I left the country 6 months ago to move to Australia, and as beautifully diverse the latter country is, in Gen Z's term it's not "giving". It's almost bland to me.
To be specific, I left in October. I was pretty excited to celebrate my first Halloween, Christmas, and New Year in a new place. I thought it was very symbolic—like a rebirth. When the season came though, nothing happened. I couldn't find Christmas decorations outside random houses, there were barely any Christmas jingles in the air, people looked the same as ever, life moved ordinarily so. New Year arrived and I could hear crickets from our backyard. I didn't see any fireworks decorating the sky nor people laughing and greeting e/o outside. It was...very quiet.
When the festivities ended and I finally landed a job, the culture shock came. It was physically hard to refer to someone older than me with their first name and it was very weird to be treated casually by younger people. It just didn't sit right. There were no fiestas, my coworkers don't offer their food, the sun sets at 8:30 PM, a lot of places are closed during weekends, and rice can only be found in specific restaurants.
That's when it occurred to me. I truly love the Philippines. I wish I could stay there until I eventually croak. We have the most flavourful food, our language is genderless but also very respectful, and I love how inclusive and generous we are. Our culture is just so vibrant.
I think it's important to highlight that I come from a humble background. The walls in our house used to be tarpaulin. I'm revealing this information to emphasise that I know life in the Philippines is not all rainbows and beaches. I left to live better. But despite the 20+ typhoons a year, metaphorically and literally, I incredibly miss it, and I wish I had appreciated it more before I left.
So Dear Reader, if you're still in the Philippines, please eat as much Jollibee as you can for me, and don't forget to visit your loved ones graves.
As always, ingat!