Is Disney World the happiest place on earth? It sure is.

(Note: Not a paid endorsement.)


Just two weeks ago, me and the family came from an awesome visit to the Disney World parks in Orlando, Florida. This was the highlight of our “vacation” in the US. (I put vacation in double quotes because I’m not leaving the country any time soon, like if the vacation has ended.) The drive to Florida took all of 15 hours, but we chose to split it to two days, stopping for cheap lodging in North Carolina both ways.

We bought a 4-day pass to any park within Disney World, and chose to go to the Magic Kingdom twice. Epcot and Hollywood Studios were the other two stops. We thought of Animal Kingdom as well, but since the park was relatively new, and there weren’t a lot of attractions yet (with the exception of the Safari Trek and Expedition Everest) we decided to just go back the next time we’d head to FL.

Incredible. Each one of the parks was exactly how I remembered them when I was a young boy. They all offered different things and thrills, all of them memorable.

Before I go to the individual parks, let me share a couple of tips first to make your visit there enjoyable.

1. Make judicious use of the Photo Pass system. This is an innovative idea. Instead of lugging around tickets of professionally-taken photographs with you the entire time, Photo Pass gives you an electronic card that you use to view all your photos online. Cool, right? Until you realize that the photos available for viewing are pitifully small, they won’t even look great printed in 2R. And ordering a CD with your photographs cost $125. Highway robbery!

Lesson learned: For each pic the Photo Pass Photographers take, ask them to take another one with your own digital or film camera. It’s free of charge, and you have full, high-resolution images with you.

2. Plan your Fast Pass well. Another great idea. Several rides across all the Disney parks have Fast Pass booths, where you can get a return time ticket in order to bypass falling in line for hours. The catch is you can’t get Fast Passes all at once. For every one Fast Pass ticket you get for a particular ride, there’s a 2-hour wait time before you can get another one.

Lesson learned: Go to the park in the morning and ride the most popular, Fast Pass-enabled rides first, when the lines are shortest. You won’t be able to go through them all in the morning of course, but that’s the point: You’d halve the number of attractions you’d use your Fast Pass privilege for.

3. Bring in food. If you don’t mind making your own subs, hoagies, or sandwiches, bring them with you. (No rice-and-ulam baon! You’ll have a hard time, trust me.) The food’s pricey ($7 for a burger? Highway robbery!), and the lines for the food places gets pretty long during lunch time. There are plenty of drinking fountains everywhere to keep you hydrated without resorting to buying bottled beverages, which start at $2.

Part 2 coming soon!

10 Things Every Filipino Must Do in America

Part 2 of the 2-part series!

6. Use tissue to clean up after a number two
I personally am used to using just toilet paper to clean up—I do it when I have to go do a number two at the mall and whenever I’m not in my house. It’s just that using a tabo has been a welcome alternative when we moved to the Philippines—I preferred doing things this way since I’ve gotten the opportunity to. (I remember the first time I went inside a Philippine bathroom, I had to ask my dad what the bucket was for. He explained how Pinoys do it. Haha. If someone took my photograph right after I found how it’s done, I’m pretty sure it’s one for the books.) But here in the US, not everyone uses a tabo. And that includes even Filipino families—several cousins of mine don’t have ‘em in their bathrooms. So you gotta learn how to do it with toilet paper, kids. It’s more ma-trabaho than a steady stream of water rinsing your you-know-what, but I have to say, it’s a slightly cleaner way of doing things. *cough*pooponyourfingers*cough*

Oh, you can also buy, um, behind cleaners.

I guess the question is, do I still use a tabo now that I’m here? The answer is yes, only when they have it. But I secretly wish every house had a bidet instead.

7. Visit a theme park

Ever been to Enchanted Kingdom? How about Star City or Boom na Boom? Double—even triple—the size of the space these parks occupy, double the number of rides, and you have a good idea of a US theme park.

I can’t really explain why you should visit one, you just have to. There’s all sorts of fun to be experienced by everyone, regardless of age. Or, ganito na lang: Where else can you totally act not your age and no one will give you flak over it? Sure, you have to pay a considerable sum (admission rates on average are $65) but the free pass to be a kid again for 12 hours is well worth it.

8. Become wasteful
If you’re the type who’d remind friends not to leave food in their plates because kids in Africa are starving, be prepared to say this often. I’m still in shock at how much waste this country makes on a daily basis. You get a “side dish” of fries as plentiful as the main course itself, five generous scoops of fried rice for every single-person order at an Asian fast-food restaurant, and the buffets, man, the buffets—there’s so much wasted food there that you can practically just ask for the rejects and you’ll be able to eat for days. Oh, and I’m not just talking about food. People go through, like, two rolls of tissue paper a day with just normal, day-to-day things, like wiping the sink, drying their hands after washing them, whatever. Fortunately, you’ll appreciate the incentives that the government is doing to help curb the mounds of waste the country produces: You can opt for paperless banking, meaning bank statements will only get sent to your e-mail; recycling bins are commonplace (and in some States, like New Jersey, segregating recyclable trash is the law), and groceries are offering several centavos back whenever grocers return or reuse shopping bags. So I guess you only need to “witness” this, and not do it. Think of the environment and the starving kids in Africa, after all.

