Artist in the darnest places

Sorry for the title, medyo late and tired ako , somehow my braincells cant figure out what title to put, but I definitely know what to write, so just to get it all started..voila, a crappy title.

Last saturday I met the students whom we were suppose to teach every saturday until august. Di ko pa nagets masyado pero most of the students there are housed by the foundation and there are others na may sariling homes I guess kasi some are already in college. But basically these kids are the kids who are the less fortunate and need foundations like virlanie to give them an education or strengthen their education.

Iba iba sila, pati age... the studenta are from 10-28 yrs old.. although I think most of the kids that we would end up teaching are 12-16yrs old. I was observing each student, there was one who was sooo shy, laging nakatungo, meron isa me scar sa side ng mukha , meron naman panay ang hirit eh merienda. Meron 28 yrs old na babae, meron college na. Meron bading na panay ang sabi ng correeeect.

Then there was one kid who was drawing all the time the discussions was going on. Dinidiscuss sa kanila kasi ang rules and regulations plus nagpapakilala bawat student pero sya after nya magpakilala tahimik lang sa isang tabi, at drawing lang ng drawing habang yung ibang classmate nya eh kaingay ingay at kinukulit ang mga teacher at facilitator. I remembered that was how I fuelled my imagination. Im not that good of an artist but I do believe there is some shades of creativity in my blood and how I developed it is I think how he is doing it as well. When I was younger, I stayed a lot at home kasi masakitin ako so I would start to draw , or build stuff. Everytime I was bored, I would dream off to someother place and start drawing. Until I developed expressing my imagination and feelings through art. When I was looking at him, parang gnun sya, habang nagkukulitan , sya tahimik lang, scribbling and scribbling. Sayang I didnt see his drawing, hopefully makita ko next time. Kasi I draw or paint dati to show my emotion or to draw where my imagination takes me, where I would like to be that time.

Sya kaya, what would he be drawing? Would it be a place where things would be nicer? I mean a place outside of poverty? Or would it be an expression of his anger or frustrations? or baka naman things he is happy about, o kaya basketball? It just made me think, I was suprised to find a possible artist there. Ands its pretty cool. I hope its some art , positive art he was drawing...baka naman yung crush nya or yung girl na katabi nya ...well ok pa din sabagay.

Noong Araw

- Oldschool , age factor post....

Di pa naman ako ganon katanda, pero infairness ang laki ng tinalon at inevolve ng standards and culture between my childhood from what it was before to what it is now. I wonder if its because the rate of change everywhere in the world or if its just that our culture is changing fast and improving ergo that there is still hope . Pls bear with me, majority of this blog would start with the Phrase.."Noong Araw".

Nagfamily picnic kasi kami sa antipolo, for some reason na di ko alam, we go to Antipolo every June para magismba at magswimming. Eh Everyyear naman eh di kami nakakasimba ng maayos kasi maraming tao. Sa labas lang kami. Noong Araw, para makapunta kami sa Antipolo, manhihiram pa kami ng Fiera or Van, kasi ang layo layo ng antipolo. Talagang Excursion para makapunta don. Ngayon.. eh uwian pa ang mga officemates ko don. Pagnaisipan namin gumimik sa overlooking...eh hala punta.

Sa family picnic namin , don ko narealize ang changes. We're not a rich family, we're as middle class as you can get, with good looks nga lang(wala lang), tapos nilabas na ang usual Baon sa picnic ... Adobo(usual stuff) pero ngayon merong hipon at eto pa..Pata Tim. OO Pata Tim. Noong Araw, an Pata Tim eh hinahanda lang pag especial occasion. Birthdays lang ng lolo at lola ko yon me kasamang Pansit. Kumbaga pag kakain kami sa restaurant, ang patatim ang nasa gitna ng mesa kasi yon ang sosyal katabi ng pansit. Tapos ngayon handa nalang sa excursion..na demote na ang patatim. In fairness, I never realy enjoyed patatim. Parang ang North park . big biddha and other new chinese restaurants dont even have it(tama ba?). If you are in the below 35 yr old age bracket..when was the last time you went to a chinese restaurant and ordered Pata tim. Ngayon ang staple food na sa chinese restaurants is beef brocolli, salt and pepper spare ribs, ang china chicken eh hindi na ganon kasikat.

