Anonymous
(This is an expanded version from my answer in a similar question)I’m from the Philippines. Here’s my list in addition to those already posted by some of my countrymen here:

这是我对一个类似问题的回答的扩展版本。我来自菲律宾。以下是我对在我们国家很正常，但在世界其他地方很奇怪的事情的名单，另外还有我的一些同胞已经公布的名单：


We use umbrellas on sunny days
I guess the correct term would be parasol, but these aren’t in fashion in the west anymore and I rarely see people doing it in the US.We use umbrellas for both rainy and sunny days because the tropical sun is seriously no joke and temperatures can reach 32°C to 38°C. It’s dangerous to stay under the sun without shade. Not only because of the risk of sunburn, but also skin damage, heat stroke, and cancer. If no umbrellas are around, anything wide and flat will do, ranging from banana leaves to books.Similarly our fishermen and boat personnel also don’t lounge around in bikinis or board shorts like clueless tourists do. They wear ninja outfits that protect as much skin as possible, or they do night fishing.

我们在晴天用伞。我想正确的说法应该是阳伞，但是阳伞在西方已经不流行了，而且我在美国也很少看到有人这么做。我们在雨天和晴天都使用伞，因为热带的太阳可不是开玩笑的，温度可以达到32℃到38℃。呆在没有遮挡的太阳下是危险的。不仅因为有晒伤的风险，而且还可能导致皮肤损伤、中暑和癌症。如果周围没有雨伞，任何宽而平的东西都可以，从香蕉叶到书籍。同样，我们的渔民和渔船工作人员也不会像无知的游客那样穿着比基尼或沙滩裤闲逛。他们为了尽可能保护皮肤穿忍者服，或者晚上捕鱼。


Our coconut trees have steps
Tourists might be puzzled at why coconuts on beaches have half-moon shaped notches cut into them at regular intervals. Those are used as footholds for harvesting coconuts. You can make them with a machete easily. They stay there forever and don’t really seem to be damaging to the tree itself. Pretty much every coconut tree has them. Even backyard ones. Other countries use special equipment, slings and harnesses, or ropes around the trunks.

我们的椰子树上有台阶。游客可能会感到困惑，为什么海滩上的椰子会定期切开半月形的凹槽。那些是用来作为收获椰子的立足处。你可以很容易地用弯刀来切这种凹槽。这些凹槽会一直存在在那里，似乎不会对树本身造成伤害。几乎每棵椰子树都有凹槽，即使是家里后院的椰子树上也有。其他国家一般会使用特殊设备，吊索和安全带，或用绕着树干的绳子。


We have armed security guards everywhere
And it has nothing to do with crime rates. Though some (especially in malls and ports) do secure vulnerable public places after past bombings by ISIS and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups, in practice most of them do nothing but greet and open the door for customers.It’s a traditional part of the standard employee roster, and is even required in some companies for insurance purposes. We Filipinos treat them more like doormen and information booths.

我们到处都有武装警卫，这与犯罪率没有任何关系。过去虽然ISIS和基地组织的爆炸事件发生后，一些地方（特别是商场和港口）确实会保护脆弱的公共场所，但实际上，大多数人除了问候顾客并为顾客开门之外，什么都不用做。这是标准员工手册上的一个传统组成部分，甚至有些公司出于保险的目的还要求这么做。我们菲律宾人把他们当成门卫和服务台。


Our boats have wings
Outriggers (katig in most Filipino languages). They are parallel structures that are connected to the boat, usually made from carved wood or bamboo. They contribute to the boat’s stability and bouyancy, allowing them to load more cargo and making them less likely to capsize. They also increase the speed of the vessel and they are smoother overall, as there is less contact with the water surface in comparison to similarly-sized single hull ships. In the Philippines, even very large warships (~25 to 30 meters in length) had outriggers in the past. They remain in extremely common use today. Not only as fishing boats, but also as island ferries, tourist boats, and even coast guard and military vessels. I once heard a tourist describe them as “spider boats”.People often make the mistake of thinking it’s an exclusively Polynesian thing, because most Americans only know it from Hawaiian or Maori designs (like in Disney’s Moana). It’s not, it’s part of the heritage of all Austronesian cultures. Although the style and number of outriggers can vary (even within the Philippines), they are what clearly identifies a culture as being descended from Austronesians or had regular contact with Austronesians in the past.
It allowed Austronesians to settle almost all the islands of the Indo-Pacific in the first place, as outrigger boats, even small ones, are perfectly capable of sailing oceanic waters. Other important sailing inventions of Austronesians include the triangular crab claw sails (Oceanic lateen) and the tilted square sail (tanja sails).Modern catamarans and trimarans (which are used as fast ferries in most island nations) are based on the same principles.

我们的船有翅膀。舷外支架（即大部分菲律宾语言中的katig）是与船相连的平行结构，通常由木头或竹子制成。这些支架有助于船的稳定性和浮力，使船能够装载更多的货物，降低倾覆的可能性。同时也增加了船的速度，让船整体上更平滑，因为与类似大小的单体船相比，与水面的接触更少。在菲律宾，甚至非常大的军舰（25到30米长）过去也有舷外支架。
时至今日，舷外支架仍然被广泛使用。不仅可以作为渔船，还可以作为岛屿渡船、观光船，甚至是海警船和军舰。我曾经听一位游客形容它们为“蜘蛛船”。人们常常错误地认为这是波利尼西亚独有的东西，因为大多数美国人只知道这种船来自夏威夷或毛利人的设计（就像迪斯尼的《海洋奇缘》里的）。并不是，这种船是所有南岛文化遗产的一部分。
尽管舷外支架的风格和数量可以不同（甚至在菲律宾的也不同），但可以清楚地确定这是南岛后裔的文化，或过去经常与南岛人接触。这种船使南岛人能够首先在印度-太平洋的几乎所有岛屿定居下来，因为有舷外支架的船，即使是小船，也完全能够在海洋水域航行。其他重要的航海发明还包括三角蟹爪帆（海洋三角帆）和斜方帆（坦尼亚帆）。现代的双体船和三体船（在大多数岛国被用作快速渡船）基于同样的原则。


It is common to see people riding on top of passenger vehicles
The jeepney is our version of a bus. A flamboyantly colorful, named, and heavily customized bus. It originated from converted WW2 American jeeps. In rural roads where it can take a long time for a passenger vehicle to arrive, people would rather climb on to the roof the jeepney or cling to the sides than wait for another one to come along. We call it “toploading”.There are no seating or real handholds, just the regular roof racks that you hold on to for dear life and pray you don’t run into too many potholes and break your tailbone. This practice is disappearing as more and more modern buses ply the roads.However, tourists do it for fun while traveling by jeepney along the winding mountain roads in the northern Philippines, often mere meters from the edge of sheer cliffs. It’s also catching on for backpacker tourists in Palawan Island. It’s totally illegal and dangerous but there are no traffic cops in the hinterlands, and admittedly it’s exhilarating.

