babble mix

Pilipino Pride Chicken

Nanggigil talaga ako sa isang “Pinay” na ka-opisina ko. Kaibigan ko pa naman. Nasaktan talaga ang pagka-Pilipino ko eh. Pero di ko rin siya masisisi, wala kasi siyang pagmamahal sa Pilipinas o sa pagiging Pinoy.

Naguusap kasi kami tungkol sa mga panahon na nakita namin ang mga nanay namin umiyak. Sabi ko, nakita ko lang si mama umiyak nung namatay si papa saka nung nagka-dengue kami ni sis.

(In English)
Friend: Anong dengue?
Mel: Di nyo alam yun? H-fever? Dengue fever? Yung nakukuha sa lamok?
Friend: Ha? Ano yun, malaria?
Mel: Hindi, no, iba yun.
Friend *ngiti*: Di namin alam yun, walang ganun dito. Ikaw kasi nakatira ka sa isang 3rd world country.
Mel *taas kilay*: Pinalabas mo namang lumot ang tinirahan ko!
Friend *nigit pa rin*: Ano pa bang meron dun? Mad cow disease? SARS? Anthrax? Bird flu?
Mel *kumulo ang dugo*: Excuse me?!
Friend: Sama ko no? Hihihi
Mel: SOBRA! Babatuhin kita dyan eh!

Nang-aasar lang naman talaga siya, at naasar talaga ako. Ano kala niya, dito walang sakit? Na dahil nasa "3rd world country" tayo, sobrang dumi at bulok ng Pilipinas? Sinubukan kong palipasin yung inis ko, kala ko kasi mapapalipas ko eh. Pero hindi ko mapalagpas. Hurt talaga ako. Siguro pagdating sa pagiging Pilipino ko, pikon talaga ako.

Kinausap ko rin siya the next day, kasi kaibigan ko yun eh. Mahal ako nun and alam ko na hindi naman niya syempre gusto na saktan ako o tapakan ang pride ko bilang isang Pinoy. Sinabi ko sa kanya na sadly, maraming Pilipino ang walang pagmamahal sa bansa nila, o kinahihiya ang pagiging Pinoy nila, kaya siguro hindi rin niya ako maiintindihan, kasi isa siya dun.

Inamin naman din niya eh, wala siyang association sa pagiging Pinoy kundi sa mga niluluto lang ng nanay niya, or sa mga kwento ng magulang niya noon. Pero eto ha, nakakaintindi siya ng fluent Tagalog – fluent enough for a conversation at least. Yun lang. Hanggang dun lang siya Pinoy, kaya nga “Pinay” siya with the quotes, eh.

Sa atin siya pinanganak pero dito na siya lumaki. Mula nung dumating siya dito, she hasn’t gone back and has no desire to go back. Kaya ang tawag niya sa sarili niya, NIYOG – brown sa labas, puti sa loob. MISMO.

Sabi ko nga, di ko siya masisisi. Nanay niya ang sinisisi ko. Hindi siya napalaki ng may pagmamahal sa Pilipinas o sa pagiging Pilipino. Iniisip ko tuloy, malamang hindi importante sa mga magulang niya ang pagiging Pilipino nila.

Ang lungkot. Feeling ko kasi, mangilan-ngilan na lang kaming natitirang may pagmamahal sa Pilipinas. Iilan na lang ang natitira who deserve to be called a Filipino. Ang lungkot, kasi napakaraming Pilipino sa Pinas at nagkalat sa buong mundo, pero ilan lang talaga ang may tunay na pagmamahal sa bansa ko.

Kaya sisiguraduhin ko na kahit nasaan lumaki ang mga magiging anak ko, lalaki silang mahal ang Pilipinas. Lalaki silang nagta-Tagalog, kumakain ng dinuguan at kare kare, marunong mag-mano at may drive para mapabuti ang buhay ng kapwa nila Pilipino.

Sisiguraduhin kong my kids will deserve to be called Filipinos. Di katulad ng ibang tao dyan sa tabi-tabi.

posted by meL @ 11:33 AM 4 comments

Teacher Mel

My co-copywriter who sits next to me in our little CW (Copywriting) cube has been asking me to teach him some Filipino words. He's asked how to say things like:

“Magandang umaga!”
“Maganda hapon!” I had to stress the accent on the HA- and told him that “haPON” meant Japanese. He asked what he just said meant, so I said, “beautiful Japanese.”
“Magandang gabi!”
“Kamusta ka?”

He has also learned popular Pinoy expressions:
“Hay nako!” Sounds like Heineken daw, but ending with "o". I had to specifically tell him not to put W at the end of hay "nakow", because in Filipino, we say O as in “awe” instead of “Oh.” He justified that he was having a hard time because in English, O is pronounced like that. Even the letter O is called "ow."
“Ay salamat!” He’s worked this out in a sentence already – “Ay salamat, it’s time to go home.” He said it so well, it sounded funny coming from a white guy. I was impressed!

Of course, his lessons won’t be complete without these:

“Puta**g i*a!” (he's heard about this before, and now already knows the short cut – tang-i… and the version with a “mo” at the end.) Because I hardly ever swear, saying these to him ever so slowly felt really weird.
“Punye*a” and its equivalent non-curse, “punyemas” is now also in his Filipino vocabulary.

At the end of our lesson on that day, he tried to make complete sentences out of his new words, and said with a smile:
“Magandang umaga! Puta*g ina mo. Kamusta ka?”

I definitely didn't see that coming.

As of this writing, our last lesson was “sige” and “talaga.” He scribbled those words down in his little post its, turned to me and said, “I wish I could teach you something, but you already know English!”

--------------------------------
Singit lang. Somehow, I feel like I should mention this here, for the sake of my fellow OFWs (or nagfe-feeling OFW) dito sa US.
Translate: Uminom ka ng gamot.
Drink medicine.
Right? Wrong.
You don’t really drink medicine, but you TAKE something.
“Take your meds.”“Did you take something already?”

Class dismissed.

posted by meL @ 9:10 AM 2 comments

Last Song Syndrome

Some songs are bound to give you the Last Song Syndrome, also known to us Pinoys as LSS (a term that my co-workers have already added to their English vocabulary because of me).

One such songs is "Tulak ng Bibig," by JULIANNE. Listen to it, and watch for it playing on your radio. And if you feel the song, request for it at MAGIC 89.9 or MYX:

MAGIC(space)899(space)TULAK NG BIBIG and send to 2968

MYX(space)VOTE(space)TULAK NG BIBIG and send to 2366

Don't tell me I didn't warn you about the LSS.

Congrats, my dear cousin! We're all so proud of you!!!

posted by meL @ 3:32 PM 3 comments