Pati ang word na excursion parang dina uso. Pati ang resorts, talagang tumaas an ang taste natin kasi noong aaraw, may swimming pool lang eh talo talo na, ngayon dapat me landscaping , slides at fountains ang pool para sabihing maganda. Noon basta magkaroon ka ng malaking pool eh bigtime.

Nagpunta kami sa Loreland resort, ok naman, noong araw eh bring your own bangko sa outing kasi mahal ang cottage, ngayon its a must na. Here is an indication that there are improvements in the way we live, bawat cottage napansin ko meron provision for trashbags, yung nakahanda ng sabitan which means we are slowly getting use of cleaning up for ourselves. Noong araw pipili lang ng isang sulok tapos doon itatapon ang lahat. Pag sinuwerte eh sisigaan. Sabagay kasi naman noong araw pag nakatrashbag ka eh sosyal..yung itim na trashbag eh pinapasalubong pa noon mula sa US. Eh syempre dahil galing US, sosyal na yon so pwede mong gawing schoolbag! Pero di ko naman nagawa yon.

I was just getting coffee , dito sa office namin kanya kanyang timpla walang coffee maker which is another marvel of improvement as well. Nanghingi ako sa officemate ko, ang pinahiram sa akin eh Tasters Choice, noong araw ang tasters choice eh ginagawang conversation piece , nakadisplay sa stante at bawal gamitin. Pag bibisita lang ang boss ni papa ilalabas yon. Ngayon standard na, at may starbucks pa. Even coffee makers where a luxury, Ang alam ko noon ang brewed coffee eh sa hotel lang nakakain. Ngayon me sarisariling coffee maker na sa bahay .

But I guess the best improvement Ive seen is that we expect better quality now from almost everything. Salamat siguro sa Jolibee at mcdo , we expect that service be done with a smile. Di na uso kunwari sa mga restaurant, pag parang galit ang waitress habang kumukuha ang order na parang utang na loob mo ang kumain don,eh pwede mong ireklamo . Noong araw pag nireklamo mo ang waitress na nakasimangot malamang sagot sa yo "bakit beerhouse ba to at kailangan ngitian ka ng waitress?", ngayon pagsasabihan ng manager ang staff. Kahit sa taxi , spa, grocery we expect better qualit of service so nagiimprove rin ang mga stores pati sa City hall , eh binibilisan na ang processing, although andon pa din ang mga matatandang employees na parang galit pag pinagtratrabaho mo, there is still improvement. Sana nga kahit baby steps , lahat eh level up sa quality and demand for quality...demand for improvement. Sana :)

Word for the Day

Just had a quick dinner before working late again, then one word stuck to me bumili kasi ako sa Auntie Anne ..."PRETZEL". parang ang cute na word, something na pwede mo pangalan sa aso or pusa mo... parang mapapngiti ka habang sinsabi mo sya.."P R E T Z E L".

Syet ang bading ng blog ko.

Mechanics of a womans orgasm

First things first..lets keep things objective and scientific . And lets just leave be whatever the context and incident why I had this conversations with my friends. Basta ganun na lang. siguro kakabasa ko ng FHM to plus all those reference materials and How to stuff from HBO and Showtime..and of course nothing beats good ole practice and feedback. ok lets leave it at that.

I had a friend who asked me how would she know if she had came. She hasn't had an orgasm before and she now has a partner who knows how to push the right buttons. But at the point of what they think is when she is nearing climax..she gets the feeling that she has to pee and therefore she holds back fearing of making a mess. They finally get up to getting her not to hold back (probably) but she is not sure if she did came. So I did some researching, asked another friend for her and got some info plus Im adding in some of what I know. My resource persons is also a girl so I could get some inside info (no pun intended).