9. Don’t have rice for a day

Like the humble tabo, having rice at every meal defines a Filipino. Sure, other countries also use rice in varying ways, but only a Pinoy eater asks for rice with a nice piece of steak—as well as mashed potatoes; or will top his rice with chili and not care for the cornbread.

On paper, there’s nothing wrong with this. After all, rice, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and fries are all starchy foods (and thus sources of carbohydrates that balance out the protein from the ulam). It’s just that culturally, something like steak isn’t meant to be eaten with rice. It’s like eating pizza with rice. (And that’ll be taking it too far, even for a Filipino I think.) Part and parcel of immersion to American culture is “pakikibagay,” and this is what you’ll do once you smile and help yourself to mashed potatoes for dinner and not ask for rice.

Curiously, rice isn’t easy to find here, further proving that this country isn’t as big of a rice eater as we are.

10. Make mano
H’wag ka nang mahiya. Walang masama kung magmano ka sa magulang mo o sa nakakatanda pag nakita mo sila. It’s what makes you Filipino. Paki ba ng mga puti kung ano yung ginagawa mo?

(Toilet image from Jupiterimages.com, rice meal image from Yikada/Flickr.com)

Yesterday's Rainbow

I just saw what I think is the largest rainbow I've ever seen my entire life. It was after a brief afternoon shower. (It's been raining the past 2 weeks, so much for bright and sunny spring.) Awesome sight and made me feel nice.

On to the Style Tips

One fashion rule I seriously adhere to (and everyone should, too): Never do a look that’s, the way they say it in the Philippines, pilit. This photograph I took from a department store here in NJ is one perfect example of how something that’s very cool in theory doesn’t translate well in real life. (Or in this case, in the styling.)

What doesn’t bode well here? Two things: wrong necktie and wrong length. Now, I’m pretty sure the whole necktie with a polo shirt is cool some way or another—you know, the whole decasualization of men’s wardrobes and stuff. But this look specifically is so forced that it ruins the whole look. If I was to do it, I’d shoot for a slimmer tie because it ties (pardon the pun) better with the whole casual vibe, and I’d shorten how long it falls—I’d say just up to where the pant’s button is at.

If you're like me, though, I'd skip the necktie completely and save it for long-sleeved shirts. Saves you from the trouble of getting the look right.

The 10 Things Every Filipino Must Do In America

I got inspired by a feature story from Philadelphia Magazine called “The 57 Things You Must Do In ______.” (There wasn’t really a blank in the article, it’s just that I forgot the place. Haha.) I decided to do my own list to I guess help me get reacquainted to life here in the US—I’ve been away from it for a while, after all. And for humor’s sake. (Well, I’m not exactly good at injecting humor at things.)

1. Get Supersized

Technically, the word “supersize” isn’t on the fastfood lexicon anymore, after the Morgan Spurlock movie “Supersize Me” got the attention of the fastfood-eating public and Washington lobbyists. However, even though Ronald McDonald and his gang stopped asking diners if they want to supersize their meals, the sizes of their french-fry container and soda cups remained huge. Look at the photograph below and guess what size the cup I’m holding is.

This is a medium milkshake, kids. I know. This is large in the Philippines.

Now, check this large-size drink cup from the movie house, expertly modeled by my younger brother. (Sorry, bro, gotta clip the image for your own privacy.)

The drink is $5, and you can refill it an unlimited number of times so long as you’re in the movie house. (Here in the US, movie houses are in separate buildings. They’re not inside malls like those in the Philippines.) Curiously, I unloaded a 2-liter bottle of soda when I got home just to measure exactly how much liquid the darn thing carries every time you ask it to be filled up. Guess what? It’s indeed 2 liters. Damn. Imagine, you just drank the equivalent of 1,000 calories if you finished a cup full of non-diet soda. (Even then, I still discourage you from drinking too much just because you’re getting the zero-calorie variety.)

By the way, the popcorn is also refillable. But if you’re like me, just looking at it already makes me feel full.

Update: Burger King’s big-ass fries and Coke now goes by the name “Kingsize.” Apropos, non?

