Christmas Weekend

I've not been blogging for for a while and a lot of things have happened. Christmas in particular.

I spent my Christmas in Melaka, the beautiful, historical, colonial, natural, provincial Melaka. I stayed over an officemate-friend's house and went around wherever they take me (coz I'm kaladkarin as always). I enjoyed their company a lot especially the kids, my friend's nephew's and nieces. They would crowd around me trying to compete for my attention. These kids are fun to be with always... They make a lot more sense (crazy sense) than adult does sometimes.

On the 24th, we went to the Portuguese Settlement in the heart of the city to take a peek at how they celebrate Christmas. There was a competition in the neighborhood for the most beautiful Christmas decoration. Indians, Malay and Chinese alike also went to the area to celebrate Christmas. People sprayed each other with snow-producing aerosol-like canisters while greeting each other merry Christmas... It was fun! WE were a little late for the festival but we still got to see the beautifully-decorated houses. It felt like home, almost.

I also had a chance to experience a traditional Indian meal on the 25th of December (Christmas Day). So it was really Christmas lunch for me. We ate using our hands and used banana leaves for plates. The meal was sumptuous comprised mainly of curry and sambal and tose and vade and other local food. It's always fun eating especially with good-natured and welcoming people such as them...

Last was a visit to the Melaka World Heritage City. The place is truly a melting pot of cultures. It has been colonized by the Asians (Chinese and Japanese) and Europeans (Dutch, British, Portuguese, French) and it has embraced the colonial culture and made it its own while still preserving it's very unique culture. The houses and mosques or masjid in Melaka has a very distinct look from the rest of Malaysia.

So such was my different way of celebrating Christmas. A little cultural and a little unusual from the way I celebrate it back home but that's the point. Do as what the locals do it and you'll surely have fun, and I did.

Looking forward to the New Year's celeb!!!

"subcollective unconscious"

This is the poem from where the blog's name was lifted. I've unconsciously/subconsciously thought about it and was reminded that it was a poem. Apparently, my girlfriend presented it as one of her favorites written by a local writer in one of her English subjects and our classmates teased her about it repeatedly reads rain which rhymes with my name....

Disquisition
by Karen Pioquinto

we have all trundled down
glabrous
        slopes
        of futility:

where giants woods

(from which
             d
             a
             n
             g
             l
             e
twines of thought one swings from
serially, mischievously, Tarzan-like)

give way to
endless
miles
of desiccation.

where now,
never-known and never-reached,
desolate
ideas brown themselves ugly,
dead
clumps of soil
the rain forgot.

believe me.
we have all felt parched.
we have all lifted callused hands
up to the sky,
chanting self-consciously:

rain me thoughts,
rain me words,
rain me a river of reason.

from: http://www.sushidog.com/bpss/poems/pioquinto2.htm

©2003 by Karen Pioquinto

Artsy and not so artsy stuff I haven't done in a long while

It came to my realization lately that I haven't been doing the things I used to do before. Especially the artsy stuff. The thing I consider really valuable to my learning, the continuous process of it. So I'm listing them here and setting them as targets (sort of goals) for me to do for the next months that I'm here in a different place. Staying in another country for a year is a real routine-breaker. It disrupts the little life cycle I've developed for years and I must start anew.

1. Reading good books

Don't get me wrong, I've been reading books. But the reason I put this on the list is because I haven't been reading at the same pace I once did before. The last book I read/is still reading is the "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. Krista and I bought that book back in the International Book Fair in SMX Convention Center. Now, I've only gotten halfway. I usually read it whenever I'm free and being free means either waiting on the plane to arrive or doing nothing in office. I've recently bought an English-Malay dictionary in a bookstore and i found many good English books stacked there. It's good to know that Malaysia has them. I'll be back on track as soon as I settled fully.

