I promise I’ll get back to some articles about visas and the visa process shortly. But I did want to write one more about Filipino culture, as I suspect this may help many of you.

I’ve been visiting the Philippines since the mid 90’s now, and I’ve lived here full time for nearly 5 years. And yes, I find some things frustrating.

I’m an Aussie, and I lean more on the analytical side even amongst Aussies. Logic and practicality rule much of my thinking. Therefore I’m often left puzzled. Things don’t always work here the way that I would expect, and this can cause anything from mild amusement to serious annoyance.

Yet I’m happy to say that I can also see the limitations to my intellect. Running businesses (or building skyscrapers or doing surgery) requires plenty of the right-hemisphere. But those things are not the only things that matter, and might I say that these are not the things that make life a joy to live. Western societies with all their efficiency tend to have a lot of broken families, loneliness and overall misery.

So yes, I think we all know that Filipino society is not the most sophisticated, logical and efficient of world cultures. I won’t start listing the oddities, as I assume the average reader of the Down Under Visa BLOG has some experience of the country, culture and people. We all know, and no doubt we’ve all said “More fun in the Philippines” with an element of sarcasm on a quite a few occasions, and sometimes far worse. However most of us have kept coming back. Why?

Simple answer! The people! Those beautiful, wonderful people. Kind, warm, hospitable, selfless, tolerant and forgiving.

All of them? Well, no. I’m generalising, and if it wasn’t for generalisation none of us would say very much. There are some awful people here too, and poverty can make men do extreme things. However I stand by the opinion that the average person here is decent and unashamedly kind. (Please read THIS is you haven’t already.)

I try to be kind myself. I have a conscience that gives me no peace if I try to ignore it. We do our bit to share the blessings we have, but yet I don’t think we ever “give ‘til it hurts”. No, we give what we can afford, and that’s it. The average Filipino? You need a kg of rice. They have 2kg. They will give you 1kg. Someone is in trouble? They’ll take out a loan to help them. I won’t go into details, but we have relatives who are barely scraping by, yet they still have a poor family whom they’ve been feeding and educating for years. WE don’t put ourselves out there like that!

And tolerance? They will put up with weird foreigners who are full of complaints and criticisms, and they won’t say a word. They’ll never bring up something that you did before and rub your nose in it. You could arrive unannounced on the doorstep of their crowded little house, and someone will give up the best room and bed in the house to you without even a blink. And whilst you may get annoyed at the fact they’ll speak Tagalog (or another dialect) in front of you, there’s a good chance they are discussing what can be done to make you more comfortable and happy!

And kids? Respectful to their elders. Patient and loving to their younger siblings. And at school they admire the smart kids, and not the naughty ones. And smiles that could melt the hardest of hearts.

So before you find fault, try to do the “glass half-empty or glass half-full” thing! Try to dwell less on the faults (as chances are THEY are not dwelling too much on YOUR faults) and look at the kindness and the tolerance. You’ll probably find yourself feeling a whole lot more content if you do!