Thursday's Pic: Vigan City: The Dancing Fountain (Daytime)

Location: Plaza Salcedo 

Learn more about the dancing fountain on their facebook page!

At night, around 7pm people start to gather in the bleachers around the dancing fountain. Around 8pm the show begins!

May 14, 2019

Hello All!

  Thank you stopping in to read about my week! To begin, I want to start with Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers around the world! Whether you have a child of a furbaby I wish you a happy mother’s day!

  To begin, I’ll share a little about my mom. My mother’s hometown is Paltoc, San Emilio, Ilocos Sur. She can speak Itneg (Kankanaey), Ilocano, Filipino/Tagalog, and English. She had the ability to read Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

  My family on her side is very old school. They derive from the indigenous tribe Kankanaey. Based on my experience, my family on that side still keeps to the old traditions. These traditions consist of dances, ceremonies, and generally how the family functions.

  For my mother’s family, there are three main roles: The head of the family, the financial responsible person of the whole family (as well as their own), and the person in charge of the family house. In Filipino culture in general, a family has the head of the family (the father or the eldest son) and the financial holder (the mother) who is also in charge of the house and maintaining it.

  Generally speaking, men are supposed to go out and get a job while women stay in the house and take care of the house and children. It is their responsibility to teach the children manners and proper etiquette.

  On my mother’s side of the family the head of the family has to be a male. As far as I know, the financial person is female, and the person in charge of the family house is male. From what I understand, the previous generation of people were my uncle (who is now in Canada. He was one of the few siblings to get an education), my mother (who is a certified preacher and was a early childhood teacher), and my other uncle (the youngest sibling who went to school to be a mechanic. He also knows how to fix almost anything.) The current head of the family is my cousin (because he is also a certified pastor and will be graduating in political science), I am next in line to be the financially responsible person, and my younger cousin (the eldest son of the uncle who is in charge of the family house) will take over the family house and taking care of Inang (our grandmother) when the time comes.

  Now, I know some Filipinos will be reading this so I want to explain the ‘American’ way of how a family functions. To begin, American is a nationality not a race which is why the way a family function depends on cultural background (usually race) of a family. When I was growing up, the head of the family was my father. But, he didn’t usually have to use the position unless there was an argument in the family and even though then, he might do something about it. My father had faith in me and my sisters’ independence which was why he never usually stepped into our personal lives. My mom was in charge of finances and my aunt (my dad’s sister) was the owner of the house my family was living in.

  During my high school years I spent more time with friends’ families than my own. Most of my friends were Mexican so I learned some Spanish from them. From what I observed in most races the men go out to work while the women stay at home. There’s more of ‘the boss of the family’ and ‘the caregiver’. Most cultures I’ve experienced don’t give the financial responsibility to the women. Rather, the women make the list of what to get and the men go get it.

  In truth, when I think about it… Out of the first then friends who pop up in my head ten of them have both their birth parents. The six remaining friends their situation with their parents isn’t clear to me but the remaining four have separated parents. Four of those friends come from a multicultural background (Mexican + another culture) and (white + another culture). Three of them are pure Mexican ant the remaining are white.

  To clear terms up, in the United States we call ‘white’ people ‘white’ regardless if their lineage traces back to England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. If your skin tone is white, we call you white. Now, there are Mexican who are light skinned but those people usually trace back their lineage to Spain and not the Aztecs.

  Regardless of culture background, it is up to the person to decide if they want to continue traditions or not. Overall, in the states, we push that a person should do what’s right for them, not for the whole family.

  Nine of the friends I thought of earlier have supportive parents (separated or not). Most Asian families that I know of end up in the same situation I grew up in where most customs are dropped and independence is the main focus of the parents. These parents usually are workaholics and spend more time at work than at home.

  Generally speaking, there are theses biases/prejudice about family. Personally, I don’t see why a family has to function only one way. Old traditions die hard. I’m not saying that the older traditions should be forgotten. Instead, the older traditions and modern customs should find a middle ground. I strongly believe that different cultures can co-exist if they truly want to.

  My childhood is long passed. I can’t access anything before age ten and my adolescence was harsh. Living in the Philippines has helped me understand my mother better. I also have to thank my boyfriend’s family. Their customs prepared me to adjust to the blood family I have on my mom’s side.

  Despite our differences, I’ll always love my mother. I may not agree with certain habits and life choices but all I can do is not do what I agree with. My mother has never mentally left the Philippines (and what frustrates me is that it took my boyfriend pointing it out to me for me to realize it). People ask me if I’m bitter about it but I tell them that I’m not. During my adolescence I learned through my band director that you can’t change what has already happened. You can only change your attitude towards it and what you do with the information from that point on.

  That being said, I love my mom. I can’t change who she is but I can make do with the time I have with her. In truth, my parents seem closer when I’m eight thousand miles away rather than living in the same city.

  The only time I spend time with my family is on Sundays for Sunday lunch/dinner. Or, it’s a holiday and we all meet up for that. My family understand that we all have separate lives so long as a family member participates in one family gathering, then the family as a whole won’t be upset.

  If you have any questions about culture feel free to comment, message me, or get a hold of me on any of my social media accounts. I’d be willing to answer any questions! Again, happy mother’s day to all mothers and thank you for tuning in this week!

-DJ/Nar/Cho

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Sunday Watt's: Blinding Pride

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April 9th, 2019

Calle Brewery

April 8^th, 2019:

  This day was a good day! Right now I’m trying to write poems for the New Tandem’s poetry book ‘LAYAP’. It stands for something but I’m not sure what. I do know that the theme and having people actually respond to my poems in a one to one conversation helps me improve my writing immensely.

