Good and Bad

Ah, finally! After endless posts about bad days and unfortunate happenings, I can finally write some good news!

Mabuhay! Yahoo! ASIA Philippines Edition is now on the world wide web! It's not yet Yahoo! Philippines, but it is a start! :D

Flattered. Enrollment is over, and thankfully, contrary to what I expected, I didn't have a hard time. In fact, I had a really easy time! And, I believe I owe that to the fact that I went to Japan. Ever since, I went there, teachers and staff in my college have gotten to know me (or at least heard of me), and have been really helpful. Since we're still a baby college (i.e. new - 2001), I guess they're happy that someone from our group got that scholarship. They practically did everything for me, like figuring out which classes I should take, encoding and finalizing my schedule, squeezing me into one major class where I am an extra student without a designated pc, and called the Physics department to add me as the 36th student to an already closed 35-student class. *bows* Arigatou gozaimasu! I am indeed very grateful. And even though one might say that I don't love Silliman as much as I should, I love my college (College of Information Technology and Computer Sciences [CITCS]) very much indeed! It totally rocks!

Success. The Centennial Foundation Anniversary of St. Paul University Dumaguete was a truly meaningful one. Graced by prominent personalities such as the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres's (SPC) Mother Superior from Rome, and Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself, it was truly a momentous celebration. The highlight was yesterday's parade, which my high school batch joined, that started at the school and ended at Rizal Boulevard where there was a re-enactment of the arrival of the 7 original French SPC sisters who came from their mission in Vietnam to build a school in Dumaguete. Restaurant booths where tables and chairs were set up were teeming with alumni, and the highlight was the fireworks display which was done from a boat in the water. It a great sight. Since it is October, San Miguel Beer is having it's Oktoberfest, and last night they had a live band which old and young Paulinians alike danced to. Since today is the final day of the celebration, there was another fireworks display at the campus just a few minutes ago. We saw it from our house and it was great. :)

Something sad happened too, though. Mark sent me a text very early this morning and told me that one of his parents' two dogs, a cute Bichon Frise named Penny died because she got ran over. I could just remember all the stories he's told me about her and couldn't help but cry. The poor lil' thing. :'(

Mabuhay - a Filipino greeting used in welcoming; literally means "long live"
Arigatou Gozaimasu - "Thank you" in Japanese

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Once In A Lifetime

I feel very, very, very rotten. :( I missed a once in a lifetime event. I wasn't able to go to SPUD's Alumni Homecoming. It was today/tonight/probably still going on right this very minute, and I didn't care so much before, I thought I didn't feel the need to go, but now I am extremely disappointed that I'm not there. :'(

My mom really wanted to go (she is also an alumna) but she didn't explicitly tell me that she really wanted to be there. So I didn't care, and then I assumed it would not be today, but in one of the following days. Early this afternoon, we learned from some friends that it was indeed today, but we had no choice but not to go, since we had to sing for a mass at 5:30. After the mass, we passed by SPUD going home, and oh my God, that's when we realized what we missed and what fools we were for not going to the CENTENNIAL homecoming. All the lights in the campus were lighted, and there were soooooo many cars, you could feel just by looking at them parked from here to there, outside and inside the campus, that it was a very, very special event. The Mother Superior from Rome was probably there! Paulinians from all over the world probably came home to join this event. And I, who live not 200 meters from the campus, missed it. What a shame!

I could just kick myself. I should have been more vigilant. I should have realized beforehand that I needed to be at this occasion; for SPUD is my beloved. I gave so much to her, and she gave so much to me. I will never feel for my current school (Silliman University) even just a fraction of what I feel for St. Paul's--that I know.

Oh my. I am extremely, extremely disappointed.

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Playing Teacher

As you know (or might not know :P), I'm currently teaching/tutoring English to three Koreans everyday, each person for an hour. Now, this is a very good part-time job, and I am quite grateful for it (and the pay is quite big for Philippine standards). However, it does have it's, erm... confusing moments.

Like for example, the pronounciation. We all know Japanese/Korean people have a problem with their L and R's, right? Well, let's say I'm letting them pronounce the word fork. They can either say fork in the American accent, or because they can't properly pronounce R's, it'll come out like they're saying it in a British accent (with the sorta silent R). But of course, you know that it's really just their R difficulty. So, will you correct them? Adding to the confusion is the Filipino accent, wherein every letter is said out and enunciated, unless of course a particular letter should really be silent. Now, how should I teach English to them?

I asked them once when I was going to read some text: How do you want me to read this, meaning whether Philippine or [almost] normal American accent. They said, either way. However, if I don't enunciate every letter, they won't be able to understand what I'm saying. So, for teaching them, I've realized that how we do it here (i.e., enunciate) is best, because they are like beginners after all. Now, I'm just wondering, when they go back to their native country, will people recognize their English as proper English? They only learned in the Philippines. I don't know. After all, there are still some people who don't recognize our English.

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Week-end

Wow, that week-end just passed by without me noticing it! That's weird. Maybe it's because with my life now (no school and all) every day feels like a week-end! Ehehehe.

Oooh, my cousins and I are practicing an ethnic/folk dance 'coz our choir was asked to perform a number at a fund raiser at the church. Yeah, we sing and dance, yeah! :P~ Heheheh. We chose a Muslim nail dance ('coz the costumes are funky) and it's called Janggay. It has these really funky feet movements (you have to move sideways without lifting your feet off the floor) that's quite challenging. But, we're gonna put aluminum wrap on our fingers to make long, curled fingernails, so I like that part. ^^;

Janggay - brass nails (in a Mindanaoan dialect, I presume)

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Damn it all.

I am so upset. I just had another grueling piano lesson, and I just felt so upset afterwards that I couldn't help but cry. My wrists ache, my shoulders ache, my butt aches--I just don't understand why I have to undergo all these when I don't even f***ing wanna learn! Isn't learning this supposed to fun? Especially since I don't wanna make this into a career or anything?

My major is IT, and now I'm forced to learn the piano. What's next? Carpal tunnel syndrome?

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Amazing

I can't believe I haven't written an entry about the two-hour finale of The Amazing Race 5. I sux. Anyways, here goes. If you haven't seen it and are still planning to watch, don't read...

