The SM Experience

Yesterday I had the opportunity of going shopping for groceries and other items with Aunty Melita and Noah. We went to the mall... a chain mall, which means it's a brand of mall and there are many like them all around the Philippines. It's called SM.

When we arrived, they were just opening the garage-door-like security door to reveal the glass doors leading into the mall. Standing just inside the door, one single door, were security guards in full uniform and gear who check everyone's bags as they enter. They also have this sensor stick thing that they wave in front of and behind you if they feel it's necessary. Passing through this, you're in the mall.

The first thing I noticed was how loud the music was. There was music playing in the main mall VERY loud, and the most interesting thing was what they were singing about. For the most part, you couldn't make out the words, partly because of the music blaring from each individual store which mixes with the main mall music so that you hear a jumble. But sometimes you could make out words, and there were these ladies singing something like this:

"SM, SM, we have what you need!"

They were singing about the mall. In English. I thought this was very interesting. There is a lot of English in the mall, and a lot of Taglish, or English signs with Tagalog phrases thrown in or vice versa.

Another interesting thing was that every now and then there would be an alarm sound, or beep or something (I can't remember) and all the staff in the mall would stop what they were doing, clap there hands and shout out a little chant about how they were going to serve us well!

Other than this, and the fact that many of the stores had guards by the entrances, it was very much like your average mall here. The people were very friendly and helpful, and would always say, "Good morning, ma'am". Most of the people knew some English. All in all it was interesting, and fun. It is a little bit different being in the minority as far as skin color. But it is interesting that here everyone want's to have whiter skin. You can see signs all over advertising skin creams or sun screens that "make your skin lighter". I think one of the most surprising was a bottle that had vitamin C in it and it said "known for it's skin whitening affect". Hmm, I wonder if this is true? :-)