Question of the Day #1

 

Answer

Games in the Philippines are mainly PC. I tried to get my classmates into D&D but I overthought it so we didn't get a chance to play. But most games are either gambling related or on the computer. 

Video games are seen in a negative manner. Games in general are only for children. 

It's sad really. People don't see that games can be used outside of the entertainment for children. There are tournaments for PC games. They play League/Mobile Legends. Outside of that game I haven't seen many.

They do play game apps on their phones but outside of those cases that's all that exists in the gaming world. 

(For most of the population that doesn't have fast internet or is lacking in technology) 

Now in Manila, it's different. Think of Manila as New York for the Philippines. The only experience that I I had in Manila where a few nights because I stayed with my cousin due to paperwork not being correct so I couldn't leave the country.

There was someone who had a PS3 (?) I may be wrong about the console but they had a gaming console. The fact that they had a gaming console and that was the only console that I saw in the whole year living there should give some perspective on the lack of technology since I want a lot of places lol.

So outside of gambling card games there are no card games.

November 24th: Traditional Thanksgiving

I'm posting this with last week's video because this is still referenced to last week's video but it is still relevant for this weeks. 

Hello Everyone!

  This post will be about a 'Traditional' Thanksgiving. In the video I call it generic only because I couldn't figure out the word I was looking for but my brother-in-law who is also white said that I wasn't wrong. The way he put it... "At my parent's Thanksgiving I know exactly what we're going to have... with a few exceptions." Whereas, at my family Thanksgiving the dishes vary because to us, we're celebrating a holiday with a few themed items. For example, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pumpkin pie or Christmas cookies when I go meet up with my family in two weeks because we're celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Outside of that, it boils down to who's cooking and what's available.

  If you want to read more about Thanksgiving here's a link to an article from the history channel! Basically, Thanksgiving started as a holiday for the harvest but wasn't officially a holiday until later. However it was celebrated consistently each year!  Thanksgiving, to me, is a time to be thankful and to spend time with your family and/or friends.

  When I talked to my boyfriend and brother-in-law about their family traditions I learned that there's always a Thanksgiving football game. Apparently, the Dallas Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving. Due to this, Thanksgiving 'dinner' usually occurs around 3PM rather than 7-10PM because the Dallas Cowboys play at 7PMish. My boyfriend's family prepare for Black Friday which is a holiday that comes after Thanksgiving that has many sales to steal.

  Black Friday and Cyber Monday: On Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving. Many stores open early and release deals that push their sales. Black Friday isn't exactly a holiday, it's a day that many businesses decide to release deals at once and people then go shopping for anything and everything for a low price. This day is usually heavy in traffic and is very dangerous depending on when and where you go. There have been many cases of death and injury on this day because of the intensity of greed that people have. People are willing to do anything to save money or to get what they want.

  Cyber Monday is the online version of Black Friday. It occurs on the following Monday after Thanksgiving and consist of online deals that people can order and have shipped to wherever they please. An example could be an online purchase to a store within the city. They can then have the items shipped to the store and they can pick it up then. Or, they can ship it to their home or to whomever they are buying the item for.

  I suppose I can do another post over this section but for now I'll leave those at that. In my boyfriend's family, during Thanksgiving when they're sitting around the table and eating, they all take a moment to name one thing they're thankful for. My  brother-in-law's family doesn't do that but everyone has their own traditions!

  Now onto the food! My boyfriend and bother-in-law's family both had a similar list. My brother-in-law added like two items to what my boyfriend has listed so here are the dishes that they eat during Thanksgiving!

Turkey or Ham

Ham

Turkey

Stuffing/Dressing

A Stuffed Turkey

Stuffing - Dressing

What is it?

  Stuffing is bread soaked in broth and seasoning then rebaked.

Fun fact: Stuffing used to be stuffed inside the Turkey which is why it is called stuffing. However, both my brother-in-law and my boyfriend have told me that it's not the best way to cook it. Instead, the process is done separate which is what makes it Dressing. This item goes with the Turkey/Ham.