The star of The Amazing Race 5's Philippine leg

Whoooo. El Nido is the most beautiful place I've seen on TAR, ever. (Forgive me if I'm biased, hehehe.) I really, really wanna go there. >.< Palawan has always been the place in the Philippines that I really wanted to visit (aside from Bohol), and my is it pretty! I reckon it's even prettier than Boracay in a sense, because of all those rocky islands.

That was sad that they didn't know how the flag of the Philippines looks like. But I guess it's natural, after all we are just a teeny archipelago in the Pacific... ;.;

Colin was amazing on Lagen Wall! I know his attitudes pretty much suck, but in fairness to him, he is really hot and totally in shape. Oh by the way, did you know that he proposed to Christy at a tv show in the US after the finale was shown? I dare say, they deserve each other, really. ^^;

I was so happy that Brandon and Nicole won that leg in Palawan. At least they got a vacation to the Caribbean. It's not fair that Colin and Christy practically got all of the other prizes! :P~ Anyways, who was that woman who put on the lei (was that made of seaweed) on the the contestants. OMG, how she said "Mabuhay, welcome to Palawan!" was so... ugggh!

On the Airport in Calgary, I kept speculating that maybe CBS might have removed some people from the plane to give seats to the other contestants. If I remember correctly, the woman on the counter said something like, They're getting people off the plane to give you seats." Hmmmm. If Brandon and Nicole, Colin and Christy hadn't made it on that flight to Denver, it would have been very obvious right then and there who was gonna win. However, it didn't matter anyway, because the moment they arrived Dallas, it got really obvious that Chip and Kim were gonna win, no matter how "thrilling" CBS tried to make it. Hmmm. I've always had nothing for or against Chip and Kim. Don't like them, don't not like them, so I guess I wasn't pretty excited about them winning. I was a little suprised though about Chip's lying and scheming near the end of the race. It made TAR look like Survivor. >.< I was rooting for Brandon and Nicole, but ever since the beginning of that last leg, it was obvious they really won't be able to do it. However, the couples' speeches at the end made me cry though. *sniff*

And, I can't wait for Season 6 to begin! It's a good thing I only have to wait for just about a week. Heheh.

On another hand, I've started taking piano lessons. My teacher is the organist of another choir at my church. It's ok, aside from the fact that he teaches really fast. And then there's also the fact that I really don't have the passion for this... >.<

I invited close friends in High School to come over to my house tomorrow and just hang out and catch up. I'm looking forward to that.

Mabuhay - Filipino greeting, literally means

"long live" but also used to welcome visitors and in well-wishing

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Bed

Yippee! I got a new king-sized bed! hihihih... It really is big. Question now is, what will I do with a bed this big when I sleep all by myself? :P~

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Hahaha!

Quote of the week, month, or rather--season:

My ox is broken.

--Colin in Episode 11 of The Amazing Race 5

ROFL.

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Yikes!

Last Wednesday night was the opening of the Foundation Day celebration at Silliman University. I went to the opening of booths at one of the soccer fields with my friends, Daphnie and Ethel, and my cousin, Chary. Later that night, we went to the Boulevard, which isn't very far from my school where there was a Food and Beer Festival. They had a kick-ass band from Iloilo that was really, really good.

Last night we went to the booth festival at SU again. FYI, the booth area is filled with quite a number of native booths where people sell food and any kind of stuff. Anyways, every night there are programs at the booth area, and last night was a dance contest and a fashion show, to be preceded by a band. We got to watch the "fashion show" and it was, erm... amusing. After that, we left the booth area to go to the boulevard, but on the way, we got distracted by people preparing fireworks. It turned out there was a fireworks display at 10:00 pm. Since it was about 15 mins. before 10:00, we decided to stay about 50 meters from where the fireworks were, and waited to watch. When they were lighted, waaaaaaaaaa!!! It was ok at first, but soon, we got scared because they didn't get too high and they were exploding right over our heads. Yikes!

After that, we went to the boulevard for the Food and Beer festival, just when the band that was playing was just finishing. They weren't very good, not like the other band we witnessed, and as some people said, not unlike the band from Cebu the previous night. After the band got off the stage, another band took over, and they played techno-tribal music. Yikes! That was sooo fun... NOT!!!

The night went really worst for me, however, because my eyelids started getting puffy. In other words, I got allergies, goodness knows from what! It could have been the fish that I ate for the first time that lunch, but I thought it was because of the tree that we were sitting under last night. Oh my, they got so puffy and red like I've never seen them before, so we went home. Before, when I was growing up, my eyelids would get puffy sometimes (but never as puffy as last night), and I thought I was over that. My symptoms had changed to just sneezing. Gahhh!!! OMG, I hate this fuckin' allergy! Until now, my eyelids are still sorta puffy... *cry cry*

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The Amazing Race 5

I am soooooooo freakin' excited, I can barely stand still! The Amazing Race 5 passed through the Philippines, and they're probably gonna show it as a two-hour special! I don't know if they're gonna break it up into two episodes or not, but I can't wait to see which places they visited and what things they did! To top it off, the first episode of TAR 6 is gonna be shown the weekend after TAR 5's last episode next month. That means there won't be a long wait! Oooh, I am sooooo psyched! *jumps and screams all around the place*

El Nido, Palawan -- leg 12 site of The Amazing Race 5

*Sings: I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!* LOL

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Ugh

Oh God, can someone please write this entry for me? It's so late that I don't have the will to do it myself anymore. >.< Anyways, here goes:

We did take the 9:50 am bus out of YCAT, and arrived at Narita at around 11:30. was supposed to be on another terminal so April and I said good bye to her on the bus, which really sucked, but which I guess, was easier. We got our tickets, and checked our luggage. We were so worried that we might have to pay so much excess (we thought 20kg was allowed) that our big-ass suitcases were just a little over 20kg. When we went there however, the lady at the counter told us that Filipinos (since we were taking Philippine Airlines [PAL]) were allowed 30kg. She weighed our tinier suitcases that we planned to hand-carry, and told us they were too heavy (only 7kg was allowed), and told us to transfer some of the stuff from the smaller luggage to the bigger one, since it didn't reach 30kg yet. That was a real pain in the butt. Days before, I had packed and repacked my big-ass suitcase just so that it wouldn't weigh so much, and there they told me it was too light!

