@jikodesu It's free-of-charge. They open registration for 3 days (IIRC) only, via a Google Form (they announce in KCC - PH FB page. Then they do a random, raffle-style, selection. After that they'll email each and give them 4 days to submit the requirements.
Never leave the Philippines without eating these fruits, and taking a bunch with you when you fly home.
Mangosteen
While popular in Southeast Asia, the Mangosteen in the Philippines is the best variant in the world. Mangosteen is plenty and cheap in the country. You can find it anywhere, from wet markets to supermarkets to street stalls.
There are also many other products made from Mangosteen, from coffee to juice to daily supplements, even a candy and cookies!
Banana (local: saging)
Like Mangosteen, Philippine bananas are the best in the world. There was even a joke how a Philippine banana was exported in the West, and a local restaurant bought banana supplies from those countries and used it, hence, their very simple banana dish (that is ₱20 elsewhere) is worth a Big Mac (₱200). Without them realising the banana they imported originated from their neighbour.
Of course it's a joke. Or maybe not. (We did have an incident like this decades ago, for shoes. Marikina-made shoes were exported. Branded. And then that brand sold it here. 🤣)
Trivia: An endemic banana, "abaca", is also used to produce "Manila Hemp", which is expensive.
Mangoes (local: mangga)
Yes, the best in the world too! Some of our Asian neighbours visit the Philippines just to eat Philippine mangoes, because it's very expensive in their country.
Pineapple (local: pinya)
The best? Well, some of those popular foreign pineapple brands actually have farms here in the Philippines because they found that Philippine-produced pineapples are better.
Trivia: Pineapple was brought here during the colonial era. It's not endemic.
Trivia: Pineapple fibres are used to make clothes, and are usually expensive. It's the most common Philippine linen. Filipinos were the first to create clothes from Pineapple fibres. In fact, like the Coconut, Filipinos found use to everything Pineapple, generally, nothing goes to waste.
Yes, you guessed it right again! The best coconut in the world. It's also exported as well. Ask a Filipino how to properly eat a coconut. Most foreigners only drink the juice. You should eat the "white" part, that's the actual coconut. Never ever throw it!
After eating, you can use the coconut case for various things. One such is what we call "bunot", it helps shine flat wooden floors after putting floor wax on it.
No part of a coconut goes to waste in the Philippines. It is also used in a lot of Filipino foods!
Durian
No comment on this one. Just look for it. 😉 It's sweet, promise.
Jackfruit (local: langka)
A must! It is also part of the famous "halo-halo" summer crushed ice drink/food. A halo-halo without langka is incomplete.
Papaya
If you haven't tried Papaya, you definitely should. Usually included in dishes to give a dish a different taste, but eating Papaya by itself is better because you'll be able to taste it fully.
Special mention: Calamansi
Usually called Philippine lemon. Calamansi is small. This is endemic as well. According to foreigners, it is better than the regular lemon.
You'll often see this in restaurants. We use this in almost every food, either as part of the ingredients, or as a condiment. For example, combine soy sauce + calamansi and you get an exotic dip for your chicken, pork, fish, and so on.
We use it for pansit (Filipino noodles) like in pancit canton and pancit palabok. Also in goto and lugaw (porridge). Once you've tasted calamansi in various ways, you'll replace your regular lemon, and other ingredients, with it.
@youronlyone@pilipinas@philippines If you take fruits or meat products to your home country, make sure to check import laws in your home country. Otherwise you may get a nasty surprise at customs.
This may lead to confiscation and even hefty fines by the customs office.
Usually you can check the import laws at the website of the customs department.
Create three lists: "CUR: All", "CUR: Flipboard", "CUR: Newsmast".
(CUR = CURated / CURation)
Search for "Flipboard" and "Newsmast" (Flipboard accounts share the same icon, Newsmast accounts share the same icon as well.)
Follow the accounts you're interested in. (It's by topic.)
Add each of those accounts to your "CUR: All" list. And to its respective platform list: "CUR: Flipboard" or "CUR: Newsmast".
