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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