We had no choice, we started to do what the lady said (you can imagine how funny that looked in the middle of an airport), when two Filipino women approached us and told us that if they didn't have excess baggage, they'd give us a couple of phone cards that allowed an additional 10kg each. Indeed, they didn't have excess, so they gave us the cards. It was quite interesting, it was just a phone card, but then the company apparently has a partnership with PAL. We were thankful for that, and we ended up checking in all the suitcases we had, including the smaller ones that we meant to hand-carry.

 A PAL A330 at Narita

We boarded the plane, which was occupied to the last seat, mostly by Japanese who were going on vacation to the Philippines. April and I were given seats near one of the emergency exits, and one of the flight attendants made us read some instructions and told us that if something happened, we'd have to be the ones to open the door, jump first, and catch everyone. If we wanted to transfer seats, we should just tell her. Hmmm. That's a lot of pressure, but I thought to myself, it's better that I'm here because I'd get to jump first, and most of all, I understood the English instructions. Forgive me for saying this, but I thought that having April and myself there was better than having a Japanese in our place who could very possibly not understand the emergency instructions.

Anyway, a little after 2:30 pm (scheduled departure) the plane started to taxi down the runway, when suddenly, the captain's voice came on the speaker and said he noticed a problem with one of the engines and that we had to go back. Now, isn't that scary? The funny thing is though, all my anxiety about flying disappeared when that happened. Maybe it was because something already happened, but nothing bad happened to us {you know what I mean}. But I know it was also largely because of the nice flight attendant who was seated right in front of us, talking and telling us jokes. We finally took off at around 4:00 pm, and the flight was pretty much ok--no turbulence and stuff, but it was really cold and they ran out of blankets, so April and I didn't have blankets. Abused, eh? Silly this might seem, I found comfort in the manifestation of something truly pinoy (i.e. really cold air conditioners), as you might have remembered my complaints before of Japanese air conditioners being put at warm temperatures.

We arrived in Cebu two hours delayed, just a little after 8:00 pm. We lined up at Immigration, and then the first Philippine reality came crashing down on me: long, slow lines. LOL. We passed through customs, and as I braced myself for questions, opening of luggages, and the possible need for some under the table, the man just asked to look at our passports, nodded and let us pass. Hmmm. Interesting, but I am very grateful. Anyways, one of April's sisters met her, and a lot of people met me. :) My mother, my two uncles Noli and Nene who live in Cebu, my uncle's wife, Merly, and my cousin, Tope. Cathy, my other cousin would have been there, too, but she was on a business trip to Leyte so I wasn't able to meet her that time. We had dinner at my uncle's house near Gaisano Mactan, and there was so much food because it was my cousin Pangging's birthday. We checked in at a pensionne house just in front of Gaisano, and the next day went shopping around SM.

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Schedule

Leaving the dorm tomorrow at around 08:30. Hopefully, will be able to take the 09:50 bus from Yokohama City Air Terminal (YCAT), and arrive at Narita at around 11:30. Narita-Cebu flight leaves at 14:30 JST, and arrives at around 18:00 PST.

Our dorm...

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Update Update

Ohh, sooo busy. Sorry, don't have time to do my journal. I'm in the process of doing the single greatest drawback of traveling: packing. And of course, squeezing all the last sight-seeings, parties, and omiyage-buying in between. Tough work indeed. Wish me luck!!!

Soon I'll have to say goodbye to this bed...

Five days left in Japan! Waaaaaaaaa! It hasn't sunk in yet. >.<

omiyage - souvenir

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Cruisin'

Went on a Tokyo Bay cruise last Saturday with some friends that I met on the chat party a month back. I was shocked when we got to the port, because I was expecting that we would just be on one of those small sight-seeing boats, but I was wrong, it was really a ship! It wasn't especially big, but maybe 3 or 4 levels were in use. And, at the top deck, where we had a table, there was a dance floor. Yeah! I didn't expect to go to a disco, but there was one, so hell yeah! I'm not complaning!

It was really, really pretty. It would have been nice if it were a day and night cruise so that we would see the sights in broad daylight and then the lights at night, but since we were only on the ship for two hours from 7:30 only the lights could be seen. However, it was a good experience. It was my first time to be on a cruise ship, and it was really interesting. The combination of foreigners, Japanese girls in yukata, and drag queens some of whom were wearing skimpy clothes and swimsuits was something that I know will be memorable to me for a long time.

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And I live!

Just when I thought I was going to die: starving, bereft of entertainment on my last month here in Japan... I live! Hahaha. In other words, I am not broke anymore! By no means am I rich, but, I believe I now have enough money to pay my bills, buy food, and to some extent, enjoy my last two weeks in the land of the rising sun. Thank goodness for arubaito! Yatta!

This afternoon, I'm going to go to my friend Nica's house (she's Japanese, I met her on the Undernet #Japan/#Tokyochat party) and stay over for the night. I believe we're gonna be doing some really Japanese stuff. Yay for me!

With my Japanese friends, Nica and Carol

arubaito - part-time job (which in my case, was just scanning a book and labeling some text)
yatta - a Japanese expression that denotes happiness/victory

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Whew.

Busy, busy, busy! But thank God it's finally over now!

Annie and myself all dressed up for hanabi

My friends and I went to hanabi last Saturday. Hanabi is the summer fireworks festival in Japan. We went to the one that was held in the water near Yamashita Park. Oh my God, there were so many poeple in the Yamashita Park/Minato Mirai area. I have never seen so many people in my entire life! There's supposed to be almost 500,000 people who go to that affair every year. Now, just imagine that number!

As expected, the fireworks were amazing. However, there was this big-ass ship docked right in front of where we were staying, so we couldn't see the fireworks leave the ground. That's ok, though, we could still see them up in the sky. Nevertheless, we kept on wishing that ship would just sink. :P We all wore a yukata to the hanabi, by the way (quite a number of Japanese people do that). :)

Saturday was also when Annie's parents arrived from the States. Her mom is gonna stay for two weeks, her dad, a week. I went to Kamakura and Enoshima with them yesterday, and they are two of the nicest people I have ever met!

