mga letras

signs and postings during my stay. some funny, some serious.

pics

nose bleed

i'll post another before i leave taipei. and then maybe one to wrap it all up. but i dont think the latter is ever possible.

for a talkative jabberwookie like myself its real hard to not being able to communicate. i had a failed effort in teaching myself tagalog in preparation for this trip...studying a selfteaching tagalog book...watching wowowee...and using some electronic flashcards. but if i had to say what my biggest regret in life so far is not being able to understand one of my languages. its one of those things i'm not really good at, i can listen and pronounce, but when it comes to structure and function i suck at it. at the same time it has been a struggle it has been also a lesson. trying to figure out common ground with people. making the most out of a few words. reading and giving body language. its just one of those major thing i will encounter with a lot in my profession. taking a step back, and being humbled in more ways than one. i'm not a linguistics major but tagalog has to be the most flexible and complex language i have ever studied.

funny thing right now in the computer terminal. "if you use English plese key Ctrl+space". "please sing-in before using the system". "if additional time is required, please sing-in again and wait for the next available time period".

i know its trivial but its funny. so ha!

turista

filipinos love to be tourists. theres a lot close to here so daytrips are the usual. i figure its would take more than a month/year a bigger budget and a personal trip planner to really see everything north to south. at least i've seen a lot in south luzon, and if anything it give me more motivation to come back and see more on all 7100 islands. the greyhounds (like ten companies) here are cleaner, and more convenient so spontaneous trips are easy...me and my ateh melo at a mall, "hey lets go to baguio" "ok we'll leave tonight after dinner", so we take a 6 hour trip from 3am to 9am, do all the siteseeing, feel the "coldness", leave at 10pm and arrive at 3am. you knock out anyway in the bus. the next trip is to boracay via boat so thatll take a lot, but three days 2 nights in bora will be worth it.

my mom said she's never been to baguio. its seems like her generation of 8 siblings were on hyperdrive, and really didnt have the time to do anything fun. for her it was gradeschool to highschool in the province, four years undergrad at feu, four years med at feu (both during martial law mind you), and then off to states in '81 to start a family and finish residency. thats straight up hella. i can barely concentrate in this climate, with everything going on around me, with a fully stomach and sufficient funds.

in tagaytay there is pineapples...check
in baguio its cold...check
in vigan theres calesas...

off to find the mythical rarang and its metaphorical pearl.

kalye

at the last nwfasa conference i talked about my experience in 01 when i went back to the philippines technically for the first time (going when you are under 5 doesn't really count for me). i said my experience was "sterile". its like everywhere you go, everything you see is through some sort of lens or glass, real and imagined. from an ac house to an ac car to an ac mall and back was how it went down. we didnt really go through the 'rough' neighborhoods nor at night so i can barely recall anyone asking for money. you see it but don't experience it. but would i really want to, or could i bear one day in their feet? as much as i may think i know about poverty, economics, etc, i still know nothing.

yesterday i watched shrek 3 in makati greenbelt. hung out for a bit and went home. seeing kids on the streets selling sampaguitas. dodging traffic running through fences. they couldnt have been more than 8 or 9 years old but one cant tell with their malnutrition. on one hand, damn, greenbelt is crazy nice. hella restaurants and bars at happy hour prices, but on the otherhand an obvious indicator of the vast wealth disparities. you cant really enjoy anything and cant help but feel guilty with knowing what goes on outside, with how much you've just spent even though it is not much in translation. once the movie stops life resumes. once you leave the protected complex there is a mix of luxury cars, jeepneys, taxis, and people in the streets. driving through squatter areas attempted to be hidden by 'city face lifts' which are bright colored walls. its no wonder why escapism is the preference. malls and media. but i am not one to judge. i am just an observer for now, and will sampaguita after i'm done with school and settled, which will take about a decade. but who knows what will happen in that time. here people measure time by the power of the peso...."back in my day, it was 8 to 1". in this past month its has gone from 47-45, stock markets have been finishing at record highs, both good and bad politicians are being elected and more transportation and construction plans being executed.

the last time i saw a filipino go up to cardoors in traffic was myself during a change drive for my senior year community service project. but that was in the suburbs, after eating breakfast, for some charity which i dont remember, and not for my own survival.

katinpunero

off to our philly...cawit, cavite. from one nation's beginnings to another w/in two months. one's fully realized, the other not yet. my cousin doesnt celebrate june 12.

pineapples

back from tagaytay. saw taal and the best located starbucks. its hard to really comprehend the people living under the shelter of the one of bajillion megasize billboards advertising multimillion peso homes that most people cant afford in this country, and is advertising 'to buy your second home in tagaytay'. in a confused state that retail therapy cant fix, though buying a kahon for $30, though cheap, still makes me feel guilty for what i see around me everywhere. the only thing to help is family...more later.

bittersweet

first post from the rp. cant say much because i am wanted for halohalo downstair. but so far everything has been bittersweet, just as i expected. nothing in particular to expect, but the experience has been like no other. if that makes any sense. its too hot and i am burnt....more about manila, province, elections, pahiyas festival, and else. just for curiousity sake, my goals are:

1. family
2. history
3. nature
4. culture
5. tbd