2. Watch art films

I've just seen "The Adventures of Tin-Tin" (and I was alone in the theatre that time) and I liked it. But nothing beats watching films on your laptop alone with the earphones stuck on your ears and your eyes glued on the screen looking both at the subtitles (coz most of them are foreign) and the countless images that transports and eats you up to its world. It's amazing. It's surreal and sublime at the same time. Art films have a way of making you cry over funny things and enjoy the goriness of it all. It's sanity within the insane world we live in. I really miss that. Good thing I've recently updated my list of art films to watch. And pretty soon, I'll be blogging reviews about them. 

3. Watch a play

Now this has been a while. The last time I did was back in August or July. The play was about Cory as it is aptly titled "Cory The Musical." I love how Isay Alvarez portrayed it. There were even times that she looked just like her and it's a little creepy. Anyway, the point is I miss the magic that theatre brings. The catharsis specially. The feeling of being hollow after one scene struck you and it just leaves you breathless, fully absorbed like a sponge until you finally breath again and breath differently. With a certain depth unlike before. That's the exact description and no one escapes it. I've experienced doing backstage work and I've also acted once. Both of them are truly rewarding. The pains of it makes you love it all the more. Some sadomasochistic love of sort. Good thing I heard there's going to be "Alladin The Musical" here in KL at Sunway Lagoon running from November to January 2. I don't want to miss it.

4. Visit an art gallery or a museum

Now this one has also been a while. Before I left for Thailand Krista and I visited Intramuros and Rizal Museum so I guess it counts but the point is it's a thing one must do regularly. LB was a haven for this. At least once in 3 months there's an art exhibit and the works are really good. I miss the whole setup of a gallery. White walls, mini spotlights, shiny floor tiles, fancy guestbook. It's a temple of minimalism contrasted to the splash of colors (or the lack of them) emanating from the artworks. It makes you focus your attention to the artwork and for a few blinks absorb the meaning it's communicating to you on an individual level. No two people will get the same meaning unless it's blatantly told. But one way or another, the art speaks a language uniquely to a person. That's what I love about it. Fancy or gore. Abstract or modern. The art speaks to your soul directly and you can't simply shut the line down. It's a trance and you just got to dance. 

5. Karaoke

Now this is total fun. I sued to do this a lot specially with friends. perfect bonding experience over a bottle of beer and sizzling sisig. In between songs are stories and laughter at how high-pitched or how sintunado one sings. It's a relaxing thing. Music has a way to heal the soul of emotional maladies. It touches the heart in a way no other medium does. Even if it is sung in the worst way possible. Singing words are not like reading them. It takes extreme emotions to sing and I prefer extreme happiness.

6. Watch TV series

It's really similar to watching art films only this takes most of people's time. Eats up time especially if the series is really interesting and you can't even get up to pee. Now this too is a form of solitary entertainment as most other forms have become. The difference though is that series have a sense of continuation and disruptions that people look forward to. The loops of the threads make it exciting. I enjoyed Games of Thrones a lot. it's really fun to watch. Now I'm looking forward to watching Downton Abbey and The Hour. Two period series that have been receiving great public reception and reviews. I'll surely blog about them when I get to watch already.

So these things are just some of the things I wish spending my time on weekends. Another one is traveling which I'm definitely gonna be doing. I;m here to explore as much as to work. The next 10 months would be filled with both professional and personal growth. I'm particularly interested in exploring the art scene in Malaysia, both the known and the local ones. Art reflects culture a lot so I'm guessing Malaysia has a lot of art forms given its unique diversity. Maybe I haven't been fully acclimatized to the culture that's why things got disrupted. But as soon as I'm on track, the wheels will just keep on turning to my soul's content. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Red, Orange, Yellow: ROY Food

If you're wondering what ROY means, it stands for red, orange yellow: the basic food color of Indian food. It's all because of curry: the magic ingredient that makes Indian food wander all over the world like Alladin's magic carpet.

