Lessons from Manila

This picture of a sunset is the starting point for lessons about Manila. The first lesson is that lots of air pollution from vehicle emissions leads to beautiful sunsets over Manila Bay. I know I already posted a sunset picture, but this one (taken by Sara) was just too good to pass up. The craziness of the city melts away in the evenings as we watch the sunset from our living room.

Magandang Hapon! is my next lesson. It is a Tagalog greeting ("Good Afternoon"). Sara and I have enrolled in a Filipino language and culture class offered at the school. We have felt so welcomed by our host country, that we feel the urge to assimilate with some language skills. Fortunately for Sara, all of the vowel sounds in Tagalog are the same as in Spanish. Unfortunately for me, I took German in high school. I guess I have a lot of studying to do, ja?

My final lesson is karaoke. One has not truly experienced all that Southeast Asia has to offer until one has participated in this act of public indecency. Regardless of their ability or musical prowess, Filipinos will sing anywhere, anytime. Music appears to flow from the soul of the Philippines. And it is a wonderful thing - except, in my opinion, with karaoke. As near as I can surmise, karaoke was invented for one (or all?) of the following reasons:

1) A way to embarass one's friends/family members

2) A method of torture

3) Cheap entertainment for highly intoxicated individuals

4) A way for hipsters to behave ironically

Unfortunately, all of Manila (and a good part of Asia) failed to receive that memo. Not only is karaoke socially acceptable (!), it is encouraged - regardless of one's blood-alcohol content! I learned this on a recent weekend excursion with some friends to a karaoke establishment. Said establishment was not the smoky dive bar of Hollywood films, filled with travelling Western businessmen and Japanese guys in suits. Oh no - it was a fine establishment populated by young, attractive, energetic people. And the karaoke was not done as a spectacle for all to see, but rooms were available for rent. Notwithstanding the vague similarities between this style of establishment and the operation of houses of prostitution (i.e. renting a small room where one performs unspeakable acts), this made me immensely uncomfortable. It's one thing to stand up and "do karaoke" in front of a room of drunken strangers, who will applaud your performance regardless of its merit. It is something quite different to sit in a private room with ten other people (none of whom I had known for more than about a month), a television screen, and two microphones.

Let me conclude this third and final lesson by saying that you, reader, should excercise great caution before approaching karaoke - it is a wild, untamed beast that must be approached with great abandon, great irony, or few inhibitions. Don't say I didn't warn you.