hub and "ask somebody." Then they will tell you how to get to the next hub, where you "ask somebody," and so on. The best part is, it actually works! 4 AM on a Tuesday? Some random people will be there, and they will help you! Even inside some 2-story shopping malls there are no maps.
Load More Replies... Vicky Z 4 years ago
Isn't anyone else a little tired of these "cultural shocks" articles that are more and more lately? Honestly it's ALWAYS a cultural shock when you move to a different country!
Shruti Patel 3 years ago
Afer reading all this i feel Philippines is 99.99% like India. Apart from ancestry and geography we are sisters.
Jose Carlo 3 years ago
WHY . . . on earth would you be shocked when going from one country to another? I had been to more or less 80 - I never experienced ANY culture shock! People and culture, as well as the language will be different EVERYWHERE! I too came from the Philippines - no culture shock when I got here in the US and assimilated in a a FEW DAYS!
Yehudit Hannah Cohn 4 years ago
There's no real shock here. Things are different. Wow. Hey, everyone else said this, too. Culture shock is much more than differences in what McDonald's serves in countries other than your own. The McD's in Jerusalem is serving mini pitas and falafel, which I find just useless, but not shocking.
Łukasz Markuszewski 4 years ago
"I was shocked. And it was so hard to adjust to changing it in my brain" TF girl? It's just a naming, nothing serious. Also you had mental breakdown over conditioner? Seriously? What's wrong with you?
Auntriarch 4 years ago
When you've spent your life using a word for a sanitary product and hear it being used for table ware, I imagine it would give you a mental jolt, and take some getting used to.
Load More Replies...
Related on Bored Panda
