Author Archives: Carly Floyd
Jeepneys!
I know I’ve talked about jeepneys in my blogs before, but I have a love/hate fascination with them, and I think they’re the perfect representation of Filipino culture. Through jeepneys, you can understand so many things about the Philippines. History: Jeepneys are a product of the American military occupation in the Philippines – it … Continue reading
Interfaith Experiences
At Illinois Wesleyan I’m a Multifaith Ambassador employed through Evelyn Chapel (I help to plan interfaith programming for our campus and to engage with the various religious and nonreligious groups at IWU to build an appreciation for the religious diversity on our campus and in our world), so I’ve been especially sensitive and interested in … Continue reading
What I’ve Been Doing Lately…
I cannot believe that this is my last week here! Oh my goodness. It’s really been a challenge to my perception of how time has passed, because it feels like I’ve been here forever, but I can remember the events of several weeks ago as if they happened yesterday. I have several things to do … Continue reading
(Still More) Cultural Observations
I just keep a running list of these in my notebook to jot things down as I learn them or experience them. Every day I learn more interesting things about Pinoy culture. – Speaking loudly/raising your voice isn’t done here. I don’t mean angry shouting, I mean the “I need to tell the jeepney driver … Continue reading
Outreach
We’ve gotten the chance to go along on some interesting community exposure and outreach trips during our time here. St. Scho has two service-learning/community outreach classes that are required of first and second year students: the Scholastican National Service Training Program ([S]NSTP) and their Lay Apostolate Program. The NSTP is something that the Philippine government … Continue reading
Touristy Things!
In my last post I talked about all the ways in which Kelsey and I are not tourists, but let’s not forget that we are still visitors in a foreign country and in a major metropolitan city! In our time here, these are some of the fun sightseeing and touristy things we’ve done on our … Continue reading
A Day in the Life (Travel size? No thank you!)
In the month and a half since Kelsey and I have been here, I think we’ve assimilated fairly well into living a Filipino lifestyle. Sometimes I’ve questioned my role here (Am I a tourist? I’m not a resident…but…) so I wanted to delve into some of the things that I’ve adopted in order to adapt … Continue reading
Echoes of Colonialism: A Brief History Lesson
One thing I had been wondering about here came out of comparing the Philippines with Mexico, as both were colonized by Spain at around the same historical period, and I can see similarities in the traces and legacy left on the culture. However, Mexico speaks Spanish and here they speak English. Yes, the USA has … Continue reading
Culture Shock at the Post Office
I recently had quite a significant culture shock moment from a most unexpected place. And really, that makes sense: culture shock comes upon you when you couldn’t have imagined things going any differently from your expectations and then you suddenly find that you have no idea how to manage and your world is turned upside … Continue reading
Homestay #2: Castillo Family Edition!
Last weekend was another wonderful experience for Kelsey and I. It was a long weekend, as we had Friday off for the Eid (politicians are trying to get the Muslim vote) so Kelsey and I went to Makati to visit the Ayala Museum. They had some spectacular collections of pre-hispanic Filipino gold artefacts and from … Continue reading