Back at home, I only get to try one curry dish: chicken curry. It's the yellow kind of curry. I've always known many different kinds of curry but I've not tried most of the other kinds. You have to go to authentic Indian restaurants in Makati and Manila area to try the many different Indian dishes. But here in Malaysia, they're everywhere. They're found in most every corner.

So here are some of the dishes I've tried for the past few days I've been here.
Usually, they serve three kinds of curry sauces in one plate. The more common ones are the fish (ikan), chicken (ayam) and mutton (kambing). You can just dip almost everything to it: bread (roti), rice (nasi), eggs (telur) and others.

Fist meal ever - This is my first meal in Malaysia. I ordered deep fried shrimp and chicken and had string beans in coconut milk as side dish.

Nasi goreng ayam - It's basically friend rice with chicken. It's a staple here. If you're not for the plain rice, you can ask the cook for fried rice for an extra cost of course.

Roti Canai - My colleagues say it's a popular food here. They also say that I have to walk 100 meters to get rid of calories it contains. It's a mix of ingredients that are high in fat: condensed milk and flour and fried in oil. But it's really worth trying.

Appam - It's not very commonly served in most Indian restaurants. I'm lucky (blessed) to have it in one restaurant found in little India (any place that's crowded with Indian shops and restaurants is called little India). The best part of it is you get to dip it in sweetened coconut milk that makes it even more heavenly.

They say Malaysia is one great food paradise. I can say it is. The diversity of its people brought about the diversity of its food culture. You can find Indian, Chinese and Malay restaurants one beside another in most blocks and corners in Kuala Lumpur. Thai, Italian and Japanese restaurants also share the food districts. McDonald (they call it McD) and KFC are also found in most shopping centers and malls. My colleagues even say that Filipino food can be found in some particular ares specially near Catholic churches. The foodie in me is dying to explore all the great dishes I can find here that are truly sedap/ masarap (delicious in Malay and Tagalog respectively) and truly warms the heart. 

Language Similarities

I recently bought an English-Malay Malay- English dictionary. I was also looking for the English-Tamil, Tamil-English but I wasn't able to find one. My colleagues in the organization said I have to look for it in bigger bookstores 

During the nights and free time at the office, I would browse through the dictionary to learn basic words like greetings and common things. I already know that there are words that are similar (if not the same) in the Bahasa Melayu and Tagalog (my language). I've came to know about this when i went to Indonesia for vacation. You see Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu are very similar except for certain words and the pronunciation especially of the 'e'. the Malaysian would read it like the u in under and umbrella and the Indonesians would read it as the word is spelled. example berapa (how much) is read as spelled by the Indonesians and the Maysians would read it as burapa (like the u in under). 

So going back to the similarities in Tagalog and Malay. Here are some of the words that are similar:

And here are some more:

(erratum: rich person should be orang kaya not irang kaya)

Not only are some words similar, the loan words (borrowed words from other language) are spelled almost similar as well:

I think that these similarities are due to the fact that geographically, Malaysia and Philippines share a border. There were even theories that the first Philippine people were descendants of the Malay and Indones races. During the barter trade era, Philippines has also been actively trading with Malaysia and Indonesia being neighboring countries.

As for me this fact is very interesting. Having studied Language in college, finding these similarities brings a clue/ key into their culture as language, as they argue, represents the culture of a country in a dialectical manner.

Not only is it interesting, it is also very helpful. I get to have a clue of what the signages on the streets or document titles say because of the similar words. Meanwhile, I'll go check my Malay dictionary for more.:)

Alone in the dark...

So it was weekend. My first in Malaysia. In my office now, we go to work even during Saturdays, half day of it. At least  I still have 1.5 days for the weekend. I'm currently staying with one of the staff now. They say it will be the case for two weeks as my organization is yet to find a place of my own. I think it's a good thing really but I'm also looking forward to the day I'll be living on my own. It's so romantic that idea. I'm in a foreign country, I get to work with people of different cultural background, I'm in control of my time, I get to explore the way I want and just live the overseas life. But right now, I'm really ok with the setupI

So it's the weekend. I decided to go with my housemate to TESCO, one of the many shopping centers in Malaysia. He works there part-time and during Saturdays, he works til 12. I went along. He went up to his work and I went around the mall. Pretty much the same as my country. There's the grocery/supermarket, the department store, food court, bookstores, boutiques and some other smaller stalls for those selling condominium units or photo packages for wedding and all.

