hi here are some of the things you will see different in the philippines
-learning information new is different from teacher to teacher (some teach faster than other ones), but you are a student longer than here in the US. since most of your classmates stay longer, its easier to prove who is worthy to be a teacher or advance students. in the US, studying to one teacher for three years is considered to be a long time, especially if you study full time. where many people in the US will see his teacher only a few times each year. most of the time if you have a full time teacher in the US, HE only spent a little bit of time with HIS teacher.
-more emphasis to sparring. in the US classes are drill based, and they knock sparring as sport or unrealistic. in the philippines, you dont have people suing each other in court that much, so people will do more to each other.
-in my time i spent with three schools in the philippines, i never saw testing. one of my teachers uses tournament for a test, when he decided to have one. for example i saw one guy learn most of the style (of Boggs Lao) in about 9 months. he was begging boggs for about one year, and one day, Boggs got us together with him (we are all black belters) and said test him to see if he's ready. about 8 of us sparred against him for one hour, and really everyone beat him up. on the next tournament, boggs gave him a black belt to wear. his thing is, the belt doesnt mean anything, but its going to take a while if he is going to let you teach.
-oh, and teaching is a higher goal that expert's level. you can be a black belter, and you are not a teacher.
-you have many repititions of basics. in my arnis classes with two teachers, we did so many strikes of the basic 5 and basic 6, that our fingers got blisters. this is regular in most arnis schools.
-the sign says "arnis" not "kali"
-you will call your teacher "tito" or tatang or manong even by his name, most likely instead of "guro" or master. call somebody datu or tuhon and they will laugh at you.
-your classes almost cost the same as a number 8 at Mcdonalds >-)
-you teacher will tell you his style is all you need, and you will have to prove to him that another style is necessary
-"proved' means "fight and win". in the US it means "show me in medium speed and no power". no offense.
-you will probably find judo or aikido or shotokan/shorin ryu/tae kwon do mixed with your arnis as empty hand. nobody really does patty cake.
-95 degree sunshine or 95 degree rain on the days you go to class.
okay i am getting silly. that's all i can think of.