人们坐在乘用车的车顶上是很常见的。吉普尼是我们版本的公共汽车。一种色彩艳丽、有名字、特别定制的公共汽车。吉普尼起源于二战时改装的美国吉普车。在公共汽车可能需要很长时间才能到达的乡村道路上，人们宁愿爬上吉普尼的车顶或趴在车边上，也不愿等待另一辆公共汽车开过来。我们称之为“车顶加载”。车顶没有座椅，也没有真正的支撑点，只有普通的车顶支架，你只能紧紧抓住不放，祈祷车子不要跑进太多的坑洞而摔断尾骨。
随着越来越多的现代公共汽车在公路上行驶，这种做法正在消失。然而，游客们在菲律宾北部乘坐吉普尼沿着蜿蜒的山路旅行时，往往会在离陡峭的悬崖只有几米远的地方玩这个游戏。巴拉望岛的背包客也喜欢上了这种玩法。这是完全非法和危险的，但在内陆没有交通警察，同时这种玩法确实很刺激。


We prefer water to toilet paper, or both. Never toilet paper alone.
Similar to almost all countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, we clean our butts with water, not toilet paper. Hence why our bathrooms are always the wet kind. Bidets are used more and more these days in private homes but traditionally, we use a long-handled water scooper called a tabò. Most Filipinos just won’t feel clean with toilet paper alone, unless it’s an emergency and you have no choice but to use a public toilet.

比起厕纸，我们更喜欢用水，或者两者都喜欢。永远不要只使用卫生纸。和几乎所有亚洲、非洲和中东的国家一样，我们用水来清洁屁股，而不是厕纸。这就是为什么我们的浴室总是湿的。如今，坐浴盆越来越多地用于私人家庭，但传统上，我们使用的是一个名为tabò的长柄勺子。大多数菲律宾人仅仅用厕纸会觉得不干净，除非是紧急情况，或者你别无选择，只能使用公共厕所。


We have a regular kitchen and a “dirty kitchen”
It’s not dirty, It is a traditional part of every house. It is usually a semi-open extension to the house or an outdoor structure separate from the house. It’s where we do things like cleaning fish, butchering livestock, and cooking larger dishes that require open fires, hot coals, or traditional clay ovens (pugon). Things you can’t do in an indoor kitchen without making a huge mess or dying from smoke inhalation. It also doubles as a storage room for things like large cauldrons and firewood.

我们有一个普通的厨房和一个“脏厨房”。这个厨房并不脏，是每个房子的传统组成部分，通常是房屋的半开放延伸，或者是独立于房屋的室外结构。在这里，我们可以做一些比如洗鱼、屠宰牲畜以及烹饪需要明火、热煤或传统的陶炉的大菜。你不能在室内厨房做这些事，否则会弄得一团糟，或者会因吸入浓烟而死亡。这个厨房还可以用作储藏大锅和木柴之类的东西的储藏室。

We pair the fork with the spoon, not the knife
A custom that is also common in Indonesia and Thailand, where people traditionally ate with their hands, not chopsticks. It’s because of the fact that a knife and fork would be useless when eating the most important part of every meal: rice. Most of our food are also already served in bite-sized chunks.

我们用叉子和勺子配对，而不是用刀。这一习俗在印尼和泰国也很常见，那里的人们传统上用手吃饭，而不是用筷子。这是因为刀叉在吃到每顿饭最重要的部分——米饭时毫无用处。我们的大部分食物也都是一口大小的小块。

We don’t have divorce
And we’re the only remaining country that doesn’t have it. Aside from the Vatican, which doesn’t count. If you want separation from your spouse (regardless of the reason, including domestic abuse, adultery, etc.) your only choice is annulment which is ridiculously expensive. Conversion to Islam (temporarily) is another option, since the Philippines allow civil sharia laws only for Muslims (as long as they do not go against the Constitution). And those laws allow divorce. Still expensive and quite unethical.More and more people support divorce however. But the Catholic Church vehemently opposes it and they are politically powerful.

我们不存在离婚。我们是唯一一个没有离婚的国家。除了梵蒂冈之外。如果你想要和你的配偶分离（不管是因为什么原因，包括家庭暴力，通奸等等），你唯一的选择就是宣布婚姻无效，不过这个费用贵得离谱。皈依伊斯兰教（暂时）是另一个选择，因为菲律宾只允许穆斯林使用伊斯兰教法（只要不违反宪法）。这些法律允许离婚。还是很贵，而且不道德。然而，越来越多的人支持离婚。但是天主教会强烈反对，而且他们在政治上很有势力。

Every city, town, and village has a festival
They’re called fiestas. It’s usually religious and based on the feast day of the patron saint of the village church. In some cases it is cultural or both, especially in large cities.They occur throughout the year. During fiestas people prepare food and feed visitors from their homes, even complete strangers. There are usually also celebrations, parades, street dancing, and contests.Among Muslim Filipinos, they also have Islamic festivals, the largest of which are the two Eid celebrations (called Hari Raya in the local languages).
Here are some of the larger examples:Kaamulan, a festival in Malaybalay City, Mindanao Island, celebrating the seven tribes of the province of Bukidnon.Lanzones Festival in Camiguin Island, celebrating the Lanzones fruits for which the island is famous.Sinulog Festival in Cebu City, Cebu Island, celebrating the conversion of the Cebuanos to Christianity.Masskara Festival in Bacolod City, Negros Island, celebrating… well.. masks.