Mash Potatoes and Gravy (brown or white), Sweet Potato

Loaded Sweet Potato

*When I looked up 'loaded sweet potato' I got many different types of images. Apparently, people make their loaded sweet potatoes all different! In my boyfriend's family they use caramel, marshmallows, and cinnamon, and butter!

Sweet Potato

Mashed Potatoes - White Gravy

Mashed Potatoes - Brown Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Casseroles: Cream Corn, Green Bean, Broccoli Cheese

Creamed Corn Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce

Squash

Squash

Bread Rolls

Bread Rolls

--

  I want to point out that even though these look DELICIOUS... As someone who can't eat dairy or glutton all I can eat is the turkey, ham, sweet potato (without butter), and the cranberry sauce. I suppose I can eat the squash if they make it without butter but I have yet to eat squash on Thanksgiving. 

  Thank you for tuning in! For those of you who are from the U.S I want to hear about your thanksgiving traditions in the comments below or in the video comments. If you're not from the U.S then I want to hear about any harvest holidays or festivals that you have in the comments below or in the video comments. 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Dj/Cho/Nar

Learning something? Keep up with me so that you don't miss a post, video, or pictures!

Keep up with me at the following:

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I began to vlog on October 2nd 2019! Whether you prefer to listen to my vlog, read my blog, or enjoying looking into both, I appreciate it!

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 This will send me an email with your questions you don’t have to leave a name. I will post the answer to the blog!

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Nov 21st, 2019: Filipino Thanksgiving

Hello All,

  This week I wanted to talk about Thanksgiving since it’s next week. This time I wanted to cover my experience in America and then I’ll write about Thanksgiving in the Philippines. My family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas together mainly because we’re spread out and we all have our different schedules so we’ve made Thanksgiving our ‘all holiday meet up day’. That way, even if you can’t make the celebration in San Angelo or Dallas or wherever we plan to go, everyone tries to make it to the Thanksgiving meet up (which as I’ve mentioned, I have yet to attend).Hello All!

  When my family celebrates in general, we have food and we usually drink. In the mornings of the celebration usually the women are cooking unless we’re using the grill, then my brother-in-law, dad, uncle(s), or aunt are the ones cooking on that. We have a variety of dishes but my family always includes at least one or two pizzas for my one uncle who doesn’t eat the food we make unless it’s steak.

  At first, when I started to bring my boyfriend around the family, my parents and my aunt freaked out and would make him a separate dish so that he wouldn’t have to eat the food that was made for ‘us’. My boyfriend, however, likes to eat crab and is willing to try the dishes as long as they’re not very intense smelling or have onions in them. I tell my family to skip the ‘what’s in it’ description and I also warn him about it because I want him to try it without thinking about it. I’ve learned that many people don’t eat certain foods because they think about it and they don’t try it. Basically, they’re judging it before they give it a chance and I told my boyfriend that he can’t be like that if we’re going to be together.

  I don’t mind if he doesn’t like the food after he tries it. Generally, I tell him to try it three times at separate occasions and if he doesn’t like it, then fine! However, he can’t simply look at it and say that he’s not going to eat it because of what’s in the food or what it looks like or how it smells so I’m glad that I got him to adjust to at least trying the foods.

  If we’re not using the grill or killing a goat or chicken or pig (whatever it may be) then my brother-in-law and my job is to run the errands. If my sister(s) or mom are missing an ingredient or we need ice or sodas one of us goes and gets those items. Other than that, in the morning, while the food is being made, me and my brother-in-law are usually watching T.V to pass the time.

  Now, if we’re using the grill then the situation is different! This also applies to when we have a goat, chicken, or pig to kill. Now that I don’t live with my parents I’m not usually around early enough for this process but when there is an animal to kill my dad, brother-in-law, and uncle(s) are the ones to kill it (Not butcher it. What we do is make the process quick. We respect the animal, we’re not heathens).