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

It was my first time to go to Kamakura, and it was beautiful (don't ask me, I just didn't get the chance to go in the past). For those of you who don't know, Kamakura lies about 30 minutes in the south-west of Yokohama and was an old capital of Japan. It's where a huge Bronze statue of Buddha that was built in the 13th century stands to this day, withstanding a tidal wave that destroyed a temple surrounding it in the 15th century, and the Great Kanto quake of 1923 that only destroyed its base (that has been fixed and is now designed to make the Buddha just sway in case of another strong quake). We also went to the Hase Temple in Kamukura. It was just so beautiful with its amazing gardens, and the altars were so majestic.

Kaikōzan Jishōin Hase-dera, one of the great Buddhist temples in Kamakura

The sunset from Enoshima

After that, we went to Enoshima, a tiny rock of an island that lies south-west of Kamakura. It's connected to the main land by a long bridge. There were no beaches, but up at the top of the island, there's a shrine, and an observatory where you can see all around you. They have this sunset deck, and since we went there in the afternoon, we were able to catch the sunset at that place. What was more, just a little to the side of the sun setting was Mount Fuji. It was amazing.

Today, I had my oral exam in Japanese. We had it here at the dorm because we planned to have lunch together with our teacher, Ito Sensei. It was great having lunch with sensei. She's very nice and I'm so greatful for all the things she's done to help us with our stay here. I made adobo, April made a kinda Japanese rice, and our other classmate, a Chinese girl we call Shu-san, made a Chinese dish with eggplants. It was all good. I was so full afterwards. ^^;

And now, two weeks to go till we go home. What's next? Cleaning and packing. Ugh.

adobo - a Filipino dish cooked with meat that has been marinated in soy sauce and vinegar

yukata - summery, Japanese kimono made of cotton

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Bull

If you're a foreigner in Japan, you'd most likely be stared at, looked down upon, considered stupid, talked about, and always considered an outsider. When you are another Asian (especially brown-skinned ones like me), or when you are black, then the intensity of those treatments I mentioned above gets doubled, tripled, quadrupled, quintupled!

Now, I am naturally oblivious to most things happening around me. In other words, unless they don't parade their racism in front of my face, I don't care. (In other, other words, I am a snob. :P) But if a compatriot tells me that they have been abused, misused, and all those other bad forms of the word use, then my blood will boil--which is why I am writing this entry. Because my friend, April, has been the recipient of very bad use indeed.

I have a feeling I'm starting to sound patriotic here (and that worries me, because I'm not patriotic), but then again, Filipinos do really get icky treatment here. Ever since we arrived, there have been many times when we just feel that we don't measure. But April's most recent experience was the really, erm, disappointing one. Why? Because this person is our friend, supposed to be very educated, and not even Japanese (but still Asian).

Here are the comments:
- When your senior came here [another exchange student in the past], I thought: this girl must be rich because she can afford to go to college.
- At first, I thought you couldn't speak English, too.
- [And then, upon finding out that we do speak fluent English...] Why do you always speak English? You should be proud of your language.

Frankly, people's ignorance can be disappointing. If they were the kind who hadn't gone even to elementary school, I would understand. But that's not the case. I'm tired of this language crap, too. Before I came here, I never knew English was such a big deal! In the Philippines, it's just there! We don't exactly think about it as a foreign language anymore. After all, why do Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, speak English? It's because of England's influence on these countries. Well, we have also been influenced by an English-speaking country (America, of course) for over a hundred years. Why does that not give us a right to be proud of our English (although admittedly, sometimes, we tend to speak Carabao English)? True, I'm not exactly proud of Tagalog, but I don't hide it in shame either. And I'm proud of my English because I have literally spent ages trying to perfect it.

Yes, the Philippines has a lot of faults, but just FYI, here are a few statistics:
Adult literacy rate, year 2000: Male - 95%, Female - 95%
College enrollment rate: 27% (4th in Asia, next to South Korea-55%, Taiwan-38%, Japan-29%)

So, there! We're not all completely uneducated fools.

There is a silver lining behind all these crap, though. 'Coz now I have acquired the experience and can surely tell you: If you hate your country, move to another place for a while. Then you'll love your country and be proud of it.

Carabao - a water buffalo in the Philippines
Carabao English - a term for English with a lot of grammatical errors

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U.S.-Philippine relations

Being in Japan, I don't know much of what happens in the Philippines nowadays, but another blogger's latest entry has woken me up to what's happening in Manila and in the Middle East.

The Chancery of the Manila American Embassy

So the latest hostage in Iraq is a Filipino. This still comes as quite a shock to me. I know that there are millions of Filipinos in the Middle East (my father included), but normally no one targets us. We are a peace-loving country, after all. We are accepting of foreigners, and we don't bother other people. Sometimes, terrorists from the southern part of the Philippines commit crimes to other nationalities and civilians inside the country, but they are the same kind of people working in the ranks of Osama bin Laden and his men, so pardon me if I don't consider them one of us.

I believe President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has now ordered the early return of the 51 humanitarian forces in Iraq. People all over the world are criticizing Arroyo's decision. And, what was the US Ambassador to the Philippines quoted as saying? I think it was something that goes: "Do not confuse your enemies or your friends." You have to admit, Arroyo's decision is a difficult one. I do understand why Arroyo would want to save even just one Filipino worker's life. Because even though we Filipinos have the crab mentality (i.e. if you're down, then pull the others down with you) among ourselves, I still believe that when other nationalities bug us, we stick together. And being a predominantly Catholic nation, even just one person's life is valued.

Now, you might say that because the government has decided to pull out the troops, it will be more dangerous because the terrorists will think that we can easily be manipulated. Well, so what? You see, if the troops were pulled out, they wouldn't have anything to manipulate us with, right? In the first place, those troops shouldn't have been sent there! And so what if people are criticizing this move? I bet only those who are in favor of this war are doing that. What about France, Germany, and all those other nations that do not support this war? It might be a little late, but we can still move in that direction.

