I need my stunnas, the future looks bright

I decided to start the application process for Teach For America.  This past month I’ve been thinking and rethinking my next year.  I will be graduating from college, and want to move in a productive direction, of course, that’s left me scared out of my wits — “what am I going to do?!”

After doing more course work and traveling, I’ve realized that I want to play a role in development; be it planning, education, or organizing.  Planning in the sense that I want to be the voice that makes sure that local environmental and social impacts are top priority and will remain so for generations and generations to come — making sure that local ecosystems are left unaffected, and that the local people are receiving the full benefits of development without negative externalities.  All of this done in a manner that sustains itself for the long-term and at lowest monetary and social costs.  I also want to play a part in education.  Sharing and facilitating the things that I’ve learned to empower others is one of the greatest rewards I could get from higher education.  And lastly, being that cohesive piece of building partnerships, gathering resources, and gaining trust is such an important role in what I’m going to school for (environmental sustainability and social justice).

Of course each of these things would be at its optimum if it also allows me to pursue my passion of traveling.  I have such a great interest of seeing the rest of the world.  I’ve spent most of my life on the sunny California coast, and a significant amount on the east coast, but there are so many more places I would love to experience; from Centro America, to South America, South East Asia, the Middle East, India, Africa, and on and on.  I must also not forget that seeing the rest of the U.S., i.e. Hawaii and Alaska, and the South would be awesome as well.  By going to these places, I would learn so much from how things are done in different parts of the world, then take those experiences and add them to my mental toolbox so that I could use them with the other “parts” that I have gathered.

Anyway, I started this blog talking about Teach for America.  There is still much I need to learn about the organization, but I love what they stand for:  providing quality education to underprivileged schools around America.  What an awesome opportunity to spread my wings and put this mind to work.

Livin la vida pilipino

Hangin around the islands has been a blast, but my dome can’t get past a few ‘improvements’ that could better the quality of life in this seemingly developing world. A few ideas that have come to mind include waste management, street cleaning, and mandatory smog inspections on automobiles.

Island life is rad — total chill laid-backedness. When you need transport, you flag a bus down and it’ll stop for you unless it’s just too full, fruit and snacks are sold on every corner, there are no 7-11’s, the sea is unbelievably clear, sea creatures lurk, the animals run free, the people are friendly as ever, there’s nothing lacking here but a few minor details. Unfortunately, some western models of improvement would put lanes on the roads, cut-out tricycles all together, and install air conditioners in every building (ahem ‘hk’). But those things are not necessary; rather, they take away from what living on an island is all about.

Perhaps my ideas would need a major push as well, but as far as I can tell, they are feasible. Street cleaning can be done with grey water (or perhaps sea water?). Waste management would need some infrastructure such as bins, garbage collection vehicles, and a landfill, but such models already existing in the west could work here as well. And the smog inspection is a major must. Frankly, the streets out here are too narrow for the capacity of putt-putting motos making and idling their ways down the streets. A mandatory filtration system can minimize the exhaust of these vehicles.

Well, I’m heading to Cebu tonight on an overnight boat. Apparently, I get a cot cuz the ride’s a little ove 5 hours. Sorta not looking forward to it, but ready for some rest nonetheless. Once in Cebu, making a b-line to the airport where we’re flying out to Palawan Island. Once there, going to check out an underground aquatic system and other things that dub Palawan the 7th wonder of the world. Stoked!

I hope some more ideas come to mind regarding this wonderful country. Oh, I guess I should add a note about the notorious corruption of filipino politics and authority. Fortunately, I’ve been lucky enough to not have experienced this yet, as the folks here have been nothing but warm and caring.

Maganda!

Heritage-seeking

After being saved by the parents once again, I was able to confirm today that a trip to the Philippines is definitely going to happen for me. I’m totally stoked for this experience.

I would really like to visit the towns that my mother lived in, but am struggling with possibly hurting her feelings (?…). I’m not sure how to put into words, but there seems to be a strange run-around/animosity towards me visiting these places. According to the mother, there’s no real reason to go back to the towns. I toyed with the idea of telling my mom that it would be great for me to get pictures to show her, but then again, she’s told me not to do it because of the “danger of getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time” (which I’m not sure what that really means anyway…’getting caught by rebels’ perhaps). I, however, wonder what’s really going on in her head about this.

Nonetheless, I’m planning for a pretty amazing trip. I originally started thinking that flying into Cebu then taking the western route through Palawan up to Luzon to ultimately fly out of Manila would work out, but it seems that perhaps the opposite direction might work out better as to swing through the provinces of Isabela and Nueva Ecija where the mother lived. I think even visiting her university might be fun to check out her classrooms.

So in thinking all of this out, I also started wondering about what my Pop’s thinking about all of this. We’ve actually talked a lot about going to El Salvador and he seems way more stoked to check out his home town than my mother does about hers. He’s also planning on visiting the E.S. with me whereas my mom has sort of avoided the idea of going back.

Anyway, I don’t really know what to expect with this trip. It’s going to be way different than any other trip I’ve taken to the South East because of the perhaps not-so-obvious connection I am going to have with the locals. On the outside, I may look like an American-born-half-Filipino, but for a large portion of my life, I was raised like a full-blooded Filipino by my grandparents. I laugh (now) about the things my mother tells me about her childhood and how my grandparents raised her because I was raised the same way by them. Let’s face it, we were both disciplined by a chinella and the meter-stick if we did not finish our sinigang by our nanay (which means ‘mother’ in tagalog as opposed to me calling her ‘lola’ or grandmother like my other cousins).

Which got me thinking that I wish I was going to be travelling with some family so as to hear all the stories of the past. But back to what I was saying at the start of this post, perhaps the past isn’t as romantic and care-free as I imagine it to be. Either way, I look forward to going back to where my mother, my family and I am from.