  My brother asked me to go to a brewery in town. I hadn’t gone because most of my friends don’t like to drink or they think that they’re too young but most of them are eighteen going on nineteen. (Yes, most of them are born in 2000 if not 1999.) Imagine, I try to make myself stand out but the fact is that I come from a different culture and age group than most of the people around me.

  Luckily, through the New Tandem I was able to find someone who was willing to go with me to this brewery. There’s another bar that I would like to go to and I hope that he will be willing to go with me. If not, I’ll have to venture out and make more friends.

  About the bar: This place had a very nice atmosphere. It wasn’t a place that had this ‘rowdy’ feeling to it. It was very calm and spacious. I met my friend there and I was so happy to go drinking with someone without getting hit on! In the U.S that’s the main reason why I don’t go to bars because I get hit on constantly.

  This was our first subject and he was amazed. Really? He asked. I told him, yea. In the states, I’m a cute Asian so I’m the first one people see when I walk in. He brought something to my attention that amused me. “Isn’t it funny that Westerners think that Asians are so unique and ‘sexy’ but over here in the Philippines it’s the westerns that we think are unique and ‘sexy,?”

  It didn’t occur to me that this was how the Philippines viewed the world that I came from. To an extent, I did but I wasn’t living that life so it was interesting to see laid out in front of me. In both cultures, I’m hit on, regardless because I look young even for a Filipino. Due to that, I didn’t exactly pay attention to who was this idea of ‘sexy’ or ‘lusted over’.

  He shared with me how he doesn’t always have a drinking buddy and was happy that I was willing to go out with him and drink and talk in public. This is a cultural thing that’s not usually acceptable. I had to explain that to most people, going out to drink is limited to ‘women don’t drink in public’, ‘men are the only one who can drink in public’, ‘men and women don’t drink together’. If men drink with women it’s because they’re considered ‘gay’.

  When I told him this he shared that some people that we interact with don’t like to drink with him. He always drank with the same person if the group went out for drinks but he had never drank with the others. I knew discrimination was present but it didn’t occur to me that he was included in this discrimination.

  The reason why we could drink together was because we didn’t mind drinking without someone at the same intellectual level. To us, the bias of who was drinking with us wasn’t weird. All we cared about was going out to drink with someone for the good of company. Now that I think about it we compared our drinking experiences.

  Through preference, I didn’t enjoy drinking in public because most of the time I would be flirted with. Or, I would get looks of disgust because I’m a woman in the Philippines so customs say ‘I can’t drink’. Or, if I’m drinking anything other than wine what I’m drinking isn’t a ‘woman’s drink’. Since when did society label whether a drink was feminine or masculine?

  His drinking experiences usually surfaced as getting drunk to the point of no return. He said he liked to drink and it was sort of like a competition. He had never experienced sitting with someone, eating, and drinking, while having a good time or not flirting.

  Even though the interactions with this friend are few moments that I can grab with him each time that I’m with him I can sync with him really well on an intellectual level. He’s funny and he understands my humor. I don’t always get his due to the language barrier but I’m happy enough that he understands my humor at the least.

  He never belittles me and seems to always have the best interest for the people he’s friends with. At first when I met him I didn’t understand why he was in New Tandem but as time went by I realized that he’s in New Tandem because of his ideas and output. He gives energy to the New Tandem that is similar to mine. We’re idealist.

  Apparently, I like bitter beer while he likes fruiter tasting beer. It was funny because the first two beers we got, I got the Diego and he got the Espada. We had small glasses that we could poor each other’s drink in so that we could try both drinks. The Espada was fruity while the Diego was bitter. The second round of beers we got were the Canyon and the Bigote. I think he ended up with the Canyon because it was fruity and I ended up with the Bigote because it was bitter. The waiter had given him the Bigote at first and me the Canyon and we ended up disliking the tall glass we had so we ended up switching glasses.

  I’ll be uploading pictures this week. For now, I will leave this here for all of you to read over. I have to say, if any of you find yourself in Vigan City I recommend going to the Calle Brewery. My brother wanted a beer label but they didn’t have any so I ended up buying him a mug but he wasn’t disappoint!

Thank you for reading, everyone. Tune in next week to hear about another adventure in my life!

DJ/Cho/Nar

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April 1st, 2019

  Technically, it’s still the thirty-first of March for me because I’ve been able to sleep but let me tell y’all. It is hot! Like I have the fan on full blast but I still feel sweat on my face and it’s uncomfortable. I don’t do well in the heat when it comes to sleeping. So, instead, I thought I might write out my entry for y’all and post in the morning. Maybe I’ll be able to post this right after I get out of class. If not, I’ll save it for next week. I have an older post from February that I’ll be sharing with you. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post this but if not, then this may be scheduled for the week after or even later.

  What thoughts accompany at this hour? Well, I’ve thought about this past week and how I’ve felt connected with the people here in the Philippines. I don’t feel like a stranger for once. These people are always telling me to adjust telling me that I need to change. Whereas, all I’m trying to do is understand their culture first and then I can analyze my observation and work with it from there.

  I landed here on April 26^th, 2018. I stayed here until December 18^th of 2018. Then, I came back around midnight of January 13^th, 2019. In total, I have been here for roughly nine-ten months. I have learned a lot since coming to this country and I’ve been doing my best to learn from the people of this country but something struck me this week.

  Internally, I have never felt a part of this country. I am Filipino. I am their race but I’m not one of them. I don’t like to think this way but back home I’ve never exactly fit into one cliché group. I’ve never wanted to. But there’s this sense of belonging to society that humans have craved over their evolution and I didn’t think that I felt the need to be accepted into a society but after this last week I’ve realized an internal battle that I wasn’t aware that I was having.

