On the whole, I can't imagine a more friendlier nation. As an American half a world away from home, I arrived in Manila very apprehensive of everyone and everything. My fears were soon put at ease by the local people's friendship and hospitality.
The Filipino people seem to be fascinated with Americans. The simple act of walking down a crowded street became an unforgettable adventure. First off, Kurt and I are both six foot two inches tall. The average Filipino stands anywhere from five foot to five foot nine inches tall. This gave us a good head height above everyone. If this weren't enough, the native population is 99% Asian. The bottom line is, Kurt and I really stuck out in the crowd.
With this high visibility came a notable amount of positive attention. People were genuinely glad to see us. At the least we rated warm smiles from everyone. Children made every attempt to gain our attention while young women shied away and ran off in embarrassment when we looked in their direction. The general greeting seemed to be "Hello Joe". Apparently, everyone from America is a "Joe". This was also a good opening line for starting up a quick conversation.
The only questionable treatment we got came late at night when we were seen in the company of Lani, who is a native Filipino. Young men sometimes made comments in Tagalog referring to her as a prostitute. Interracial relationships are not very common in the Philippines; a good number of men and women, however, would not object to marrying Americans. A lot of Filipinos aspire to have an American visa, have a "green card", or be naturalized (changing citizenship from Filipino to American). The American way of life remains the ideal - America is still the land of opportunity; flowing with milk and honey...
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