World Friendship

 World Friendship Proficiency Badge

Carry out a study of your friend’s country and present to your patrol the difference in the way of life between that country and your own.

I am researching with my friend, John, who is a citizen of the Philippines. I am going to discuss a few things with him regarding his country.

How is life different in the Philippines?

Life in the Philippines is really different from Singapore. Singapore is a bustling metropolis while the Philippines is more of a rural condition (from where I live).

Education

Education in the Philippines is really different from SG. SG follows the UK method of using P1 - P6 and Sec 1 - Sec 4, but PH follows the US method of using Kindergarten to Grade 12

Behavior in Philippines 

In the Philippines, due to the lack of education, I usually see a lot of crime happening. That is why SG is much safer in the PH. But overall, the people are generally kind with great hospitality. Seriously, whenever I go to another country, I don't have to worry about accommodation because I apparently have at least one person that I know (extended family) living in those countries.

Local food/dishes in Philippines

Local food takes inspiration from the Spanish culture. We were colonized in 1521 by the Spanish. So we have been greatly following the Spanish in terms of religion, food, practices and whatever. Like for example, leche flan, it is a wonderful dessert enjoyed by many. That is from Spain.

What I think Singapore can learn from Philippines or vice versa

Singapore can learn from PH by their way of life. in SG, we have a much faster pace of life in SG than in PH. This makes us really stressed and that is why we don't really have family bonding or whatever. In the Philippines we believe that family bonding is the most important thing. So that is why our pace of life is much slower. Thus you can obviously see that whenever you ask a Filipino to reach by 1pm for example, please take note that we cfm reach 30 mins late or 1h.

Opinion on Philippines

Oh, I love the Philippines so much. However, the current government is really starting to corrupt the Philippines. I'm not saying that the government is bad, but I don't think they can manage. Especially in covid. but overall, I really love the Philippines. Every part of me always yearns to go back to PH like for eg when it's like end of year I always look damn forward to go to PH cause I really love it there. but I can't put a finger on whether PH or Sg is better. I have lived in both countries and I seriously think that both are wonderful be it Singapore for its way of life or PH's hospitality