Gil and His Son

I am very busy procrastinating and putting off papers that need to be done, so I got to thinking about Gil and how I should have recorded some of our conversations. As you may have read, they have been enlightening (?) and rather humorous. He truly is one of a kind (Probably a good thing). So I've decided that I will try to write in this blog all the interesting conversations we have had. The following story is the first that comes to mind right now, and you will understand why.

One day, we were hanging out with some friends, and for some obscure reason, we got to talking about attitudes toward the human body.

Gil: You know, I am not very conscious of the human body. I do not put malice in it. In fact, my whole family's attitude towards the human body is very candid.

Me: What do you mean? (Half-afraid of the answer)

Gil: For example, my son goes around the house without his pants.

Me: You mean he goes around with only his underwear?

Gil: No, I mean he only wears a shirt, and nothing else. In fact, one time, there was a party in the house, and my son went out of his room not knowing there was company. He tried to hide his private parts by pulling his shirt down, but then when he ran to his room, his buttocks were exposed!

Me: (Imagining my 3-year-old nephew caught in such a situation) Oh, the poor kid! How old was he then? (Thinking this experience may have been a traumatic highlight of his formative years)

Gil: Sixteen.

Going Insane at the Semestral Homestretch

I have less than three weeks of classes left and I am going crazy thinking about how to finish all the papers and other projects I have to do. Felicity and I were bitching about how we hate our lives right now, but after ranting a bit more we both decided we'd still take the demands of school over the stress of work. I am currently panicking about how I will manage my remaining time to fit in all the school stuff I have to do, but despite this I guess I never really lose sight of the fact that I greatly prefer stressing about class requirements to dealing with difficult co-workers. I really wouldn't mind being a student forever and not have to work. Sigh.

Partying With The Kids (a.k.a. My Convergence Family)

Last week, my Convergence class got together for alcohol and two-for-one appetizers at Heidelberg. I thought it unlikely, but I actually enjoyed hanging out with these kids (average age of people in this picture minus me=21.2). It's our second semester, and we've had several get-togethers since Fall (always with alcohol involved). This group was formed in August, when we found ourselves in the same major. When I first enrolled at the Journalism School, I was persuaded by my adviser to enroll in the Convergence sequence instead of Broadcasting, as I had first planned.

It turns out that Convergence was the first new major of the J-School in 50 years. (I saw later that this meant they were still trying to work out the kinks in the sequence) Learning how to report across different media platforms (radio, TV, print, online) sounded interesting, so I signed up. I was the only foreigner in my class, and only one of two grad students, so last semester was rather challenging. We had a lot of group reporting and at times it was very stressful, as I have previously written.

This semester, we have less group work (really NOT my strongest point), so it's been less difficult for me, and seeing my classmates has been more pleasant. I've learned more about them, and a couple of them have become real friends. One nice thing about my convergence class is that there's some semblance of community (I have found that this does not occur here as naturally as it does back home). Being the J-School's guinea pigs for a new major formed a strange sort of bond. It was probably all that collective bitching about not understanding anything in our classes that brought us together.

Easter Dinner at Nikki's

Nikki, one of my favorite undergrad classmates, invited me and a few other friends over to have Easter dinner at her house last Sunday. She (amazingly!) cooked everything we ate. We had ham, which they said was traditionally a part of Easter celebrations (and which I didn't eat, of course), corn with cheese, rice with beans and bacon (Nikki made a vegetarian version for me), Greek salad, baked beans, and sweet potatoes. Among all these, the sweet potato dish intrigued me the most. The American students said that it was a common dish in the US, and that the way Nikki prepared it was the way they usually ate it. She baked the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. It was unusual for me, but it was pretty good. Mostly because it had a lot of sugar. Then we had apple pie a la mode (More sugar). You can't get more American than that!

I think I've been lucky to have American friends who have given me a chance to see other parts of life in the US. I've heard that a lot of international students don't even set foot in American houses even if they stay to study here for years. It was great to see and taste food that they normally celebrated Easter with, especially since this holiday is very big in my country. I'm a very staunch believer in learning about other cultures through food ;)

Bye, Gil!

There was a farewell party for Gil last night at Bob's house, since he is leaving Columbia for good on Sunday. His Master's in Dispute Resolution is only two semesters long, so he's off tomorrow for what he calls a six-week "externship" in New York. After that he goes back to his little town of Ormoc, Leyte. Gil has a good heart and many friends, so this party was only one in a series of despedidas for him.

Gil and I are the only Filipino Fulbrighters who went to the same school in our batch. Knowing him has been a very interesting experience. He made me realize just how very different people can be, even if they have their country and the Fulbright community in common. Because after spending some time with him, it seemed these were the ONLY things we'll ever have in common.

Consider his comment about women and beauty which he reiterated during the party, where there were Americans, Iranians, and a South African. (I brought Felicity along as a witness to Gil's expected proclamations.)

Gil: I think that American women are more beautiful than Filipina women. All the students I see could be actresses back home! Filipinas mostly have inner beauty!

Me: (taking this as a personal insult, of course) I don't know about the women where you come from, Gil, but in Manila, there are many beautiful women!

He also had a comment about personal hygiene.

Gil: Did you know that we Filipinos do not like toilet paper?

Me: (thinking, now I understand why people think we still live in trees) I don't know about you Gil, but the Filipinos I know are on very good terms with toilet paper.

Felicity: I think Gidget wants you to stop using the word "we", Gil.

He expresses more views on hygiene.

Gil: The weather here is warm like in the Philippines, but here I noticed that clothes do not smell. Gidget, do you use deodorant?

Me: (to the group) That's it. From now on, I'm officially Taiwanese. I do not know this man, I've never been to his country.

Finally, as the party was about to end, he delivered the coup de grace.

Gil: Gidget, did you gain weight?

Gidget: (ARRRGHHH!) I hope you realize I'm never speaking to you again.

I hope he didn't get offended by these exchanges. It was just so strange to see how disparate our worlds are, despite coming from the same country and having a similar academic background. Don't get me wrong; Gil is a well-meaning good guy who will probably go straight to heaven on judgment day (definitely more than I can say for myself).

However, when he talks about his culture and his experience of being Filipino, sometimes I feel like we literally come from different worlds (I'm talking Milky Way here).

The Two Seasons of Missouri

I never thought I'd be so preoccupied with weather, of all things. But the weird weather (strange to me, at least) is really puzzling to me. I had heard that Missouri has very distinct four seasons. But I've been here for eight months, and so far I've only seen two, really. In autumn through winter it was freezing. And now, just a couple of weeks into what was supposed to be spring, it's already summer hot. I therefore conclude that just like the Philippines has only two seasons- wet and dry- Missouri likewise has two. Very hot, and very cold. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I Love Daylight Savings!

Finally, I can feel the arrival of spring (fingers crossed)! There are a few flowers now, and I actually hear birds chirping when I wake up in the morning. The temperatures are also higher, now ranging from 10-22 degrees Celsius (a big relief from below zero weather). The best thing is, they moved the clocks forward last Sunday because of daylight savings, so we get an extra hour of sunlight. So now, it's still bright even if it's almost 8pm.

I didn't realize how much the sun affects my mood. It actually makes me happy! I did realize that I was getting the winter blues a couple of months ago because it would be dark by four o'clock. Now, I feel more productive since I don't want to stay in bed all day. The sun was something I also took for granted back home, since the lengths of time where there was sunlight stayed pretty constant. I can hardly wait for the summer, with even longer days, and warmer climes!