Art in Paradise

This entry is sooooo last year! And yes, I’ve been attacked by the laziness bug yet again in updating this blog. However, I’ve come to realize that I have less than a week left in taking all my time to laze around.

By this time next week, I’ll start being quite busy for a while in settling down back in the country and in adapting yet again to the system and to the way of living. Isn’t it quite weird to re-adapt in your own country? Ahahaha.

So, I promised myself to spend the remaining time in doing all the backlogs in my entries in this blog or else, they will all just fall into eternal oblivion, into my eternal katamaran pala.

Last July, right after Ahne and I took our TOIEC exam in Chiang Mai (Which we passed with high scores! Wohoooo! Ang yabang. But promise, our scores would have caused all our elementary and high school, sige isama na pati university English teachers to have a pa-pizza party! Ahahaha!), we decided to look for Art in Paradise, a newly established 3D gallery in Chiang Mai, and the largest in Asia as of the moment.

Foreigners are charged for 500 baht as entrance fee in the gallery but since we had a working permit, we were charged with a very affordable price which is the same as what the locals are being charged of.

We were amazed with the size of the gallery---it is even way bigger than the Mind Museum in Seoul! With its size and the number of their artworks inside, they provided electrical outlets in all corners of the gallery for those who wish to charge their phones or cameras. 

And, since these two girls had already a training in Seoul *wink, ahahaha!*, we breezed through almost all the 3D artworks without a sweat *another wink*.

Faculty by Jerrold Tarog

This film talks about some serious issues but ironically, it tickled my funny bone. The last line of the character which is “Magtuturo ako ng high school.” sent me guffawing. That is because I might identify myself as the realistic character in the movie but the rebel/activist character was the very personification of me during my impressionable years (Remember the I-can-change-the-world phase that we’ve all gone through? That’s it. ) And that caused me to laugh. Remembering is not only bitter-sweet, this time, I labeled it as a bitter-sweet kind of “funny”.

I too was a rebel. On, second thought, the usage of word seems inappropriate. Rebel is such a strong word. But if questioning authorities and unclear traditions and laws and ancient political system is labeled as rebellious, so let’s leave that term as it is. That was the reason why my nanay was so hesitant to let me study in UP when I passed the entrance exam because she clearly knows my rebellious streak. I would definitely be the cause of her death if she sees me on television marching around with a red band on my head while raising my fist in the air. And believe me, I could clearly see myself doing just that way back, and so did my mother. So, UP was eliminated from my would-be-university list.

So what happened to me along the way? Tell anybody who knows me just about 5 years ago up to just recently about my rebellious streak and you’ll definitely hear, “Oh c’mon! She’s so level-head and mild-mannered." In fact, for about six years now, I can only count to about 3 instances when I flared out and shared a piece of my mind to people whom I think are already out of the line.

No, I didn’t become jaded nor cynical nor passive. I can never be those things even if I try.

I think that I have mellowed. I have evolved from a highly idealistic and impressionable yet, unscathed youth, into somebody who has witnessed and experienced some of life’s ragged and ugly realities.

So, this short video is a gift---a gift of seeing my would-have-been self had I not learned to tone down on my idealism.

Reclaiming My November

Amidst the dancing biraho grasses, 

she gathered the strength to claim

that she was in fact wrong,

that her November definitely extends up to now.

The only thing that changed is that her 

November extends no longer for him.

Waiting, stopped

being a dreadful thought, yet again.

It was fitting, she added,

that these grasses flourish in the cruel winter,

for she too, celebrates the winter chill even though she wasn’t built for it,

not because these grasses love the cold,

not because she loves the cold,

but, because it was cold, 

these grasses are a sight to behold in the glistening winter sun,

but, because it was cold,

she can fully embrace the warmth.

---Petchaboon, 19 December ‘13

#For that day, I celebrated the reasons for writing <you>, and the many reasons for stopping to. ;)

School Year-end Mushiness Overload....;)

This video turned my (Almost jaded, ahahaha!) heart into just pure slush.

When it was sent to me this morning by a student named Namphung (Thai word for Honey. See? Her name suits her very well. Sweet.), good thing I was able to stop myself from sobbing like an 8-year old kid inside the faculty room. And to think that I seldom cry.

