Cry me a river

In most American movies the leading male is portrayed as strong, dashing, charismatic, and a real gentleman to the ladies. In reality however, most American males fall way short of that description. So when a few of my foreign friends told that's what they had expected of American men, I sort of chuckled "it's a movie". Characters in most movies are far from reality. Well, that's what I thought.

Have you ever seen a Filipino drama? I've seen Milan and I thought it was pretty good until it took the turn for the over dramatic and the characters turned in to cry babies for the next half hour. I always wondered why Filipinos liked watching these kind of stories. They always seemed so melodramatic to me. People don't cry that much in real life. Wrong.

Today, poor Ana walked in to class seeming fine until she got to her desk and started bursting in tears. Her boyfriend was leaving on a jet plane and I don't know if she knew when he'd be back again. She was one of the two remaining girls of our class who has yet to burst in to tears. As of now there is only one girl left in our entire classroom who has yet to cry, Deds. You stay strong girl. During these past 6 months in the Philippines I have never experienced seeing as these many girls cry as I have in of all my years in the states. Filipinos cry and they cry a lot. It's not only the girls, too. The majority of the Filipino males in our class have walked in to the room all teary eyed as well at one point or the other. I bet if someone pushed their buttons just a little more they would have been balling like a bitch.

So, what causes this behavior? Is it something in the food? The movies they watch? I don't know. What's worse I don't even know what to do when I see a girl cry. Should I give them a hug? A pat on the back? A hand shake? Again, I don't know. I'm like a deer caught in a truck's headlight, just hoping they're gonna stop. With the guys it's a little easier, at least. I know for sure I ain't touching them. "Just suck it up, bra".

Maybe if I had emotions of my own I could understand the complexities of the Filipino better but until then it's just another cultural trait that has me mystified.