LOST IN TRANSLATION - Doing Things The Filipino Way!

Pea walks through a collection of Filipino customs, habits, and cultural quirks that confuse, amuse, or frustrate foreigners living in or visiting the Philippines. She positions herself as a cultural ambassador translating behaviors that longtime expats stop questioning but that blindside newcomers.

Hand gestures mean opposite things ​

• The "OK" sign (thumb and index finger in a circle) means the number three in the Philippines — Filipinos count starting from the pinky finger to the thumb, not from the thumb outward
  • If your Filipina partner flashes what looks like "OK" when you ask how many bracelets she wants for Christmas, she means three — show up with one and there will be confusion
• The Filipino "come here" gesture (palm-down wave toward yourself) looks like "go away" to Westerners
• Pea tells a specific story: she watched a couple at a grocery store where the Filipina found a shorter checkout line and tried to wave her foreign partner over; he'd start pushing the cart toward her, then she'd do the "come here" gesture and he'd interpret it as "go away" and push back to the long line; this went back and forth multiple times until the guy gave up and stayed put
• Pea knew exactly what was happening but didn't intervene — "in true Filipino fashion I wasn't going to get involved, and besides it was just too much fun to watch"

The obsession with testing products before purchase ​

• If you buy light bulbs, the cashier will ask "has this been tested?" — you're expected to go back to the department, find someone to unbox each bulb, plug them in one by one, confirm they work, repackage them, then bring them back to pay
• Buying something like a TV means allocating an extra 30 minutes while the salesman fully unboxes it (styrofoam and all), opens the battery bag for the remote, and tests every function
• The obvious question: everything comes with a warranty, so why not just return it if it breaks? Pea says you technically can, but it involves a "giant hassle of paperwork"
• She honestly admits she doesn't know why almost all stores do this and asks viewers for an explanation

Giving directions by landmarks, not compass points ​

• You'll never hear "a kilometer west of here" because most Filipinos don't use north/south/east/west
• Instead, directions are based on landmarks and relative position — things are described by what they're next to
• This works fine in small towns but gets tricky when navigating across an island
• Pea notes Google Maps has largely solved this problem

The never-ending video call ​

• Filipinas (and Filipinos generally, though mostly women) treat video calls as ambient companionship, not information exchange
• Calls can last for hours even with long stretches of silence — someone puts the phone down, goes and does something for 10 minutes, comes back, picks up where they left off, and the other person just waits
• Westerners typically want to exchange information quickly and then go do something else
• Filipinos call friends, coworkers, or family members and "just hang out on the phone and spend the whole day with them"
• Pea asks foreign partners to "go easy on us — it's just what we do"

Eating with mouths open and communal food handling ​

• Filipinos commonly eat and talk with their mouths open — not considered rude in Filipino culture the way it is in some Western cultures
• People may stick their fingers into a communal plate to grab what they want — "our version of eating family style"
• Pea frames this as fair warning, not criticism

The extreme aversion to rain ​

• As soon as a few drops fall, Filipinos whip out umbrellas; without one, they dart indoors; if they can't do either, they put a hand on their head "like that would do any good"
• Even if they're swimming and it starts raining, they'll get out of the water "like being chased by a shark" — despite already being soaked
• Reasons Pea identifies:
  • Pollution in big cities — people don't want dirty rain sticking to them
  • A widespread cultural belief that rain will make you sick (she says she doesn't know of evidence for this but a "huge majority" of Filipinos believe it)
  • Some women just don't want to walk around in soaked clothes
• She quips: "I'm sure to most of you guys there are worse sights than a wet Filipina"

No concept of "inside voices" ​

• Pea describes sitting peacefully at a café and having a waiter scream into your ear to tell another waiter they're out of lettuce
• Depending on your temperament, this either makes you jump out of your chair or doesn't faze you (if you grew up in a house with 10 kids)
• The noise isn't just indoors: car horns, people yelling, whistles — "just about anything you can imagine to upset the peace"
• Filipinos don't even notice the noise level
• Pea notes bluntly: "The Philippines might not be the best choice for people who suffer from PTSD"

The word "slang" means something different ​

• When a Filipino says you have "slang" in your speech, they don't mean colloquialisms or colorful language
• In Filipino usage, "slang" means speaking with an accent — any accent that makes someone difficult to understand
• Any foreigner whose first language isn't English can be told they're "speaking slang"
• It's not an insult — it's their way of saying the language barrier is real and "we're getting a nosebleed" (Filipino expression for struggling with difficult English)

Why are people still wearing masks? ​

• Over a month after the Philippines dropped its mask mandate (only required on public transport and some indoor locations), Pea did an informal survey and found about 90% of people on the streets still wearing masks
• She compares it to "the prison warden opened the doors to the cells but the prisoners don't want to leave"
• She floats possible reasons: fear of getting sick, force of habit, or it's become a fashion statement
• She admits she has "no clue" and plans a future video where she asks people directly

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