May 28th, 2019

Hello All!

  Now that I have time to write these, I’m going to write about my plan since the semester is pretty much over. For the rest of May and part of June I wanted to stay in Vigan City so I can walk around and actually write to y’all about where I usually go to study, or places that I like to go in general! Eventually, I want to buy land in this city. I like San Emilio, but in order to make in this country, I’d have to buy land here in Vigan. (Of course, this is an idea not an actual plan but I know that it’ll be on my mind in later years.)

  Overall, I enjoyed this semester. Each semester brought stress to my plate but they didn’t ruin my experience of the Philippines as a whole. There is so much to see in this country. In order to unlock certain areas, you have to be able to speak the language of the locals (not English or the national language but the language the people speak at home). The reason why I say this is because the people will treat you differently if you put in the effort to learn their language.

  Being able to communicate with the people here is good but being able to experience their different cultures is an even better experience. This month makes a full year of me being here on the 25^th. I went home in December (yes, I didn’t tell everyone). The reason I didn’t tell anyone is because I wasn’t there to bring attention to myself. Next time I come home, I’ll be sure to indicate that I’m there.

  I’m looking forward to being able to share history about both the Philippines and the United States (specifically Texas). I’m thinking about making a vlog once I go home because the internet is faster and I feel that I would keep up with it more over there. Here, it depends on the connection of where I’m at that determines how fast the internet is and even then, it’s more about how ‘slower’ a connection is during certain parts of the day or when I’m in certain areas.

  It frustrates me that I have not been able to learn the languages since I’ve been here but the simple fact is, I needed guidance and I didn’t have someone who had the ability to teach me constantly. I had tutors during my free time and their free time, but it wasn’t enough for me to practice it. The languages I mainly focused on were Ilocano and Tagalog.

  For Ilocano, I focused on talking to the locals (not so much reading the language but actually speaking it and comprehending it). My tutor was showing me the written version but the problem with writing in Ilocano is that there is no standard version of Ilocano (the closest is a published magazine) but that’s one official documentation of the language. What I mean by standard is that in Ilocano, if a word sounds a certain way, it can be spelled that way.

  Ex: Diak ammo (translation: I don’t know) can be spelled in a variety of ways. A few examples are ‘Jak ammo, jak mo, and djak ammo.

  As long as the idea of the word is there, the word is wrong. The English version of this is the American vs British way of spelling certain words:  defence vs defense, cancelled vs canceled, enroll vs enroll, etc.

  Out of the languages I’m exposed to, I pick up the quickest on Itneg because it’s the one I was exposed to the most but that doesn’t mean that I use it. The language I can speak and understand the most is Ilocano because it’s the language I used with the locals. Tagalog is the language I can sing, read, and write the easiest because it’s the language I can refer to in the books. There are actual textbooks over Tagalog or Filipino, but there are no accurate books in Ilocano except the magazine that I mentioned.

  Being here has helped me understand the culture better. I’ve also been enlightened on the different religions as of recently. I, personally, don’t declare a religion, but I’m not against religion either. I understand that religion is made to help people understand the world and how it was created. It is also there to help people understand morals and figure out how they should live their lives. Personally, I don’t see why I have to be limited to one religion, when I can listen to all of the religions and see for myself what makes sense and use what I learn from each religion and integrate it into my life.

  Lately, I’ve been thinking of writing a public journal that documents my research over mythology, religion, philosophy, psychology, and culture. It’s a lot to write about which is why I’d only focus on one of the topics and the next time I would write I’d write about another topic. There’s a lot to learn in these subjects and I want to share what I learn with others.

  Something I wish I could explain to the Filipinos around me is that I come from a multicultural country, where it’s okay to not have a religion, it’s okay to be yourself, it’s okay to not follow traditions… One barrier that I’ve faced that I cannot break is that some of these people do not wish to extend their knowledge and they want to stay ignorant. Ignorance is bliss, but it is also a choice.

  I hope that I can keep myself from falling under the category of the ‘general population’. There’s a lot that I can share about the Philippines and the first thing that I want to do is start from the beginning of my journey (when I first started this blog) and compare how times have changed since I first stepped foot into the Philippines.

  I would also like to mention that I passed my aptitude test! In order to become a sophomore, I needed to pass that test. So, I have the ability to continue next semester as a sophomore! (Think of the aptitude as the TAKS Test or STAR Test during high school but for college).

  For the summer I would like everyone to help me with my blog by asking me questions that y’all have on your minds so that I can make a Q&A sort of post. I have many topics that I can talk about but I need people to help me figure out what I should talk about first. I have ADHD and it’s hard enough for me to focus. If I don’t have a list of questions, I tend to go ‘left field’ on my stories or post which is why I need my audiences help!

Please let me know what’s on your mind! Thank you for reading!

DJ/Cho/Nar

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