Upstairs was the theatre (yehey) and I decided to eat up time watching a movie. Checked the movie list and found Tin-tin. I saw the trailer back at home and it was pretty interesting. The graphics was really great so I chose to watch it on 3D. I chose my seat, nothing is taken yet so I chose the best seat: the middle one near the stairs. I paid the bill, checked the time and found 30 mins. more before the showing so I decided to take my dinner. Glad there was pasta in the food court coz I've been dying to have sort of comfort food in a while. I've been having Indian and Chinese food for the whole week so I decided for a change in taste at least for the weekend.

After dinner, I went to the theatre and waited a little before they opened it. I'm handed the 3D glasses and went directly to my seat.  Some trailers/previews and the movie started. Wait! Something's weird about this. Is it just dark that I can't see a single soul or I'm really alone? God I'm alone. I'm really alone! Amoooazing. It's the first time for me to go to the theatre all by myself and it's the first time for me to be all alone in the theatre. It's as if I blocked the schedule and paid for all of the seats for me to watch it all by myself. It's really awesome.

---

About the film, I immensely enjoyed it. It was the perfect adventure film. It's all the good elements combined: mystery, travel, genius-journalist-lead-character, history of family feud, pirates and ocean adventure, clues here and there, and all the other elements you wish to see in one package plus the really great graphics. It was so detailed that the animated characters looks like real people at times... Good job Spielberg... I'm waiting for the sequel (as I suppose there will be because of the clue left at the hat of gold)....

Sweet simple things...

The day before I left my home country for Malaysia, Krista and I went to out to go to church and meet my high school friends. It was the last leg of meetups and despididas I've been having for the past two weeks. I fetched here from her house to say goodbye to her family also and to take some pictures we've had for the past weeks.

So she transferred some files to my USB. the folder's name was "vanilla twilight." Thinking it contained the pictures I asked her, I opened the folder and saw the pictures of friends' greetings and well wishes for my going to Malaysia. All the while I thought there was only one file there that I should read when I am already in Malaysia.

The supposed-to-be-surprise was at once revealed. So all the while, whenever she meets up with our friends, she would take time taking videos of them saying well wishes to me. Some friends whom she was not able to meet just sent their picture messages. all these files were contained in the folder she saved in my USB. She was supposed to make an AVP out of it but because of busy-ness, she was not able to.

As I was watching the videos and reading the messages, I really felt loved and special. It was the perfect confidence-booster a person leaving home for a while could ever have. So I'm really thankful to Krista for such a wonderful idea. It's a very simple yet touching act she made.

In Service

Finally. I'm already at my host country Malaysia. A little bit later than most of my batch mates because of visa processing but I have no complains whatsoever. It was i think God's perfect timing. No doubt about it. Maybe I've been a little too excited to really focus on preparing for the post so He gave me a little more time to reflect the gravity of the endeavor I am to embark.
And so the timing was as precise as the universe intended it to. And I'm here, sitting at my desk typing a blog entry about the things that happened and will be happening and the emotions that come along with them.

Social Engineers

It's a term "coined" by one of my batchmates in the 19th FK Prepcourse in Bangkok. He was actually an engineer by profession and he used the term social to indentify himself as a "real" engineer and to differentiate his tasks from the rest of us NGO workers. 

Let me clarify. He did not say it to demean us NGO workers. I actually thought he wanted to create a metaphor out of the term engineer for all the different tasks we're going to do in 10 months. Engineering is the field that deals with the scientific application of knowledge in order to build and design structures and processes to improve people's lives. If we put the social component in the scientific concept, the meaning would not change dramatically, the meaning will only be enriched. It would expand in ways that the metaphor captures development work as an attempt towards building and improving people's lives. 