I know the Philippines has been an ally of the US ever since they rescued us from Spain. I can't believe I'm saying this, as I have been pro-US ever since, but now, I don't believe in the term "US ally" anymore. I've realized that we're actually just a "US puppy". We're practically at the beck and call of the US. I know, we put ourselves there, but I think it's high time to stand up for ourselves. True, if we were involved in a war, we would get our asses kicked if the US didn't help us. But if we just stayed out of everybody's business, then nobody would bother us and we wouldn't need defending. As a matter of fact, the only war we've been involved in has been WWII, and the only reason the Japanese bombed was because we were a colony of the US! If you really think about it, being a US puppy has done more harm than good to the Philippines. I'm not saying that we should make an enemy out of the US government (because that would be suicide). I'm just thinking, maybe it's time to distance ourselves a little.

I think it's getting very obvious that this war has become a lose-lose situation. Bush always says America has become a safer place. Ok, so maybe the US is safer now. But, hell, the rest of the world is not. Because before this war started, I didn't fear for my father's life in Saudi Arabia, and I didn't have a fellow Filipino pleading for his life on television!

Mr. Bush, I think it's time for you to realize that there are other people and other countries in the world!

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Ueno Zoo

I went to Ueno Zoo last Saturday. I figured, I just have to see the pandas before I leave. I just have to. So I went with my friend Japanese friend Sacchan, and we got to see the lazy bears. When we got there around lunch time, they were sleeping. There's two of them in Ueno now, Ling Ling (male) and Shuan Shuan (female) who they brought over from Mexico so that Ling Ling could impregnate her. Heheh. That hasn't happened yet though. Anyways, they had their own rooms (maybe they should try keeping them in the same room?), and I truly hope the air was controlled in there, because it is freakin' hot in Japan now.

Now, I would suggest to adults who have a conscience not to go to Ueno Zoo in the middle of summer. Zoos are only good for kids, I think. Because while I was there, I felt so sad for all those animals. They were going crazy with the heat! There was this polar bear--imagine, a polar bear in 30-degree weather--and he was surrounded with cement and he just kept on walking back and forth around his area, panting. There was water below, and another polar bear was swimming swimming, but that poor one looked as if it had gone crazy. There was another big, black bear and it was just lying there in the cement, looking beat, licking water that was dripping from a water hole above him. Those poor animals. >.<

I did get up-close and personal with a dozing tiger though, with just glass between us. Those big kitties are soo soo cute!

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Tropical is best.

The tropics and its inhabitants are often misunderstood. This is what I have recently realized.

Up until now, I have more or less thought that I live in the hottest place on earth (apart from the desert, of course). Surprise, surprise. I do not. I don't exactly know why I thought that way, but I do have a hunch as to why.

For one, people who live in places with four seasons think that you do live in the hottest place on earth. When you come into contact with them, then you begin to think that they might be right. After all, they do have winter, spring, summer, and fall (all you gotta do is call). It must be really better there! But, that frame of mind lasts only until you experience first-hand the scorching heat that comes after the oh-so-cold winter and the cool-and-breezy spring. That's when you come to know what it's really like. Yes, I've lived in the Philippines for my entire life, but I've never experienced heat as I experience it now here in Japan. The sad thing is, everybody thinks I'm A-okay even if in reality, the heat is driving me crazy.

Every time it's been really hot here and I complain about it, I always get: "Hey, you're from the Philippines, isn't it hotter over there?" or "Isn't it like this in your country?" In other words, they're thinking: "What are you complaining about? It's probably hotter where you're from." That is not necessarily true. Upon consulting the ever-reliable-and-accurate CNN.com/Weather, I've seen that places that have killer winters can also have killer summers. Now, in the back of our minds, I'm sure we all know that. But we really don't think much about it. It comes naturally to think that places which are hot all year round win the heat scale. Hmmm, not a very wise move. It's not as if we add the temperature for every day of the year and sum them all up. If we did that, we all know who'd win. Yes, the Bedouins in the desert will get the trophy!

A lot of people also think that they'll just die, or melt, if they go to the tropics. You should know that it's nice and breezy in the islands. I can surely tell you that it's not like the hot breeze of Tokyo that just seems to swallow and drown you in its hellish mugginess. At least, we still have (some) trees, and not every single patch of ground is covered with cement. Believe me, that matters a lot. If you're really scared of the
sunny, tropical sun, but have been to Tokyo in the summer and are now still alive, don't worry. I think it's safe to say that if you go to either the Philippines, Indonesia, the West Indies, or any other bright, tropical archipelago, you will not die, melt, or spontaneously combust just because of the heat. However, if you've lived in the South Pole your whole life and one day decide to get on a plane to Manila in the middle of April... well, that is another story.

A while back, one of my teachers here asked the class if we wanted to have the airconditioner on, and then turned to me and said: "Or maybe you're used to it." Hmmm. By this they mean: "These tropical folk like the heat." I dare say, we do not like the heat. We put up with it because it's there, but it doesn't mean that we don't want to use the airconditioner if it's available 'cause we are used to the heat anyway, and we might get cold if it's turned on. In fact, here, I'm always the one who turns on the airconditioning. I'm always the one who lowers the temperature on the thing. Come to think of it, among the people I know, I'm the only one who brings a fan almost regularly. Really, we don't like the heat! We're just plagued with the blasted thing.

I reckon this "used to the heat" stuff is a kind of racism, really. Or maybe it can be appropriately called meteocism (if you'd let me coin the word)?

While it is true that a lot of tropical countries are third-world (I have no idea why such is the case, what do you think?), and even if we are often underestimated and misunderstood, it's still all good! After all, where else can you: frolic in sandy beaches all year long? Or plant all those pineapples? Or never have to wear those bulky wool coats? Most of all, where do you live to get that year-round tan (that everybody seems to want nowadays, even though they look horrible in them)? Yes, from now on, I will never ever use whitening products anymore! I just realized that, tropical is best!

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Yeah

I finally finished reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Yeah, yeah, yeah! Why did that book have to be easy to put down? Took me ages, and heaps of other books in between to read it. Teehee.

Ok, what else. Hmmm. One more week of classes to go! Need to make two papers, and take one exam. Not so bad, huh? And then, over three weeks to go till we go home. Yeah! I already want to go home, by the way. My sentiments have changed. I cannot stand the heat here!

