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Posts tagged people

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Diversity in the USA

I really took the diversity of the United States for granted.

That whole “The United States is the melting pot” business they taught us in school means a lot more to me now that I’ve spent 4 months away from it all. I heard it all the time and thought “yeah yeah, I get it”. It’s really incredible thing if you look at the rest of the world though. Aside from a handful of mostly expats and Chinese, almost everybody in the Philippines is a Filipino. Everybody has black hair. Everybody has a certain darker shade of skin. Everybody is short. They all speak local dialects as their 1st language. They all enjoy approximately the same food. Religion is far from diverse - 90% Christian (About 90% of which is Catholic), 10% Muslim.

You are out of place if you don’t match even one of these characteristics.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s an amazing amount of indigenous diversity (over 180 indigenous ethnic groups, over half of which represent unique linguistic groups) in the Philippines that is rivaled by few other nations. But it’s a different kind of diversity.

It makes the culture interesting, but as a place to live or hang out in for a long time, it can get old. Definitely made me miss my insanely worldly-diverse Austin, TX.

Filed under diversity food people united states melting pot travel language

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The signs for these stores: “Vinya Eatery, Vinya Store, Vinya Store” are all also advertisements for Coke and Mountain Dew. There are a ton of these stores, pretty much everywhere I’ve been so far and they all use these signs. Most advertise soda or cell phone carriers. Sponsored signage is pretty clever.

The signs for these stores: “Vinya Eatery, Vinya Store, Vinya Store” are all also advertisements for Coke and Mountain Dew. There are a ton of these stores, pretty much everywhere I’ve been so far and they all use these signs. Most advertise soda or cell phone carriers. Sponsored signage is pretty clever.

Filed under people signs philippines scooter coke coca cola advertising

18 notes &

Everybody here, pretty much everywhere I’ve been so far, wears flip-flops. My chacos aren’t all that out of place, mostly because they’re all black. People don’t really notice them. I’d imagine that any other sport sandal… Teva, Keen, etc would be a huge “I’m a foreigner” flag. I think the flipflop thing here is mostly an economics thing - you can find them for $1-4 USD pretty much anywhere, oftentimes less than that even. Wealthier people use them too though, so there’s something more to it than economy.

Everybody here, pretty much everywhere I’ve been so far, wears flip-flops. My chacos aren’t all that out of place, mostly because they’re all black. People don’t really notice them. I’d imagine that any other sport sandal… Teva, Keen, etc would be a huge “I’m a foreigner” flag.

I think the flipflop thing here is mostly an economics thing - you can find them for $1-4 USD pretty much anywhere, oftentimes less than that even. Wealthier people use them too though, so there’s something more to it than economy.

Filed under dvd economics electronics flip flop flipflops footwear foreigner outsider people philippines sandals third world tv travel blog