My wife and I decided to accept an invitation from her sister to visit Manila. We are currently vacationing in Asia and we have decided to fly to Manila. My wife is Filipina and I am American. We had a pleasant flight into Manila. The air hostess greeted us with the formal "Mahubay" (Welcome) and led us to our seats.

My wife's sister's husband picked us up at the airport. We were happy to see him and thanked him for taking the trouble to pick us up. He said, "Salamat sa pagpunta" which translates as "thank you for coming."

After the drive from the airport we arrived at their home. They have a nice house with a little garden. Her son and daughter live with them. We thanked my wife's sister for the invitation by saying "Salamat sa inyo" to which she replied, "Walang anuman" meaning: you're welcome.

Once my wife and her sister got together, they had so much to say to each other. I was amused, since they also spend a lot of time, exchanging news on the phone. They prefer not to send text messages or use email.

My wife's relatives appreciated the gifts we bought for them and my sister-in-law came up to me and shyly thanked me and told me they are grateful and I was later told that "silay ay nagpapasalamat" were the words she used.

The next evening, her parents were invited for dinner. Her parents live a few miles away, and I was amazed at the amount of food that was laid out on the table. We had a great evening with everyone chattering away. I speak a little Taglish but I did not have to worry as my nephew and niece were more than willing to translate the conversations for me.

My niece told me that her mother and grandparents were so thrilled that we had come to visit them and that they hoped that we would have a pleasant stay in Manila. They told us that they were organizing a trip to the beach and had invited more relatives to join us there. I asked my niece how to say, "I would like to thank you" so that I could tell my sister-in-law how much I appreciated all that she was doing for us. My niece said that the translation for saying that is: Gusto kong magpasalamat syo.

We love the hospitality shown to us everywhere we go. My wife's family is very courteous, friendly and hospitable. My wife addresses her mother and father as, "nanay" and "tatay." Nanay is the Tagalog word used to say mother, whereas to say say "father," my wife uses the word "tatay." My wife is a wonderful singer and kept us entertained with her singing. We are having a wonderful time and before leaving I have memorized the following Tagalog phrase and I plan to tell everyone: "Maraming salamat po sa lahat" which is "Thank you for everything."

We leave tomorrow and I am truly happy that we made this trip. We have not left yet but we already miss our relatives and friends. We hope to visit the Philippines again in the near future and hopefully next time we can stay longer.

http://speakingtagalog.com/