Is the Philippines Truly Free?

Today marks the Independence Day of my beloved country , the Philippines.

photo when I took my oath as dual citizen

The land of my birth.
The land of my ancestors, my heritage.
The land where I was raised, where my values were nurtured and at times, shaken.
It is where I first discovered who I am, and began to write the character I would become in the story of my life.

But after living away for nearly two decades, I find myself asking:
Is the Philippines truly free?

Free from turmoil?
Free from exploitation, from harassment especially from foreign interests?
Has the soul of our nation ever really had a chance to breathe freely?

Distance has sharpened my love for my country.
It has deepened my awareness of our struggles, our resilience, and our pain.
I think of the land where I once ran barefoot as a child, innocent of history, unaware of how many times this land was violated, invaded, controlled.
And yet, we remain standing. We remain Filipino.

Living away has made me fall in love with the Philippines all over again not blindly, but with eyes wide open.
I see its beauty. I also see its chaos.
I feel pride. I also feel frustration.

I am proud of our resilience, our warmth, our strength as a people.
Yet I’m also pained by the tangled politics, the erosion of values, the way we sometimes forget who we are.
But no matter how far I go, I do not forget. I do not deny.
The Philippines is my home. It will always be.

On this Independence Day, I honor the land that gave me life. As I took my oath of allegiance to my country, I vowed to never forget my roots, nor turn away from the place where my soul was first shaped.

And I continue to hope, dream, and fight for a freedom that goes beyond celebration…
A freedom that truly lives in the hearts of every Filipino.

I am always a proud Filipina — sa puso, sa salita, at sa diwa.

xo,

Ai

The book: Mama dookoła świata

Quick note for today:

Remember this post  SNEAK PEEK?

 It is because they featured me in a book about moms' around the world. I talked about being a Filipina mom living in Poland. The book is exciting but at the same time i am a bit nervous what the readers reaction about what i talked there. I just said about my experiences being a Filipina, our culture, traditions and what i practiced/adapted  at our Polish home.

If your in Warsaw area tomorrow or living in nearby Warsaw please do drop by in Empik Junior for the book signing and launching of the book Mama dookołą świata by Ofelia Grzelińska (Mama around the world).

See pictures below for the exact address and a little about the book....

I hope you will grab a copy and let me know..though the book is all in Polish language but maybe in the future there would be copies in english.

More & my birthday celeb:-)

And so, cold is kicking in. I could feel it. The crisp air is blowing my head while walking on the way to the nearby shop today to buy some meat for lunch. I couldn't help it but went back inside the house to wear my beanies. NOw, i am suffering from a little headache maybe because I went out of the house after getting myself a warm shower..hair just blowed dry but usually i like that way. Going of the house still so feeling freshy, not on this cold country of course. 

Nothing special going on with me lately. A little bit busy at home since school time is back for my little  girl. First two days of school is actually doing great. She had fun and excited to be back in school. But this week she has to stay home since she catches some viral infection causing her to have colds, cough and fever. Not too bad actually but she just need to rest and take some medication. I hope she will be ok soon. But then yesterday, i noticed that my little boy catches the colds too. He is starting to cough and sneeze like crazy.  It would be a bad thing for a mom like me because that would mean i have to stay with them most of the time. and be just at home with them. that is boring right? I changed a bit of our routine now at home. At least i have to take a walk with my little boy when my little girl is at school early in the morning and late afternoon. He likes it that way if we are out of home most of the time. He gets to commune with nature and eat so well...appetite really do well if child is expose outside because they tend to be tired adn feel hungry easily for the outside physical activity.  When there is a need for me to run some errands out of home, i have to take him with me.

Other than takign care of my kids...i am trying to keep myself busy by doing some sewing projects, reading a lot, get to meet from time to time my friends out of home.  For sure this cold season will make me more busy sewing my heart out. That  i needed to go to sewing fabric shop to buy some materials for my sewing projects. I wanted to make a dress for this fall. Something like a versatile dress that i can layered up.  

nothing much up to me. anyways more pictures from last summer vacation and my birthday.

cheers!  xxxooo

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Blowing my cake :-) wishing for good health, more blessings and more good friends

Filipino foods...mniam mniam!

and me relaxing in the sun...was just too hot for me that day. I didn't get to swim that day since i am way too busy entertaining friends who came just to celebrate with me.

two of my trusted friends here <3 they are like sisters to me..the other one is ate linda with shades on..shes like my mom.the other one is ate luz, she's like a big sister to me.

tres marias

my little boy.enjoying the sun 

lovely flower and the butterfly. of course the blue water in the pool in the background is so inviting. 

the girls enjoying the pool.

my little girl izabela loves swimming when the sun is high and the temperature is warm.

lovely daughter of ate Linda enjoying sending Maria to sleep.

of course, maria is the star of the day. children loves to cuddle her as well as her kittens.

ewelina napping maria <3 cute!

we tried to get a shade for the foods but then it is way too cold in the shade so have it transferred in the sunny side instead. 

Oh yeah! special day would not be really complete without a company of good friends and of course family. 

It was an unplanned celebration actually. I do not usually celebrate brithdays that big..usually just simple celebration with my family. This time friends came to the place where we had our vacation..and became an impromtu celebration. We had a blast! singing, dancing, drinking and more eating of course.

Cheers for another year for me and for good life for all of us!

xxxooo

Grilling in Krakow

Let me catch my breath people. huh hah huh hah! heheheh!

There's a lot of things to blog about but I don't know how and where to start. One thing I can say, we had a blast in Krakow! The Filipino grill party was super successful! the weather is cooperating. Everybody really had great time catching up with everyone, pigging out and merry making.