每个城市、城镇和村庄都有一个节日，它们被称为嘉年华。这些节日通常是宗教的，基于村庄教堂守护神的节日。在某些情况下，这是文化因素或两者兼而有之，尤其是在大城市。全年都有各种节日。节日期间，人们会准备食物，款待在外的游客，甚至是陌生人。通常还有庆祝活动、游行、街舞和比赛。
在菲律宾的穆斯林人当中，他们也过伊斯兰节日，其中最大的是两个开斋节（当地语言称为Hari Raya）。下面是一些比较大的例子：棉兰老岛马拉巴拉市庆祝布基德农省七个部落的节日——卡穆兰节。卡米金岛的兰兹节，庆祝该岛闻名的榔色果。宿务岛宿务市的Sinulog节，庆祝宿务人改信基督教。内格罗斯岛的巴科洛德市马斯卡拉庆典，庆祝……好吧……面具。

We regularly mix two or even three languages in everyday speech
It’s called code-switching. We’ll use Tagalog and English and whatever your native language is (the Philippines has dozens of regional languages distinct from Tagalog) in a single sentence. It’s apparently so weird that monolingual foreigners immediately comment on it when they hear it. However, it’s also common in other polyglot countries.It should not be confused with loanwords. Code-switching means you can speak all of the languages used fluently on their own, and so does the listener.

我们在日常用语中经常混合使用两种甚至三种语言。这是‘语言转换'。我们会在一句话里使用他加禄语和英语，不管你的母语是什么（菲律宾有几十种不同于他加禄语的地方语言）。很明显，只会说一种语言的外国人听到后会觉得这很奇怪。然而，这在其他多语言国家也很常见。不要把这和外来词混为一谈。语言转换意味着你可以自己流利地说所有语言，听者也一样。

We get an average of twenty typhoons every year. Five of which will be destructive. We also give typhoons unique names, different from the international designation.
Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines are the typhoon shields of Asia. We get regularly hit by typhoons doing a staggering amount of damage each year, not only to lives and infrastructure, but also crops, fishing, and so on. And they can occur at any time of the year.Out of the three, we arguably get the worst of the lot. We have more supertyphoons than the other two. The deadliest storm in modern history is 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan when it struck the Philippines, causing a tsunami-like storm surge in one of our islands that flattened a major city (Tacloban) and several coastal towns and villages. I’m talking total devastation. Massive container ships were thrown into houses like toys. At least 6,300 people died.Speaking of Haiyan, naming storms started in the Philippines in 1963, following the lead of the typhoon warning center in Hawaii in 1945. There were no international naming standards then. This has persisted into today, and our national meteorological agency PAGASA still assigns unique names to storms that enter our area of responsibility. We are the only country to do this.Typhoon Haiyan for example became known as Typhoon Yolanda to us when it entered our area of responsibility.The frequency of typhoons has actually shaped our national identity. It’s the reason why we are fatalistic to a fault, highly resilient, and more laidback compared to our neighbors. Even mere days after disasters like Haiyan, you can see people laughing and smiling. Our informal national motto is basically “Bahala na” (“What will be, will be”). We don’t stress when things fall apart, we move on and try to focus on the good things. Sadly this also makes us more tolerant of government corruption as well, including the utterly shameless corruption and incompetence that befell the international aid meant for Haiyan victims. Speaking of which…

我们平均每年会遭遇20次台风，其中五个将是毁灭性的。我们也给台风起独特的名字，与国际上的命名不同。台湾、日本和菲律宾是亚洲的台风保护伞。我们经常受到台风的袭击，每年都造成惊人的破坏，不仅对生命和基础设施造成破坏，还对农作物、渔业等造成破坏。台风会发生在一年中的任何时候。在这三个地区中，我们的位置可以说是最差的，我们遭遇的超级台风比另外两个地区多。
现代史上最致命的台风是2013年袭击菲律宾的台风“海燕”，这次台风在我们的一个岛屿上引发了类似海啸的风暴潮，夷平了一座大城市（塔克洛班）和几个沿海城镇和村庄。我说的是彻底的毁灭。巨大的集装箱船像玩具一样被扔到居民区。至少造成6300人死亡。说到“海燕”，菲律宾的台风命名始于1963年，紧随1945年的夏威夷台风预警中心之后。
当时还没有国际命名标准。这种情况一直持续到今天，我们的国家气象机构菲律宾大气、地球物理和天文管理局仍然给进入我们负责区域的风暴命名。我们是唯一能做到这一点的国家。以台风“海燕”为例，当这个台风进入我们责任的区域时，我们就把它叫做台风尤兰达。台风的频繁发生实际上塑造了我们的国家身份。这就是为什么我们相信宿命论、顽强地生活，比我们的邻居更懒散。
即使是在像海燕这样的灾难发生几天后，你也能看到人们的欢笑。我们非正式的国家座右铭基本上是“顺其自然”（该发生的总会发生）。当一切崩溃时，我们不会感到压力，我们继续前进，努力把注意力放在好的事情上。可悲的是，这也使我们更加容忍政府的腐败，包括国际社会对“海燕”灾民的援助中所发生的无耻的腐败和无能。说到这里……


Politicians take credit for tax-funded public infrastructure, sometimes naming it after themselves
In government projects or infrastructure, politicians will put up large streamers or posters proclaiming that “This project was made by Mayor So-and-So”, usually with their grinning fat faces plastered on it.The finished buildings themselves will often have painted signs, plaques, or even permanent tracings into the concrete of which politicians were in power when it was built. And finally, if they were totally shameless enough, they will sometimes name the buildings after themselves. Like “Governor Shameless Integrated Bus Terminal” or “Councilor Greedypig Waiting Shed”.Nothing was sacred. Police cars have them. Ambulances, hospitals, fire trucks, roads, street lights, tourism posters, bridges, holiday signs, vaccination drives, and so on. Even something as small as a garbage can have these signs. All of them.And it’s not one or two politicians as well. Everyone does it. From lowly village officials to presidents. These posters clutter virtually every available surface in cities, contributing immensely to the visual noise and to literal garbage.And the thing is, all of them are funded by the taxpayers, not their own pockets. They are basically using public funds to advertise themselves for the next election. These are derisively called “epal” (slang for someone who intrudes into a conversation or a situation uninvited). These are extremely common and are one of many public faces of political corruption in the Philippines.Several senators have proposed bills to the Congress to ban them before. But to date none have succeeded. The latest attempt was in August 2017 by Senator Manny Pacquiao (yes the Manny Pacquiao), but it is still pending.

