A Small Town Girl

I feel like talking about the town I was born in to my post today. So here we go :) I was born and raised in a small town called Sagada in the Northern Region of Luzon. I belong to the tribe of the Igorots. We are called the Head Hunters of Northern Luzon. 

Back in the days just like the Native Americans they scalp the head of their kill for us we take the head.  That is the reason why they call us the Head Hunters. A mark that somehow people think we still practice. 

When I was young I cant wait to get out from this sleepy town. I wanted so bad to finish high school so I could go to the university. I wanted so much to have the city life.

BUT

When I finally had the so called city life, Even moved to China I realize that the small town where I was born is actually better than the big cities. I can't seem to cope up with the fast life. These days I pray so hard that may God gave me a chance to retire in that old sleepy town where everybody pretty much know everyone.

somethings I took for granted :(

Inside the Sumguing cave.. somehow it use to be a playground for us

That far village straight at the far end is exactly where some of my friends were born and raised and we need to walk this fields just to go to high school. 4 years and I cant just imagine how I did it :)

A view that can tranquilize you 

the hanging coffins in the high rocks of the Rocky Valley

Let's Talk About Rings the Korean Way

I rarely wear jewelry and somehow I am not really that interested in them but this thing about the ring fascinates me.

I never heard about a so called couple ring until I meet my Korean students.

I thought couple ring is the wedding ring but it turned out to be completely different thing.

Here's the story: If a man and a woman became exclusively dating at least for a month, the man is expected and therefor oblige to buy a couple ring. YES! one for her and one for him and they tend to be pricey. (the evil in me is thinking, if only I am pretty then I would go on a BF collection to collect a ring I could sell, after all I only need a month to get that ring.. Kidding)

actually I wonder what happen to that couple ring after they became engage. They sure will change it to an engagement ring of course. Well I head that the girl will put the couple ring in another finger and will put the engagement ring to replace it. But the catch is that there is no specific finger the couple can put the couple ring, it's their own choice. Well it still can be seen as fashion and not something that symbolize something.

oh well here comes the ring that I know of. Wedding ring, symbol of being taken and not up for grabs. according to my students the couple will now replace the rings that they previously wore with this final ring.

I was thinking! wow you cant be a playboy in Korea unless you are rich (not that I agree with guys being playboys) Just imagine buying pricey ring every month just in case you want to change GF every month. Sigh!

Some koreans words I would like to share:

Older sister

*If you are a boy - Nuna

*If you are a girl - Unni

Older Brother

*If you are a boy - hyung

*If you are a girl - Oppah (but then again if your BF is older than you, you can call him Oppah)

Younger sis/bro

*Male/female can call them dongseng.

and here's my favorite

Hello

*face to face - anyong (if its older - anyong haseyo)

*Over the phone - Yoboseyo (seyo is polite way, mostly used to older people) But be careful cause without the seyo and just yobo it would mean a totally different thing, it would mean "Honey" and not just honey, it's only used by couples who are legally married. If you are not married then you can use "jagi or jagiya" which is so sad cause jagiya is the name of my dog. :(  T.T

A Glimpse of What I do

On my last day at work I plan to take pictures with all my students. BUT it just so happen that the camera did not work well so I have to be satisfied with what is okey hehe :) These are pics of me and few of my favorite students... hmmm did I say that right hehe! well teachers are not suppose to have their own favorite but well I would be lying if I say I don't have some.

Minju and T. Shirly

They look like they are best friends but they

just meet that day hehe :)

The super polite Seayong 

I have to make the picture black in white cause

he glow like milk hehe.. means he got a fair skin that

would pass cleopatra's standard :)

T. Shirly and me

T. Edwin

T. bebz, me and T. Ghana

T. Ghana, T. Jezabelle, T. Shirly and T. Bebz

David (forgot the korean name)

Me and Morphios (dont know korean name - He is special cause he is

one of the smartest students I've ever had)

Me and Seayong

Me and T. Bebz

Me and Seayong

Me, T. Bebz (two I forgot the name), Minju, Jungha, Seayong and T.Shirly

Minju and Jungha (I gave them a couple ring hehehe) it's actually an elastic hair thing 

Well you pretty much know everybody now hehe :)

T. Shirly and T. Bebz are the nicest people I could find in the company. :) Just like me Coffee addict... but then again that is our medicine haha :)

PS: will be talking about the couple ring maybe in my next post. I think only Korean do it, I mean maybe some people are doing it too but Only Korean have it as a part of their culture. I would talk about dating as well :) hehe

My Top Five Movies

I don't really want to spend a dime in movie theaters. I am more of that so called ninja viewer, I patronize the free download thing over the net. But there are some occasions that the movie seems too good to let is pass. So here are my top five favorite movies that I actually spend some bucks for the ticket.