  Up to a week prior of the celebration we go and buy a goat, pig, or chicken off of a farmer and take care of it until it’s time for us to eat it. Next time we kill an animal I’ll take notes and post it for you all but at the moment I can’t quite remember the whole process besides that we take care of it and kill it quick. When we have a chicken we usually use the blood and let it drip into a pot of uncooked rice and let it set in there to flavor the rice. Not everyone eats it but I think it’s good once it’s cooked. This dish is called dinadaraan

  Normally, we buy a baby up to a young goat. We don’t usually go for the older goats and we don’t always get adults because it depends on the amount of people that are showing up. The dishes we tend to make are

Goat: sinigang* (IL), kaldareta(IL), pinapaitan(IL), and kilawin (IL)(lightly cooked)  

*Sinigang means sour soup and can be made with any meat including shrimp

Goat: Kaldereta

Goat: Pinapaitan

Pork: Kilawin

Chicken: tinola (Tag/IL), pinakbekan (Igorat), and dinadaraan/dinuguan(IL/Tag)

Chicken: Dinardaraan

Chicken: Pinikpikan

Pig: Lechon

Chicken: Tinola

Pig: sinigang ng baboy and lechon

The Image for Lechon messed with the coding of my post so I'll show you all a picture through my video instead.

Pork Dish Sinigang na baboy

We also have cassava cake or bibingka and lumpia.

Lumpia

Cassava Cake

Bibingka

Alcohol wise we tend to drink whiskey, rum, scotch, rye, gin, and beer.

The Beer selection usually consist of Corona and Dos Equis. Sometimes, there’s a craft beer of some sort.

  Now that you all have read/seen what my family does for Thanksgiving, the next post will consist of what my boyfriend’s family makes as well as their traditions. I also asked my brother-in-law for some help because he is also white and he added a few bits of information to what they do. I’ll make sure to take pictures of the food they make this year and share the recipes (as well as share the same info from my thanksgiving party).

  I also want to point out that most of the dishes are Ilocano dishes as well as an Igorat dish that Ilocano speaking people know as that word. 

  Generally, my family celebrates this way for every holiday. Our main focus is to meet up, have a good time, have good food, and drink, then deal with the hangover the next morning. If you’re Filipino and want to share what foods you eat on Thanksgiving please do! Also, if you can, please share the recipe with me as well so I can post the picture and the info!

Thank you for tuning in with me this week, tune in a few days to read about the generic Thanksgiving my boyfriend’s family and my brother-in-law’s family have. See you soon!

DJ/Cho/Nar

   

October 10, 2019

October 10, 2019

  Magandang Umaga sa inyo! (Good day, everyone)

  Today I talked about a common misconception that Filipinos have when it comes to understanding what ‘American’ means. In the Philippines, everyone’s race, nationality, and language are the same. Their race is Filipino, their nationality is Filipino, and in general all languages are ‘Filipino’. While in America, people’s nationality can differ depending on their situation. There are Americans, Canadians, and even Mexicans. Some, are duel citizens where they can be, say, American-Filipino.

  In America, people categorize themselves by their race and the state they’re from rather than the nationality or the language they speak. No one says that they’re ‘Spanish’ because they speak Spanish. Most say that they’re Mexican or Latino or Hispanic but many don’t declare that they are Spanish. More commonly, people who speak Spanish say that they can speak the language.\

  How exactly does one describe themselves then as an American? My personal description is that I’m a Filipino who’s from West Texas. Unless a person goes out of state, there’s no reason to mention that you’re from the state that you’re currently in. If anything, people say ‘I’m from here’ which usually indicates that they hometown is the location that the two people are currently having the conversation in. I would say that I’m from West Texas because there are five sections of Texas since it is big enough. The parts of Texas are: North, South, East, West, and Central. Each of these sections are separated because they have different biomes or different trees, plants, animals, and such.