政客们把用税收建设的公共基础设施归功于自己，有时还以自己的名字命名。在政府项目或基础设施建设中，政客们会挂起大横幅或海报，上面通常贴着他们那张咧着嘴笑的肥脸，宣称“这个项目是市长某某人做的”。当建筑完工后，掌权的政客们通常还会在建筑上涂上标志、牌匾，甚至是永久性的标志。最后，如果他们足够无耻的话，他们有时会用自己的名字来命名这些建筑。
比如“无耻的州长综合公交总站”或“贪婪的小猪委员候车室”。完全没有什么庄严神圣的意思，警车上都有这些标志。救护车、医院、消防车、道路、路灯、旅游海报、桥梁、节日指示牌、疫苗接种车等等。即使是像垃圾箱这样小的东西也会有这些标志。所有东西都这样，而且也不是一两个政客这样做，每个人都这么做，从基层村官到村长。
这些海报几乎把城市的每一个能张贴的地方都弄得乱七八糟，极大地增加了视觉上和文字上的垃圾以及噪音。问题是，所有这些用的都是纳税人的钱，而不是他们自己的钱。他们基本上是在利用公共资金为自己竞选下届总统做宣传。这些人被戏称为“epal”（俚语，指不请自来地闯入谈话或某个场合的人）。
这些都是极其常见的，也是菲律宾政治腐败的众多公众面向之一。几位参议员此前曾向国会提出议案禁止这种做法，但迄今为止还没有人成功。最近一次尝试是在2017年8月，由参议员曼尼·帕奎奥发起的，但此事仍悬而未决。

We have the highest gender equality rank in all of Asia
And we score higher than most western countries too in the Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (including the US, UK, France, and Germany). We are consistently within the top 10 countries in the index since the report was started in 2010. This is something most people outside the Philippines don’t seem to know.There are no barriers to women in most professions (the only exceptions I can think of are religious professions). Gender equality is enshrined in our Constitution. Women have the same or higher educational attainment and life expectancy as men. It is not uncommon to see female security guards, cops, or soldiers. Female CEOs and politicians are also very common. We were one of the first Asian countries to have universal suffrage for women (1937). We’ve already had two female presidents, and our current vice president is female. No one bats an eye.Not saying it’s perfect equality, of course. Men still dominate in politics and economics, but the gap is lower than most countries. There is still chauvinism left over from the Spanish period, but it mostly relates to archaic laws (like adultery still being a crime, abortion being illegal, etc.). There are also some traditional separation between professions considered masculine and feminine, but they are not hard barriers. There are still also problems with domestic violence (though at rates equal to Japan’s, still lower than most Asian nations). This is being addressed recently through legislation.

我们在亚洲的性别平等排名是最高的。在世界经济论坛的《全球性别差距报告》中，我们的得分也高于大多数西方国家（包括美国、英国、法国和德国）。自2010年该报告发布以来，我们一直处于该指数的前10位。这是大多数菲律宾以外的人似乎不知道的事情。在大多数职业中，女性都没有障碍（我能想到的唯一例外是宗教职业）。
性别平等庄严地载入了我们的宪法。女性的教育程度和预期寿命与男性相同或更高。女性保安、警察或士兵并不罕见。女性首席执行官和女性政治家也很常见。我们是首批实现妇女普选权的亚洲国家之一（1937年）。我们已经有过两位女性总统，而我们现任的副总统也是女性。没有人表示惊讶。当然，这并不是说男女完全平等。
男性仍然在政治和经济领域占主导地位，但差距低于大多数国家。西班牙时期遗留下来的大男子主义仍然存在，但主要与古老的法律有关（比如通奸仍然是一种犯罪，堕胎是非法的，等等）。男性和女性在传统的职业方面也有一些区隔，但一般并不是硬性的障碍。家庭暴力问题依然存在（尽管其发生率与日本相当，但仍低于大多数亚洲国家）。最近正在通过立法解决这一问题。

We have a lot of brilliantly purple desserts
And it’s natural. It’s derived from one of the most beloved root crops in the Philippines - the purple yam, more popularly known as ube (pronounced “oo-beh”). They are naturally purple from anthocyanins, the same pigment that colors blueberries and grapes. It is commonly confused with the Okinawan purple sweet potato (which also exist in the Philippines), but they are completely different plants. They do taste similar though the ube has a mild lavender-like aroma.They are usually eaten boiled and mashed with condensed milk, the dish known as ube halaya (or by its English equivalent: “ube jam”). But they’re widely used in other desserts, including halo-halo, hopia, pies, ice cream, smoothies, pancakes, waffles, cookies, cake, cupcakes, bread, rolls, jellies, doughnuts, and so on.They became a food trend recently. The most expensive doughnut in New York (the Golden Cristal Ube) uses ube frosting with champagne underneath the golden foil.As a bonus, we also have radioactive green desserts. And again, the color is natural. They’re colored and flavored from pandan leaves, which have a very fragrant vanilla-like aroma. Pandan are palm-like trees which only grow in sandy beaches in the Indo-Pacific.