1) Avatar : The first and last (hope not) movie I watched in 3D. It's the second week of showing and all tickets are sold so I forced my best friend to drive me to HK so I can watch this movie. It was worth it though

2) Memoires of a Gesha : I was forced (or believe to be) to watch this movie because of my literature class teacher. She can talk about it all day and still has a lot of things to say. The movie was a bit funny not because of the plot but because of the actors. It was a Japanese theme but the main actors are Chinese.
hmmp!

3) James Bond : Forgive me for having a father who is so in love with the best fictional spy the Brits could ever make. I can say that my dad influence me with this movie but that is actually a lie. Even without my dad's influence I will still James Bond

4) Montana Sky : I'm not really into drama but this one is an exception. It's a story of 3 sisters with different characters. They need to get along well within a given time or they will loose the ranch a symbol of their fathers life. One more reason why I like this is because it's something country. yehaaa

5) Titanic : Not really something I would pay to watch in the big screen. The movie reviews that I saw are just so great that I want to see if it is as good as they say. Aside from the fact that it is based on a real story, for me it is just another love story.

Sure there are better movies worth paying for but these are just my top five movies I really paid for just to see it on big screen.

What is your list?

Torn Between Two Lovers

I only have a few days to decide, 4 days to be exact. Should I stay in PIA (current job as a teacher) 

Cant fine a better picture
Photo Credit to Google
PIA (school) is inside this building
practically this is the school

or Move to convergys (call center agent)

Both company are really good. PIA being the best English academy in Baguio city and Convergys being the best call center in the Philippines. 

PIA gives me opportunity to do what I do best, provides me an avenue to make a deference to other people. Gives me satisfaction and makes me want to learn more about things around me, specially human behavior. BUT I don't see myself being somewhere in the next five years, so is with my bank account. Sure we often say that we should work to make us happy and not for the money, but that's a huge bullshit, I would be a super hypocrite if I would say I want to work t0 be happy. The reason why I am working is for my family to have food on our table and I want to have the best food in there.

Convergys can provide me with opportunity to try something new, an adventure and an opportunity to dream higher. It can provide me a way to make my life better BUT there are a lot of IF's and Maybe's.

I don't really know! Will I regret moving away from my comfort zone? Will I regret it that I did not try something to make my life better? and a lot more than that... The main question though is... 

Next week! Is is PIA or Convergys? Sigh!

My Unlucky Number

This sure could be isolated case but I was really so disappointed with globes costumer service. I don't really use their network but since someone recommended that they give a cheaper data plan I switch to their network.

I bought a globe sim card two days ago activated it but since I don't really use it and I don't have the money to register with the 30 day unlimited plan I waited till i got my pay.

I bought a card worth of 500 pesos from a globe outlet near the office. I tried to load it but it says the card is invalid. I tried so many times but I still get the same thing. Good thing I have a receipt so I went back to the store and I was lucky enough that they were willing to help.

They called globe and asked if the card is still okay and they say it is still okay and the number has not been uses. (that's nice at least I wont be accused of using the card and giving it back) After a very long time they finally figured out that there is something wrong with my number and I need to change it. (it wont accept load) So I asked if can they change it, with globes own expense of course cause I don't think it's my fault that I choose that number from their store. To my dismay the customer rep told me that globe will not shoulder anything and they are sorry for the inconvenience but that's the only thing they can do.

I was really so angry but my co-worker told me that even if you get so mad they will just asked you to go to any globe store and if you are just pre-paid user they wont give a shit about your problem. Now globe wont help and the store wont do refund which I understand because the problem is not the card but the number.

My friend suggested to load the card on her phone and she will share the load to me, so well we did and wolah it work, I was so happy with that but when I tried to resister to the sakto promos it prompt subscriber barren. What the F***... Oh! well here we go again calling globe customer service and I don't really want to make the story long but it all end up like I just lost 500 php and lost a lot of energy arguing with the costumer rep and I don't even know if she know what is she talking about. Sigh!

Do I have a plan in using their network? Nope I better stick with smart for now unless they fix their service.

Can it get any weirder than this?

Somehow blogging is my outlet to most of my frustration in life, at work or just frustration in general. The person blogging is me and not the persona that I have to wear every time I go to work. I always hear people say be yourself, I don't know but somehow by saying that we are not ourselves, because it is human nature to desire to look good.