  An outside example would be if someone was from New York and they moved to Texas. They would then say, “I’m from New York.” Most of them won’t mention which city specifically because they don’t expect people from another state to know which city they’re from unless it’s one of the popular locations like New York City or Boston. They’re say their race, we’re going to go with Black for this example. I wanted to say Black because not everyone who is that race will describe themselves as ‘Black’. It all depends on the context. The safest way to describe someone who is ‘black’ is to listen to who they describe themselves and go with that description for that person. Some may say that they’re African-American which is also not a wrong description. (I could probably do a whole article over this but I’m going to leave those two examples for now. If anyone has any questions, leave them in the comment section of either the vlog or the blog post.

  Whereas, in the Philippines people will describe themselves by province or go even father and add a specific location to help indicate where they are from.  I’ll use myself as an example again. I’m Igorat/Ilocano. My family descends from the Kankanae tribe. My mother’s side is from Paltoc, San Emilio, Ilocos Sur and  my father’s side is from Labayug, Sison, Pangasinan. Some people from the city area (like say Vigan City or Candon City) don’t like the word ‘Igorat’ or use it as a vulgar term to describe people who are illiterate or snobby because people who are indigenous tend to have more land.

  The fact is, people who are indigenous have lineage to land that was claimed before the Spanish arrived and because of that, the family was able to keep the land over time. It only means that their ancestors protected what was important to them, not that they’re snobby or rich. A misconception that I’ve run into is that people who are Igorat or Indigenous are considered snobby because of the amount of land they have (this converts to how much money they would have to buy the land). But, if the land was bought or claimed for cheap or nothing at all in the past and was well protected over the years then the land would not have been bought for an expensive price to begin with. It could be sold for a higher price if it lasted generations but most Filipinos are protective of their birthright and would not sell off their land that they’ve had in the family for generations.

  As an example of someone who isn’t Indigenous, let’s say that someone is from Candon City. Their mother is from Candon and their father is from Bantay. Both families have Spanish last names (Let’s go with Garcia). They wouldn’t say that they come from a Spanish background. Instead, they would indicate which language they speak the best. Whereas, my cousins would say Itneg (the language of the municipality), someone from Candon or Bantay may say Tagalog/Filipino or Ilocano.

  More people in the Philippines tend to describe themselves with their language (since it is regional) rather than saying that they’re ‘Filipino’. If someone were from Pangasinan they wouldn’t say they’re Pangasinan, they’d say that they’re Pangalatot (or a language that is spoken over in that province) where as someone from Ilocos Sur or Norte would say ‘I’m Ilocano’. There have been fights over whether the term ‘Iloco or Ilocano’ is correct and I’m not going to fight people over something they feel so strongly about. It doesn’t matter to me whether someone is Iloco or Ilocano as long as they’re not a bad person. In my personal description I’m not considered Ilocano, I’m considered ‘Itneg’ since it’s the language of my family. However, is more than one type of Ilocano language as well as more than one Itneg language so even if I were to say that I’m ‘Itneg’ it wouldn’t meant that I can understand someone who speaks a variation of the language.

  I hope this helps clear up some confusion in either of my audiences. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions that you want me to cover! Thank you for tuning in this week and I’ll see you all next week! Also, I made a chart to help compare last week’s conversation. I hope it helps both my audiences understand each other better.

  Click here to read the original post about what I missed while I was in the Philippines!

  Click here to view the chart that compares the toilets of the two countries!

See you next week!

DJ/Cho/Nar

Keep up with me at the following:

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I began to vlog on October 2nd 2019! Whether you prefer to listen to my vlog, read my blog, or enjoying looking into both, I appreciate it!

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 This will send me an email with your questions you don’t have to leave a name. I will post the answer to the blog!

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      This is mainly for communication so go ahead, add me. Message me every once in a while so that I remember who you are. Otherwise, I'll delete you at the end of the year when I clear through my facebook lol.

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 Wattpad

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How To Relieve The Self: A Comparison between a Western Toilet and a Filipino Toilet

Western

What to say when going to relieve the self:  "I'm going to the bathroom."  "I'm going to the restroom."  "I need to pee."  "I need to take a piss."  "I'm going to use the John."  (There are more ways to ask but basically this is it.)