我们有很多鲜艳的紫色甜点，而且是大自然的产物，来源于菲律宾最受欢迎的一种根茎作物——紫山药，它更广为人知的名字是ube。它们天生是紫色的，因为富含花青素，蓝莓和葡萄的颜色也是因为这种色素。人们经常把紫山药和冲绳紫薯（菲律宾也有）搞混，但它们是完全不同的植物。虽然ube有一种温和的类似薰衣草的香气，但它们的味道确实相似。
紫山药通常被煮熟，然后捣碎，配上炼乳，这道菜被称为ube果酱。紫山药也被广泛用于其他甜点，包括halo-halo、hopia、派、冰淇淋、冰沙、煎饼、华夫饼、饼干、蛋糕、纸杯蛋糕、面包、卷饼、果冻、甜甜圈等等。紫山药最近成为了一种饮食潮流。纽约最昂贵的甜甜圈——金色水晶ube 使用了在金色箔下的香槟糖霜ube。
另外，我们还有放射性的绿色甜点。同样，颜色是自然的，是用香兰叶着色和调味的，香兰叶有一种非常芳香的类似香草的香味。香兰树是一种类似棕榈树的树，只生长在印度洋-太平洋太地区的沙滩上。

Our caves are full of bats… and birds
Swiftlets (locally called balinsasayaw, literally “tumbling dancer”, or just sayaw, “dancer”) are small very fast birds only found in tropical Australasia and in some Pacific Islands. They nest in caves and have developed echolocation abilities like bats. They do shifts with bats. Bats leave the caves at night and sleep in them during the day. Swiftlets leave the caves during the day and sleep in them during the night.They make small nests against the wall with their saliva, which was one of the goods traded by Southeast Asian countries to China, since they are the main ingredient of bird’s nest soup. The tourist town of El Nido (literally “The Nest” in Spanish) is named after them.They can become a pest, however, as they will also nest in any indoor large concrete structures like churches and houses.

我们的洞穴里到处都是蝙蝠和鸟类。金丝燕（在当地被称为balinsasayaw，字面意思是“翻滚的舞者”，或者只是sayaw，“舞者”）是一种体型小、飞行速度快的鸟类，只在热带大洋洲和一些太平洋岛屿上发现。金丝燕在洞穴中筑巢，并发展出像蝙蝠一样的回声定位能力，并跟蝙蝠轮班住洞穴。
蝙蝠晚上离开洞穴，白天睡在洞里。金丝燕白天离开洞穴，晚上睡在洞里。它们用唾液靠墙筑巢，这是东南亚国家对华贸易的商品之一，因为它们的巢是燕窝汤的主要原料。旅游小镇El Nido（西班牙语字面意思是“鸟巢”）就是以他们命名的。然而，金丝燕也会成为一种害虫，因为金丝燕也会在任何室内大型混凝土结构中筑巢，比如教堂和房屋。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Our ketchup is made from bananas
Aside from tomato ketchup, a common household condiment is the banana ketchup. It’s made from bananas, vinegar, sugar, and spices. It tastes similar to tomato ketchup but is sweeter. It was originally made as a substitute for tomato ketchup during supply shortages in World War 2. Its invention is credited to the food technologist and war hero Maria Orosa.

我们的番茄酱是用香蕉做的。除了蕃茄酱，一种常见的家庭调味品是香蕉酱，它由香蕉、醋、糖和香料制成，尝起来像番茄酱，但更甜。香蕉酱最初是在第二次世界大战期间作为番茄酱的替代品而被制造的，它的发明归功于食品工艺师和战争英雄玛丽亚·奥罗萨。

At almost every meal you are provided with miniature oranges and chilis
These “oranges” are called calamansi. They are our equivalent to the lime or lemon and are used similarly. They are actually a hybrid of kumquats and mandarin oranges (both are also native to the Philippines), hence they are slightly sweeter than limes. We also make our version of lemonade from them (squeeze several into a glass, add water, add sugar to taste).The miniature chilis on the other hand, is the labuyo (commonly confused with bird’s eye chilis). These are small chili cultivars native to the Philippines. They are related to the tabasco chili. They are small, but be warned, they are very hot.If you are eating at a Filipino restaurant you are almost always provided with these two. You are supposed to make a dipping sauce from them. First pour soy sauce into a platter, add a dash of vinegar or fish sauce, then squeeze calamansi into it. This is called a toyomansi, a portmanteau of toyo (soy sauce) and calamansi.If you want it spicier, crush a labuyo into it. This version of the dip is called silimansi (sili means “chili”).The use of calamansi has spread to parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, but it isn’t as ubiquitous there as it is in the Philippines.

几乎每顿饭都有迷你橙子和辣椒。这些“橙子”叫做“calamansi”，相当于我们的酸橙或柠檬，使用方式也差不多。这种迷你橙子实际上是金橘和密橘的杂交品种（这两种柑橘也产自菲律宾），因此比酸橙略甜一些。我们也用迷你橙子制作我们自己的柠檬水（挤入一点到杯子里，加水，加糖调味）。另一方面，小辣椒是labuyo（通常与鸟眼辣椒混淆）。
这是菲律宾本土的小辣椒品种，和塔巴斯科辣椒有关。这种辣椒很小，但要注意，它们非常辣。如果你在菲律宾餐馆吃饭，你几乎总会得到这两种食物。你应该用它们做蘸酱。首先将酱油倒入一个大浅盘中，加入少许醋或鱼露，然后挤入酸橙。这叫做toyomansi，是酱油和迷你橙子的合成品。如果你想让蘸酱更辣，可以在里面加上小辣椒。这种蘸酱被称为silimansi （sili意为“辣椒”)。酸橙的使用已经扩散到印度尼西亚和马来西亚的部分地区，但没有菲律宾那么普遍。

We have an informal holiday where everyone throws water balloons at complete strangers
And it’s a Christian one. It’s called “San Juan” and it falls on June 24. As the name implies, it celebrates St. John the Baptist.It’s not really a festival or even a national holiday, but everyone celebrates it anyhow. The city of San Juan even turned it into an official holiday after the fact.People will wear raincoats on this day even if it’s sunny because of how it is celebrated. Basically, everyone tries to wet everyone else. By pouring water on them, spraying them with a water hose or a water gun, throwing water balloons at them, and so on.The results are what you’d expect. Lots of angry people, especially from those who managed to forget what day it was.Most people circumvent this by going to the beach or a local water resort with the family.It can get dangerous. Because kids (and some idiots) will sometimes target passing vehicles. Sometimes using water balloons weighted with stones. A bus I was traveling in when I was a teenager got hit by one of those missiles and it broke the windshield while we were traveling quite fast on a national highway. Thankfully, we didn’t die in a fiery road accident. Then there are situations like below.

