Cebu Do’s
- Be nice and friendly and greet everyone sincerely. Cebuanos don‚t like snob and stiff-necked people. Return their greetings.
- Greet the elders first and then the younger ones next.
- Smile a lot and you‚ll make lots of friends.
- Take off your shoes (sandals, slippers, etc.) when entering a house. Most of them offer house slippers to be worn inside the house only.
- Accept their food and drink offers. Just try a bit of the food they offer so that they don‚t feel embarrass or insulted even when you don‚t like it.
- Look humble, kind, simple, and reserve. Although Filipinos love these behaviors not everyone acts such ways.
Cebu DON’Ts
- Don‚t be too straight or expressive about your observations. Better keep them to yourself and talk about it later on at the right time and environment.
- You don‚t have to be on time when invited to an informal and other social or friendly appointment. Filipinos can be on time only if the appointment is official and formal. Most of them thought that time is cyclical in direction.
- Don‚t get paranoid if some locals look at you with searching eyes or stare at you. Some are not just used to see foreign visitors.
- Ask the locals what proper attire to wear for different formal occasions.
- Losing one‚s face is one of the traits of Cebuanos. So, you can give the person a chance to redeem herself to avoid embarrassment thus saving her face.
- Don‚t use the common sign of OK, which symbolizes money. Instead, a thumbs-up sign should be used to mean ‚good‚, ‚okay‚, or ‚great job‚.