I love these kids, with their wrongly spelled words and all. Every time I think of how far they’ve grown in terms of their learning and thinking skills, including their English conversation skill (They can now form coherent sentences with conjunctions---and that’s a GREAT LEAP!) ever since they’ve been into our classes summer of 2012, my heart could only burst with pride. And one should see them in their science class! From being passive and shy learners, they have evolved into learners who constantly ask questions (A lot of questions!) and even share their own thoughts and ideas. They are the kind of learners who would become so giddy during the days when we would get to have science experiments. And lastly, they are the kind of learners who would find a way to get into your heart.

What I’m very happy of is that they are not sad just because they would be losing a teacher but they are sad because they are worried that they wouldn’t get to learn as much----that means that these kids have embraced the love of learning. I’m happy that what is in their mind is NOT “Ang galling-galing mo teacher. Paano kung aalis ka na?”. Rather, “Teacher, ang galing-galing ko na! Sana yung sunod na teacher namin maturu-an din kami nang mabuti.”

As a teacher, I can only beam with pride. :)

To pacify them, here’s what I told them: “Don’t worry kids. I’m just on the other side of the ocean.”

Post-Valentine-Super-Not-To-Do-It-Ever-Again Photos

This post, most especially the pictures (THE pictures! Ahahahaha), I am certain, wouldn’t pass facebook’s photo regulations that I can only publish it here in my blog. Mark Zuckerberg and his team, I imagine, can only jump with glee for being spared, yet again, from looking at and embedding these pictures permanently into the fb system.

Ahne and I swore that every time we would get the chance to travel to a foreign country in the future, we would make it a point to wear its national costume. So last February 15, we mustered up enough courage to finally go to a lanna studio (lanna is a northern Thai word referring to the language, culture, and traditions endemic to the region) in Chiang Mai and had our photos taken, wearing Thailand’s national costume.

Here’s an embarrassing anecdote. While we were scanning the photo album provided by the studio so that we can get to choose the color and the style that we wanted to be dolled up with, Ahne squeaked excitedly at me, saying, “Au, ‘eto oh! Bagay sa ‘yo to!” When I saw the skirt (without looking carefully at the upper piece), I didn’t have any second thoughts and pointed to the lady-in-charge that I wanted that specific costume. So, the lady ushered me into a room and took a long train of Thai silk, wrapped me with it, pinned at some specific points, turned the cloth around me again, and pinned some more.

When she said, set lew (Done!), I almost had a mini-panic attack when I realized that the style which I chose will be exposing my belly--- making me look like a newly hatched sirena! Ahahahaha! After several minutes of bargaining (because the lady apparently wanted the costume on me), she finally agreed to change the whole stuff and we both agreed to a modest, brilliant blue lanna instead---and thankfully, I was able to breathe normally again.

On normal days, I am the typical flat shoes and ponytail girl that just the thought that we went to a studio to have ourselves dolled up is enough reason for me to cringe and curl myself up because of embarrassment. I am so painfully awkward in make-up and gowns and costumes that it is evident in my creepy smiles in these photos. These photos were the source of our entertainment for several nights even! Ahahaha!

 These photos will surely find a way to haunt me in the future, I am certain. But, since sayang ang 500 baht, and since I am the only one who has the editorial rights to this blog (wink), here are the post-valentine-super-not-to-do-it-ever-again photos:

Disclaimer: If you have a weak stomach for gruesome images, do not scroll down any further. Ahahaha!

A Letter to my 16-year Old Self

Jan 20, 2014


Dear Au,

There, there. You worry and fret so much about the future, dear. You worry about the result of your calculus exam, and you worry about whether you chose the right course for college, then you worry some more about being in the university in a few more months, and then worries about what might happen to you ten years from now.

I tell you, do not worry so much because you’ll do just fine. I, your 26-year old self is doing just fine. So stop worrying about what might happen 10 years from now because this is yourself, ten years after, who is writing to you. You have to realize by now that your heart is just exactly in the right place that whatever decisions you may take in the future, you will never get lost even if you try. And, even if you do, get lost I mean, you have such an abundant support and love from family and friends to get you on track again.

Oh, by the way! By lunchtime today, you will be receiving a stuffed bear and a handwritten letter from a boy who would be claiming that he loves you and would be loving you ‘til he doesn’t know when. Don’t fret. Don’t even try to shun him away. I know you well enough dear to guess that you will definitely feel so awkward once you receive those birthday gifts. And you wouldn’t know how to sort your emotions because when it comes to the “love” department, you are such a slow study. So, you think that your best resort always is to build those impenetrable walls again and project your don’t-bother-me face.