Parts of the toilet: Toilet Tank (The Back) Toilet Seat (What you sit on) Toilet Paper (Yes this counts) Toilet Bowl (When you flush, it goes down this)

How to Pee: Female: Sit Male: Stand. Lift toilet seat up and aim.

How to Relieve the Anus: Both: Sit, Don’t hurt yourself. Use Toilet Paper.

In Public, the same rules apply because the toilets are the same.

Sinks: Are required to work and have soap so you can wash your hands!

Trash cans: Will be provided, use them.

Filipino

What to say when going to relieve the self:  "I'm going to use the C.R" (Comfort Room)

Parts of the toilet: Toilet Bowl Water Bucket Pail

How to Pee: Female: Crouch (You’ll build those thigh muscles) Lean forward if you have to. Male: Stand. Aim. Don’t Miss.

How to Relieve the Anus: Both: Stand on toilet edges (it’s wider so it’s designed for this) and crouch. Relieve the self. Those baby wipes I mentioned? Hope you brought some. If without baby wipes… Traditionally… Use water and hand to clean the self. Then use soap bar to clean the hands.

In Public, some places that have the finances will provide a toilet that is more ‘western’. Use the instructions on the left side for those details. However, the toilet paper may or may not be provided despite the bathrooms being public.

Sinks: Most likely don’t have water IF there is a sink. Bring hand sanitizer and or as most Filipinos call it, rubbing alcohol.

Trash Cans: May or may not be provided. Do not flush your toilet paper down the toilet, if you bring your own baby wipes or toilet paper, have an extra plastic bag with you to throw these away in. Or, hold onto it until you find a trash can.

Vlog Week One: What Did I Miss About the U.S? Read the post here!

Learning something? Keep up with me so that you don't miss a post, video, or pictures!

Keep up with me at the following:

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I began to vlog on October 2nd 2019! Whether you prefer to listen to my vlog, read my blog, or enjoying looking into both, I appreciate it!

Ask Questions Here

 This will send me an email with your questions you don’t have to leave a name. I will post the answer to the blog!

 Facebook

      This is mainly for communication so go ahead, add me. Message me every once in a while so that I remember who you are. Otherwise, I'll delete you at the end of the year when I clear through my facebook lol.

 Instagram

       I follow anyone who follows me! This is mainly pictures of where I go!

 Wattpad

       Writing has always been a passion of mine. Interested in reading what's on my mind? Read up on a more emotional perspective of my life here!

October 2nd, 2019

This week's vlog

  Hello everyone!

  This week in my vlog I focused on my American audience. This post will take the details that I mentioned in the vlog and expand on it! In this week’s video I talked about the three things that I missed the most while I was in the Philippines.

  Of course, I missed my friends, family, and my puppy while I was gone but there were certain items and concepts that stuck out. Those items were toilet seats and air conditioning while the concept was the time it took to get anywhere. Being in the Philippines opened up a new perspective in life that I didn’t think I would see. Since being home, there are little concepts that stand out to me about either the states or the Philippines.

  In the past three months of me being home I’ve seen the lifestyle that I live in the states is adjusted to my needs in the states. Here, I go to work and I plan for my bills. I pick a friend or two to go see on my off days and I schedule what else I need to do on those off days. Before work I’m usually sleeping if not I’m cleaning or fixing the house up and after work I either go to sleep right away or go on a few errands with my boyfriend.

  Here, I schedule myself because I have to and I need in order to meet a certain time constraint that I mentally prepare for myself. I know how long it takes to get to work, I know how long it takes for me to get ready to go to work. My hours at work are set. I know my off days. I know that I need a certain amount of sleep and that I need to eat at a certain time of day or at least around a certain time of day.

  While I was in the Philippines time wasn’t constricted. To my surprise, for people who have to wait around for vehicle for hours, the people were very impatient. It amused people that when I had to wait for hours at a time that I would have a book in my hand or I would be writing. When I was in school I would plan to do my school work first then I would figure out what I would do after that.