我们有一个非正式的节日，每个人都向完全陌生的人扔水球。这个节日是基督教节日，被称为“圣胡安”节，在6月24日。顾名思义，这个节日是为了庆祝施洗者圣约翰。这不是一个真正的节日，甚至不是一个全国性的节日，但无论如何每个人都会庆祝它。圣胡安市甚至把这一天变成了一个官方假日。在这一天，即使天气晴朗，人们也会穿上雨衣，因为庆祝节日。
基本上，每个人都试图弄湿别人。通过向他们泼水，用水管或水枪向他们喷洒，向他们扔水球，等等。结果如你所料，大多数人会避开这一点，和家人一起去海滩或当地的水上度假村。这也会有危险，因为孩子们（和一些白痴）有时会把过路车辆作为目标。有时会用加了石头的水球。我十几岁时乘坐的一辆巴士在高速公路上行驶时被这种导弹击中，挡风玻璃被打破了。谢天谢地，我们没有死于一场严重的交通事故。

When you have new shoes, your friends will step on it.
We call it a bunyag (“baptism”). They’ll get dirty anyway, the first dirt is special and will bring good luck. Or so we tell them as they angrily chase us for ruining their shoes.

当你穿新鞋时，你的朋友会踩在你的脚上。我们称之为bunyag（洗礼）。反正鞋子也会弄脏的，第一次污垢很特别，会带来好运。当他们因为我们毁了他们的鞋子生气地追着我们时，我们是这样告诉他们的。

Our favorite sports to watch on TV are basketball, boxing… and beauty pageants
Yes, including (straight) male viewers. Entire families would watch international pageants when they happen.This national fascination with pageants is actually pretty old in origin. It started from the Manila Carnival (also known as the Philippine Exposition), an annual festival in Manila during the American colonial period, first started in 1908.The highlight of this event was La Reina del Oriente (“Queen of the Orient”) pageant. This was where our love for pageants came from.The carnival was discontinued in 1939. It was never revived, although its legacy continues in the national beauty pageants. The winner of the latter gets crowned Miss Philippines and gets to represent the country in the Miss Universe pageant.Nowadays, it can get vicious online when it comes to defending the Filipino contenders from supporters of other countries. It’s partly because of a burning sense of nationalism (sometimes too much) and partly a desire to be recognized at something… even if it’s downright silly.

我们最喜欢在电视上看的比赛是篮球、拳击……和选美比赛。是的，包括直男观众。当国际选美大赛开始时，整个家庭都会观看。这个国家对选美比赛的迷恋其实由来已久。选美比赛起源于1908年开始的马尼拉狂欢节（又称菲律宾博览会），这是美国殖民时期马尼拉的一个年度节日。这次活动的高潮是“东方女王”选美。
这就是我们对选美比赛的热爱的起源。狂欢节于1939年停止，尽管狂欢节的遗产在全国选美比赛中得以延续，但却从未恢复。全国选美比赛的获胜者将获得菲律宾小姐的桂冠，并可以代表菲律宾参加环球小姐大赛。如今，为了保护菲律宾的参赛者免受其他国家支持者的攻击，网上的言论可能变得恶毒。部分原因是一种强烈的民族主义意识（有时过于强烈），部分原因是渴望在某些事情上得到认可……即使这种做法是彻头彻尾的愚蠢行为。

We have mandatory military training… in high school
Called the CAT (Citizenship Advancement Training, previously Citizen Army Training). It teaches high school students military drills, military terminology, how to hold rifles, how to salute, and so on; as well as hold regular physical training like jogging or hiking on weekends and training in the native martial arts (arnis). We wore fake military uniforms, including boots and headgear, had a wooden rifle and a ceremonial blunt sword. Most importantly, it taught us discipline and it was a lot of fun pretending to be soldiers.Since our high school ages previously started at age 12 and ended at 16, children can start as young as 12. Though it doesn’t become mandatory until Senior year, children who started early become officers later on. I started at 12 for example, and by the time we were seniors, I was a Captain. Everyone was required to do it, unless you have physical disabilities preventing it. Girls, boys, openly gay students, everyone. The only way you can somewhat avoid it is if you join the marching band.This was followed later on by ROTC in college (with real guns), which though mandatory in the past has now become optional since 2001.

我们高中有强制的军事训练，被称为CAT（公民进步训练，以前是公民军队训练）。主要是教高中生军事演习、军事术语、如何持枪、如何敬礼等，还有定期的体育锻炼，比如在周末慢跑或徒步拉练，以及本土武术训练。我们穿着假的军装，包括靴子和帽子，有一支木制步枪和一把礼仪用的钝剑。最重要的是，它教会了我们纪律，假装士兵是很有趣的。
由于之前我们的高中年龄是从12岁开始，到16岁结束，孩子们可以在12岁开始上高中。虽然直到高三军事训练才成为强制性的，但较早学习的孩子日后会成为军官。例如，我12岁开始训练，到我们大四的时候，我已经是上尉了。
每个人都被要求这么做，除非你有身体残疾。女孩、男孩、公开同性恋的学生，所有人都要训练。唯一可以避免军事训练的方法就是加入军乐队。随后在大学的后备军官训练队也采用了这种方法（使用真枪），虽然在过去是强制性的，但从2001年开始就变成可选的了。


We’ve turned mountains into rice fields
The rice terraces of the northern Philippines are UNESCO world heritage sites. They’re centuries-old and they’re stunning. There are similar terraces in other countries but none on this scale and steepness, and/or are not rice fields.

我们把山变成了稻田。菲律宾北部的梯田是联合国教科文组织的世界遗产。这些梯田已经有几百年的历史了，而且非常漂亮。其他国家也有类似的梯田，但没有一个梯田的规模和坡度如此之大，或者不是稻田。

When you come across strangers eating, they will invite you to eat with them.
And unless you can see there’s enough food for all of you (i.e. it’s a party), or you’re genuinely starving to death, the polite response is to say “I’m full, thanks.”A similar invitation is when you come across people drinking alcohol in private settings (which paradoxically enough, might mean in a public place like a street or a beach). You will always be offered a tagay (a shot). You can agree to drink just a glass, join in and get drunk, or decline. Decline politely, however. Like everywhere else, some people are nasty drunks and can get offended.