Switch your "Home" view to "CUR: All", "CUR: Flipboard", or "CUR: Newsmast".
Another way of doing it is by topic:
CUR: Nature
CUR: Current Events
CUR: Programming
Or, by region:
CUR: Local
CUR: Asia-Pacific
CUR: Africa
Adjust it to your needs.
In the Mastodon family, you can set the list to not show up in your "Home" timeline. This way, you can still see the posts from other people you follow without it being filled with curated content boosts.
Benefits of following curation accounts:
You don't have to follow every single account.
> Usually, accounts share other topics which you probably are not interested in. Curated lists filter these topics for you.
You will discover content and people to follow.
> Both Flipboard and Newsmast boosts/reshares the original post. You see the original source/account and interact with them directly.
> You can then choose who you want to follow directly so you can see more of their content and interests, and build a friendly relationship with them.
It becomes possible to only follow 10 accounts ever, yet consume hundreds of content and information.
This way, you can avoid following hundreds of accounts which will only make your "Home" timeline confusing; and more likely, you'll miss what matters most for you because of so many posts from so many accounts.
I hope it helps you! Welcome to the Fediverse #SNS !
P.s. If you're using an awesome Fediverse software or platform besides Mastodon, the steps are similar, if not exactly the same.
Here are some dating tips, nothing grand, but can be useful.
Know how to say “I love you” in the #Filipino language because we have two for romantic relationships.
“Mahal kita” = This is your “I love you” in English. It can be used romantically or for family and relatives.
mahal = ma (as in “mama”) + hal (as in ha + L) which means “love”
kita = ki (as in ‘ki’ in “kit”) + ta (as in ‘ta’ in “tank”) which means “you”
“Iniibig kita” = This can be translated into English as “I deeply love you” or “I deeply desire you” or both; and should only be used romantically. You could say it is a poetic way of saying “I love you”, however, it is more than that.
iniibig = i-ni-i-big (i = as in the sound of saying the letter “e” = iihh) which means “[deeply] love”
Understand what “mutual understanding” or “m.u.” is.
It's actually simple. “Mutual understanding” is that stage wherein two people are already comfortable with each other, but are still not officially dating. Usually, they do not know they like each other; however, there are those who choose it because they are not sure yet (especially permission from parents).
If the person you like decides to be in an M.U. relationship, don't take it negatively. It is a sign that they are considering dating you, just that, there are still things they need to settle on their end. Give them some time.
You need to clarify your relationship.
Never assume that you are dating. I've seen “couples” who never made it clear and later was shocked the other partner finally have a “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”. The surprised party felt “cheated” but in reality, no one cheated, they were never dating in the first place!
It is important to make your relationship clear.
Are you dating exclusively? “Exclusively”, meaning, there are no one else both parties are dating.
Or, are you in an “open relationship”? An “open relationship” is a relationship wherein you allow each other to have other dates.
Are you actually dating, M.U., or just friends?
Are you “officially” dating? “Officially”, meaning, both of your parents know (regardless if they agreed to it or not).
“PDA” or “Public Display of Affection”
This is publicly holding hands, hugging, kissing (cheeks, lips), being overly sweet with each other.
Filipinos are generally fine with it. If you don't like it, a Filipino date might misinterpret it as you not being proud of them. Thus, if it is not in your culture to show PDA, then make it clear with the Filipino you are dating, to avoid misunderstandings.
There are also some Filipinos who are not into PDA, so, you need to be open about it. And limits.
You are not just dating one person, you are dating the entire family.
Filipinos are family-centric. And when it comes to Filipino, be sure to treat their families well.
This is a good thing. If your partner is telling you what to do, it means they really want to date you.
That's just 5 when it comes to dating. Marriage proposal is a whole different matter. We have our own form “dowry”, although less practised today, it is still good to know, especially if the Filipino you want to marry is traditional. (They may not tell you anything because you're a foreigner, but deep inside they're expecting it.)