Love Actually
Starring: Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley
Ok, what's all the fuss about this movie? I expected so much, and got disappointed. It's amazing how so many people love this movie. I feel as if there's something wrong with me because I don't really like it. I couldn't help but compare it to Notting Hill (Hugh Grant, very British, romantic comedy), but it totally didn't measure. Hmmm. If you like this movie, please comment and tell me why you do. Maybe you can help me like it. I definitely need input on this.

Hero
Starring: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung
Beautiful effects, amazing fight scenes, and a mind-boggling story. Very good indeed.

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The Wedding and Digital Fortress

I finished reading both books in the span of 24 hours.

What can I say? Well, I love The Wedding. It's so sweet. I was still crying all through-out the book, but this is Nicholas Sparks' first work where there's a delightful surprise at the end. I think that's the main reason why I love it. I was totally shocked about that!.

I think Digital Fortress is sort of pathetic. I say this mainly because at the end, the characters take ages to figure out something very easy. Duh. This book was released way before The Da Vinci Code, but I think nobody paid attention to it. So they re-released it, and now, it's just riding on The Code's fame.

Taken from someone's blog, please comment and answer:

.: If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, which movie would that be?
.: If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, which song would that be?
.: If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, which book would that be?
.: If you could only watch ONE episode from ONE tv show, which episode/tv show would that be?

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Waaa

In my previous entry, I wrote about the weird thing that happened at one of the stations here. So, someone really did jump from the platform onto the tracks. Waaaaaaaa! >.<

Sale season has come! Since our allowance had just come too, we (, April, and I) decided to take advantage of it. Quite a lot of shopping was done. Yesterday, I got a denim skirt from GAP which was half it's original price (YEY!), and today I got a Hard Rock shirt (been wanting one for a long time now), earrings (which were 50% off), a pair of beach shorts, and since I got a 1000 yen (about US$10) book certificate from the Networld + Interop exhibition the other day, I went to a book store and got Nicholas Sparks' The Wedding and Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. I'd have to be careful, though. I just paid almost 30,000 yen (about US$300) for the final half payment for my ticket going home. It looks like by the end of the month, I won't have any money again. >.<

Frida
Starring: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina
This movie is about the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It's very interesting--artistic, sexy, and full of emotion. Kahlo's life was sad and painful, but she was so vibrant and full of life, you can't help but be amazed by her. This movie is moving and inspirational, I like it very much.

What A Girl Wants
Starring: Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, Kelly Preston
I never knew what this movie was about before I watched it. I didn't see any trailers nor any posters. The only reason I wanted to see it was because I read this article in one of my classes last semester. The movie was a surprise, though. I expected the worst, but it was actually quite entertaining. True, it's another modern-day Cinderella story, but I love how Amanda Bynes' character refuses to let people put her down. I think her acting needs more polishing, but that's okay, because Colin Firth makes watching the movie worthwhile!

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Networld + Interop and something strange...

I went to Chiba today with Uchida Sensei for the Networld + Interop 2004 Tokyo, an IT exhibition. For those who don't know, Chiba is another prefecture located directly beside Tokyo (this is where NARITA Int'l. Airport is), but on the opposite side of Yokohama. It took us almost 2 hours to get to Makuhari, the venue. Makuhari is near the sea, and is full of tall buildings with hotels and offices, and is teeming with suit-clad salary men. The exhibition itself was held at the Makuhari Messe and was totally... erm, remarkable. Apparently, over 300 companies had booths there to display enterprise solutions. It was definitely very well prepared. Almost all the exhibitions were about networking, I think the most popular being Security and VoIP. Big companies like Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Intel, Netmarks, NTT, Nokia, among others, had stuff on display and were giving seminars. Because of my meager Japanese skills and networking knowledge, though, I kept on wishing I could understand better. Anyhow, it was a great experience and I did get a lot of give-away stuff. Heheh. So I'm ureshii.

On another hand, while I was on the way to the exhibition today, a weird thing happened on the train I took to Yokohama (same one I use to school). It came to an abrupt halt at the middle of Mitsukyo station (one of the stations near our dorm, and one station away from Seya, where I got on the train) and we just stopped there for about 10 minutes. I wondered what happened, and it was kinda spooky, and I thought that maybe it was just normal train trouble, but it did cross my mind that someone might have jumped off the platform to commit suicide (don't be shocked, it's a normal thing here and happens often). I didn't hear any sirens or see any ambulance, so the thought just left my mind. When we left the station 10 minutes later, the train driver said something about being sorry for the delay, and even if I didn't get what he said very well, I did hear him say "jishin" which means earthquake, and "taihen" which means difficult. And every once in a while until two stations after that, a sound would go "beep beep beep" inside the train, and it would slow down. So, I really believed that it was an earthquake. However, Annie just got home and asked me if I "knew what happened at Mitsukyo this morning" to which I asked why she's asking, and she said someone told her "that someone jumped off the platform", to which I replied "I was on the train when it suddenly stopped and we got delayed". It was also the right time, about 9:45 am, and she was just leaving the dorm when she heard loud sirens. Now I really don't know what happened. What do you think? Maybe we'll hear about it on the news. Hmmm. Definitely spooky.

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Heee...

I was finally able to watch The Last Samurai last night, and, I only have one thing to say:

Tom Cruise, I love you!

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OMG

Really, the heat is incredible here. I don't know if it's because I passed through winter or what, but it's really different from the heat I'm used to. It's like, it's all over you. Back home, the sun is really hot, but when you're in the shade, everything's fine, 'cause the breeze is always cool. But here, the air is so freakin' hot, only the air-conditioner is the refuge. It feels like Manila. It must be the cities, all the pollution, and global warming.

Now I know why some people prefer the cold. Hmmm. Next time, remind me not to live in a big city covered entirely with cement and with no shady trees in sight.

[ADD-ON]
I just realized that my new favorite word is really.

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Chatters Party

Finally went to my first mIRC party last Saturday! :D It was an Undernet #Japan and #Tokyochat get-together which was at a BBQ place in Higashijujo, Tokyo, which is like 2 hours from where I live. I wasn't gonna go because of my limited finances, but with prodding from quite a few people, I went, thinking that I would never probably get this chance ever again in my life. And I'm glad I went, because it was totally fun.