  This concept of scheduling wasn’t a part of the culture in that country which angered a few Americans that I ran into. There was a white American that would go to the bus stop every weekend that I would go and if the bus wasn’t there within ten to fifteen minutes, he would be angry. Which, in an American mind set, I do understand that. However, when a person lives in a country for a certain amount of years (which is what I gathered from his rants) than that person shouldn’t expect the country to adjust to him. Rather, the person should adjust to the country.

  Only a few students that I went to school with scheduled a study time for themselves. I had an issue with setting a study schedule because I couldn’t study the same way as the students were taught. In their culture, it is custom to sit in front of a paper and memorize notes for an hour. Which can work for some but I know that I needed to find another way to remember what was being taught during class.

  When I was over there and not studying or doing school work, I was on my Wattpad and writing. It reminded me of my senior year in high school when I spent more time in my creative mind set than anything else. Today, I still have at least two journals that I need to type of from the time that I was writing almost every day.

  Being in the states has brought my attention to how the speed of time seems faster than it does in the Philippines. There, no one is in a hurry to get anywhere, and if they are, there’s still a limitation to their version of a ‘rush’. Filipinos don’t skip meals if they’re late. They think, well, they’re already late so might as well eat since they’re late. They don’t think ‘I should eat before I go to where I need to go’. This is where the concept ‘Filipino Time’ comes from.

  To the people who have met a Filipino, they know that Filipinos don’t show to up to a party or to an event until at least, a half an hour late. Which, is why the tactic around that is to tell the Filipinos to show up two hours early so that by the time they decide to show up, they’re on time instead of late. I’ve also notice that the culture of Filipinos is different in the states than it is in the country itself.

  There, families are close and sit around the table and talk to each other about their day. They push the essence of a family and responsibilities. While in the U.S many Asian families (not only Filipinos) tend to abuse the concept of family and focus on academics and/or work. It’s more important to make money so that the family in the Asian country is in a better living condition rather than focus on having a healthy family at home and across the sea.

  For a future video, I’ll touch up on this concept of culture but I also want to provide pictures of a Filipino building and the toilet that I mentioned. Down below is a picture of a traditional American toilet verses a Filipino toilet. I suppose I could do a separate continuation of this post since I’m sure how the toilet seat works.

                         Source

     Source

  I’ll be sure to add the link below if I do decide to write them out for you. For those of you who have kept up with me since 2018, thank you! And to those of you who are newer, I’m still thankful. Tune in next week to watch my next vlog and to read more about it through the blog!

Click here to look at the chart comparing the two toilet seats and customs

  Thank you, and see y’all soon!

Nar/Cho/Dj

Keep up with me at the following:

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I began to vlog on October 2nd 2019! Whether you prefer to listen to my vlog, read my blog, or enjoying looking into both, I appreciate it!

Ask Questions Here

 This will send me an email with your questions you don’t have to leave a name. I will post the answer to the blog!

 Facebook

      This is mainly for communication so go ahead, add me. Message me every once in a while so that I remember who you are. Otherwise, I'll delete you at the end of the year when I clear through my facebook lol.

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 Wattpad

 

Week Thirty Two: 10.13.18 Part III

Part III

  In this country it is very hard to work and go to school. Something I also noticed was that people judge a lot here. Why? In America people judge all the time. But we’re taught that it doesn’t matter what they think. It matters if you’re happy. Here, what other people think controls what you do. And I learned when I was junior high (Grade 6 to 8) that living that way is stressful so I stopped caring about other peoples’ opinions and it gave me control over my life. I was able to determine my own happiness.

  Now I’ve gone off on a tangent. Sorry everyone. To answer another question… I don’t know who will be the one to take care of my Inang after my Uncle Krilo but the other purpose of the position is ‘who will take care of the family house’?

  The concept of a family house is really neat. In America, the family house is my Auntie Loca’s house. Everyone goes there to stay. I think the house before hers was my parents’ house when we lived on Grape Creek Road. One day, I hope to buy that area again. I have dreams about it. I don’t know why. But because of the dreams, it makes me want to buy the land.

