how to spot a filipino in the middle east

i have lived in the middle east for nearly 6 years, and though at first i found it hard to distinguish among filipinos, indonesians, and nepalis, over the years filipinos proved to have a striking difference compared to other asians.

characteristics of filipinos have been blogged about on lots of pages before, but here i would only write the traits i have personally observed, if not am personally guilty of.

on the sidewalks and streets:

• a lady walking on the street with her hair still wet
• they use umbrellas as a shade against the sun
• go to supermarkets wearing shorts and slippers

on the airport:

• the person with huge boxes in the airport
• got a hand carry bag that shouldn't really be hand carried, not when it's as big as the check-in luggage and as heavy as the weight of the travelling person

filipinos and their cars:

• more often than not their cars are red, dark red, bright red, light red, slightly red, or any other shade of RED 
• insist on fitting 8 people in a sedan
• they clean their cars at every chance they get
• car looks like a closet of stuff toys

filipinos and their homes:

• there is a always a rice cooker in the kitchen
• have lots of small packages for friends and loved ones stuffed every where ready to be packed when they go back home
• 6 different strangers can live in a single room and share bunk beds 
• collect shopping bags to turn  into garbage bags

filipinos and food:

• they don't mind eating rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, and rice for dinner
• there is always food inside office drawers, be it a canned juice, a piece of chocolate, an instant noodle, or a jar of peanut butter
• they always ask you to share their food, even if they don't actually expect you to sit and start munching on their fried fish
• prefer the sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, sweet chicken adobo, and sweet fried shrimps
• they eat with their hands, or they use both a spoon and a fork, instead of a fork and a knife

hygiene:

• they got a toothbrush in their purse, in their office drawers, and always a spare one in their homes
• wouldn't leave the house before taking a shower even if it means freezing to death
• and whats the difference between a shower and a bath again?

communication:

• more common than the usual greeting "kumusta?" [how are you?] is the question "kumain ka na?" [have you eaten yet?]
• instead of answering, they will just smile when asked the common how are you question
• the last syllable of a word ending in 'tion' is always emphasized, such as communica-shiooun, transporta-shiooun, ambi-tiooun.
• exaggerated love for the word 'already' - i already spoke to him this morning already
• the ipod and the ipad sounds perfectly the same
• the iphone is pronounced as ipone, and the numbers 3, 4, 5, 7, and 11 are tree, por, payb, seben, and eleben.

it won't be fair to stereotype the whole filipinos based on those that i have observed, but if you'd come and visit the middle east, you'd notice a little truth in each of the points above. :)