  It has always been okay for me to be different. I know that I’m different. I’m aware that I’m different. But I’ve never been placed in the spotlight (negatively) because of it and that’s something that has happened here. Questions and comments like the following are asked all the time and I’m constantly reminded that I’m not one of the people here and to an extent I don’t feel that I ever will be fully.

  How are you Filipino but you can’t speak Filipino? Why are you here and not in the United States? You have to adjust to us. You can’t bring your culture here. You might be ‘used to whatever it is you’re doing’ but it’s not acceptable here. You can’t be bisexual, you don’t have an ex-girlfriend. You’re not close to your family? That’s not the culture of the Philippines. You should be able to speak at least one of our languages by now, you’ve been here for so long. Why don’t you study back home? You can’t be ‘neutral’ to religion! That means you’re antichrist! As a Filipino you have to believe in God! You’re a woman, you shouldn’t carry your own things. Why don’t you have someone with you to help you adjust? You’re not a virgin?! That’s not socially acceptable here! You’re not married.

  The list goes on. I will get a little political here for one moment. I’m not here to change people’s views in politics or judge people on their political views and some of my readers may not continue to read because of the following comment but all of you who are reading this need to understand that this is a personal public journal and this is about how I have been affected by culture, society, technology…by the world. So, if you are Trump supporter, you’re probably not going to like the following.

  I do not support the president that I have to claim as my president back in the United States because he is against everything that I am. I come from a foreign background (as an American-Filipino). I am a female, who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, I am bisexual. I believe that education is more important than business because we can always makes more business but we can improve those business through education. The military is important, but I don’t believe that it needs more funding.

  That statement wasn’t made to provoke anyway (and it probably will). But I’ll go back to the social interaction of Filipinos because who I am is questioned. I look Filipino but how can I also be American? I’m a Filipino who doesn’t speak the languages. I can’t attracted to women, I’ve only had boyfriends.

  I could touch up on the subject in parts but since this is supposed to be a short journal entry I’ll see what I can add onto it on later days. My purpose of putting all this in one entry is that… I haven’t felt like I’ve truly belonged in this Filipino society until this week and I think I will continue to struggle with this aspect until I write it out and come to peace with it.

  Why should a person be limited when it comes to who they are? Why is it not okay to part of multiple society? What’s wrong with that? Is there a problem with being who they believe they are? What makes a society’s standards the only correct standards?

  These aren’t questions that run through my head because I want to always feel isolated from the community but rather, these are questions that I ask because I want to know why it’s not acceptable to be different in a society. I may look like these people but I’m not one of them on a mental and social level. I have reached a level of acceptance physically and I know that I get my emotional reactiveness from this culture but it took me meeting people who understood me on an intellectual level as well as a mental and social level for this invisible barrier to come down.

  Through the people I’ve met this past week, or to the people who I’ve come to realize can actually sync with me, I want to say thank you. Thank you for making me feel comfortable in my own skin. This was a battle that I had to fight in my adolescence. I became comfortable not fitting in.

  These people that I’ve talked to this week… From the Vice President of Foreign Affairs, to my Advisor in the Office of Foreign Affairs, to my Section Adviser, to my tutors in Ilocano and Filipino, to the staff of New Tandem, to the Thai Bass player that I got to interview, to my Physics friend, and to my actual best friend. All of these people have helped me feel intellectually, emotionally, and socially sound. It is because of them that I have realized that it’s not about being part of the community that isn’t mine. It’s about finding the people who bring out the best in you.

  The above people have challenged me intellectually and synced with me in one way or another. Some people I’ve only spoken to once, but one interaction was more than enough to get me to realize the importance of why I’m here. I’m not here to be a part of the Filipino community. I’m here to learn how this culture can better my life. These people haven’t judged me for what I should be but rather, they look at me for who I am. I don’t fit into society and they see that but that doesn’t cause them to think less of me, instead, this makes them wonder about me.

  Americans stereotype Filipinos for being great good company and friendly host. But that’s only if you’re not one of them. I am a Filipino but I’m an American first. This doesn’t mean my race isn’t Filipino but this means that I was raised and exposed to multiple cultures. Filipinos make the best friends but they make the worst enemies.

  This country has proven to me through the society that there are many Filipinos that live up to the standard of good hospitality. However, I was exposed to the wrong crowd for far too long and I didn’t realize it until the universe showed me who my friends were this week. This week has to be the most enlightening week of my nine-ten months here and I’m so glad that I’ve experienced it.

  There’s a lot to talk about in this entry but I’ll leave it here and come back to it later. My gut has twisted as if I had said something wrong. The above is true and these are my feelings. I cant change those feelings. What I can do is change what I do with them now and it may take more than tomorrow but I do hope that I can begin to enjoy the rest of this semester because I’ve figured out why I haven’t felt Filipino. It’s not that I’m not Filipino. It’s that I’ve culturally thought that I was what was wrong with the picture in society. When really, I was basing my opinion off the wrong people in that society.

 

I’m going to have to retouch on this subject,

Thanks for listening.

DJ/Nar/Cho

March 25th, 2019

  Hello everyone! Long time no personal talk…

  Last week I had my midterms. I have one midterm left that I will review today. (It’s about contemporary history and it’s not that difficult). I’ll need to watch a few youtube videos in order to review but other than that I should be fine.

  This past month I’ve focused heavily on my writing but not on my journal entries to you all and I’m sorry that I haven’t been as on schedule as when I first left. I’m hoping that my new project will help me keep up with writing to you all. I have photos saved on my USB to have scheduled. I have more than a thousand photos on my phone that I need to transfer to my laptop but I still need to post the multitude of photos that I have from last year.

  So, I have the content. I haven’t been focused on my blog which is my fault. It’s exciting to know that writing this blog will be a two way street. If I were to go home to the United States, I can then keep my friends in the Philippines updated on my whereabouts also.

