LITTLE did I know when I landed in the Philippines exactly 11 years ago — on Sept. 12, 2009 — that this country would change my life quite deeply. It was my intention to stay in the country for only two years, travel around the islands as much as I could and then transfer to another country in order to satisfy my ambition of becoming a young globetrotter.

I remember the chaos at the airport, the taxi drivers pressuring me to avail their services, the press of the heat and humidity on my face when the terminal doors opened, and once inside the taxi, the pleasure of understanding many words on the radio — nearly all derived from Spanish — while observing, for the first time, the lively and deep contrasts in Metro Manila’s streets: extremely dysfunctional and charming at the same time.