Lamdag

I AM AT WORDPRESS

Hello all,

I have moved my friendster blog to http://praeteritum. wordpress. com/feed/.
I mainly write about anything and everything that interests me.
And commenting is free :)

Mighty love,
bing

paalam

ngayong linggo, magpapaalam na ako sa blog na ito. :(
nawa'y nakapagbigay ng ngiti sa inyo ang ilan sa aking mga naisulat.
hanggang sa muli!

Korean Tinseltown

I have been watching the coffee prince lately and i finished all the series in two days, in between writing for my thesis. I am overwhelmed what to see next given the vast choices at crunchyroll and mysoju of the east asian world's tinseltown - korea, hk, taiwan, china.

but today, forgive me for this little personal starstruck streak. i saw my high school friend, jasmine who is also in my f'ster, having this video of hers in one korean public advertisement!  yes my maryknoll panabo high school friend. hanep jaz! that's why u have pics of being interviewed in korean radio and tv huh! could u be the one translating too these all korea soap mania series in pinas now? whoa. and all along u have been secretive about your line of work now.

ang ganda ng ad, at ang ganda mo!!! isn't the little girl in yellow your kid too?

am a fan!

Dear Sir David

hindi ko alam kung meron nang nag aral ukol sa ugat ng pagkahilig ng pinoy sa pagtawag ng Sir sa kahit kaninong nakakatandang lalaki o kaya kapag gusto nating magpakita ng paggalang. sadya nga ba tayong maka-ingles at hindi natin ginagamit ang salitang ginoo or mama (MA-mah)? mayroon naman tayong mga kahalintulad na termino. gaya ng manong - na siya lamang ginagamit natin para itawag sa mamang tsuper. o kaya kuya - na kadalasang nadidinig kong tawag ng mga estudyante sa security guard.

di lang tayo mahilig tumawag ng sir. mahilig tayong magdugtong ng "sir" at ng "pangalan" ng taong ating tinutukoy. halimbawa: "Sir Juan". dati akong naging tagasaliksik ng isang canadian professor at sa kanya ko natutunan na maaari ko shang tawaging Sir o David, at hindi  "Sir David", dahil di naman sha "knighted", ayon sa kanya.

doon naman sa alemanya, kapag sumusulat ka (email or hard copy) sa iyong guro, di maaaring di mo sya batiin ng kumpletong "prof. dr. + pangalan". sabi nga ng iba parang redundant. pero maging doon, di ginagamit ang sir kapag kausap mo sila. kadalasan, sa aking obserbasyon, professor, frau (mrs), herr (mister) lamang ang mga pamamaraan ng pagtawag. **note: wala nga palang katumbas ang salitang "miss" sa alemanya, lahat doon ay misis :) wala ding katumbas ang sir ***

sa kabilang dako, tila hindi pa tanggap ng ating kamalayan na tumawag sa ating mga guro ng kanilang pangalan lamang. ilang taon din akong nagturo sa UP at ilang beses ko ding binigay na opsyon sa mga mag aaral na maaari nila akong tawaging Bing na walang ma'am. sa limang taon ng aking pagtuturo, walang sinuman ang nagtangka na baguhin ang nakasanayan. siguro nga sadya lang tayong magalang.

o di kaya ito ay isa ding salamin ng lipunan na kung saan ang pagkakapantay pantay ay salat?

buhay estudyante

I was reading this article from the Brain Gain network called "become a nurse, get a tan" where one californian student decided to go to St. Kitts to study nursing since US schools simply do not have slots until 2009 for new nursing students. I wonder if this would be one area that our educational entrepreneurs would be jumping on soon. After all, we already opened our cities to Koreans studying English, from Manila to Cebu to Davao.

But that is not what struck me actually. What was more interesting for me was the fact that students in Canada and the US are not exactly in better off positions than let's say a certain segment of the student population in the Philippines. More and more universities in North America are what are called the commuter students. Called so since they only commute to attend classes and then as soon as their lessons end, they dash to the door for their next part time job. After graduation, it is not UNcommon for students in this part of the world to be buried in debt - because of the student loans they got to pay their tuition fees. Like us back home, students here are also scrambling to go to nursing school and be employed later in call centers. And some others hold jobs serving in restaurants.

While like what is the sentiment at home, education is likewise relatively unaffordable for Canadian and US students.  What they have that we don't have , however, is access to student loans, odd jobs that pay well, and unemployment insurance when they do not get any post at the job market.

By far, Europeans still have the best of their student days  with tuition fees virtually free.  Due to calls for rationalizing education, the universities in germany, for example, decided to charge 500 euro per semester. Instituted only in the last couple of years, it still represents a paltry sum. Due to the relatively free studies in Europe, do not be surprised to see 40 year olds still doing their diploms (something like our BAs).

the benign subversive

in the world of sms, emails and you tube, the death of the telegram, and of being able to watch TV shows via net, my vote still goes to snail mails. especially when the one sending them have the naughty knack for leaving tell-tale signs that most of the time, only the receiver could understand.

i happen to know one person who does this - sending cryptic messages on mails. today, i saw from this person’s outbox one book shipment to hongkong. and in the address bar, it is written (let’s hide some real names)