I tell you dear, you are too young to build walls around you. A fortress would be a too lonely place for a 16-year old like you who has so much potentials and possibilities in life. Even Rapunzel longed to go down the castle. You are not built for walls or lonely castles. You were built for the open fields, and seas, and skies, and love. So, gracefully receive those birthday gifts, say a gracious “thank you”, and enjoy those unfamiliar flapping of butterfly wings in your stomach. It is too early to be certain about your future but I tell you, it may not end exactly as you carefully planned it. You will get your heart broken, that’s a certainty, and just when you thought that you are already healed, the stitches would break loosely right back again.  But you will do just fine. Believe me. We will both do just fine. Don’t worry we will both try not to get jaded when it comes to love.

Those loud high school classmates that you have? Enjoy their company while you can and make as many memories with them because years from now, when you’d feel that life will render you nothing else but monotony, those memories will save you from the edge of insanity. In a few months, you would all be going your separate ways and you would be crying to death on your graduation day but here’s a loving glimpse of the future from your 26-year old self: they will all become your lifetime friends---a big, extended family even. So, don’t be too much disheartened and don’t close hour self up to people and possible good friends in college. Meet a lot of people during your university years, be friends even with those people who are entirely different from you, learn as much as you can. For whoever you may welcome into your life, those crazy high school people whom you accidentally got stuck with (Ahahaha!) would always be a constant in your life whether you’d like it or not. You will not only share high school memories but you will all be scared for the first day in the university together. For the next four years, some of you will fall in love and then get their hearts broken, some of you will stop speaking to each other but would then eventually make up, some of you may altogether stop school to look for another path. But, what I am only certain about is that right after graduation, when you would all be unemployed and then take on your first jobs together, and take those dreaded licensure exams and pass (or fail), and then go out of the country to work and experience your first loneliest Christmas ever, you’ll do just fine. You will all do just fine.

It may not seem like it but I, among all else, know that behind that peaceful demeanor is a rebellious soul. For the next years, I have seen you prove your point and disprove that which the world offers you. Your idealism and belief in the goodness of humanity is your strength dear, although most of the time you think otherwise. Don’t make your losses and grief and heartbreaks in the coming years make you jaded and hard, dear. Never choose fear and comfort in exchange for knowing what is there to know and experience. Make the world and your life and that of others become your mentor. Remember that you have a strong support system and you would always have a place and people to go back home to.

Write a lot. Sing, even with your off-key voice. Recite poetry and prose even though you would appear weird to your neighbors. Read a lot even though you’ve experienced how it is to be banned from the school library or how nanay would tell you several times that if you open one more book, she’ll definitely burn all your collections. Go on trips and don’t be scared to be lost. Don’t hold in your pain and sadness, cry, bawl even. Live your life with such passion and a load of “quirk” such that when you turn 26, you will not have any “what if’s” and “what could have been’s”.

I tell you dear, you will grow up into one fine lady. Not perfect, not even close to it, but definitely every bit that you hope or wish to be.

Don’t grow up too fast. If it’s only possible to hug my 16-year old self back in time, I would have hugged you to death today. We’ll surely be bff’s, don’t you think?

xoxo,

26 year old Au *wink*

P.S.

Just a friendly self-reminder, right after you receive that letter and stuffed toy today, you’ll get this weird feeling in your stomach that is close to getting sick. You’ll even lose your appetite for several days and will have a loose-poopoo-movement. You’re not getting any flu, nor is it a deadly virus. I think that’s what young people your age call as the onset of love, although I, your 26-year old self is still partial about that idea. You’ll get over it for sure. Just enjoy the flutters in your stomach while it lasts. *wink ;)

Summer-y White Christmas in Phuket

I have been teaching here in Thailand for almost 3 years and although I’ve traipsed its roads from north to south, and back again, I haven’t really gone to any of its infamous beaches. So Ahne and I thought that since we are already here in Thailand, we should just go and head to Phuket and bear cringing a little because of the expenses for this trip. I’ll not sugarcoat it, Phuket is expensive---it’s understandable since it’s an ultimate destination for tourists all over the world. However, with our “trip-id” skills, we were able to cut down the travel cost to an amount that is very, very “okay na”.