First we went to a yakiniku place, and then spent the entire night until 4:00 am (which is when there are trains again) at a karaoke. I love karaoke, and it was fun... just that after about over 4 hours of singing, it felt as if we were just there to pass the time till the trains would be working again. I spent a few hours of sleep at Morigen and Chong's place after that. I didn't wanna butt in for the second weekend in a row, but he insisted, so why not? It was better not to make the journey back to the mountains (because I literally do live on a mountain, or hill at least) that early. All the people I met were so nice, so it was all good! I hope I'll be able to meet them again in the future.

Clockwise from Left: Nica, Naka, Morigen, Haniwa, Kensang, Orochi's wife, Orochi and their baby, Onda (Orochi's friend), me, Chong, and Carol

yakiniku - Japanese BBQ

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Hungry For Your Love

This is such a beautiful story... read it.

Herman and Roma Rosenblat

Hungry for Your Love
by Herman and Roma Rosenblat
As told to Barbara DeAngelis, Ph.D.

It is cold, so bitter cold, on this dark, winter day in 1942. But it is no different from any other day in this Nazi concentration camp. I stand shivering in my thin rags, still in disbelief that this nightmare is happening. I am just a young boy. I should be playing with friends; I should be going to school; I should be looking forward to a future, to growing up and marrying, and having a family of my own. But those dreams are for the living, and I am no longer one of them. Instead, I am almost dead, surviving from day to day, from hour to hour, ever since I was taken from my home and brought here with tens of thousands other Jews. Will I still be alive tomorrow? Will I be taken to the gas chamber tonight?

Back and forth I walk next to the barbed wire fence, trying to keep my emaciated body warm. I am hungry, but I have been hungry for longer than I want to remember. I am always hungry. Edible food seems like a dream. Each day as more of us disappear, the happy past seems like a mere dream, and I sink deeper and deeper into despair. Suddenly, I notice a young girl walking past on the other side of the barbed wire. She stops and looks at me with sad eyes, eyes that seem to say that she understands, that she, too, cannot fathom why I am here. I want to look away, oddly ashamed for this stranger to see me like this, but I cannot tear my eyes from hers.

Then she reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a red apple. A beautiful, shiny red apple. Oh, how long has it been since I have seen one! She looks cautiously to the left and to the right, and then with a smile of triumph, quickly throws the apple over the fence. I run to pick it up, holding it in my trembling, frozen fingers. In my world of death, this apple is an expression of life, of love. I glance up in time to see the girl disappearing into the distance.

The next day, I cannot help myself-I am drawn at the same time to that spot near the fence. Am I crazy for hoping she will come again? Of course. But in here, I cling to any tiny scrap of hope. She has given me hope and I must hold tightly to it.

And again, she comes. And again, she brings me an apple, flinging it over the fence with that same sweet smile.

This time I catch it, and hold it up for her to see. Her eyes twinkle. Does she pity me? Perhaps. I do not care, though. I am just so happy to gaze at her. And for the first time in so long, I feel my heart move with emotion.

For seven months, we meet like this. Sometimes we exchange a few words. Sometimes, just an apple. But she is feeding more than my belly, this angel from heaven. She is feeding my soul. And somehow, I know I am feeding hers as well.

One day, I hear frightening news: we are being shipped to another camp. This could mean the end for me. And it definitely means the end for me and my friend.

The next day when I greet her, my heart is breaking, and I can barely speak as I say what must be said: "Do not bring me an apple tomorrow," I tell her. "I am being sent to another camp. We will never see each other again." Turning before I lose all control, I run away from the fence. I cannot bear to look back. If I did, I know she would see me standing there, with tears streaming down my face.

Months pass and the nightmare continues. But the memory of this girl sustains me through the terror, the pain, the hopelessness. Over and over in my mind, I see her face, her kind eyes, I hear her gentle words, I taste those apples.

And then one day, just like that, the nightmare is over. The war has ended. Those of us who are still alive are freed. I have lost everything that was precious to me, including my family. But I still have the memory of this girl, a memory I carry in my heart and gives me the will to go on as I move to America to start a new life.

Years pass. It is 1957. I am living in New York City. A friend convinces me to go on a blind date with a lady friend of his. Reluctantly, I agree. But she is nice, this woman named Roma. And like me, she is an immigrant, so we have at least that in common.

"Where were you during the war?" Roma asks me gently, in that delicate way immigrants ask one another questions about those years.

"I was in a concentration camp in Germany," I reply.

Roma gets a far away look in her eyes, as if she is remembering something painful yet sweet.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I am just thinking about something from my past, Herman," Roma explains in a voice suddenly very soft. "You see, when I was a young girl, I lived near a concentration camp. There was a boy there, a prisoner, and for a long while, I used to visit him every day. I remember I used to bring him apples. I would throw the apple over the fence, and he would be so happy."

Roma sighs heavily and continues. "It is hard to describe how we felt about each other-after all, we were young, and we only exchanged a few words when we could-but I can tell you, there was much love there. I assume he was killed like so many others. But I cannot bear to think that, and so I try to remember him as he was for those months we were given together."

With my heart pounding so loudly I think it will explode, I look directly at Roma and ask, "And did that boy say to you one day, 'Do not bring me an apple tomorrow. I am being sent to another camp'?"

"Why, yes," Roma responds, her voice trembling.

"But, Herman, how on earth could you possibly know that?"

I take her hands in mine and answer, "Because I was that young boy, Roma."

For many moments, there is only silence. We cannot take our eyes from each other, and as the veils of time lift, we recognize the soul behind the eyes, the dear friend we once loved so much, whom we have never stopped loving, whom we have never stopped remembering.

Finally, I speak: "Look, Roma, I was separated from you once, and I don't ever want to be separated from you again. Now, I am free, and I want to be together with you forever. Dear, will you marry me?"

I see that same twinkle in her eye that I used to see as Roma says, "Yes, I will marry you," and we embrace, the embrace we longed to share for so many months, but barbed wire came between us. Now, nothing ever will again.

Almost forty years have passed since that day when I found my Roma again. Destiny brought us together the first time during the war to show me a promise of hope and now it had reunited us to fulfill that promise.