  I did update the Q&A located to the right of these post. Google+ was removed so I had to take down the button but for the most part all my blog is missing is content (which I have!!!) If anything, I’m thankful for all the friends that I’ve made thus far. My friends realize that distance does not limit a friendship and that makes me more than happy.

  People talk about how they lose friends because they move away but I have very few friends that I’ve lost because of this. If anything, I feel that these friendships that unpause when we’re around each other make for stronger bonds than ones that are limited to having to see each other on a daily basest. Granted, I do like having someone physically around me for most of my days but overall, I can see my friends after a long period of time and nothing has changed.

  These are friendships that I cherish and I try to be that friend for others because I treat people the way I want to be treated. This project that I’m going to be doing is going to take place on Wattpad but I will also post the results here. I’m going to be rereading what I posted in my first week (at one point I stop posting what week it was lol) and I will write any comments, changes, or remarks about what I feel today verses how I felt the first time I got here.

  What I do know is that I have changed and I do good friends all around me. Next month will be my birthday and I tried planning a few things with my friends and I found out that I have more than I thought I did. Which is a problem but it’s a good problem to have.

  For those of you who haven’t read anything outside of this blog, I’m still happy that you’ve read this blog at all. If you are an active Wattpad reader please let me know by following me and I will follow you back! I enjoy being able to talk to people on that website because there’s a list of artist that are inspiring of different ages and backgrounds… It connects people.

  There’s a shelf the two bookstores I’ve been to in this country and they have a Wattpad section. I think that is so awesome that the website has reached out that to the point where they’re selling actual books! I don’t foresee myself being on that shelf specifically but I do eventually want to publish a book and I do know that my friends who be willing to support me in this.

  Half of the semester is over! I cannot believe it’s already here. I’ve written about cultural dilemmas in my poetry book on Wattpad. I feel that if I were to share them here, y’all would enjoy them as well. I’m having to keep a name database because I try not to spill actual names to the public but there are so many characters in my life that keeping up with a secondary name is difficult.

  Now that I think about it, I suppose that I could schedule a poem once a week from my poetry book and have the link to the poem added into the post so that people who read this and who are on Wattpad can connect with me there as well. My friends have told me that I would be a chibi in an anime. When I told my boyfriend this he told me that I’d probably be the main character.

  It’s adorable how you guys look up to me but I’m so tiny compared to most of you. Today, I went to go eat with one of my friends and I looked in the mirror on the opposite wall and realized that I am super light compared to him. Like, I’m borderline white on our scale of how dark we are. I looked at my photos in the past and realized that I don’t really get darker, I sort glow more instead of getting dark and that’s really weird to say and try to explain but yea… I glow more instead of getting darker. It’s the yellow in me guys.

  There is literally no possible way for me to cover everything in one post especially when I limit myself to a thousand words but I don’t like rambling and I do know people want to get on with their lives which is why I limit these in the first place.

  Cool news though! I finished my first poetry book since I’ve been back on Wattpad (September of 2018). This poetry book contains 100 poems about my life here in the Philippines. It also contains poems about my mental health as well as my relationships with people. I’m proud that I finished this book and I want to share it with you all. I hope I can schedule the poetry. I have a lot to get done on my blog and all I hope is that you guys will stick around to read it all.

Thanks for tuning in,

DJ/Cho/Nar

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February 18th, 2019

February 19^th, 2019

  Hello everyone!

  By the time this post I will have taken my Teacher Aptitude test and I will be sure to tell you all what my results are once I get them! But! I’m so excited! I want to tell you guys about an opportunity that came up! UNP was invited to trade students for one week with a university in Thailand! If I can manage the funds then I can go and I can show you guys Thailand!

  Of course, I’ll need to take my skin into account and culture. I’ll be around a university so I’ll go in what I usually wear at school. I talked to the person who is in charge of international connections and asked him what I need to do to connect him and Angelo State University! I’ll need to call the school and hopefully this can be worked out. There are many Filipinos in San Angelo so it won’t be as difficult for Filipinos to adjust since there’s already a community built for them!

  I don’t know if I mentioned this at any point of time but while I was there in San Angelo I was part of the Asian American Association of Woman. They’re a nonprofit organization that promotes Asian culture! The organization originally allowed only women to join but now it’s possible to be a male a join! When I was a member I mainly did anything my sister asked me to.

  For those of you who want to check out their website here’s the link.

  As I mentioned in my last post, there is a culture festival going on and I’m in the middle of it. Literally. To the right of my apartment I have the carnival, to the left is the food court and concerts, and behind the building they had their version of a Rodeo. Now, sad to say I didn’t go to all the events. I didn’t spend much time there except for the trade fair, carnival, and food court. But, this apparently happens every year so I probably have another chance to go next year!

  I’ll collect some articles and share them with you all! This weekend I went to Labayug, Sison, Pangasinan. One of my friends had to attend a funeral and I told him that I would be willing to go with him to Pangasinan because I also have family there. His family is from Bayambang which is an hour and half away from my family’s place.

  Labayug: It is impossible to see ALL my family in one visit. Even if I stayed for longer than a weekend I don’t think I’d meet all my family. This time I went to drop off my Aunties’ pasalubong (gift). It takes six-seven hours to get to Sison from Vigan. I absolutely can’t stand long rides like that but at least I was on a good bus. It was a little difficult sitting with my friend because he has to have the vent turned away from him in order to not get motion sickness but I need the vent open in order for me to not get motion sickness. Luckily, we both managed.

  The next day I woke up a little late. I had issues sleeping because Labayug is near a cement factory and that effects my ability to breath. That’s one of the downfalls of being there. It’s also hotter in Labayug. Vigan City is nothing like Labayug heat and I’m thankful for that.

