After three years of halting due to the pandemic, Baguio City finally came back to its feet specifically in terms of celebrating the Panagbenga or Flower Festival. The festival is celebrated at the start of February until first week of March, until 05 March this year.
One of the highlights of the festival was the grand street dance parade which was held last 25 February 2023. While I may write about the parade, let me share an updated version of my FB post about a short encounter right along the barricade of the parade.
As expected, the start of the parade was with the VIPs and sister cities representatives. When delegates of two Korean sister cities passed by, they were waving and greeting us spectators.
1 "Anyeong haseyo, anyeong haseyo..."
A group behind me was answering back and laughing out loud.
"Ano ngayon sayo? Ano ngayon sayo?"
(So what's it to you? So what's it to you?") The question rhymes with the Korean greeting and they unfortunately make it a bad joke.
I let it pass with the first Korean group. When they did it again with the second group, I turned around and said,
"Uy, wag ganun. Binabati kayo eh."
(Don't be like that. They are greeting you.")
They were not expecting that and kept quiet for a while. They came up with a defense of "joke lang" when they came to their senses.
"Hindi po pwedeng joke lang. Eh kung naintindihan kayo?"
(It can not be "joke only." What if they understand you?)
I wanted to add, "eh bakit ba kailangang pabastos ang joke na sagot niyo sa pagbati nila?" but I kept my tongue. (Why does your joke reply have to be rude to their greeting?). So far, they shut up.
I was aligned with the barricade in front so the parade troop was close to us. It was very likely that they can hear us.
I tried to profile those behind me and they do not seem to be from Baguio or the highlands. They seem to be local tourists. Regardless of where you came from, why would would parade your ignorance and rudeness especially to foreigners?
1 안녕하세요 [a-nyeong-ha-se-yo] is the formal, polite way to say hello in Korean and is the most important for you to know when you are just beginning learning Korean or if you are in need of some simple travel Korean. A fun fact about this word: it has the literal meaning of ‘be in peace’.