It's a great realization for me. The concept if used in political science would actually mean manipulation of people to change their attitude or perspective towards policies or systems that a political entity wants to pursue for their political gain. But putting it in the light of development work, social engineering can mean the other way around. It can mean changing or inlfuencing people's attitudes towards development. It can mean taking away the culture of mendicancy among the poor people; it can mean changing people's attitude towards government systems and the culture of corruption; and it can also mean changing people's attitude towards gender relations and power. 

It's a concept that can define the work that we do. I'm proud to be a social engineer. Scoail

bohol

7 days in Bohol. 5 days of which spent most in the training (as was the purpose of the trip) and 2 days were spent in tour. it was really nice since I've been wanting to go to Bohol and finally, I went.

what I loved about the trip:
1. old churches - (Baclayon and Loboc)  fascinating handiworks of locals who used corals, bamboos and egg white (yup, egg white as cementing agent) to erect such magnificent edifice that have been witness to Philippine history and Filipino people's faith. Baclayon's famous for Fr. Pio's image which by some miracle, appeared in the walls of the church as a result of rain.

2. lunch and river cruise - Loboc river cruise is a great treat. Good food + local music+ nature = one great experience. It's nice to know that the local government is doing a good deal of work to improve the tourism in the area. and the restrooms are aircon btw.

3. TARSIER - cute little creatures found only in specific locations in the island. They're amazing vulnerable creatures. I really wish I can take one home but that's quite impossible. Good thing a lot of stuffed animals ala tarsier are available as souvenir. Only, the souvenirs don't quite look as cute as the original.

4. Chocolate Hills - wonder of nature. magnificent view from the top. I've see hills, but nothing compare to the complex of 1000+ hills that looks perfect as a playground. The driver in the van told us of a myth about the hills saying that giant's tears over the wife's death were the reason fro the formation of the hill. Pretty cute story but we know they're corals... And the nearby towns are also hilly. If Bohol is under water, the hills could have been wonderful little island people can hop on.

So there .4 places I loved in Bohol. Of course there's also the blood compact area and prony the 26 feet long phyton and a lot of other things, but the four places were more memorable.  I heard Panglao island and the zipline which they call "suislide" are also nice. So next time, I'll go there for sure.:)

Till next time Bohol...

I don't know why I'm blogging right now

So. The trips are over. At least the first trips of the year. Baguio was a hit. The workshop was really fruitful, and fun, and fun... Then, just last week, Cagayan de Oro. The workshop was just as fruitful, equally-interesting and fun, and fun. The workshop seemed endless (both in Baguio and Cagayan). I only went out of the hotel/hostel to buy things needed for the training. of course it was a work trip but somehow it was too busy I wasn't able to explore as much as i wanted to. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll come back there soon (both places).

So i am. Next week, off to Baguio again. Planning meeting and all. It could have been done here at the office (as most of my office mates said) but we'll have it in uber-cold Baguio (it registered 9 degrees today). I hope i won;t get colds when we go up there. But ok, I'll just enjoy it when I get there.

Now what...

Now is report writing time. That's why I don't know why I'm blogging right now. i should be writing. I think blogging's like a break or something. But breaks are usually totally different from the real work thing you do. Blogging's like writing, same thing. Maybe the content's what differs. I'll blog anyway.

Annual monitoring report. Pretty technical words and yah it's really technical. It fells like doing thesis all over again. The difference now is I'm paid doing it and it has greater cause other than for knowledge-seeking and academic discussion. But don't get me wrong, I still love academic discussion. I'll be back in that field pretty soon.