  The only thing I managed to do was go see my cousin/best friend and meet/remeet people at church. I went in late but that was okay. The pastor picked me out easily and welcomed me to the church as a visitor. My dad is well known in Labayug outside of the fact that most everyone is family so I was praised for being there. I have a few pictures that I took. I’m sorry that I haven’t been scheduling pictures for y’all but I’ll be sure to do that in my free time!

  It was tiring but we were able to get back to Vigan the second day before 8pm. It was nice to have someone I know go with me to Labayug. Soon, I will visit my family in San Emilio. I landed in the Philippines the first day of school so I had to go straight from Manila to Vigan and that bus trip was awful.

  Let’s see… Kanawedan (Culture festival). I got a henna tattoo! I’ll post a picture of that. The artist was really cool. He spoke more Tagalog (Filipino) than Ilocano which was a challenge for me but I know that I’ve come far in learning these two languages because I was able to communicate with him and he was able to communicate with me. I never thought I’d be able to understand someone and they would be able to understand me yet we both cannot speak the other’s language very well. So he was talking to me in Filipino while I was responding in English/Ilocano.

  I’ve been getting into the habit of not taking pictures because I want to live in the moment around me but I also want to share it with you all. I have all these photos that are sitting in my phone and my computer yet I haven’t scheduled them! I need to!

  My language progress: It’s weird but I can understand a lot more now than I did when I came here. I can respond in Ilocano more but I’m nowhere near fluent. I can write and read better in Tagalog because that’s the language that is required for my classes. I can understand Tagalog but unless a person is looking at me and making a point that they’re talking to me I tend to not hear it. Information overload you know?

  As for Ilocano… I can recognize it and speak some of it but only enough for small conversation. I can’t read it very well but that’s because most of the words are like ten characters or more. I mentally skip over it when I pass by it and I try not to but half the time I don’t realize that I’m doing it.

  I was sick this week and to my surprise I was able to respond to people in Ilocano and English but if someone speaks to me in Tagalog my brain goes, “Huh. What?” Then it completely forgets what it’s trying to do. Lol.

 

  This year I’m going to try to do my best to keep up with this so be prepared to check on my blog more often because there’ll be more content soon! Thank you guys! Don’t be afraid to message me and keep up with me.

Thanks again everyone!

DJ/Cho/Nar

Keep up with me at the following:

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

 If I don’t write a post here there’s probably a chance that I have written something on my Wattpad because there I post poems! They are shorter reads with more meaning. I am currently working on two poetry books but the more important one that ties into this travel blog is called ‘A Barrier Meant To Be Broken’.

February 12, 2019

  Magandang Umaga sa inyong sa lahat! (Good Day Everyone!) [Tagalog]

  I’ll be honest. These past two weeks have been stressful but that’s okay. Everyone has their good and bad weeks. Right now I’m at NSCC Bath and Coffee. This place is real cool! I wasn’t sure if I could do my homework here but I asked and they said yes. Later, I saw that there were students all around me! So, I’ll probably come here when I want to concentrate or to do a study group session. I was supposed to find the brewery that my Brother wanted me to find but I have yet to finish the outline to the powerpoint that I’ll have to present.

  I wanted to share Filipino history with you all since I’m having to read so much of it. But I don’t want to include it in this post because Kanawedan just finished! Kanawedan is a time where a carnival, trade fair, food fair, and concerts all happen in Tamag, Vigan City. My apartment is LITERALLY right in the middle of the commotion and to my surprise I’m used to the noise so I can sleep through it.

  The dorm doors have been staying open all night because of the festival but I’ve been returning at 8 to 8:30 like the regular time that way I don’t mentally come home at the wrong time. I have a mental clock that has me checking the time around 7:50. I check to see what I’m doing and finish up or if I’m out with my friends I tell them that I need to head back.

  Sadly, one of my friend’s uncles died. Out of my three close friends two of them have linage that lead to Pangasinan. Those two friends are from Abra and they also have Igorat heritage. If you haven’t read up on my past post Igorat is the equivalent to Native American for us. So, they are called ‘indigenous’ or they’re ‘native filipinos’. These people are the Filipinos who were living on the Philippines Islands before the Spanish came. Also take note that not all of them consider themselves Igorat. Igorat is what my family’s tribe calls themselves but my two friends have blood from different tribes.

  Anyway! We looked up our three locations and it turns out that Rosales, Pangasinan is right in the middle of all three of our barangays so we could totally plan a trip to see all our families. We jokes with our friend who is from San Vincente and said that we’ll be right back and he got all sad because his family is from the area around Vigan as far as he knows. But! His mother is in Spain so I think that’s still cool.

  I don’t know if I shared this with you all or not but I’d love to live in Spain one day. I looked up the requirements for Spain and I don’t know how it works but if I was a Filipino citizen then I’d could work in Spain for a year and then get my citizenship. So, what I’m curious to know is if I get my dual as a Filipino citizen am I able to get a citizenship to Spain through that?

  Of course, this is a thought for later. I like to travel in general. The plan was to finish school, become a Duel Citizen after I graduate then I’d get to see if I could visit Spain. My friend who has a mother working in Honk Kong told me that Honk Kong is two hours away and I found that interesting. One day, I hope I can meet her mom (while I’m with her of course).

  San Vicente: My friend took us to a Lola (woman who is around a grandmother’s age) in San Vicente who was alive during the Ferdinand Marcos Reign. Here, they call it the Marcos Regime. (I’ve never used Regime before so it’s weird for me to think ‘Regime’ instead of ‘Reign’. Regime refers to a form of government. Now that I’m staring at it, I still don’t feel that I would use the word but that’s what they call it here so I won’t argue with it.

