General Dedications: All the August Birthdays!!! Oh my gosh. So many. Lol I won't put you all in this post specifically but Ill try to have a dedication to as many of you as possible. That being said, let me start with family dedications!!!
July 23rd-August 22
Leos!
3rd: Cousin Joshua
6th: Aunt Sharon
9th: Uncle Rodel
20th Niece Jen
Virgo!
23 - Eldest Sister Girlyne
Joshua: Though we may not be 100% compatible or be able to understand each other in more than one sense, I still appreciate everything you've done for me. There's a lot on your plate culture wise. Thanks for everything and Happy 22nd! (P.S: Your nickname is President Pastor. Sorry not sorry lol)
Uncle Rodel: I always looked forward to you visiting the house and I'm sorry that work and school have come in between the time I'm able to spend with you but I'm very thankful for you Uncle. You're a good man and fun to talk to. Athough, I know the language barrier can be an issue. Soon I will be able to communicate with you better!!! I look forward to seeing you next time. You always brought delicious food to the house. I hope that never changes! Happy Birthday, Uncle!
Aunt Sharon: You have always inspired me in your own way. You're a hard worker and dedicated to the people you love. I'm glad that I'm on that list. Life hasn't given me the chance to see you in a while but I'm glad you have a facebook now so that you can keep up with me and I can keep up with you. Love you and Happy Birthday, Aunt Sharon!
Sister!!!: You basically raised me. Although, I might have more of Jason's qualities and interest lol. Without you, I wouldn't have made it this far between the culture barriers and language barriers and well... general barriers of life. I'm super thankful to have you as a sister. Thank you for everything. Miss you a lot. Im sorry i wont be there for your birthday this year. Or maybe even next year π
But. Always know that I love you and I couldnt have become the person I am without you!!! Happy birthday, see you when I see you.
Jen: I already dedicated a thing to you but hey. You won't be the only one I've mentioned twice! I don't remember what the last time we celebrated your birthday. I do know that I miss you though!! Happy 24th I think lol. Love you and see you maybe next year xD.
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Song of Fire and Ice: A Clash of Kings: It take all my strength to limit myself on how much I read in this book. I'm limiting myself as to how many pages I can read because otherwise I'll need to get the 3rd book soon and I don't have enough money for that right now lol. I have the 4th book though. Because I'm awesome and grabbed the wrong book lol. I really wanted to read Lord of the Rings while I was out here studying but I stumbled upon Game of Thrones first and I'm not disappoint. In high school I read part of the first book lol. But I still have books back home that I havent read yet. Here, I don't buy the book unless I've read what I have and I make sure these books are thick so that I don't read through them quickly lol.
First Day of School: Culture here still gets to me. I made a few friends today!!! So I'm in Batch A-1 which means the other 30 something students are in every class with me. Back home, each class may have a student who is in a different major as you but here, everyone takes the same classes per batch and has the exact same schedule. I think it's really nice. It gives me time to get to know these other students.
The first 2 classes were canceled. Go figure. First they push back school for 2 days then hey cancel the first two classes π
. Unlike back home, the Dean will post on facebook any last minute announcements. Whereas, an email would be sent out to all the students if something were to happen last minute.
The youngest student in my batch is 17 while most of them are 18 and few are 19. Im the only that exceeds that lol. I explained how the we have Basics is America that come before the actual course which is another way for America to take your money. Here in the Philippines you start right away in whatever course you want to persue.
Some of the students wanted to call me Ate out of respect but I'm their classmate and I find it weird since I'm the only 'Ate'. Ate is a respectful term for 'older female' in Tagalog. It's like saying 'sister' in a way.
I went through 2 classes. We skipped Understanding Self and Technology for Teaching and Learning. So our first classes was at Child and Adolrscent Learners from 2:30 to 3:30. My teacher was Mrs. Alma and she made it a point to make me the center of attention. Which. Helped me with my nerves but also set them off lol. Mrs. Alma is more of an interactive teacher rather than a by the book teacher and I like that. Although, I do feel odd when we start singing and dancing to children songs that everyone grew up with except me lol. The again, I could always teach them the songs I grew up with. I guess that'll be on my to do list. I enjoyed that class despite the culture barrier I mentioned.
The second class we went to was Math. There's a long name but I'll simplify it lol. The teacher asked us to write about ourselves and said we would share it when she returned from an errand. Once she came back she asked if anyone wanted to introduce themselves and since she was the only one who didnt know I only spoke English I decided to go first and I ended up being the only one to introduce myself because she decided to hold a philosophy session.
While Mrs. Alma is more of an empath and direct with her emotions the teacher in math is straight forward. Mrs. Alma is very expressive and I like that about her. I feel bad for not catching the math teacher's name but she is very inspiring. For a moment I thought we were in philosophy instead of Math.
I'm looking forward to learning with these students and sharing my experiances with them. Some of them have already seen and read part of my blog so that makes me really happy.
At school I go by DJ because it's not easy to butcher. Cho sounds weird with their accent and Shinar is never said the same way twice. Agh. These dorm kids are singing and I want tslo sing with hem but there are so many I'm nervous to go down there by myself.
Well i gathered up the courage to go down there. I guess i'll get used to the Ate DJ thing. It's more effort to stop than I feel like putting into stopping. One of the kids were in my class. He was nice. Everyoe was nervous and they liked my voice though I admitted that in the US I was too nervous to sing in front of people. They despersed after i went to go get my charger so I'm guessing I intimidated them. π
I really do like to sing and I'm willing to teach them English. But they have to help me eith Ilokano. However, there are many other languages that the students know so this might be mote challenging than I thought. I'm looking forward to this semester. I hope I can become less intimidating over time.
Me and Dimer have to wait to get a key made for our apartment. I forgot to get a spare lol. These little things that matter. My guts still twisted from signing in front of them. I sang Your Guardian Angel - Red jumpsuit Apparatuse and rhey loved.
Since I left a picture of me and Alan as my profile picture literally everyone is hitting on him lol. I dont know how he feels about 17, 18, and 19 year olds gawking over him but that's what's happening. Lol
Overall, today went well. School was pushed back to noon tomorrow because of a holiday. It's like the school was even reluctant to start lol.
Let's see. What else? I dont think there's anything. Im attempting to make friends. The language barrier is the hardest part but I will break it. I'll be sure to drop updates thank y'all for tuning in.
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Carabao Languages: Each day I will have a post that will be in one of the 4 languages I'm trying to learn or in English..tune in to learn something new each day!
Thanks for supporting me everyone. Love and miss all of you back home. -DJ/Nar/Cho
P.S: DJ stands for Danieljames Joaquin. π
Official Date Adventure Started: April 25th, 2018
Experience the Philippines with me through videos, pictures, and/or by reading through the blog! I post Mondays at 12PM in San Angelo (UTC - 5) translated to in the Philippines on Tuesday at 1AM (UTC + 8)
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