当你遇到陌生人在吃饭时，他们会邀请你一起吃饭。除非你看到有足够的食物给你们所有人吃（例如，这是一个聚会），或者你真的快要饿死了，礼貌的回答应该是说“我饱了，谢谢”。类似的邀请是当你遇到在私人场合喝酒的人（很矛盾的是，可能是在街道或海滩这样的公共场合）。你总是会得到一杯tagay。你可以同意只喝一杯、加入并喝醉、或者拒绝。然而，应该礼貌地拒绝。和其他地方一样，有些人是讨厌的酒鬼，可能会觉得被冒犯。

We don’t have a word for “cheers!” because we drink alcohol from one cup
As in one cup is used for a group of people. Passed from person to person. Each shot is called a tagay. This is an ancient tradition going back to precolonial times, and the Spaniards mentioned it in their descxtion of traditional practices. It is related to the precolonial Filipino ritual of the blood compact (sandugo). Drinking from one cup is seen as symbolic of camaraderie and trust.Hence why we don’t have a word for “cheers”, because you can’t exactly raise your cups when only one person has it. Tagay is sometimes used for “cheers!” though, but it’s inaccurate, as it really just means “[let’s] drink!”This is also why bars (as in the counter-and-stool kind) is not that popular in the Philippines. Our version of a bar is one where you get a table with a group of friends, then you are given the drinks, some ice cubes, some food (pulutan), and a single glass. More commonly however, you do these drinking sessions at a friend’s house, a beach, a backyard, the street, the bed of a truck, or wherever it is you can get away with being drunk and loud.One of you becomes the “gunner”, the guy (or gal) who pours the drink into the glass (usually the one who stays sober the longest). Then you take turns drinking from the glass. It is easier to moderate as well as you can simply “pass” if you’ve had enough.All through this, you simply enjoy each other’s company and talk about everything and nothing. This is the main reason why people do this. For the company and conversation, not for the alcohol. Which is why in our culture, the main indication of an alcoholic is someone who drinks… alone.These drinking sesssions are called tagayan or inuman, and they are an important cornerstone of Filipino social interactions.

我们没有“干杯”这个词！因为我们都喝一个杯子里的酒，一群人用一个杯子，从一个人传给另一个人。每喝一次都被称为tagay。这是一个可以追溯到前殖民时代的古老传统，西班牙人在描述传统习俗时提到了这种喝酒方式。这与前殖民时期菲律宾人的血契约仪式有关。用一个杯子喝被视为友谊和信任的象征。这就是为什么我们没有“干杯”这个词，因为当有一个人举杯时，你就没有杯子可举了。
Tagay有时用来表示“干杯!”，但这并不准确，因为它实际上的意思是“让我们喝吧！”这也是为什么酒吧（有柜台和凳子的那种）在菲律宾不那么受欢迎。我们版本的酒吧是这样的，你和一群朋友坐在一张桌子上，然后你会得到饮品、一些冰块、一些食物和一个杯子。然而，更常见的情况是，你在朋友家、海滩、后院、街道、卡车的床上，或者任何你可以喝醉的地方喝酒。
你们其中一人将成为“枪手”，负责把酒倒进杯子的那个人（通常是最能保持清醒的人）。然后你们轮流喝杯子里的酒。这更容易调节，如果你已经喝得够多了，你只需简单地说“过”。在这期间，你们只是享受彼此的陪伴，可以什么都聊，或者聊些无关紧要的。这是人们聚在一起的主要原因。为了一起聊天，而不是为了喝酒。这就是为什么在我们的文化中，酗酒者的主要标志是一个人独自喝酒。人们聚在一起饮酒会被称为tagayan或inuman，是菲律宾人社交活动的重要基石。

It is common to see cats with tails that seem to have been bent and cut off
Especially among strays or semi-feral cats. Westerners (and even some locals) often think these were deliberate mutilation or were the result of accidents or fights with dogs. There are even stories about how their owners supposedly cut them off then buried their tails under the house front doors to make sure the cats return at night (which is ridiculous… you can’t tell cats what to do!).All of these are false. It’s genetic. The dominant native breed of cats of in most of Asia has the bobtail gene. They tend to have tails that are short, kinked, or seemingly cut off.

我们经常可以看到猫的尾巴好像是弯曲的或剪掉了，特别是流浪猫或野猫。西方人（甚至一些当地人）通常认为这是故意的残害，或者是事故或与狗打架的结果。甚至还有这样的故事：它们的主人应该把它们的尾巴剪掉，然后把尾巴埋在房子前门下，以确保猫晚上回来（这很荒谬……你不可能告诉猫该做什么）所有这些都是错误的。这是因为遗传的关系。在亚洲大部分地区，占主导地位的本地猫品种都有短尾基因，它们的尾巴往往很短，打结，或者好像被剪掉了。

Commenting about your weight or looks is normal and isn’t rude
Telling you to your face that you’re getting fatter or are way too thin or should sleep more and so on is completely normal. Usually followed by advice on what you should eat, encouragement for exercise, or an offering of food.This usually infuriates the hypersensitive PC culture of most westerners, leading to rants online about how Filipinos are sooo rude! OMG.It’s not an insult, however. It’s meant as friendly teasing or motherly advice. If they really wanted to insult you, they’d have kept quiet and told someone else.

评论你的体重或外貌是正常的，也不是粗鲁。当面告诉你，你变胖了，太瘦了，应该多睡觉等等，这些都是完全正常的。通常是为了建议你应该吃什么，鼓励你锻炼，或为了给你食物。这通常会激怒大多数敏感的、个人主义文化的西方人，导致很多人在网上抱怨菲律宾人是多么的粗鲁！我的天啊，然而，这不是一种侮辱。这意味着友好的取笑或慈母般的建议。如果他们真的想侮辱你，他们应该保持沉默，然后告诉别人。

Avocado is a dessert fruit
Unlike most other countries, avocado in the Philippines is traditionally treated as a dessert from way back in the colonial period. The standard way of eating it is to mash it up (finely or into small chunks) and mix it with condensed milk or sugar. Rarely, peanuts or even chocolate can also be added. It can also be blended with ice chips into a shake. Until recently, we never use it for savory dishes like salads, sushi, or guacamole like in the west.

