Symbolic Interaction Theory or S.I.T. as I'd like to call it includes interpreting a persons actions. These actions are referred to as the symbols that we use when we interact with one another.
CONFESSION:
December 01, 2008 was a national holiday and so my boyfriend John and his friends decided to invite me to a cook out that they were having at Malayan, Ortigas. John's friends, Pong and Carlo were nice enough to give me a ride to Manila since both of them are from Pampanga as well. Upon entering the North Luzon expressway i text messaged my boyfriend just to let him know that we were on our way. He replied saying that he wanted us to go straight to his house because he needed help carrying the grill for the cook out. As we were nearing the Balintawak toll gate Carlo, Pong and I realized that John's parents would be home since it was a holiday. They started to tease me since they knew that I haven't been formally introduced to my boyfriends parents. I got really nervous because I wasn't prepared. I had no idea that it was meet the parents day. We arrived at John's house and the guys immediately stepped out of the car. I didn't know what to do so i sat there for a second then my boyfriend showed up. He asked me what i was doing so I pretended I was looking for something then I just smiled. I stepped out of the car and his dad was in the driveway checking on a mechanic who was detailing their cars. I approached his dad, I said "good morning po, bless po"; it was funny because before i was able to grab his hand he grabbed mine. John and his friends were smoking so we stayed outside. While they were smoking we saw John's mom peeking through the window and she seems to be looking for someone. John is close with his mom so it was really nerve wrecking for me. We went inside the house to greet Johns mom so again i said, "good morning po, bless po"; this time i was able to execute the famous Filipino tradition.
When John got home after the cook out his dad asked him to tell me to just give them a kiss on the cheek as a sign of greeting instead of the Filipino tradition of 'mano'. I am half Dutch half Filipino and i was never used to the 'mano tradition' when i get home i hug my parents or i kiss them but in Pampanga 'mano' is still used as a symbol for respect to parents, elders and the like. I was surprised to find out that in Manila 'mano' is rarely used and has been replaced by the beso. As Filipinos you would think that people would prefer the tradition of the 'mano' but these symbols mean different things for different people. The 'mano' that I thought was respectful made my boyfriends parents feel old because they followed a different tradition. I should have noticed that Johns friends didn't do the symbol that i thought would be respectful, so a lesson to all be very observant! oh, and so far his parents still approve of me.haha.yeyyy! =D
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