We booked everything about two months ahead---the hotel, including the island tour. So, on the 25th of December, while we were bundled up in our warm sweaters and scarves, we took the 24-hour trip by bus going to Phuket. There are direct flights going to Phuket from the north of Thailand but since we were on a “trip-id”, the nauseating idea of yet another very loooong bus ride was bearable compared to the cringe-worthy airfare.

From the wintery 9-degree temperature of northern Thailand, we took a 24-hour bus ride for a summery white Christmas to the southern part of Thailand.

PHUKET TOWN
I just soo love Phuket Town!

We discovered this part of Phuket by chance while we were walking around.

Before I talk about Phuket town, let me have a travel tip to those who are planning to visit Phuket: It would really help your budget if you know how to drive a car or a motorcycle since it would be way cheaper to rent it and drive around the city compared to commuting. Taxi and motorcycle fares in Phuket are so expensive and we were caught by surprise with it.

I fell in love with the quiet, laid-back charm of Phuket town. It’s like their own version of China town and it also reminded me of Vietnam. However, what made it so charming were the doors. Yes, the whole stretches of its streets had houses and buildings which had extremely cute and charming doors. Notice how I used “charming” for several times already? I have this special love for doors and Phuket town was just a “door-wonderland”!

It’s a pity that all our photos in Phuket town were accidentally deleted. But I copied these photos from google to compensate for the deleted ones. So, here’s Phuket town, minus my dopey face on it!

The topmost picture was the sight that we saw when we went to one of the viewing points to see the whole city. We went there when the sun was about to set.

PHI PHI ISLAND TOUR

The island tour agency that we got, Rak Talay Travels, had really a commendable service. There were about 30 of us in a group that day, a big number were European and American families and groups of friends, and there were several Chinese people. The staff and the tour guides were all friendly and accommodating and you could really feel that aside from enjoyment, they really prioritize the safety of each one.

Hindi maikakaila, anak-dagat talaga ako. 

...because you can never take the sand and the sea away from somebody who was born and raised in a country with 7000+ islands

It was our first time to ride on a speed boat that we really chose to sit outside even though it was a bit of a “buwis-buhay”. We were like shouting all throughout the trip, until we got tired doing so and we decided to transfer inside. I was gripping the back of my seat so tightly because of the strength of impact every time the boat sliced through a wave---it was like being thrown down not on water but on a piece of concrete!

This island is just too beautiful that the pictures, with my dorky face on it, didn’t do justice at all to the actual charm of the island. Maya island was where Leonardo de Caprio’s, The Beach, was filmed.

The Pileh Lagoon is a perfect spot for swimming. It was a good thing that we had our life jackets on---poor girls who grew up in an Archipelago country but who didn’t learn how to swim! Ahahaha!

We had a buffet lunch in Phi Phi Don Island where I got to take this awkward photo with an iguana. Notice how I was trying to discreetly push its head away from my face? I was really so scared of its “palikpik”. Ahahahaha!

Snorkeling at the Mosquito Island was also a first time. Even though I don’t really know how to swim, but I never developed a fear of the waters. It was only during that time when I saw some 10-year old kids jumping into the deep water without their life jackets on and I, a 25-year old grown up who was fully geared, was actually trying to keep afloat by groping on the rope beside the speedboat, when I realized that I really need to learn how to swim. After several minutes of trying to keep my balance in the water by kicking the boat (I even feared that the boat might fall sideways because of the strength of my kicking just to control my balance in the water! Ahahahaha!), we decided to just go up the boat and watch the others enjoy their snorkeling. :(

It was always my dream to be on a beach with some pine trees growing on its sands. Seeing the stretch of pine trees at the Bamboo Island was a surprise and a dream come true.

This girl is embracing immensity. ;)

Ten years from now, my knees wouldn’t allow me to do jump shots even though I would love to. So, pagbigyan na!

LAST NIGHT IN PHUKET. These poor girls are pretending to be bazillionaires with a cheap glass of wine. Ahahahaha!

...because in the wide expanse of your skies,

I felt Your love that is all embracing.

...because in your crashing waves,

I heard Your voice calling my name, only my name. 

...because in the immensity of your seas,

I felt the depth of Your grace with no questions asked. 

...because in your gleaming sands,

You reminded me of Your love that is pure, unstained. 

...and because in your ragged cliffs,

I undestood that sometimes, what I need more is Your tough love.

---Phiphi island, Phuket (27-12-'13)

Thank you Lord because You never fail to let me see how Your hands work in all these wonders.