Before orgasm, she would feel a feeling of needing to pee, then there would be some muscle contractions and sometimes not only vaginal but sometimes whole body,then the fluid discharge , more contractions for a few seconds and lastly the increased sensitivity of the vaginal area. After a good orgasm there is a release of endorphins which relaxes the body and also makes you sleepy. That is why if you have problem sleeping.. well theres a good answer. My resource also suggests that my friend have a pee before sex so that she would not have any drawbacks , well I guess until she gets the hang of things and all her anxiety are gone.

We even had a conversation on the G-spot.. from what I know you can get to the G spot which is right around the area near the pubic area...from the inside anyway , and with most women you could hit the G-Spot from a sitting or position or from behind. Well actually you could hit it from most position as long as there is communication , proper positioning well inshort good teamwork :). But I learned this from my resource that the G-spot can be in the 6 oclock or 12 oclock position. First time I heard about this .

I had 2 friends, one of them already with a baby and both of them said they havent had an orgasm before. One of them even had this notion that you can only have an orgasm when you have a baby. My answer to that is that you can have an orgasm if you have a sensitive lover who also listens or feels for your needs. Sensitive but not too sensitive as things might have a swift ending .

Well if any of my married friends are reading this, One of the things I just learned also .. Lipovitan , Red Bull, Extra Joss... no match for Revicon Ion.

Dreaming in Subtitle

Just remembered what happend to me some years back. I was in France for almost 6 months on a project. I was there alone , and knew zero french. I would read a french book just to pick up on some words. Well One time in bandcamp este while home I was watching this italian movie with french subtitles as there was limited english channels ...and of course there is the occasional/casual nudity with european movies. So ayun, I suddenly found myself understanding the movie by putting together what little french I knew plus the spanish words I picked up from tagalog and in school. Just plain weird. Whats more weirder, that night I dreamt I was talking to a friend in french explaining some stuff. I woke up and suddenly realized I was speaking something different. I have absolutely no idea if it was french or not..but it was just plain weird.

Wise words from a TV - Rerun

Amazing how you give special meaning to trivial things just because you can relate to it. Yesterday I had a loooong day, spent the whole day at the office, then did some "Sideline" work until late. By the time I got home all I had time for was to watch a few minutes of TV just enough to get myself really sleepy.

Zombied infront of the TV , the Frasier episode was about Frasier and a friend of his faking a call because no one was calling them on the radio. She faked a problem about fear of the dark and ended up really revealing her love problems . Frasier then gave her a very cool advice that appealed to me even in my tired and Zombied state. I dont remember it word for word but it went a bit like this "To not worry about her past loves, to cherrish the friendship that she has now as they will be there to get her through until her next relationship" . And I thought about it and agreed.

While writing this I suddenly thought of my friends who reads this Blog, alaskado sigurado ako pag ako nagka GF na uli kasi magiiba na ang tema ng blog ko. No more of this mushy or gloomy crap . Back to work now..

James The Wise, is he?

Vanessa , a friend of mine, is currently working as a project manager for completing the interior decoration of her boss's new condo unit. Her boss's name is James, and his condo unit is a penthouse unit for the Shang Executive tower in makati. Magkano daw yung unit.. hmmm aroudn 20M ata . Naknang tokwa na condo unit yan.. I went up there and you get a 180 degree view of makati, ortigas up to manila bay. It isnt that big..pero for that address and prime location ..man.. kahit maids quarter non di ko kaya bilin. And eto pa, the interior decoration project is going on a 15M budget.

Pero eto ang kakaiba, James is an avid fan of astrology , past life, feng shui, and other new age stuff I presume. One of the most respected interior designers bidded for the project, James declined him because.. eto ang matindi .. maiksi ang ring finger, which according to him is a sign of an indecisive person. He would also tell Vanessa at times, not to make decision on this day or do it the next day because mercury is not aligning properly with the other planets. This is coming from a guy who owns a publishing empire.

Eh para sa normal pinoy guy like me... naisip ko ...heller!!! planets??!!?!! Maiksi ang isang daliri? I think the right fingers that needs to be long are long enough on my hand and I havent found any practical reason for my ring finger to be long, eh kahit pag dial sa ilong di mo magagamit ang ring finger. Dapat daw mas mahaba ang ring finger sa index finger .