Some of the pics will say it all...


The Filipinos (minus us coz we were busy with G upstairs feeding my little darling)
The girls busy chit-chatting

My Izabela had fun too and the darling of everyone.





And please spare me with this pic coz the preggy me been craving for mango and I got two super yummy mango from my pretty Filipina friend, Jane.


See, so happy preggy me.More krakow adventure on my next blog.

Grill party!

We will be spending the whole weekend in Krakow with the Filipino community here. A Filipino priest who's assigned in łagiewniki, Krakow is organizing a grill party tomorrow. Hope I could go around this beautiful place and explore more Krakow. It is the oldest or the former capital of Poland. One of the beautiful city in Europe for me. Full of history and culture.

Filipinos love to socialize and meet once awhile . In a year we only get to meet once. Tomorrow is our chance to be with each other again and eating Pinoy style. So, I am preparing a barbecue ala Filipino. I miz eating Filipino style of barbecue plus chance to taste other Filipino food tomorrow since the party calls for B.Y.O.P (bring your own provision). So we will be sharing what we have to everyone. Hmm...sounds exciting! Good timing at this time I am conceiving.

Rain or shine...Krakow, here I come!

Eating the Filipino way

Today, i stumble upon an article about a Filipino child in Canada while googling something about Filipinos living in Poland. Oh whew! the article is quite interesting it is about a Filipino child who was punished by a lunch program monitor after this person didn't like the way the child eats with his spoon and fork. This is some of the stories in the article...

Luc Cagadoc’s table behaviour is traditionally Filipino; he fills his spoon by pushing the food on his plate with a fork, his mother, Maria Theresa Gallardo, says.

But after being punished by his school’s lunch program monitor more than 10 times this year for his mealtime conduct — including his technique — the seven-year-old told Gallardo said last week that he was too embarrassed to eat his dinner.

“Mommy, I don’t want to eat anymore,” Gallardo says Luc told her at the kitchen table April 11. “My teacher is telling me that eating with a spoon and fork is yucky and disgusting.”

When he eats with both a spoon and fork, instead of only one utensil, the Grade 2 student said the lunch monitor moves him to a table to sit by himself.

and a nice reaction from a Filipino too....

Is there anything wrong with using both fork and spoon? When I was a kid, I was taught by my mother how to properly use spoon and fork. When I entered the seminary, I learned the more gracious way of using both utensils through our “social graces” seminar. Using fork and spoon in eating is a cultural mores just like the use of chopsticks in other Asian countries. Saying that such manner of eating is wrong is like saying that our culture is wrong. How much more if they see us Filipinos eat “kamayan” style? I love to eat with my bare hands especially when sumptuous native meal is served (that would be tuyo, daing or salted egg with kamatis). Does that make me a pig or lesser human? Certainly not!

Four years ago, Bishop Eijk of the Diocese of Groningen, Netherlands (communio partner of our diocese) paid a visit to our diocese. Among the many affairs he attended was the Diocesan Youth Day. We ate “kamayan” style as it was a barrio-fiesta type of celebration. The couple who were part of Bishop Eijk’s entourage were betting whether or not he would use his hands to eat as it was anathema to do so in Netherlands. They were surpirsed when he began to wash his hands and he ate with his bare hands. I admired him for his flexibility and respect to a tradition. He did not feel degraded to eat with his hands and more so, he did not hesitate to do what was anathema in his homeland. More so, during meals at the Bishop’s Residence, he ate with both spoon and fork.

Punishing Luc for using spoon and fork is wrong. Saying that his manner of eating is not proper is worst. It is plain discrimination under the guise of table etiquette. Does using spoon and fork turn us into lower beings and turn the Canadians who eat with fork and knife into higher beings? The answer is NO!

I hope that this is just an isolated case. Otherwise, some Canadians are bigots and racists.



How many times I saw similar articles of racism, degrading some elses culture and behaviour. I have a little fear..fear that my child might be experiencing the same treatment in the future. Of course I will not let anyone punished my child to no degree of sin. Hmmm..It fears me coz we are considering Canada to be our next home since most relatives are there. But I guess, wherever you go treatment of the like are everywhere. It is not with the country but with the people living and running the place. I just truly disheartened upon reading this though I heard and read this article in the news before. Now, it bothers me since I have a child.

What i heard more is that the mom filed a formal complaint to the school but then the school administrator just bluntly said...

"Madame, you are in Canada. Here in Canada you should eat the way Canadians eat."

Oh my! oh my...wtf are they talking about?! Yes! they lived in such country but can they just respect the right and the culture where the child was brought up?! All I do now is SIGHHHH! HMMMM..... why there are people as hell as that? can they just behave in their own cell?lol

It's this blatant refusal to accept the subtleties of other cultures that makes me pessimistic about issues like racism and immigration reform.

Thank God, i am living here in Poland for sometime now but I never heard stull like " This is Poland, speak Polish", or 'if you don't like it, go back to where you came from."

When was the last time you laughed at a joke that perpetuated a stereotype about a specific culture?

There's always going to be some level of intolerance in our society; I've come to accept that. And maybe we are making baby steps toward inclusion and tolerance. But hello?! the kid is seven years old. I hope my little girl will not feel ashamed for who she is. And I hope eventually, or hopefully through that "everything is embarassing to me" phase of her life, that she learns to embrace both her dad and my culture down the line rather than repudiate it.

I hope nobody will ever makes her ashamed that her mother is an asian - a Filipino (who originally eats by her hands *wink) sa puso at sa wika. Amen!

Now, who would want to put down on my culture & to where I came from? I'll show you who we are. with my fist as strong and hard as bohol bread, you will know who you are talking with. lol!