- Ordering two maccas meal. they pack the fries in a plastic bag, pack the drinks in a separate plastic bag and the burgers in another
- buying a necklace and a top at the supermarket. Pack the necklace in a small plastic bag and put it into the plastic bag with the top.
- double bag things that arent heavy
Watching the attendants put through the sales here is frustrating because they are so slow. It makes me sleepy. I feel like pushing her out of the way so I can put through my own sales at a faster pace. Because people are so slow here and they need to double pack everything, they are overstaffed. There are two sales assistants at one counter. One to put through sales and one to pack. But the labour here is so cheap that they can afford to be over staffed. I guess its a good way to keep people in jobs. Plus it means the hospitality of the workers here is exceptional. When I come back to Australia I will miss it.
The music they love here in philippines is easy listening, 60's, 70's... slow, aucoustic and sentimental. I find their drama shows intolerable. They are constantly fighting, bitching, crying.. its too dramatic for me. Vince and his friends play drinking games while watching these dramas, everything someone on TV cries they take a shot. They are drunk within 1 hour. I was watching a filo game show on tv and the contestant started crying. Jimboy says they are crying because the host asked them wat they do for a living. They are saying how poor they are and how much they suffer. Suffering and poverty can very well be the case but for a nation that has been through so much, why havent you hardened the fuck up?
The architecture of churches and the houses i've seen are all opposed to the principles of modernism. Exposed cables taped and painted the same colour as the walls, beams that come out of nowhere, inbuilt furniture, unnecessary architraves or ceiling portions, grates on windows, two levers where they could only be one, painting a material to hide it, advertising to decorate homes. To simplify your surrounds, which can then simplify your life, designs should be purely functional. Style over substance is against modernism. Double packing is against modernism.
Here are a few of the 10 principles of good design that Dieter Ram coined. These are most applicable here in the Philippines:
Dieter Ram's Principles of Good Design
- Good design is as little design as possible
- Good design is never fashionable so it is long lasting
- Good design is honest, does not make it more valuable than it is or implies promises that cannot be kept
Nostalgic songs about love and heartbreak ... Small house decorations like porclein puppy dogs in playful positions, flower girls in bonnets and bouquets, artitfical flowers and teddy bears.. I think filippinos like to reminisce as their way of escaping reality. In a country like the Philippines, and I guess that includes any third world country, there is no room for backward thinking.
Looking at things from a fresh perspective, there are things that I think should be changed to benefit everyone. Tita Bebing's hosue made earns 70 pesos a day. She's got two kids and a husband who was made redundant as a chapel cleaner. I gave her 250 pesos and she had tears in her eyes. I told her it was for her children. Thats $5.50 AUD to me but to her its over 4 days wage. It saddens me. Tmrw me and sheila will spend our last morning at the orphanage again.
Unless you travel and experience different lifestyles, you dont know what you've got. It's hard to believe the conditions people are used to living in. This trip has just reinstated my belief that our purpose in life is to create a utopian world to benefit all people. And since I specialise in design knowledge, this will be my tool.
To read more on Dieter Ram's 10 commandments:
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Tito Nene's beautiful green and red bird that he illegally smuggled into Bacolod from Palawan died today after 11 years. Tito nene is known to jimboy as 'Our Master' because he is always drinking and if not drinking, wanting to drink. He drinks a LOT and because of that he's a bit dopey.
Me rushing into his house: Tito Nene! Tito Nene! You're bird is dead!
Tito Nene: oh okay... WHAT???
Me: DEAD!
Tito Nene: No he's just resting..
Me: But he's on the floor and not blinking
A car playing loud ice cream music passed the back street as we were talking in his kitchen. Tito Nene looked around the room to find out where the music was coming from. Heheh
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