Eh eto naisip ko bigla... is this guy just eccentric or baka ako naman ang mali? I mean baka di ko lang matarok ang kaalaman nya.. di ko magets kasi Im too simple , too normal to understand this things. Here is my argument, this guy has been terribly successful and he can buy P40M houses on a whim, and have other houses around Asia ...ako..eh ala me camera lang ako na hinuhulugan ko pa. Wether coincidental or a result of the universal forces converging based on his understanding which makes him as financially successful as he is... baka sya ay tama..at di ko lang nagegets kaya parang sa tingin ko eh weird..ako ang mali. I mean 15 yrs ago you would think that the nation would be talking by typing notes and sending it from your cellphones is just a product of science fiction kasi pwede naman mag telebabad , parang ganun rin. Baka naman tama si James.

Freakin Love stories part 2

I have made it a point not to watch any love story(movies) since october 2005 or did my best to avoid seeing any as everytime I see one I just feel lonely afterwards. Well , it fathers day and my entire family had made up their minds to see Lake House, a mushy love story with Keannu (tama a spelling?) Reeves and Sandra Bullock. So wala choice, kapag may friend ako na nagyayaya manood ng lovestory na movie or DVD, I can say it straight "ayaw ko no , di ako nanonood ng lovestory" pero not to my family. I guess its a guy machissmo thing not to tell your mom and specially your dad , I dont watch love stories kasi nalulungkot ako after. haaay. Well the movie was quite mushy I recommend it to lovers or soon to be lovers pero kung true critic well ..its a popcorn movie with lots of inconsistencies pero kung magigi ka naman sigurong realist eh wag yana ng panoorin mo. Its a kilig movie which it delivers.

English Problems

Ano English kaya ng Balisawsaw? Pasma?

Art Immersion Saturday

Just last saturday I had a scheduled photo shoot. It was what I called "for the love of the game" shoot, I mean for arts sake shoot. I was very fortunate enough to have my new friend Barbs to volunteer to model for me, and it was her first time to model as well.

First thing, we made sure that it wasn't a commercial shoot so we wanted to do something which would be creatively challenging. I badly wanted to shoot that weekend to relieve the stress from work the whole week before. We agreed on a vintage look shoot , and barbs wanted to experiment on a nude session so I suggested why not a body paint session. We agreed. All of it was a first time for her and me.

Nagkita kami sa Cubao, I got there first, tapos naalala ko na me vintage shop sa Cubao Shoe expo na gusto ko makita. So I stopped by their first since I was early. AngMarikina Shoe expo sa cubao eh andon na 80's pa lang. Don pa kami namimili ng shoes pamasok. I haven't been there since 1988. Pagdating ko don, it turned out to be a cool place. Paano ba madescribe yon, a mix of shoes and art. A hip place for Indie Art. Well basically cool sya, a true hole in the wall. A place forgotten in time but rich in history. Andon pa din yung shoe stores, tapos meron ng mga Antique stores /memorabilia stores, ukay ukay, Vintage shop, indie bookstore, art studios and recording studios pa ata, japanese collectibles stores, plus a cool italian restaurant. Bohemian themed place na sya and the cool thing about is , I guess it just evolved that way. Ang coool.

Anyway ayun , met up with Barbs , naglunch kami and kwentuhan before having the shoot. I make it a point to have some talk time with the models or kung sino shushoot to build trust and para at ease sila. It so they would know I have nothing up my sleeves.

We proceeded with the shoot of the vintage shots, first time I used my studio lighting outside my studio , it was quite difficult pero I guess we got some good shots from it. Barbs was not yet at east at first then after a while automatic na , I could get the right expression and posture from her in a snap. she would change from tweetums to serious easily.

Then we did the body paint. I have never used it before, but since I have been painting oil and other mediums before I figured parepareho lang naman siguro yan. From my research, ang body paint is same as any other paint tapos just add water. Nag research ako syempre sa internet lalo na tungkol sa safety, yung kailangna i- sterilize ang brush and use soft brushes instead of rough(like the ones used for oil). Then ayun na, free hand painting na. We decided on sunflowers for the design. May plastic flowers sa bahay namin na pinag base-an ko ng concept. started with her back. So that was easy..then we moved to the front. Don naging challenging.

