Filipinos In Saudi Arabia

A few weeks ago when i went to a place called Kalediah ( one of the many places here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where Filipinos go to buy Filipino products), i was amazed on how good some of the (yemeni, Indian, Pakistan) cashiers of some shop here count in Spanish, uno, dos, tres... amazing! It turns out that they thought it was Filipino or Tagalog, because when some Filipinos buy things here, they sometimes use the Spanish term for the numbers and so the result, a Yemeni thinking that he knows how to count in Tagalog.

The learning process doesn't stop there, some taxi drivers also learned the same way. Spanish words (also used in Tagalog) like derecho, guapa, guapo, trabajo, viaje etc...are some of the words that they usually use when they encounter Filipinos. Also, I have noticed that some of the businesses that are partly owned by Filipinos or a Saudi owned business but targeting Filipino consumers here in Jeddah and Riyadh sometimes have Spanish words incorporated in their business names like what you will see below.

 

La Parilla

 

El [F]avorito

Pan de Sal *

La Paz ^

Unknowingly, We Filipinos are spreading our Filipino-Hispanic culture wherever we go anywhere in the world. What you read and saw above are just few of the examples and evidence on how we spread it here in Saudi Arabia and around the world.

According to the 2008 International Religious Freedom Report, there are about 1.2 Million Filipino Expats here in Saudi Arabia and 90 percent of them are Christians, Making us the biggest Christian population in this country.

*Pan de Sal is the most popular yeast-raised bread in the Philippines. ^ Batchoy or batsoy is one of the favorite soup of the Filipinos, and the most famous for cooking batchoy and also it's origin is in La Paz, Iloilo City, Philippines.

BarberiaGrupo Filipino

Manila, Castillian Memoirs

In this video you'll see Spanish Manila before the war, during the 1930s. By this time Manila was already an American Colony and the Spaniards were already long gone, but because of the almost 400 years of Spanish rule in the country, the Spanish culture were still very much alive then (as well as today). Watching this video makes me feel a little sad, because of how Manila had changed since the 1930s. War and negligence have molded the Manila we know today, but still I'm hopeful that Manila will go back to what it was before.

This Video is called the "Castillian Memoirs" which is part of the Port O'Call Series by the American film maker William M.Pizor.

A celebrity and a famous Manila tour guide, Carlos Celdran's description of Manila:

"I believe that Manila can be a reflection of your state of mind. Being a city of extreme contrasts it’s easy to see how it can become an intense personal experience. Manila can be chaotic and spiritual, dirty and divine, gritty and gorgeous all at once. If you don’t find beauty and poetry here, you will never find it anywhere."

To know more about Carlos Celdran, his Manila walking tour itineraries and the schedule, click WALK THIS WAY. To know more of Manila and it's history, click MANILA. To see Map of Manila, click Manila Map. About the old Spanish walled city of Intramuros, click HERE.