牛油果是一种甜点水果。与其他大多数国家不同，菲律宾的牛油果在殖民时期就被当作一种传统甜点。食用的标准方法是将其捣碎（或切成小块），并与炼乳或糖混合。偶尔也可以加入花生甚至巧克力，还可以加入冰块搅拌。直到最近，我们还从未用牛油果来做像沙拉、寿司或西方的牛油果酱这样的美味菜肴。

We stay with our parents until we either get married or get a job away from our hometowns
Regardless of how old you are. This is common enough in most Asian, Latin American, and some European countries.Families will also continue supporting each other, even long after they have children of their own. The family culture is very collectivist. It is considered shameful to be wealthy, while having parents or siblings that are struggling. And it is the duty of the most successful member of the family to try and bring everyone else up to a reasonable extent, with the goal being comfortable self-sufficiency for everyone. Especially if that success is because of the sacrifices of other family members. Failing to do so can cause permanent rifts in family relationships and ruin your reputation to most of your peers.An old Filipino proverb that summarizes this is: Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa pinaroroonan, roughly “one who does not know how to look back to their beginnings will never reach their destination.” The closest English saying would be “never forget where you came from.”A lobster dinner in a 5-star restaurant doesn’t taste as good when you know your family back home is still eating the same old meal of rice and dried fish in your childhood village. If you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, the answer will almost always end with “…so I can help my parents/family.”The up-side is that family in the Philippines is everything. Kinship ties are very strong. You can always rely on family in times of need.The down-side is the built-in culture of nepotism. As well as some members of the family abusing the support at times.It is often the cause of friction in Filipinos who marry foreigners, as westerners usually can not understand why their spouses will still continue sending money to their family back home for things like building their parents a new house, investing in a family business, or helping their siblings find jobs or get an education.

我们和父母住在一起，直到我们结婚或者离开家乡找工作，不管你年纪多大。这在大多数亚洲、拉丁美洲和一些欧洲国家很常见。家庭成员也会继续相互支持，即使他们有了自己的孩子。家庭文化是非常集体主义的。当父母或兄弟姐妹都在苦苦挣扎时，你却很富有被认为是可耻的。一个家庭中最成功的成员有责任努力把其他人的生活水平提高到合理的程度，其目标是让每个人都能舒适地自给自足。
尤其是如果你的成功是由于其他家庭成员的牺牲。如果做不到这一点，可能会导致家庭关系的永久裂痕，也会毁掉你在同龄人中的声誉。一句古老的菲律宾谚语总结了这一点：Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa pinaroroonan，大意是“一个人如果不能回顾自己的出身，就永远不会到达自己的目的地。”最接近的英语谚语是：“永远不要忘记你来自哪里”。
当你知道你的家人还住在你们儿时住过的村子里，吃着穷苦时的饭和鱼干时，在五星级餐厅吃龙虾晚餐就不那么美味了。如果你问孩子们长大后想做什么，答案几乎总是以“这样我就可以帮助我的父母或家人”结尾。好的一面是，在菲律宾家庭就是一切，亲属关系非常牢固。在需要的时候，你可以永远依靠家人。
不利的一面是与生俱来的裙带文化，还有一些家庭成员有时会滥用这种支持。嫁给外国人的菲律宾人经常产生摩擦的原因通常是因为西方人通常不能理解为什么他们的配偶会继续给家人寄钱帮助父母建新房子，对家族企业进行投资，或者帮助他们的兄弟姐妹找到工作或接受教育。

Our desserts have various jelly-like components, and they’re all derived from plants
Jelly desserts in the Philippines (and Southeast Asia) are predominantly made from gulaman (agar) which is derived from seaweed. Other jelly-like desserts are harvested from plant starch or palm fruits, including sago, kaong, nata de coco, macapuno, and tapioca pearls.Unlike in the west where jellies are usually made gelatin which is derived from animal collagen (usually pork or beef), they’re all perfectly fine for vegetarians and those with religious dietary restrictions (Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc.).It is common to see two or more of these jellies as part of the various mixed fruit desserts in the Philippines (including halo-halo), as well as chilled beverages (the traditional samalamig refreshments).

我们的甜点里的各种果冻状的成分都来自植物。菲律宾和东南亚的果冻甜点主要由海藻提取的琼脂制成。其他类似果冻的甜点来自植物淀粉或棕榈果，包括西米、kaong、可可、椰果和薯粉珍珠。不像西方的果冻通常是由动物胶原蛋白（通常是猪肉或牛肉）制成的明胶制成，菲律宾的植物甜点添加物对素食者和那些有宗教饮食限制的人（穆斯林、犹太人、印度教徒等）来说简直完美。在菲律宾，经常可以看到两种或两种以上的这种果冻，作为各种混合水果甜点（包括哈啰哈啰刨冰）以及冷饮（传统的samalamig茶点）的一部分。

Christmas starts in September
Informally called the “ber” months. September is taken as a signal to bring out the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations. By October, malls and shops will start playing Christmas music and selling Christmas food and merchandise. By mid-November, yards and streets will already be decorated with Christmas lights, especially the gorgeous handcrafted traditional star lanterns (the paról), which symbolize the star of Bethlehem. Local governments will start putting up the public belén (Christmas dioramas) in community parks. By late November and early December, children and adults will start caroling for money in establishments and houses. In the past this also usually meant children will start playing with firecrackers, but that has been banned.25.2K viewsView 204 upvotesView shares

圣诞节从九月开始，被称为“ber”月。9月被认为是圣诞树和圣诞装饰的标志。到10月份，商场和商店将开始播放圣诞音乐，并出售圣诞食品和商品。到11月中旬，院子和街道已经被圣诞灯装饰，特别是华丽的手工制作的传统灯笼，它象征着伯利恒（耶稣降生地）之星。当地政府将开始在社区公园张贴公开的belén（圣诞立体模型）。到11月底和12月初，孩子和成年人将开始在公司和房子里唱颂歌赚钱。在过去，这通常意味着孩子们会开始玩鞭炮，但放鞭炮已经被禁止了。