  Overall, I want everyone to know that despite all my complaining today I’ve learned a lot since I’ve come to this country. However, I, myself, cannot act fully like them. I wish that I could but some things that they do I’ve trained myself not to do because it sets off my anxiety or my depression or it is flat out too stressful.

  Many people here look up to me because of my individualistic nature. I had to learn how to live with minimal guidance. Luckily my moral compass points in a just direction so I haven’t turned out to be on the bad side of the human population. I try to guide the people who ask me for guidance. But I also have to take in the cultural differences. I usually tell the person, “The American response would be…” vs “the Filipino response would be…”

  It’s hard for me to care about what strangers think of me. I care about what people think only when they are interactive in my life. And even when they state their opinion, I don’t live by it. I tell them that I respect their opinions but I’m going to do what I feel is right.

  People here care about what others think so much, it makes me wonder how they deal with the stress of letting others control their life. I stopped letting the person who were controlling my life have that authority by the age fourteen. I was so worried about what they thought, what they wanted, and how they wanted me to live that I was not happy with myself.

  Here, as long as the family is happy then everyone’s happy. And that’s not true. But I can’t change the people here. I don’t want to. I try to understand why they live the way they live and right now the main goal that I have is to learn the languages. When I’m writing like this I can think in perfect English. However, my spelling does go on an adventure because of the way I have to think on a daily basest.

  In person, my English has changed to try and adapt to the people here. I try to make myself understandable but not everyone does that for the people around them. I want to thank you guys for listening. I’ve said a lot today. I’m going to be posting this in three parts to try and spread out my notifications. I don’t like making people read too much when they’re trying to ‘checkup on me’ so if you’ve made it to the third post, congratulations.

  I know that many people read these because I see the amount of ‘reads’ on my blog and it makes me happy. Thank you all for caring about me. All of you want to see me succeed on my journey and I’m going to try my best. Even though I’m stressed, I know that I can push through it because of the amount of support I get from back home.

  I haven’t been posting pictures and I’m sorry about that. I’m going to do my best to keep you all updated and the reason why I’ve split this into three parts is because I need to post consistently. I’ve started to write on my laptop and I will transfer the post to my blog after I transfer it to my flash drive. Once I’ve done that, whenever I’m at a computer shop(Internet Café), I try to schedule post.

  As of right now, I have 5 post waiting to be scheduled. I also want to post my essays because I think they’re important enough for you all to read. Everything that I write about is a rough draft to the question ‘how am I going to improve the education system’ and I feel that all of you should read over them. I’d like to hear suggestion or remarks. Anything from y’all.

  I do know that many of you want me to do vlogs. And if I do eventually get around to it. I will keep them at a 5 to 10 minute average because it will allow me to post more. Although, it is difficult to post video because of how long it takes to upload these things. I can make videos and they’ll sit there. When I finally get around to them they take an hour if not longer to upload and it’s dreadful to sit there and wait for the file to upload.

  People have asked me if I have a youtube and I do. But I don’t use it. I think what I should do is have a topic for 5 minutes and tell y’all about it as much as I can. I don’t know how that’ll work but I do want to try. I’ve had to touch back up on my Wattpad so for those of you who have a Wattpad please follow me and I’ll follow you back as long as you tell me that you’ve followed me.

  Continue to tag me and message me. Please, if I don’t answer after a week, message me again because I have to use my messenger every day and many messages go unseen if I’m talking to more than one group or more than one person. I receive at least 20 different threads a day. 20. So just remember, I’m not ignoring you, I’m flooded with messages. Message me again to push your notification to the top. Tag me in anything funny, anything interesting. I don’t care what it is.

  I miss everyone. I’ll be home between semesters for sure. I love you guys. Thank you for listening. This is part 3 of 3. If you want to read Part 1 (here is the link) and if you want to read Part 2 (Here is the link).

DJ/CHO/NAR