Bawal umihi EVERYWHERE!

I’ve been taking Tagalog classes at the Bayanihan Center and I must say my Taglish has maraming improved! Kasi before, I only watched “Wowowee” to look at the 10-15 babae sayaw-ing in one place behind Willie.

But ngayon, I can finally understand onwards of up to 1.5% of the words they are saying on the show! ASTIG!

Salamat sa dios at mariahosep! (This rocks!)

Welcome… to Jurassic Manila! (Queue music).

If you’ve ever been to Manila, these huge signs are on every busy street.

(via http://plopculture.tumblr.com/)

I do believe there is a difference between Fil-Ams and Filipinos but I am always in awe of both Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who can jump in-between both worlds seamlessly.

I really look up to people who can be in the middle and understand both worlds and fit in both worlds. I don’t care who you are or where you are from, if you have a good grasp of both sides of the debate, of two extremes, then you have accomplished something!

But the people I respect most of all are people who are true to themselves and true to others. You don’t have to understand “both worlds.” Just respect them. People who respect the opinions of others while respecting their own have already achieved half the battle. The other half is finding a way to make both parties better after hearing each other out. Not taking each other apart.

The question then isn’t “am I Filipino” or “am I Filipino-American…”

In the end, we’re all just trying to make better lives for ourselves. So the big question is how can Filipinos in the Philippines and Filipinos in America help each other create better lives for themselves and their children… together?

But its probably a bit late to post this. Eh whatever. Happy (belated) Valentines day!

(via crappykid.tumblr.com)

PS: If you visit the link above and don’t understand Tagalog (like me), use Google Translate!

But I was wrong =(.

What I was really blogging and rapping about was a Filipino-American’s point of view of a society I knew nothing about. So I stopped writing and rapping and started listening for a change. I love how life works that way, you’re doing one thing thinking you’re in the right direction and then you try something completely different and it gets even better.

For a more candid take on what i’ve been hearing so far can be found from a few Filipino-Filipinos contributing answers to my ultimate question:

“What do you dislike about Filipino-Americans?” (Click here to read some of the answers.)

Here are some quotes that stuck out to me the most:

“The moment they get off the plane in Manila, they instantly lose their pinoy pride and become either black (”bling-bling homie”) or white (”i’m stoked, dude”) when conversing with a local–and essentially spend the rest of their vacation making sure the locals know that they are NOT like them.”

“Filipino-Americans are way too cliquish.”

“If you don’t fit any of the stereotypes then you are definitely “WHITE WASHED” and can forget about calling yourself Filipino…..”

“Filipinos are amazing writers, I wish more Filipino-Americans would appreciate their literary heritage.”

“THEY USE TISSUE PAPER,WHICH IS MORE EXPENSIVE THEN USING RUNNING WATER.”

“and i dont even want to get into how many fil-ams got onto the pacquaio bandwagon when the getting was good. and while i understand everyone loves a winner, and he makes u proud to be filipino, barely any fil-ams (except ones that knew boxing) knew (or cared) that he had a less successful brother who’s a boxer as well or knew (or cared) about another successful fighter who came before pacman…luisito espinosa.”

Pacatar? Avaquiao?

(From Superdownsam.tumblr.com)

Better late than never!

Philippine congress just passed a bill that will push for the synchronization of the nation’s clocks, watches, internet cafe computers, and the Folexes of the trapo.

If you ask me, a blogger at Productive Pinoy wrote the real “bill” on his blog months before. Follow his advice to the tee, and you will see how much more fashionable it is to be ON TIME!

Note: I meant to post this earlier but, that damn traffic.

Note 2: I meant to post a picture of a clock, but Time magazine with a Filipino on it felt more adequate.

Dear Am-Boy, Fil-Am, Kano…

Like you I was born and raised in the United States, in a small town called Daly City. Daly City is a peculiar place because it isn’t exactly a city. It is also a suburb south of San Francisco, and north of South San Francisco, which always added to its peculiarity. Why not call it Mid San Francisco?

And just like Daly City, I always felt “in the middle.” Living in a sort of cultural limbo. I was neither here or there.

I grew up being told I was Filipino, in a city whose majority was the minorities. Eventually I learned how to speak the dialect of my parents, and visited the Philippines often. And then one day I was told that I was American, and not a Filipino, by a Filipino.

So I discarded the labels altogether and embraced the label that is my name. At least THAT I was sure of. After having been born and raised in America for 20 or so years, I was American for the 1st time.

And then one day during another trip back home, I met a 5 year-old son of a family friend. He was born and raised in Bohol, but he couldn’t speak a word of Filipino. Not even a single word of Bisaya, the dialect of his parents. I was told that his parents wanted to give him an opportunity, a chance to succeed by teaching him only English.

So who was “more Filipino?” What is Filipino? Is it phenotype? Is it the blood in your veins? Your Pinoy Pride t-shirt? Do you have to be born there to be Filipino?

I believe one is Filipino when they look back at that nation of Catholicism and corruption, palm trees and prostitution, Muslims and militants, and say that is MY LAND.

One day when he is old enough I hope that boy will say to himself, “that land is my land.” And whether he says it in English or not, that land will still be his. And that land is mine too.

So Kano, Am-Boy, Fil-Am… before you say “Filipino pride”, you must see how the “masa” survive. How they support each other, and how they ruin each other. If you can see this reality, and still call that land your own, then you’re good to go.

The question then is, unsay sunod ani naho? The answer is, go home.

Sometimes (actually, all the time) I forget that despite my misunderstandings of the culture from which my mom and dad were from, that there is a growing and immense appreciation of Filipino culture where I am… the Bay Area!

“Tabi po” means, “excuse me” in Tagalog. But within the context of the paranormal it means “please don’t possess/eat me!”

“One of the world’s most perfectly formed volcanoes oozed lava and ash overnight, threatening to explode over a picturesque tourist town in the Philippines.”

-Times Online

Halloween typhoons and Christmas Volcanoes. A constant juxtaposition of celebration in the midst of impending doom. It is no wonder the Filipino has the “bahala na” attitude.