@youronlyone@pilipinas@pinoy .Yes sometimes people wonder why the other ( Filipina, Filipino) does something that seems strange. It may be as you say matter of her/ his family that brings this about! 😉👍😍
You bring forth some very good points, many do not think about when cultures differ! 👍
Family is everything, in a Filipino's life, coz when it all comes down. They may be the only ones they have to turn to, so don't disregard tor disrespect or you will LOSE!
@youronlyone@pilipinas@pinoy > They also are the buffer between your and her family a difficult position to be in sometimes. Don't make it harder on her!
This one is rarely asked and advised: you can't lend to someone else your credit/debit card.
Here in the Philippines, all credit/debit card use are checked. If the name on the card is suspiciously not the customer's name (for example, it's a man's name, but the one holding is a woman), it will be questioned and held.
For credit cards (not debit cards), signatures are also required. If the signature did not match the one on the back of the card, the card will be held by the store.
The only exemption to the rule is if it is a company credit card. As long as you can show a company ID, it will be allowed. This is especially true if the company card is Black, because there are no Black credit cards in the Philippines (at least, I haven't seen one; I've only seen it from Korean and Japanese partners).
There were many incidents of foreigners getting stuck because of lending their cards to a friend or relative. One such was in a supermarket.
The young adult daughter (18-20) used her father's credit card. There are three things that immediately caught the attention of the personnel:
The name on the card is man's name.
The card is of a high tier type.
A young adult cannot possibly have acquired such a high tier card.
The store held the card. And the daughter was of course angry. She even showed her passport which showed she has the same surname as the one on the card; and even showed another document proving the name on the card is her father.
None of it was accepted.
Why? It is not allowed in the Philippines to use someone else's card without the card owner's presence and signature. Regardless if you are the spouse, the parent, the sibling, or the child.
I mediated. I made the store manager agree that if they can reach her dad through phone and agrees, then they'll return the card and proceed with the transaction.
Eventually, they were able to contact her dad (who was in a corporate meeting) and the matter was resolved.
I was able to calm down the daughter, but of course, she can't help but say things like “obsolete system”. Nothing can be done there because, well, it's true. LOL.
Thus, if you're traveling in the Philippines, always remember, only the card owner can use their own card.
Q: What can't spouses use their spouse's card?
A: Philippine banks have a special account called “joint account”. In a joint account, two cards can be issued with the names of each person on their respective cards.
That's as close as using your spouse's card can ever get.
@youronlyone My immediate thought was "what if she nicked the card and she's not talking to dad for years", and "the system works well". Oh well, perspectives, perspectives.
First time I pushed myself since I recovered from pneumonia and a water in my left lung (mid to late 2021).
I used the closed roads being used by two race events, #EarthRun and #ASICS run. 😜
I think being with fellow runners made it easier. I didn't feel any pain and I rarely had to catch my breath. Though I was still slow as compared to before I got sick, and had a lot of walks than runs, this was still far better than whenever I ran 5k solo this year.
@MariaTheMartian Yep! If you have something similar in your area, give it a try. Usually there's a coach or two, they teach new steps to the experienced jumpers, and help beginners.
It's more of learning the rope (😉) than talking, so not much worrying about small talks. Hehe. At least for me and the group I joined.
And I got more inspired too. I want to relearn it.
Why is it that in #romantic and #romcom#dramas, when a woman cannot reach something, the guy would reach it for her from her back.
If it was me, I would hold her at her waist and lift her up. I think that's sweeter and more charming. And if you feel like going a mile, turn her and sat her on the table, and tease her with pecks.
If we're in the kitchen when that scenario happens, because she wants to cook food, then I'll tell her to just sit there and watch me cook instead; and while cooking, I will steal kisses on her cheeks, but no lips.
The taste of the food doesn't matter; nor the food itself (could be instant ramen/ramyeon/noodle). If I failed, we'll surely have laughter, and she can tease me back. If the food's good, it's a plus.
@youronlyone I get your drift but it's mainly to introduce the near contact between to people and hands on is way to direct 😉 like in the movie ghost, where he leads her hands with the clay. It is seen as romantic and he is so near without it being to direct. Same with tennis player and teacher, the often use it there too.