Of course whenever I paint or photograph I make it a point to keep focused, be professional and of course keep everything in an artistic perspective..in short walang malisya.

So ayun the front is harder to do kasi nga, well gifted tong si Barbs so meyo maraming curves and endowed rin . Unlike painting her back was flat , sa front maraming challenges. Yung una sa chest area she has well curved , tapos while painting the nipple area well lets just say the Airconditioning was working properly so we had some difficulties keeping things not to perky plus sabi nga ni barbs "sige nga kaw kaya brushin ang nipple mo kung hindi rin magganyan" . Sa stomach area mahirap rin since barbs was sitting up, dapat she would have to lay back a bit para hindi naiipit ang tyan , and since basa pa yung paint sa likod di rin sya pwede humiga. Nilast namin paintan yung pelvic area para di mailang si barbs. Since first time ko mag body paint, medyo nakakailang rin kasi iniisip ko baka mailang si barbs and I was really very conscious not to make any movements that barbs might interpret as maliscious. Eh first time pa lang namin magkita . When I was painting on the "very sensitive" part na I tried to paint as fast as I can" . Well it turned out well, and I loved the feeling of painting again , ok din ang body paint parang oil , hindi sya transparent so ang sarap mag paint, kung wet on wet (no pun intended) ang style it works, plus if I compute it, I was painting on a big canvass, more than what I usually paint on. It took 2 hrs to paint , and another 2 hours for the photo shoot. Man was I tired, but it was really worth it, and I was happy, thank goodness I reall had a good model to work with, indi maarte and she gave a lot of creative inputs as well. It was an artistically fulfilling day and I made a new friend.
Thanks Barbs!

Life Lessons from Francis Kong - True Success

I attended a Manila JC's General Members Meeting yesterday, We had Francis Kong as a speaker. He is a renowned motivational speaker with 12 books published and has been all over the world for speaking engagements.

During the course of his speech he talked about different things that are key to a persons success. And success was not measured on financial success. It was combination of everything, with the spritual fulfillment of a person which truly makes a person successful according to him.

Ang sabi nga nya, persons like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe Daughter of Aristotle Onassis all filthy rich , all committed suicide. So malamang me point nga sya although di ko pa nafeel maging rich or filthy rich so di ako makarelate.

Tapos me nagtanong bigla, during the Q and A portion the last question came out to be the most sensible question, which I found to be very serious , para yun ang "The It" question ng generation ko. Im 29 and a manager for an IT company, he youngest manager in my company and holds one of the biggest accounts. In the JC's group there are others like me , a lot more "successful" and in the same age bracket. Then ayun nga ..the question ..sabi nya Mula bata ako hanggang ngayon I have this image of myself, successful in business , following my dreams, so how can I motivate myself to keep it up kasi parang ngayon successful nanaman ako and nareach ko na dreams ko. Medyo magulo ang paglalaexplain nya plus panay lalaki kami so me mga nanggaasar pa at natatawa. Then Francis answered "I know what you are asking and its a very serious question, thats why I didnt laugh" , then he started to tell his story that from a middle class family he worked hard and dreamt of being a successful Executive at the age of 30, that was his dream . So mula sa pagiging slacker naging A student sya until he graduated and had a high paying job as a manager in company B. Tapos sabi nya, dun daw sya medyo natuliro...kasi nga..ngayon nakuha na nya dream nya... Ano na?

So that hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted to be like my dad, a manager for a company , a leader and respected by peers. Well I dont know much about respected pero in paper manager ako, so more or less medyo onsite na ang dreams ko.. so now .. Anone? Tuloy ko pa climbing the corporate ladder..so malamang every step I go higher I would ask ..And then what? Is this a worthwhile legacy im investing in? A few months ago I almost died from a car accident, so I asked myself , ano kaya ang legacy ko kung natuluyan ako nung tanginang trak na yon. Paano kung nauso na sa pinas ang eulogy, ano ang masasabi tungkol sa kin. So moving away from angst and back to what francis was saying... he said for him, in his spirituality is where he found his real feeling of success as it really enriched the quality of his life.

