Before I start anything, I would like to mention that whatever
I write here, is not sanctioned by the bureau, and thus any opinion or story
that I write here is just between you and me. These are all on my perspective
and through my experiences and not the bureaus, so if you find anything offensive,
it is I you should blame.
ANYWAY.
My work mainly consists on implementing visas for foreigners
who plan to stay in the Philippines for more than 21 days. What you all should
know is that about 150 countries are allowed to visit the Philippines WITHOUT
visa for 21 days. Anything more than that, would require your fellow “kanos” to
apply for a visa. So implementing those visas is my job. It takes about 4
hours, if you’re lucky, to get your visa implemented. If not, it may take 2
days. so believe me when I say that most of the time I speak straight English to
our clients.
I’ve come across British, Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Bangladeshis,
Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Sri Lankans, Malaysians, Taiwanese, and a whole lot
of other nationalities—so imagine my surprise when one day (first time to
experience it), two mid-40s Indians came to my window with their giddy smiles
along with their Indian accent and kindly asked for the requirements for their
re-stamping of visa.
I gladly smiled and explained to them the whole process, the
requirements, where to get these papers and how exactly they can go about it
for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, they smiled again and had this weird gaze at
me and said, “ATE, MAGTAGALOG KA NA LANG DI KAMI MARUNONG MAG-ENGLISH EH. HEHE”
then they smiled. It was hilarious.
And I said, “AY SOS! KANINA PA AKO NAGEEXPLAIN DITO, HINDI
NIYO RIN PALA AKO GETS.” After that, I re-explained it to them in filipino.
Most of my co-employees overheard our conversation. So when
they left, one of my peers went close to me and said, “nakalimutan ko sabihin
sayo, yung mga Indians na ganyan (pertaining to a kind of visa issued specifically
to them), hindi marunong magenglish kaya magtagalog ka na lang.”
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I was greatly surprised by that, because seriously, THEY
WERE SO GOOD AT SPEAKING our languagne THAT I THOUGHT THEY WERE EVEN BETTER
THAN ME and the only good part about me was that I didn’t have their indian
slang.
Nag-enjoy naman ako sa pagbabasa ng blog mo. It so happen that often times naiinis o talagang galit ako sa mga immigration officials sa mga airport lalo na ang mga naka-detail sa Terminal 3. I've seen how these men ganged up on poor would-be travelers and worst made them missed their flights entirely. One of my friend was a victim of those vicious creatures.
ReplyDeleteReading your blogs somehow lighten up my mood specifically with the Indians :) keep on writing and I hope your fellow employees detailed in the airports should be more respectful to Filipinos who want to travel.