Valentine's Day, 1996. I bring Roma to the Oprah Winfrey Show to honor her on national television. I want to tell her infront of millions of people what I feel in my heart every day:
"Darling, you fed me in the concentration camp when I was hungry. And I am still hungry, for something I will never get enough of: I am only hungry for your love."

[ADD-ON]
This was truly an amazing story. Unfortunately, the truth came out. In 2008, Herman Rosenblat admitted that this story was fabricated. Huh! Sad.

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Uh-huh

In The Japan Times June 11, 2004 issue, Jack Gallagher, in an article entitled Verdict in O.J. criminal trial still a divisive issue quotes--

"If you want to know what it's like to be black in America, move to Japan."

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Yeah

Ah, what a busy past few days it has been! It all started on Wednesday. We watched Troy right after our Japanese History class. It was okay, not the best, but not the worst either.

Friday afternoon, we had to haul ass as we had to be in Tokyo right after our class in the morning for a Gender and Nation International Symposium in Shibuya. It was very interesting and informative, even though long (because the Japanese have a way of saying a lot of things going around the topic and not directly to the point). There were a number of foreign speakers too, though, so it was good.

It was a two-day thingie, and my Russian friend and IRC chatmate, Morigen offered his (and his gf's) place in Nippori for us (Annie and myself) to stay at overnight. That was cool coz we didn't have to come back to our boring dorm and beat the stupid curfew. We went with them to karaoke, which was fun, but before that I also met Haniwa, another chatmate from IRC. Morigen had a copy of Kill Bill, and since we had not seen it yet, we watched it. What an insane movie that is, very arienai. LOL.

Now it's back to the dorm, and doing the laundry. :'(

arienai - something that's not likely to happen; impossible

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French Open 2004

Wow, wasn't that a great Roland Garros Men's Final! Whoooooo!

The last time I watched a Grand Slam final was in 2001, during Wimbledon, when my favorite Australian Patrick Rafter was having his second consecutive shot to win the Wimbledon trophy. But Goran Ivanisevic defeated him *sob sob*, and at the end of the season, he retired (he's back playing doubles now, though), so I stopped watching tennis.

So for the first time in a long time, I watched a Grand Slam final, and it was so so great! I can't believe Gaston Gaudio won it. He was down two sets, but he made a comeback. Amazing! Of course, Guillermo Coria was cramping a bit, but that game was still amazing! When Gaudio cried while he made his speech, it was so adorable. I just loved his attitude all through-out the game. He just kept laughing and smiling while working hard for it. And and and...

He's sooooo hot! ^^;

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Lazy

Urg. Lazy Saturday morning. Whoever said weekends are nice? Weekends are only nice if you have something to do, somewhere to go. But since I'm still down with the colds, might as well just stay here at our ultra boring dorm and bum around.

I'm still in the middle of Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Oh my God, that book is soo freakin' hard to read! It's very intelligently written, but nothing ever happens to the main character! It's too long, and there's soo much French that you have to keep on going to the notes every single time (unless of course, you understand French) that now I don't even bother doing that anymore. If you want to brag about the books you've been reading, yeah, go ahead and read this. But, if you're just bored, no, don't read this book, 'cause you'll get even more bored. Hahahah.

I just finished reading Tokyo Stories by Christine Cunanan-Miki, and that is one hilarious book! If you're ever planning to come live in Japan, better read this book beforehand. It's also very good for those people who think they know so much about Japan, but actually don't. :)


Movie Review: Schindler's List
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley
I wasn't able to see this movie before so when I learned it was on tv last night, I just had to watch it. Oh my God, it's sooo good! It's so sad! Those poor Jews! And then that movie made me say to : "Look at those poor Jews. All throughout the history of mankind, they've been abused and persecuted. But they don't go and become terrorists (or something like that--you know what I mean)!" People should be more like Jews, I think.

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Cool.

Found something nice on someone's journal:

'Borderless world does not preclude the idea of a home'
By Patricia Evangelista
May 23, 2004 - Inquirer News Service

THE PHILIPPINES' Patricia Evangelista, 19, won the International Public Speaking competition conducted by the English Speaking Union [ESU] in London early this month. The second-year Mass Communications student from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, beat 59 other student contestants from 37 countries, with her five-minute talk on the theme, "A Borderless World."

In November, she will formally accept her award at Buckingham Palace from Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and president of the ESU. Following is her prize-winning speech:


WHEN I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed and white.

I thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!

More than four centuries under western domination can do that to you. I have 16 cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener pastures." It's not an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don't think so. Not anymore.

True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a 12-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino -- a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighborhood back home.

Filipino Diaspora

Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the United Kingdom's National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.

Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire traveled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the "returnees" -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities that come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.

And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my window on a bright Christmas morning. 

Mabuhay and thank you.

Ohhh... what a nice speech. *sniff sniff*

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Kaeritakunai!

It's official coz I bought my ticket already. I'm going home on August the 5th. But but but... I don't wanna go home! I can't even believe I'm saying this, as I've been complaining about my stay here more than once... but I guess I'm in my wanting to go to a foreign country mode again. As the time gets closer, I'm like... uh... I don't wanna go back to the old way of life. I know if I keep doing this, I'll never ever finish my studies... but...

I'll miss the friends I made here, because I know that when I leave, I won't ever be coming back. Or at least, I'm not yet planning to. It's not the same as with home, where you know you'll be seeing people again sooner or later in the future. At least Annie is leaving on the same day and at roughly the same time (2:10 pm) as April and myself (2:30 pm). We'll be on the same bus going to the airport... I expect we'll be bawling our eyes out by that time.

I'll miss the hang-outs here... *sheepish* all the places frequented by foreigners and I'm always welcome to go because I am one. I'll definitely miss not being a foreigner anymore (even if we are constantly looked down upon).

Hmmm... is it too early to be making this entry? I know I'll be making more of the same from now on.

kaeritakunai - don't wanna go home

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Sigh

My father is safe, thank God. He talked to my mom and told her that the attack happened somewhat nearby. This just pisses me off so much. Those people are so unfair, they only ever think of their fucking selves. >.<

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Those fucking terrorists!

I just found out about what happened to that oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. That city is where my father is. And he's also working at an oil company with westerners. >.<

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