Filipino culture lesson 1: The concept of standing in line has ceased to exist. So I was standing in line at the airport on Sunday, right behind the rest of my team as we waited for the check-in agent to get us our boarding passes for our e-tickets. I was keeping pretty close because Patrick had payed for our tickets with his credit card, which obviously none of us had, so we were trying to go to the same ticket agent so that we only had to explain this once. As I was standing there, a Filipino man about my age simply glided in between me and my group and waited. This was perplexing, but since I really wanted to stay with my group I smiled at him and asked him politely if he wouldn't mind letting me go ahead of him as I wanted to stay with my group. He look confused for a second, smiled nodded and stepped back. I thanked him and took a step closer, just to clear up any remaining confusion. A moment later, it was now my turn to go up to the counter. Grabbing my bags, I stepped towards the counter, but was alas too slow. The Filipino man had once again glided in front of me. Oh well :)
This is also, by the way, how driving works. Lane lines are for the weak, Filipino driving is for real men.
Hopefully, I can talk some more later about arriving, as it really was a fascinating experience, but for now I'll leave you with a picture of Justin and Abigail and the tip that if you want to make friends with any of the kids around here, just take out a camera and listen for the shouts of "Picture! Picture!" Within moments, you will have made new friends :)
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