Ako , di ko pa syempre matarok ang sinasabi nya, di ko pa ma reach since Im too young , inexperienced at marami pang chickenjoy na kakainin bago ko magets ang sinasabi nya. Pero agree ako sa kanya na fulfillment can never be had with material things..syempre di naman ako plastic gusto ko yumaman, pero I will definitely do my best not to make it my main goal..dapat talaga balance , I should do the things that truly makes me happy and find the things that are really fullfilling. Definitely material things is not the answer. O sha..punta muna ako mall ..makapagshopping.

Nasan na ang mga Childstars

Buti naman at passe na ang mga Childstars or kung meron man, eh talagang "Worthy" talagang maging childstars. Gone are the days na pag ang bata nagpapacute lang konti eh childstar na. Kailangan ang childstar ngayon eh kayang bumirit mala regine, sumayaw ng parang streetboys at umarte na talagang madudurog ang puso mo gusto mo ng magdonate sa orphanage agad agad. I mean nag level up na ng husto ang childstars ng new generation.

Naalala ko dati..ang childstars, si matet, si IC mendoza , nung kabataan ni Aiza.. medyo makulit t pacute lang ng konti, tuwang tuwa na . Mantakin nyo ba naman si Matet ang role lang sa movie eh sasabihin..Takot Ako childstar na. Well si Nino Mulach magaling rin non kasi up to par talaga ang performance nya although typecast sya sa role at parang ang acting nya eh single faceted lang. Eh compare mo naman kay Carlo Aquino na childstar.. parang lahat ng movie na kasama sya eh ginugulpi sya ng tatay at ng gang, hinuhulog sa hagdanan , sinasampal or minsan na rerape pa! Yan ang childstar..hardcore.. sabagay yung mga kagaya nya siguro eh child actor kung tawagin. Siguro kaya sa new generation eh hardcore na ang mga childstar kasi nagiging Bibbo na ang mga bata. So hopefully this is a good sign for the future, kids are growing up to be smarter(?). Eh halos lahat ng mga 2-3 yrold anak ng middle class to upper class, Memorize lahat ng kanta ni Barnie, marunong ng spanish salamat kay Dora, Me accent mag english, nakakanta lahat ng jingle sa TV, marunong mag otso otso, at yung iba kaya ng magcellphone! Eh dati magawa to ng bata , pwede na sa TV . Siguro nga good news to salamat sa promil atbp.

Anyway kaya ko naisip magpost regarding childstar kasi napagusapan namin ng friend kong si Barbs about them , asan na kaya yung dating childstars...eto ang cinontribute nya plus ibang na research ko:

1. Glaiza Herradura - Nagasawa na
2. Atong Redillas - Nagtapos na ng Engineering sa UP, Last movie I saw was at Muro Ami. May IT company na (tnx emman)
3. Aiza - Singer , Acoustic Songs, ang ganda ng GF. If my grandmother who passed away could see her now. favorite nya dati si Aiza, sinamahan ko pa si lola manood ng wakeup little susie.
4. Matet - Nagasawa na, naging estranged with nora and now is back.
5. Carlo Aquino - Teen Star na
6. Camille Prats - Si Princess Sarah, langya... All woman na, lumabas saFHM. Dati cute na cute ako dyan nung sa princess sarah...sabay lumabas sa FHM whoa! Me malisya na ngayon pag nakikita ko sya..aang weird ng feeling.
7. Strawberry or si Maybeline ba yon? - Namatay sa shootout sa paranaque
8. Rominick and Harlene Bautista - Magasawa na
9. Nino Mulach - no more movies , naghiwalay na ata sila ng asawa nya, parati sya sa mell and joey.
10. Judy Ann Santos - From Ula ang batang gubat to pop idol, kakakasal na kay Ryan Agoncillo.(tnx joane)
11. Angelica Panganiban - Gone to mature roles na rin!
12. Katya Santos - Went on to sexy movies and owns a ministop.(tnx emman)
13.....isip pa ako ng iba or kung me ma dadagdag ka pa..comment mo lang :)

And I thought I had a problem....My Friend: Fey

I was feeling really tired at work one day , and felt am I really doing something fulfilling? Am I wasting my time? I felt lost , I felt burnedout . Then I met a friend of mine , her name was Fey. I met her at a chat room. We met over lunch because she told me she was in town. She visits here sister in Manila every now and then. Kinamusta ko sya kasi magstart na ang school season. She told me she was realy sad and she almost didnt make it to school.

