Gone Crazy...

My trip to Macau is just a week away and my friends and I already have a hotel to stay in. The only problem is that we still don't know where we can eat at a reasonable price and the schedule and fares of the public transportation (bus, in particular) there. So I looked them up in our ever reliable(?) Google Map for street directions and stuff. The good news is that we can go from one point to the other by walking...bad news is that the street names are in CHINESE. I may look Chinese, but I sure as hell cannot read Chinese characters to save my life.

We are relying on the shuttle service from the hotel to get around (hopefully for free) however there is this little problem called operating hours. We arrive there at night, so we need to make the most of our stay there during the night and off we to to Hong Kong the following day.

Anyway, I am still trying to figure out the map that I have here. So wish me luck!

You're Beautiful

I just love this song...I am not a fan of Korean bands and dramas, but I do listen and watch some of them. I would not go to a crowded place just to get a glimpse of Korean guys it would be a different matter altogether if it was Mukai Osamu or Ikuta Toma though.

I watched You're Beautiful some time ago, but I still smile whenever I remember the scenes there. I was also pretty amazed when I found out that the actors there did their own singing. (I just a sucker for musicals so I guess this is the closest they can get to it)

My aunt is going gaga over it! She has watched it like three times already on her i-touch. I think I will watch it again in the near future, just to get my dose of drama-music-comedy. On another note, I always root for the second lead! It sort of sucks...when will I ever cheer for the lead guy?!

Racial Slurs

For some time now, Filipinos have been offended by numerous racial slurs from mostly American entertainers. At first, I was totally with the masses in demanding for apologies and whatnot. I would be saying things like "WTF are they talking about? How can they criticize our culture and nation without even knowing us?" and "How dare they say those things about us? Are they perfect? They don't respect people's culture because they have none to speak of...a bunch of land-grabbers!" I am very much into studying various cultures therefore I am fond of countries with rich and ancient civilizations to speak of. In line with that, I do not think highly of countries without much history and traditions. I am not saying that the USA has a "blah" culture, but most of their habits and traditions are borrowed from other countries such as India, China, and numerous countries from Europe because of the settlers there. The rich culture of their "native Americans" have been trampled upon and treated as "idiotic."

I am one of those people who do not join the bandwagon in proclaiming their supremacy primarily because I hate supremacists and for as long as I can remember, Americans have been acting like that. (AT LEAST THOSE ON TV) I am not saying that ALL of them are like that, it's just that the BAD overshadows the GOOD.

I think it is high time that we stop looking up to them and start respecting our own culture and traditions. I hate to say this but we are also to blame for they perception of our country. The recent comments about Manny Pacquiao and the sex tourism in the Philippines is primarily because it is the image that we have somewhat projected. I resent his comment about the women in our country but the FACT is, MANY foreigners go to the Philippines because of the prevalent cases of prostitution in our country. We have a beautiful country, however perverts from other countries flock here not for the beaches and our rich heritage but for erotic entertainment. Besides, of all the things that the Philippines is famous for, why is he only aware of two-- Manny (the "idiot" a.k.a. the Fighter of the Decade) and sex tourism? It really makes you wonder what his priorities are in life. His view of Japan might be of squirming petite ladies and hentai not those of kimonos and zen Buddhism.

In order to stop these offensive racial comments, we should join each other in promoting the good in our country. Stop whipping our own culture wantonly. I am not saying to sing undue praises for our fellow Filipinos, but we should also point out the good and the beauty of our wonderful nation. The media has been bombarding us with news of rallies, corruption, deaths, and whatnot but the only achievement they are happy to share is the victory of the "pacman" over some guy who only hid his face for 12 rounds. Why not share the news of opening a new road, promoting tourism in our vast archipelago, or being champions in various competitions NOT involving boxing gloves?

I would like to think that the Filipinos are educated and intelligent. Why not give ourselves the chance to excel and be known not for sex tourism and boxer-turned-politicians?

Visita Iglesias 21st century Style

Every year, my mother makes it a point that she mixes two of her most favorite things in the world; traveling and religion. Going on "Visita Iglesias" can be quite fun actually. However over the years many things have changed. For instance, most people actually prayed when they go in churches in the past. These days, people went in to get pictures and act like photographers. Unfortunately, my brother and I were sort of guilty of this. We sat and prayed for a while, but we also went to take pictures. This reinforced my belief that churches in our country can actually be beautiful.

We are not very religious, my mom considers it a miracle that I enter the church for mass more than twice a year. However I must concede that it is fun looking at the architectural beauties called as churches. Please do not think that I am an evil evil bitch because I don't go to mass. I am not an atheist, I just don't think we need religion to be kind and conscientious.