  Anyway, she was really nice! She told us to call her Tita Vini. She worked in Thailand for a long time as a teacher and I found that interesting as well. At her house she has a museum that displayers her (brother’s(?)) art. I’ll be sure to post pictures and see if I can find any articles over the place. If I can’t find any I’ll go back and write one of my own but I doubt there isn’t one. Even then, I really want to go back.

  San Vicente is only ten minutes outside of Vigan City and it feels so much better! I like to think of San Vincente as a suburban area. My friend from there said his family is from San Vicente and Mansingal (I don’t know if I spelled that right lol). I told my cousin that if we had to move somewhere I’d chose San Vicente because it’s only ten minutes away and it feels nice. I know he wouldn’t like it though because he’d be away from his friends.

  Anyways, about Tita Vini’s place and why we went. So, she has a forest like backyard like! Whoa! She loves nature and believes that as long as we take care of it then it will take care of us and she’s not wrong! Originally, I went for the company but when she spoke more English at the beginning than Ilocano or Tagalog I started to listen in. Her life was really interesting.

  She was the oldest of her family. I didn’t catch all the details because she did switch languages and I can’t remember everything she said. But, for a lot of Marco’s reign she was in Thailand. She does like Marcos better than Duterte. She even asked me about my opinion about my country’s politics and I told her that I’m not a supporter of my president either. I told her that I wanted to teach to prevent presidencies like our current presents right now. She smiled about that.

  Whoa! There’s so much to cover and I already hit my one thousand words for this post. I don’t want to drag on so I’ll just have to have a separate post for the rest of this. Don’t forget to message me guys. I enjoy talk to you all. And I miss everyone. I also support all of you! So, please let me know what you’ve been up to and if your own boss. Things like that! Like my sister makes her own jewelry and she also sells eggrolls on the side! My friend Michael Dye is kicking it at her It! Works sells. My middle sister is a photographer and I have other friends who are also photographers. I have another friend who is working on her Modeling career and her photos are so beautiful!

  So yea y’all let me know what you’re up to! I’d love to hear from you. I also I appreciate all of you who come and read these post. It means the world to me. I like knowing that there’s a steady fifty of you reading these post. Even though I’m not making money off this website it still makes me happy. Maybe one day I’ll have my own business too.

Well, that’s all for now

Thanks for reading!

DJ/Nar/Cho

P.S: This week on February 15th I will be taking the Teacher Aptitude Test! I need to pass it in order to continue studying as a teacher. For those of you reading this before February 15th please think about me and hope that I will pass this test! I'm confident but I don't want to be cocky. Thank you again guys. All of you who read these make my day! <3 all="" and="" are="" doing="" good="" hope="" i="" luck="" me="" of="" p="" wish="" you="" yourselves="">

Keep up with me at the following:

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

 If I don’t write a post here there’s probably a chance that I have written something on my Wattpad because there I post poems! They are shorter reads with more meaning. I am currently working on two poetry books but the more important one that ties into this travel blog is called ‘A Barrier Meant To Be Broken’. Below are the last five poems I wrote on there as of thi

January 28th, 2019

Hey guys!

  Let me tell you about my first mentally aware week of school! School started on the fourteenth but that doesn’t mean I was mentally aware of what was going on around me. I started class on January eighteenth and then it was the weekend. (I went home to San Emilio too!) So, I’m excited to update you all now that I’m not exhausted!

  I’m going to start with my classes. This year I basically have four history classes. It makes the homework slightly easier and it makes it more interesting for me. Now I have more motivation to look up the history of the country. I also like the instructors I have this year.

  Here are my classes this year:

MWF

• Readings in Philippine History
• Good Manners and Right Conduct
•  Technology of Teaching
•  Facilitating Learner Centered (the enrolment form didn’t have the full title lol)

T

•  Fitness and Exercise

TTH

•  The Contemporary World
•  Filipino (the title was changed apparently plus the title’s in Filipino so we’re going to leave it at Filipino lol)
•  Science, Technology, and Society

  Which classes are my history classes? Readings in Philippine History, Good Manners and Right Conduct (it’s about society and the history of it lol), The Contemporary World (History of the world today), and Science, Technology, and Society. That’s about the Science and Technology of the Philippines and how it effects society.

  I had mentioned that I was going to post my assignments to my blog and I think that I should get to that. There’s a lot of documents on Filipino history but most of them are scattered and they may or may not be reliable so I want to have a page that has what I’ve collected from this year!

  I’ll be sure to tag my history friends. I know a lot of you come to this blog to read over what I’m doing so I don’t want to only post historical stuff but I do think what I’m going to learn this year is valuable and in that sense, I want to share it with all of you.

  This year I also have two tutors and one Filipino teacher. I need to write the notes I have from last year into the journal that I dedicated to the notes (since they’re all scattered and scribbles lol). I’m going to try and go out to eat once a month and show you all the places I have tried in Vigan. Again, these are all plans but I have a lot of pictures and I haven’t put a post to them.

  There’s a fifteen page document that my class had to read and my teacher wanted us to summarize it into 500 words max and after that she wanted us to summarize it into three sentences. Her point of the exercise is that the way that the students were taught were strictly to memorize but not to understand content. Personally, I liked the exercise. But then again, I read the whole thing thinking that I had to do it on my own and later I found out that I was part of group and we all could have split the content but that’s okay. I like reading anyway.

  An issue I was having when I got here a week ago is that I went straight from Texas to Japan. After Japan I went to Manila and from the plane in Manila I went on a bus to Vigan. I don’t know how many hours passed but I had to go from Austin, Texas to Dallas, Texas. After that I went from Dallas all the way to Japan. After I waited about two hours in Japan I went to Manila and from there I arrived in Manila. I left on January thirteenth and arrived in the Philippines at ten in the afternoon on the thirteenth. It took another right hours from Manila to get to Vigan City and it was rough.

