Manila days

The best definition of camp I’ve heard is: “Regarding the serious things as trivial and the trivial things as deadly serious.”

I promise this is a compliment: I find the Philippines so un-serious in the most endearing of ways. In fact I feel it to be un-serious in the exact way I feel I am.

At work, people sometimes tell me that I’m good at keeping cool and composed while everything burns. The truth I fear is that I don’t take the serious things seriously, maybe its a gay thing but I feel that if everyone around me is concerned about A – there’s no point in me adding to that.

This doesn’t mean I’m chill, I wish it did. No, I’ll probably be losing sleep about C, precisely because no one else is considering it.

I’m so lucky to get to come to Manila for work about once a year since 2018. It’s the main reason I’ve stayed at DTN while my favourite colleagues from Europe have swanned off to better employers.

My favourite thing to do here is to skip the hotel breakfast and instead have a Krispy Kreme OG donut and black coffee aka the ‘Perfect Together’ deal for 99 pesos which is about “wan-pipti” euros. Perhaps its because there is something so camp about Krispy Kreme too. The shop itself has its own enormous, well lit production line, with hatchback sized machines just dedicated to putting a sugary glaze on a slow moving conveyor of donuts – the most un-serious of foods. Donuts which were, not-unreasonably banned in my childhood for being too unhealthy.

Well this time I’ve showed up and Krispy Kreme is doing this whole event to celebrate its 87th birthday (this is what I mean). I’ve already got a free T-Shirt, 2 free donuts, and a KK cup!

Service staff here in Manila will acknowledge you with a smile and greeting from the heart. You walk around ‘BGC’ (the central business district in Manila) and there is a persisting spirit of fun enjoyment all-the-fucking-time.

And as I walk around here, the main thought I can’t escape from is: “This is a massive welcome break from the Netherlands.” It’s closer to England, but not really. The English are very awkward in their kindness and politeness. They struggle between an overwhelming desire to be honest and rational and an overwhelming desire to be kind and liked.

Filipinos are like Americans, they are not inhibited by cold heart of the Northern European. They know how to have fun, relax and enjoy life and that’s what they want for their visitors too.

I’ve never been able to put my finger exactly why, and today will be no exception. Every attempt to explain my feelings ends up feeling silly when put into words. Perhaps its that the Dutch are the opposite of camp.

I love this YouTube video, it shows us that 500 years ago, even before the Spanish showed up – Filipinos were just as welcoming and open hearted as they are now. Lets not give the credit to Christianity – I think religion just morphs around existing cultures, which are created by environment, climate and circumstance.