Going back to annual report due this Feb 15, I've finished half of it. Finished all the tables and stuff like that. Now it's getting a little too technical. I need to look at project objectives, project outputs and components, link them to the activities, follow the LFA matrix and be consistent in every sheet so that I'd be able to fulfill the tasks of result-based reporting. It's tough given that i only have 2 weeks to have it done or else.

But I'd love to have it done. It's pretty challenging. I just hope I'll have easier time doing it. So help me God

New things this new year...

So 2011 has started and a lot of things are new. We just moved in to a new office. It was a bold move especially because our office has been in NATCCO for 20 years and it is only now that we decided to move out and find our own place. There's too much identification with the organization so moving out was asserting identity in some ways. The moving out was a little hard both emotionally and physically. I've known a lot of people from the old office and leaving the physical space would also lessen the frequency of conversations and meeting up. It would mean finding new people to say hi to every time you pass by each other. And physically of course because there's a lot of things we have to transfer and I'm talking about big and heavy things. The books and publications of the organization, materials for training, souvenirs from different organizations in different countries, computer hardwares and other heavy equipments, tables and chairs and everything that the office holds.

But I think it's a positive move. I just hope things will be brighter for us this year and as the organization pushes forward.
---

Then the first travel. destination: Baguio. 1st training this year in the coldest place in its coldest time. Good thing the participants have very warm personalities and they offer warm hugs (literally as a group) every now and then.

Hope the next trips (Cagayan and Bohol) will also be as fun and warm.:)

---

New things are always nice. I think it's because they're different from the old things you had before and the idea of having them (or having experienced them) adds up to your concept of exploring bigger and better possibilities. Of course hesitations and un-acceptance sometimes comes at first but it will fade soon by looking at the positive things change can offer. Maybe it the idea of replacement that is feared. Since new things are always shiny and appealing and easier and faster and all that -er and more in it (such as in technology), the memory that accompanies the old things seems to be taken for granted as well. It's a reality. But I think people have a choice to keep things and change things based on whatever subjectivities there are. People just have to learn to let go most of the time and hold on sometimes.

I should blog more often

Yes. I think I should. With lots of things going on in my life right now, the trips, the learnings, the experiences, blogging is perfect for me. I'm just really lazy and I have not been writing (freely: out of the bounds of work reports and requirements) for months so I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with blogging regularly like my girlfriend does.

Anyway to start the year of the rabbit, (as if it matters what year of what it is at all) I thought of a flashback to my 2010. Every one's doing it anyway. Sites features 2010 in films, 2010 in news, top tourist destination of 2010 and whatever listology people think interesting. They even involve people now in deciding what's hot and what's not in 2010. Twitter and FB are gaining some ground in public opinion lately. Of course there's a question of representation of who are capable of and have access to these sites to comment but ok, FB has 500 million friends representing jejemon and bourgeois alike so let's give them credit.

So going back to the list of things I'm thankful for in 2010...

1. an NGO job I like doing

- where I was introduced to the interesting and sometimes trivial world of development work

- where I was inspired to be a highly-paid consultant in 15 to 20 years

- where got to travel to different parts of the country: Davao, Cebu, CDO, Ilocos, Abra, Iligan,

Misamis Occ. and others.

2. travel to different parts of the country and the latest trip to Indonesia (my first international

travel)

- travelling is just so much fun. Indonesia is a perfect first-time travel for me and Krista. It's not too different from the Philippines; the fare (on promo) was affordable; their temples are adorable and historical dating back to the 9th century BC; their culture is a celebration; their food hot and spicy and masarap just the way I like it; their batik cloth; their monuments and historical spots well-preserved; their train transport system better than Philippines and a lot more things to love about it.

3. Graduation (the ceremony not the actual graduation/completion)

4. 3 years of togetherness with Krista

5. Trainings I facilitated.

6. Books I read

7. Movies I've seen

8. foodtrips

9. meetups with college friends once in a while

10. treat to friends and family (once in a while)

And a whole lot more. Thankful to God for all the blessings and grateful for the provisions. I'm sure 2011 will be even better.:)