Everything is beyond First Impressions

Author: Angel Choi

Growing up in Hong Kong, I often saw Filipinos working in the service industry. My family has employed a Filipino domestic helper for many years and her name is Marie. She has become an important part of our household. However, I never truly understood her background or the living environment back in her home or the broader Filipino community. Before coming to the Philippines, I already carried many assumptions and uncertainties about what the experience would look like, for example: language barriers and cultural differences. I also was so worried if the local people would accept us as outsiders. Right now, coming to this moment, the trip has already progressed for one week, I realised that many of these concerns existed only in my imagination. This experience taught me the importance of keeping an open mind. I also learnt that through stepping outside one’s comfort zone, you can have so much more personal growth than you can think of.

My first lesson is to challenge assumptions and to build trust. Before the trip, I had more fears than you can think of: fear of language barriers, fear of being an outsider, fear that business owners would not share confidential information with us since she doesn’t trust us, fear that people would be suspicious of our questions. However, my assumptions began to change on the very first day.  After long hours of flight, I was very exhausted. To

make things more stressful, I also had to conduct a zoom tutorial session with my students back in Hong Kong later that evening. At that moment, all I wanted was to arrive at my homestay, rest, and also prepare for my lesson. When our bus arrived at the Tubod Mar Basketball Court, I was surprised by the welcome we received. Everyone in the village was waving and smiling at us. There was even a banner to welcome us. The heartwarming welcoming melts my heart, even though we were strangers to them, they treated us with kindness and enthusiasm. Their warm reception immediately challenged my assumptions and made me feel a lot more comfortable than I thought. Right now, writing my blog entry and looking back, that moment was the first time I realised that many of my fears existed only in my imagination rather than reality.

With the warm greetings from the first day, the feeling of trust continued throughout our business project. Before meeting Celsa, I thought she would be more cautious about sharing information. As a business owner, I somehow expected her to be focusing on her work more and left no time to really talk to us. Eventually, all my expectations didn’t come true – Celsa was very open about her business details, for example: revenue, suppliers, etc.

This is where my second lesson comes around. I got to learn about the reality of small businesses. During our interview with Celsa, Celsa shared her 30-year business journey running a sole proprietorship. In particular, she told us about her struggles with increasing government permits and regulation, how her shop recovered slowly after COVID-19. There’s also one thing we got to notice: as she is getting older, she doesn’t quite used to using technology and she did not input digital payment to facilitate transaction process like GCash. In our conversation with Celsa, she always gave us the iconic Celsa’s laugh and made the conversation smooth and easy going. My previous stereotypes broke though again and from our interactions with Celsa, I got to understand running a small business is much more complex than I previously understood.

Apart from working on small business, I also gained personal growth through discomfort. Before coming to the Philippines, I was never a fan of water activities. Back then, I tried to avoid situations with deep water since I would struggle when I could not touch the ground and it would make me very uncomfortable. However, I challenged myself a lot and I tried to be out of my comfort zone as much as possible. This includes doing new experiences like kayaking, swimming, visiting cold springs and exploring waterfalls. At the very beginning, I felt very nervous and unsure of how far I could get, for example: jumping into the water of the cold spring and going kayaking with big waterfalls. However, I am very lucky to be constantly encouraged by my peers. They would count down for me when I was about to jump into the cave pool and supported me all the way. After repeated exposure with water, I became more comfortable. Eventually, I found myself enjoying activities that I would have avoided in the past.

Two weeks’ time almost passed and looking back, I realised a lot of my fear from water activities is actually very similar to my fear of being an outsider. In many of the situations, I kept trying to create a lot of obstacles in my mind before I gave myself the chance to try. With this realization, I came to understand that the only way to overcome the fears is by putting myself in more uncomfortable situations and allowing myself to learn from more of this experience. So, in this sense, I learnt how to build confidence – this is not something that appears overnight, and this can only be built gradually by facing more challenges and pushing myself beyond familiar boundaries.

Reflecting on this experience, I realise that the most valuable lesson was not related to business analysis or customer surveys. To me, the most valuable lesson is to learn how easily assumptions can shape our expectations towards different things. Before coming to the Philippines, I had so much on my mind, such as language barriers, culture differences, etc. However, during my time here, I received so much kindness and trust. Through working with Celsa, staying at Nelly’s house and interacting with the Tubod Mar Community, I developed a deeper appreciation for Filipino Culture and grew personally with my abilities. Only when we are willing to step outside of our comfort zones and embrace the unknown, growth begins there.