The reason? Like something out of a bad soap opera, her father has signed her up to undergo training in a "promotions company" for Japan. It was just because of her mother who pleaded that she go to school this year that she was allowed. I asked her wether they were really in need of money? She said no. Althought they were strapped for cash, they still get enough to go by. Her mother sells vegetables in the market, there are only 2 of them left in their home and only she was studying. Her Sister that she visits in Manila , works in bar which her parents doesn't know. Her other sister works in a factory and gives money to her parents. So basically the dependent is her and her father. Ang erpats nya? sigurado ako pag ginawan ng pelikula eh si paquito diaz ang gaganap. Like someone out of a radio drama. Loves to drink, gives and splurges to his drinking buddies , even gives out food to his buddies regardless if my friend has eaten or not. And her father was the one who is pushing her to train for Japan. She was in tears and she went to manila to ask money from her sister for tuition. I dunno what became of my friend, she sold her phone so Im not able to keep in touch with her. My friend was afraid of the bad stories she heard about women going to japan. Although there have been good stories like 2 other friends of mine. But I hope she doesn' end up going. She told me all she wanted was to finish school and get a simple job. Grabe , her problem was like straight out of a movie with an evil father as the villain.

After that I told myself what was I complaining about? My problems are crap compared to what she had. Hopefully Fey is still at school.

People I've met: OCW's from around

I grew to appreciate and have a softspot for OCW's because of my travels. I couldn't imagine the hardships they went through to leave the Philippines , and the sacrifices they do in order to not be sent back. And even with the difficulties they face, they still had the heart to welcome me , share a meal , and share fun stories with me.

Sherly in Paris: I met her while goin to church. I rode the bus with her and her 2 cousins. She came from Manila and was financed by her aunts who was working as a DH also in Paris so that she could go there. I was amazed on how hard it was for her to get to Paris. Since getting a Visa from Manila to France was difficult, she had to go to mindanao, catch a boat to malaysia then bus to Singapore so that she could apply for a Visa there. In Sinagapore she had to wait for almost a month to have her tourist visa released. From Singapore she rode a boat to the french riviera then a plane to Paris. This whole process took 9 months to complete. Thats 9 months in transit. When she got there she was jobless for 2 months and was getting handouts from relatives. Last I heard, she has a working visa already and has been able to return to school in Paris.

Mang Ben in Japan - I met him in Chiba, again from church . Chatted with him at the bus stop then I got invited to a Pinoy Party . It was a typical pinoy salosalo tuwing linggo. Families would meet at a house, then they'd bring food..menudo, bbq, kare kare, leche flan. Man! after spending 1month in a hotel eating fastfood , eating kare kare and menudo was heavenly. Mang Ben told me that he didnt have papers to work there. So he was also in hiding although he has been in japan already for almost 10 years. He does odd jobs, working on roads, public fencing, painting etc then he sends 80% of his money to is family in the Philippines . He was able to put up a house in a village in cavite and I can see from his eyes someday he would like to go home and see all the fruits of his work, he seemed really tired.

Tita Betty in LA - Tita betty is one of the kindest persons I've met. She went to the US in the 70's and has gone home every 2 or 3 years. She lives alone in LA as a doctor for the county clinic. She sends a lot of her money to her nephews in the Philippines. She brought us food and even gave us some of the old handbags she bought but never used. She even takes us out in the Malls. Grabe and whenever we go out to eat, even if we plead with her that we should pay..she would not have it and always told us to save our money and just spend it when we get back home with our families.