2. Get brand-name clothing for pennies, convert the price to Philippine Pesos, and secretly brag about how much more expensive it would have been if you had bought it back home

This is what I love about the US: If you know where to look, you can get the best of fashions at prices that will make you think the sellers are practically giving it away. (And trust me, they don’t give you a hard time.) It’s actually easier to be a—dare I say it—budget fashionista (igh…hate the word “fashionista”) here than back home. I’ve done my fair share of shopping at department stores and outlets, and—ha!—I’ve been able to buy more brand-name clothing than if I would visit every store that SSI owned. Some notables (meaning, the best bargains that I’ve gotten so far):

A Kenneth Cole lined blazer for $20,

Paper jeans for $15,

and Converse shoes for $4.97.

True, it’s not fair comparing these to what’s on offer in the Philippines, as we’re talking about clearance merchandise here. But I offer a different perspective: Stuff on sale back home are either absolute crap, or could never retail as low as they do here.

3. Buy something—anything—from Old Navy, H&M, American Apparel, Abercrombie & Fitch, or American Eagle Outfitters.

These are the McFashions of the US, really; or if you prefer, these brands are to Americans as what Bench, Penshoppe, and Oxygen are to us. The appeal of McFashion to many vacationing Filipinos I guess is the fact that it’s virtually impossible to get your hands on them in the PI. (I doubt 90 percent of the supposed AE and Abercrombie & Fitch items sold in Greenhills are genuine.)

But here’s the kicker: Basics here are steep if you’re the converting type. To worth: A basic printed T from AE is $16.50 (about P660 at P40=$1), Bench offers the same stuff for about P300. Lesson learned: The moment you step foot in the United States of America, use your mental calculator sparingly when out shopping. Otherwise, you won’t buy anything.

(I have to mention this about American Apparel, though: They’re proudly sweat-shop free McFashion. Meaning, AA is the antithesis of some brands that outsource the production of their clothes where the cost of labor is next to nothing and the working conditions are debilitating.)

4. Fumble with communicating

We may be the third largest English-speaking nation in the world (or so the reports claim) with a booming call-center industry that houses hundreds of thousands of Pinoys with a fantastically perfectly-attuned twang, but this doesn’t translate to every Filipino being a fluid conversationalist in English. I mean, just look at me. Despite me coming from here, I still fumble. Man.

5. Sleep in pyjamas

Back home, it’s silly to wear jammies to sleep. Kahit naka-aircon. It’s still too hot and humid to cover up your legs. In here, you wear long cotton pants to sleep for 8 months each year. Otherwise, you’ll shiver your ass off.

(By the way, the US uses the Fahrenheit scale. The only time they use Celsius is when the thermometer hits 32 degrees F. They report it as zero-day to mean it’s zero degrees C.)

Part 2 coming soon!

Kamusta naman?

Incredible how time really flies. I just realized that it’s been already a month since I left the Philippines in search of greener (kuno) pastures in the land of milk and honey. I know. One month is nothing—people who vacation in the US can sometimes take all of two months (the two months students have out of school for summer break). But for me, it’s a big thing. Because for the past few years that I’ve been here in the US, it’s as tourists in the country that I once lived in. Now, things are once again different. I’m now living in this country again. Wala lang. It’s just new to me the second time around I guess.

Truthfully, nothing super new or major eventful has happened to me for the past month. (Fine, six weeks.) When I said to my peers in the Philippines that I’m going to spend my first few months in the US vacationing and having a good time, I meant it. Of course there’s the usual things, like registering for job-search websites, having my driver’s license renewed (man, did I have huge cheeks in my new photograph—gotta watch the pizza and McDonald’s), and visiting relatives that I didn’t have the luxury of visiting the past years because of time constraints. I’ve also organized my portfolio of works for when I start peddling my wares in the Big Apple, and spent a considerable amount of money buying a business wardrobe. (Dang, I hope the industry I’m trying to get in is one where I won’t be forced to wear a suit everyday to work. Hindi ko kakayanin, kahit na may clothing allowance.) The reason why I said they’re nothing new is because they aren’t—everyone does these things at one point in their lives.

The closest I have in my calendar that you can consider eventful is a 15-hour drive with the family to Florida. There we’ll stay for a week at a nice resort and visit Disney Parks for four days. And if my cousin from the army can help us as well, we’ll stop at Sea World on the fifth day. Oh, admit it—everyone loves to go to theme parks. Sabi nga ng slogan ng Disney: “It’s the happiest place on earth.” Or something like that.

I have been thinking long and hard about my living arrangements, though. My folks are looking for a house where the family can stay here in down old Jersey (that’s still thankfully only an hour away from NYC) and I definitely will have to help with the mortgage payments. Now here’s the problem: Will I still look for a place to stay in NY once I find work? Or should I do what I did when I was still in the Philippines, living in Bulacan—uwian? Both have their own share of pros and cons. But this is a matter that I can and will only be able to seriously think through once I’m there. I’m hugely unfamiliar with how expensive NYC is exactly, so there’s no use speculating over something that I know very little about.

Anyway, that’s it for now. New post in a week.

Photo of the Moment

Hahahaha! That is all.