I want people to read my blog but at some point I don't want my friends to read about what I am writing. I always think that if some people that I know would read my blog and if I keep thinking about that, it would mean that I have to restrict myself to some issues but then again that would take away the whole sense of this blog.

Why am I writing this? Just because last Friday while I was away from my classroom one of my student went  to class early and since my laptop is on the table and blogger is up he was actually reading my blog. There is nothing to hide there because I don't think I have touch some of the sensitive issue yet. It gave me an uneasy feeling none the less. 

I told the student to mind his own business but I was the one telling the world and even asking the world to know about what I think with things. I cry privacy and yet I want people to know what's inside my head. UGH! are we humans really complicated as this?

Somehow I am one of those who can't really be myself at all times, there are certain expectations from me that requires a mask, this is really sad but somehow a reality that most can't accept.

Sigh!

How Did I Start

I'm sure that most bloggers did not start writing with keyboard, that includes me. I started to develop the love of writing when I was in grade 6. Our teacher asked us to write a diary for our writing class. I can still remember my entry, they are all about every routine. I continued to write until I was in 2nd year in high school, somehow cute boys worth my time more than my diary.

I pick the diary and pen again when I was in the university, this time things are all about the guy next to me, how the teacher always match and coordinate everything based on colors (including her nail polish). It was fun until I can't do it anymore, I don't have much time specially my last year.

Then here I am again, I guess once a writer always a writer. This time I'm sure I have the time to maintain it, no more getting bored and no more school to get on my way of blogging. :) 

Well I did not start writing with keyboard like the others but I am here now and I will be for a long time :)

Lunch at Work

I am one of those people who prefers to bring their lunch at work rather than eating at the cafeteria. It's cheaper for me, though I do admit that what they cook down there taste's good.

But yesterday has a different story (I guess). I woke up late so I was not able to cook something I could bring for lunch, so even if I have limited budget I just have to go and buy something at the food center. I don't usually go there so the first station that I saw was the first one I checked.

I appreciate the initiative of the company to allow food establishment to rent at the ground floor of the building, at least employee's don't have to go outside plus they also allow us to eat in our own classrooms. I can't wait for the day that they will open a centralize dining area for us, cause it's a bit lonely to eat alone. I also wish that someday there will be a room where people can gather together in their free time to just hangout with each other. Somehow I get so bored being on my own so I usually room hop to other teachers room if it's my free time. These days though since there is blogger and the office have wifi I usually just stay in my room and blog hop :)

anyway going back to the food I ordered. :) It's red Bowl, basically they serve takeout's and well I ordered this one

basically it looks like some shit but it actually taste good. I don't know how they made it cause they are already in a styro when I bought it, I can see and taste cabbage and sprouted mango and God knows what else is there but it taste good. I would order it again if I have the chance. I still prefer the food that I cook for lunch though. :)

to end it I so love my workplace because of this chance to an easy food access.

Where are the Natives

I was walking home from work when I decided to drop by Abanao Square to buy a mechanical pencil at National Bookstore. I don't usually listen to other peoples conversation but this time it's special.

I overheard some local tourist talking about the natives. I heard one ask a fellow shopper where to find the natives? I wonder what kind of native she is talking about but since they are in the city of pines I assume she was talking about the Igorots. The lady said if you are talking about the Igorot you are looking at one of them. That puts a smile in my face, but then the girl who asked  gave a reaction I don't know if I'm going to slap her in the face or pity her for her ignorance, I choose the later though.

The girl said.. WEHHHH HINDI NGA! Bakit maputi ka, dibah pangit sila? (Really, then why do you have a fair skin, isn't it that they are ugly) Unconsciously I tried to find a thing where I can see my reflection.

This is what we wear before
Photo credit to: Filipinasoul.com

I do understand those people who are still not aware of the so called modern world, stuck with what they know, I admire them though for being bold.

This is what we wear now....

(I would like to thank my sis for letting me use her pictures)

 We were not stuck with what we use to do, we also follow the flow of things around us but it doesn't mean we forgot who we are. We are still Igorot the warrior of the north. We still practice the old ways but we accept the new.

I am proud of my roots I am proud to be an Igorot :)

A Memory of China

I just found this pics on my old USB  I thought I lost everything but then I guess sometimes checking your old stuff for no reason is a good thing

The top is really nice I just don't know where it is now, it looks like I'm wearing another piece of shirt of some sorts inside but not really, it's a part of the top.  I like it!

I like lines boots we just bought it the day before for 100 rmb (700 php)

I like the shoes I'm wearing I still have it. Bought it for 4$

somehow I like the outfit I wore that day... yehaaa