I’m not a historian of Manila and by no stretch can I begin to understand the Filipino language. I’m not even an “honorary Filipina” the way Colleen is in the eyes of my advisor Matt. But, I’m an observer. My dad always said that there are people who can see that there’s a bowl of fruit on the table and then there are the people who remember exactly which types of fruit were in the bowl, their color, their different sizes and shapes and maybe even how they smelled. And he thought that I was one of these types of people. Whether I like it or not I’m always observing (and sometimes not wanting to remember, but remembering what I have seen and wondering what to make of it all). So we’ve been here almost a month, and Colleen’s daily commute brings her into close contact with the University of the Philippines, and with people, customs, language, and pretty much everything else. But, thankfully I’m keeping my own observer’s list of little things that I have witnessed and that at first seemed antithetical to each other -- to be in tension with each other, but now I am wondering, maybe the coexistence of these things is simply the beauty of the Philippines. So, here’s a brief list of some Hegelian twins. Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis? Well, perhaps it’s more complicated than that, or actually maybe simpler? I no longer think about what I see in oppositional terms but rather as mutually constitutive. All of this is to say that maybe you can have two different ideas, systems, or approaches not because they push and pull against each other but because they reinforce the need and meaning of the other. Alright, enough theoretical musing, here’s the list (gosh I love to make lists).
1) Wet Markets: OUTSIDE, expansive, crowded but not too crazy, the smell of meats hanging is a bit intense (even for Colleen the non-vegetarian), and what a range of goods, fruit? Sure, and flip-flops? Why not. – AND -- Supermarkets: INSIDE, not well populated, usually connected to a Mall, with smaller freezer sections and a different variety of fruits and veggies than the U.S., but basically a supermarket here looks, feels, and smells a lot like those I am familiar with back home.
2) Slow food cooking techniques: Not everywhere, but when you find it, delicious foods prepared through bbq or braising and a range of regionally inspired techniques. These dishes take time. Time to clean, cut, and prepare delicate or just elaborate vegetables and meats that are combined with a fragrant array of spices and often fresh herbs or milk from a coconut (not so simple to get at that, right?) -- AND --Fast Food restaurants: uber-prevalent, at the Mall, on the street corner, everywhere you look and what a range. There’s the local version of “McDonald’s” called Jolliebee, and also Spaghetti House, Balot, Mr. Pepperoni Pizza, along with Gerry’s Grill and a host of U.S.-based joints (like KFC).
3) Visible acceptance of different forms of sexuality (it’s okay to be gay) and
--AND --easy access to regular Church Services, not just on Sundays, but other days too. The guidebooks have said that there is an openness and acceptance to gay men and women and this would seem to be the case in terms of the couples I have seen holding hands in public and also younger (tween) children who are going to the movies with their parents. There is certainly an extended history of Catholicism here, but along with the Catholic Church there are a number of different protestant faiths and what would seem to be a rise in evangelical style religious observation practices. These aren’t things that need to be oppositional but in the U.S. it’s no small thing that the fiercest opponents to gay marriage, gay adoption, or just the basic idea that gay people ought to have the same rights as any citizen of the U.S. happen to be organizations (eg. In Defense of the Family) whose largest contributors and on the ground organizers call themselves devout Christians.
And not to belabor my point, but two more examples that come to mind of the intriguing blending and coexisting of different but intertwined ways of being that make up Manila have to do with language and urban planning. Keys to living in any place would be how we communicate our needs to each other and how we navigate and inhabit the spaces that we share. Thus, let me briefly comment on the ever-present: “Taglish.” (akin to Spanglish to be sure) this is the language I experience most on TV shows, advertisements, and in everyday conversation. This lingua franca seems to be more and more a way of communicating, and to my ear it’s the perfect aural bricolage of Tagalong & English, and at times, the different cultural heritages of both of these complicated languages. A more visually arresting, but equally useful way of getting to know Metro-Manila is what I find to be a matrix of hyper-urban planning: highways, hi-rise developments, mega-malls and metro train lines interwoven with trash dumps, low income housing projects, rushing jeepneys and their hawkers, the partially built or partially destroyed buildings inhabited by the less fortunate alongside security patrolled and hi-walled “inner cities” of wealthy condo developments.
-KMV
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