How I Fell in Love with Travel

Most people fall in love with travel on the first trip that they take away from home. Kids who go on camping trips that are destined to change them forever. Who go to Disneyland or DisneyWorld or what other form of Disney there is and enjoy the delights of their childhood while screaming from the top of their lungs as the roller coaster whisks them from one spot or another in an exhilarating, dizzying, adrenaline-rushing ride. Or teens. Teens who are off on a school trip or any other trip where they get to volunteer rebuilding a school or a church. It might not be to another country, but a one-week venture to some place where the sights, sounds, and smells are so different from what they know to be home. Others are already adults when they take that first step into the unknown. Perhaps it is to visit a relative or family members. Perhaps they finally decided to take that long vacation their best friends have been convincing them to take. Perhaps they want to see what is this fascination with flying and travelling that they keep hearing everyone talking about.

Not so with me.

On Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and [Broken] Friendships

Photo from Huffington Post

So much spoilers here. Please, if you haven't seen the Captain America III: Civil War, and don't want things spoiled for you, don't read this post. Just bookmark it so you can come back here once you've seen the film and we can have a good tête-à-tête. *wink* So much fangirling here, too, albeit as subtly as I can put it. You have been warned.

I think this is—without a doubt—one of the most anticipated films for the year 2016. It's been several months after the battle of New York and the Avengers have often been seen on the streets, fighting crime and conspiracies, battling against bad guys who steal bio weapons, keeping hostile creatures at bay. Not all their missions have happy endings, however, and some even end in disaster, like the opening scenes of Civil War where, in trying to contain a bomb from exploding in a market place, Scarlet Witch diverts it to a building filled with people. This causes the leaders of the United Nations to ask "Who is keeping the Avengers in check?" The series of tragedies brings forth the Sokovia Accords which means that the Avengers can only operate under orders from the U.N. They are divided on the issue, with both sides of the argument having very compelling points, but, unlike the comics, which further explores the topic, this movie takes a different, more personal turn.

Some Thoughts on Friendship

Photo by Unsplash

I'm taking a trip down Memory Lane to the time when I'm sitting in one of the swivel chairs in the office of the dean as she helps me edit my speech for the graduation ceremony after four years in college, four years of paperwork and homework, presentations, and in- and out-of-classroom drama. I had originally typed down that our batch (we call ourselves the B.I.N.G.O. Batch—don't ask; it's a long story) would be having monthly reunions and regular meetings. She advises me not to, not because she wants to break up our happy bunch, but because we do not know what the future holds. The president agrees with her, "After college, our batch promised to see each other regularly. Now, I only see them after every x number of years. It's my high school batch that I get to see quite often."

Racism from the Eyes of a Fil-Chi

I'm Fil-Chi, Tsinoy, half-Filipino, half-Chinese, and I love and respect my heritage and my ancestors. Sure, I may not fluently speak either language, but that does not mean I love my heritage any less. Sure, I might have been raised in a more Chinese background, but that does not mean I appreciate the Philippine culture less. Sure, I might not know what to call the aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins on the Chinese side, but that doen't mean I love them any less. Sure, I might get confused when distinguishing pochero from afritada from menudo, but that does not mean I like the food any less.

The problem with countries is that their fierce loyalty to themselves makes them possessive. I mean, I get that, but it does sometimes seem like an overkill. I remember when, as a child, I was told that when I turned 18, I would have to choose between the Philippines or China as my country of citizenship. Thankfully, that didn't have to happen because they changed the laws a few years later. To be honest, I would not have known what to choose. I love the the blood that flows in my veins—blood that is the stream that made two very different cultures meet. Try asking a person who has two heritages in their blood to explain it. We can't. We love both equally; there is simply no such thing as making us choose.

No Place Like Manila

Manila Post Office

Wended my way through the streets Manila this morning. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that those worn-out buildings used to house the biggest offices, that Manila used to be the business capital of the Philippines. What perhaps was once the bustling part of the city is now quieter and a little more deserted. Sometimes, it's hard not to resent Makati and her modern, high-rise buildings of minimalist structures. Where are the kalesas? Where are the peddlers, crying out their wares in the streets? These are part of what captures what it means to live in the Philippines.