  The first thing I noticed when I got back was that the soda tasted weird. Back home in Texas I drank a lot of soda and alcohol. (Thanks Manong) Lol. I’ll talk more about my Texas adventure later but because of that I got used to a lot more sugar and carbonation being in soda. Here in the Philippines the soda has a more natural sugar in it and it also doesn’t have the additives we do in Texas and that’s why it tasted weird whenever I got back.

  When I got to Vigan I had to enrol. I arrived at ten in the morning on the fourteenth. My Uncle followed me everywhere and it was funny because by the second time we walked back to my dorm he was like, “Ay, Nar. I can’t.” *heavy breathing* “I’ll wait at the apartement”. Lol. I love my uncle he’s too funny.

  I don’t have much more time to write this and whenever the timer says I need to save my documents I’ll go ahead and post what I’ve written. I want everyone to know that even though I did go home I didn’t announce it for the fact that I didn’t want to see you all. It’s because time is limited and I had to plan strategically. But rest assured. I’ll be back soon and this time I’ll be able to hang out with a lot of you!

    Well, as I wrote that I realized that my time is up. I’ll be sure to have more to tell you next week! Keep in touch everyone! Miss you all and if you’re in the Philippines. I’m sorry if I haven’t spoken with you since I got back. There has been a lot of time adjustment going on so please! Don’t be afraid to message me or say hello. I try to be as friendly as possible!

Till next time, DJ/Cho/Nar

Keep up with me with the following:

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

 If I don’t write a post here there’s probably a chance that I have written something on my Wattpad because there I post poems! They are shorter reads with more meaning. I am currently working on two poetry books but the more important one that ties into this travel blog is called ‘A Barrier Meant To Be Broken’. Below are the last five poems I wrote on there as of this post being queued.

A Barrier Meant To Be Broken
1.Leaving
2.Too Bright 
3.Calculating 
4.In This Country 
5. A Silent Understanding 

10.25.18

Magandang Araw sa inyo (Good day everyone) [Filipino: English]

  I wanted to inform everyone that I am currently having cell phone problems and I don’t have enough money to go get the cell phone fixed due to some unexpected bills. I also left my flash drive at the library and by the time I came back to check on it the flash drive was taken. Luckily, someone had the power point that I saved on the flash drive. I am planning on buying more when I get home because flash drives are expensive here.

   Right now I’m waiting to go to a school event. Not having social media has become a real problem in the past few days because my classmates usually try to message me about an assignment or make announcements. I had to pay a fee because I wasn’t aware that we were going to wear our uniform on a different day than usual.

   I don’t remember the last time that I wrote to y’all but I do know that some of you are reading these despite me not posting them on social media so that makes me happy. Thank you. I will post them when I get the chance I suppose. I’m having to depend on my cousin’s phone at the moment. I can use my phone…but it had to be on a charger and since I’m not using the phone the battery doesn’t die. I don’t like keeping a device that is fully charged on a charger.

  My Filipino is improving. Although, I still lack in being able to communicate without a pen and paper. My teacher asked me why I need to write the English sentence down before saying the Filipino sentence. I don’t translate the sentence on paper but I look at the words and I can then structure the sentence into what I am trying to say.

  This post will be short because I don’t have much time but I do want all of you to know that I’m doing okay and I haven’t taken my midterms yet. Me and my Filipino teacher are getting along. Although, the content is hard I’m doing my best to learn it.

  To tell everyone the truth. I’m thinking of changing courses after this second semester due to the simple fact that I don’t think that I’ll be able to learn two languages fluently by the time my second semester is over. I still want to study at the university but I’m going to look at see what other course I can take so that I have more time to hone in on my Filipino and Ilokano.

  Most of the people I interact with don’t preferably speak Filipino, they speak Ilokano. My cousin saw my Filipino homework and told me that I’m better at writing in Filipino than he is so I shouldn’t ask him for help. However, when it comes to Ilokano he can help. The problem in that case is that his Ilokano is a mix between Itneg and Ilokano.

  I’m thinking about pursuing communication or linguistic if they have it. I don’t want to go for technology and I don’t want to teach only one subject. The degree is meant for a way to say that I am capable of teaching that way I’ll have certificate proving that my tutoring methods are good.

  That’s all the time I have for now. Sorry that I won’t be able to answer anyone’s facebook messages. I’ll try to post on Wattpad when I’m near a computer with internet. Again, thanks guys for keeping up with me. I miss each and everyone of you. If you are a person that has not met me but you’re reading my blog I want to tell you that I appreciate you. You are taking the time to listen and that’s all that 

matters to me.

Till next time,

DJ/Cho/Nar

Week 25: A General Idea of What's On My Mind

10.1.18:

 I want to start with... Today someone in my life was lost to what sounds to be suicide. I don't have verification yet but I do know that yesterday, I felt that I wanted to quit. I didn't. Despite the lack of resources I had. I tried to write my last letter. I ended up being to tired to follow through.

  Jordan, 

  I wish it was me. I don't know what caused you to give up. But I was there yesterday and now I realize that your departure was what I felt. You called out to me, yet I didn't understand who was trying to talk to me. I didn't know that you felt the way I felt. I don't have regrets. But I do know that you mean a lot to the people around me and I never thought negative of you. You're in a better place now. But had I only listened, you could have been lived another day. 

  No, I don't blame Jordan's death of myself. But I do understand suicidal thoughts on a personal level. When it comes down to it, people who feel that way don't want to reach out. They feel that they are a burden on others. They don't know how to speak their mind. Suicide has a different language that those who experience a personal bond with it can only understand. 

  We know we should reach out. But we can't say the words literally. We don't know how people will react. They might send us to an asylum. Whereas, some people see this as 'getting help', others see this as being placed in a jail for the mentally insane. 