To: Purtush Kapush (predoc, soon doc!) 1234 University of Tralala, Kowloon Tong, Hongkong

he is, as usual, teasing this colleague of his who is having an impending phd defense)

when i was still in bierland (another variation of what wurstland is known for),  in times when a colleague sharing the mailbox with me, breaks into a shy, teasing smile after she visits our mailbox first, i know i am in some postal trouble of sorts. which also means, i have gotten a new mail from this cryptic message writer with appelations that differ on their  blush-inducing power.

sometimes, just below my name, and right above the center i am affiiated with, it is written - Attention: Cryie. (which is our shorthand for a person emotional and partial to tears). or perhaps written in handwritten-font 5, enclosed in equally negligible exclamation points is the word !baby!

indeed, in each serious person, is a child, nay, a subversive within. for how can someone explain putting some doodles in a “formal” envelope, which goes through many eyes in the postal world?

who is this benign subversive? your guess is as good as mine.

plurinationalism?

there has been so much being said about the MOA and the BJE. the Bangsa Moro struggle has again risen in prominence. while i am still in the process of writing my dissertation and reflecting on my ethnographic results, (most of the time, without any eureka moments) the impression that my findings show is that  identification among the lay may not be similar to what intellectuals and political leaders speak about.

the pains that the people in Mindanao have been experiencing - the migrants, the 18 indigenous groups and the 13 groups of islamic tradition-  is in large part caused by exclusionary politics i.e. mutual negation, on both the sides of the government and the side of the movement.

alongside calls for restorative justice - on BOTH the historical and earned rights of all the residents of Mindanao for the tri-peoples of Mindanao, is the need for introspection of whether this country needs to retain its unitary character.

it is humbling to be given the confidence of those i have lived with for a year in  socially heterogeneous villages in the south, that for them, there is no need to choose between being a Filipino or a Moro or a Lumad. what they aspire for is redefining who is a Filipino. 

it is humbling to know that ordinary people, the B'laan, Samal and Cebuano masa living in one community, know that to be able to understand Mindanao, we have to think outside of the box of our neat national categories.  that it is high time to think of a PLURINATIONAL PHILIPPINES..... where each retains its nationalist leanings to its respective community without being less of a patriot, a citizen of the Philippines.

P.S. Know what the MOA says and does not say by peace advocate Fr. Jun Mercado, OMI, legal opinion on the GRP-MILF Moa  by constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas and official views from the bangsa moro movement .

who is paul potts

bullied when he was younger. he has a face that could blend among trillions. has an ordinary job as a mobile salesman (and no doubt in the course of his working day, received cold shoulders from would-be clients, and irate remarks from current ones). confidence level almost zero. 

perhaps many of you have heard about him and of him. he is this unassuming guy whose auditioning piece at Britain's Got Talent in 2007 was nessun dorma. i am no opera fan. but when i saw him in his first audition (with a kinder than in his AI stint Simon as one of the judges), i couldn't help but be touched, be in awe.

why? you see, this guy is so ordinary. so ordinary that even the judges' initial reaction when he came on stage was that of  veiled mocking. written on their faces was "OPERA? C'MOOOON!" (coz doesn't opera carry a certain voice discipline that only a select few can muster?).

but on the first few seconds of him singing, i do not think one could remain unaffected. my soul was roused! like paul potts, most of us lead ordinary lives - with ordinary faces, ordinary circumstances, and no confidence to boot. (He bagged the first place months after, and sang for the Queen.)

like paul potts, deep within each one us is a grace, a talent that we only need to uncover. after hearing him, i content myself with being ordinary. but confident in the assurance that in me lies some passion, if not talent. it is only up to me to discover.

 

the orig tube

bubble gang? eat bulaga? reporter's notebook? i forgot to mention in my other entry that i also get to see complete telecast of shows from Gma 7 though this gem of a site. Please click here.

augustina

When I was younger and I believe all what my parents say, not knowing whether they are pulling my leg or not, I thought that augustina is the default name for august 10 celebrants (bisaya gyud pag ayo akong mama. ugust tin. augustina. haha.). And that my sister should have been named as such. Aug 10 is my 3rd sister’s birthday. We are close though the circumstances we are now make real-conversations infrequent. Normally, her time zone is 6 hours ahead of mine. But at this time, its a whole 11 hours earlier since she is home for the term break from her teaching.

Haberdi Kulot! That’s how we often tease her because of her big locks. Sabi pa ng bunso namin, basta kulot, salot! And the family would erupt into boisterous laughing. And mind you, we are a family of kulots. Haha.

I wish to honor her because despite her “short-circuits”, no one like her in the family has entrusted almost all their paycheck to the family resources. All of us among the 6 are generous to our parents, some more generous than others owing to a deeper pocket. But Kulot or Karong is the most generous for giving almost all that she has.

Kasundo ko yan lagi. And despite being taller than I am, she never fails to listen and make me feel like am a true big sister. And I am not talking about my weight. Haha.

Now that you are a year older, I pray that you start with your long-dreamed graduate studies. I pray too for a blessed lovelife (kahit di ka nagkukuwento about it).  You deserve more in life because you are hardworking, honest with your craft and a pure-hearted person. More smiles and less frowns. Better exchange rate each time you go to the bank.

Sana din, pagbalik mo sa work, wala ka nang colleague na nagtatago ng toothbrush mo, naglilibing ng tsinelas, o kaya naglalagay ng bleach sa iyong labada (sabihan mo kasi, di mo naman kinukula ang de kolor. hahaha. you have a rare chance of having creative colleagues. congrats!).