  Whatever was on Jordan's mind. I wish he would have said it. No matter how far my classmates from school go, I still care about all of you and I want you all to know that. What I remember about Jordan was his smile. There was a light in his eyes and he always seemed to be having a good time. 

  But now I know that there was something deeper. Something that... Had I taken the time to think about it, I would have saw it. No one deserves to think that they can't make it anymore. If anyone ever needs someone to talk to please reach out to me. I care about you. Even if we have never spent any time together. I want you all to know that I'm here. I may be 13 hours ahead of those who are at home but that comes to an advantage. I'm awake when others are not and I'm here. I always will be.

  As I said, I almost gave up yesterday. And it pains me to know that it could have been both of us. I can't save him now. But I can save the next person. He was a good guy. We were never personally close. But he was close to my friends and that's enough to make him close to me. 

  Rest easy, J. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. 

-

The following is a rough draft of my thoughts on 9.22.18. Let me know your thoughts on the junk that was on my mind. 

-

9.22.18

  The longer I stay in this country the more I realize how poor it is. Where I come from, there has been trial and error. There has been advancement. In my homeland I am luckier than I realize. Here, there are perks but they come with a cost.

  My dream was originally to fix the US education system. But I see now that I need to do more than that. I was brought to this country to make a difference. I know that I'll need a lot of help in order to get my dream's achievement where it need to be.

  Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?

  Who will I be affecting?

  I'll need to start with the US education system. While I'm doing that I can reach out to the Philippine's education system.

Who am I focusing on?

  Since I'm getting a General Education degree I will begin with elementary students and Filipino adults who want to learn a language. Either English, Filipino, or Ilokano. (US)

  (PI) The college is truly where I want to focus my efforts. If I get everything secured then I can bring people into my cause and that will help spread my views over the years and all over the Philippines.

  I want to start small goals to help the elementaries as well. The ones I have to interact with or the ones that are close to my family. The names Gallardo and Compal will be engraved in anything I do.

What am I trying to do in general?

  Educate people who are willing to be educated. I want to reach out to people who cannot afford education. I want to tutor people who are willing to learn no matter what age. (US)

  Bring people into my cause so that I can spread the effort of what I would like to change in the Philippines through other people. (PI)

Examples:

  People who have missed their opportunity in getting a High School Diploma need to get a GED 'General Education Diploma?' I want to help those people.

  Children who have teachers who do not understand them need help as well. I want to work with parents to see that their child needs a one on one tutor instead of a classroom setting.

  People who were not given the opportunity to learn the language of the Philippines (Filipinos specifically). (US)

Generally, the Philippines is poor. I want to help bring money into the Philippines as well as have money be taken out.

Mother Nature is very strong in this country. I want to help figure out how to help in times of crisis.

I want to start a recycling company here as well. It would help with the trash. (PI)

When do I plan to have this done?

  In truth I don't know. This will take a long time whether it is in the Philippines or not. I need to seek organizations that already exist that deal with recycling and multicultural awareness.

  When I finish college here in the Philippines I will begin my quest in the US

  The project that I am setting in the Philippines will take a lot of time. They do things very old fashion here so I can only work in the old fashion manner. Not everyone likes change. But those who are willing to change are who I will work with.

  Where am I going to start?

  In San Angelo, Texas. My hometown. Between the time that I'm in college and the time that I go home (June and July) I will work with my city. My family is involved in an organization so I have the resources to reach out.

  Once I graduate I will begin in Georgia. I want to be with my friends for a month. I want to reach out to that state since they are there. Eventually, I want to visit all my friends across the states. I have a goal to visit all 50.

  If things go right I'll also have a way to begin in Virginia. (US)

My plan will have to start in Vigan City. There is more money there. Then, I will reach out to Paltoc and slowly work between the two points until they meet. I'll hire my family and have them work for me.

  I will work with the people who were willing to work with me here. My classmates, my college peers, the teachers- anyone who was willing to look at me and not think negative of me. I want to help them.

Why?

  People should not be forced to not have an education. It should be a choice. If someone simply does not want to have an education that is fine. That is their choice. But a person should be given the oppertunity to be educated. Not everyone understands what opportunities they have in life.

  As long as a person is willing to learn then they should have that opportunity. Educating the next generation will leave a legacy that may bring more dangerous problems but it will solve others as well. (US)

  The Philippines is a home that I never had. Now that I'm an adult I want to make it a better place. And not a place that gives out younger woman because they need a citizenship. There has to be another way. I want to bring people over through different means.

  There's a lot of potential in the Philippines. All around the world Filipinos make their mark. It's my turn. (PI)

How

  I will have to begin at my schools. Lake View High School and Lincoln Middle School. Later I can reach out to Howard Community College and Angelo State University. I need to get to know my elementary. It seems like a new place to me but it was still my elementary and I need to give back to it.

  The Asian American Association of Women is growing. I want to assist in its growth. I am supposed to be a member.

  I'll look up any organization that is based in San Angelo and reach out to them first. (US)

  Vigan City is where I will be for most of my school time here. I will begin in Vigan. I'll invest into the college and make it a better place. Hopefully. But I will also do small improvements of my own. Personal goals like helping the family out. There needs to be money that comes into the Philippines but they also need someone who will come back and not for vacation purposes. None of the money that comes into the Philippines that I see is being used to bring in revenue and I want to make a difference in that.

-

  If anyone every needs someone to talk to, please reach out to me. You can reach me on my Facebook, Instagram, If you know me in person in the Philippines please ask me for my number, I have an email, you can also reach out to me through this blog. You can also reach out to my Wattpad

  However you may reach me. Please try, I am always willing to listen. Till next time, DJ/Cho/Shinar

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