I Wanna Travel Around the World, Too!

I remember reading the book Eat, Pray, Love a few years ago, and liking it. I don't have a mad crush on it like I do for say, Lolita, but I like it enough, like the way I like a warm fuzzy blanket. My reading tastes tend to be so extreme. I like Edgar Allan Poe, even when he's talking about beating hearts under footboards and walling somebody up in a dungeon, so I sometimes like to cancel it out with the wooly little blankets like The Time Traveler's Wife.

Because of the hype surrounding the movie Eat, Pray, Love, I re-read the book and discovered that I still liked it. It's an adventure book for girls, not unlike the Nancy Drew detective stories of my youth. Nancy Drew was a detective, but she was also a girly-girl. If anything, some of the issues mentioned in the book resonated to me even more now than they did a few years ago, still in my twenties and childless.

So I don't understand the Eat, Pray, Love hate going around. The word >narcissist is being thrown out there a lot. Self-involved too. The author Elizabeth Gilbert has a career that I would kill to have, and she was paid a hefty advance by her publisher to travel around the world, then write about her year abroad to heal from her divorce.

This is an ugly side of the American public that I don't like. Americans take their entertainment pretty seriously, talking about yesterday's episode of Mad Men the next day in the office. Germans are exactly the opposite, and it is no wonder that German TV is the way it is: A 24-hour Discovery Channel special. Any talk about pop culture is considered shallow and embarassing. Many would rather talk about or pretend to like Schiller and Goethe. So when they like a TV show, they LOVE it. They hate it, they HATE it. I swear like a stevedore, but I don't like to throw the words bitch or cunt around, aimed especially at other people. Especially against people I don't know. But there is that word. Liz Gilbert, bitch. narcissist.

Look, there is nothing wrong about thinking about yourself first before helping other people. There are people who are naturally giving, a wellspring of generosity that can be mistaken for being a doormat. But not everybody is like that. I cannot give if I don't have anything to give. Germans sometimes comment on how selfish it is of me to eat first before breastfeeding Antonio, or to send Antonio to a Tagesmutti for seven hours before he's a year old. First of all, none of your business. Second, I need to work because my government money has run out. Third, I need to be around adults again, stat. I like to think of it as the airplane oxygen mask policy. In the event of rapid depressurization, you have to put the mask over yourself first before you assist your neighbor. Giving when you have nothing is mighty noble, but very few people work that way.

As for the book, no, Liz Gilbert is not a narcissist. In fact, she is the opposite. She is a seeker of adventure, curious. I find her highly entertaining, and people who never set foot in a third world country have no idea what it's really like, so they don't have to damn the part of the book where she buys a house for an Indonesian lady. It was a private act of generosity, and since it is a memoir, she had to write about it. Believe me, I know a narcissist when I see it, I used to live with one. It's not like she hurt anybody doing the thing she loves. I think that if she didn't leave her really nice husband, if she had a child even if her inner voice told her don't do it, she would be as unhappy as the closet queen next door, and we don't need another miserable human being in this world because s/he isn't being true to their person. And she would have hurt even more people in the process.

Dive-Dove?

Grammar question, folks, especially to the writers/journalists out there.

I have always used the word "dove" to conjugate the word dive in past and present perfect ("He dove head-first into the ocean," " He has dove to depths unimaginable,") So apparently "dived" is the right way of forming the past of dive? That doesn't sound right to me. I looked it up on the web, and it says that dived should be used to avoid confusion with dove, the bird. As far as I know, there is no confusion because I pronounce the two words distinctly. ("dowv" versus "dahv"). Maybe dove is British? Or a Philippinism? Help!

I Left My Heart in Barcelona

I have been so miserable since coming back to Erfurt. It's just not the same. The weather is cold, the people unfriendly and defensive. It wouldn't hurt them to smile a bit, but they don't. I just...can't take this anymore. I am doing everything in my power to get out of this city by yearend. Ich habe kein Bok mehr auf dieser Stadt.

Because of this, I have decided to take the CELTA course (a training seminar for English teachers) in Barcelona! I will spend seven wonderful weeks there again in September, in time for the Merce! I could do it for a lot cheaper in Berlin. Berlin is a lovely city, I love it to bits, but would like to build a life in Barcelona. I already have a favorite bar, I already have acquaintances. It will take a toll on my finances, but Barcelona, here I come again!

Why Did His Penis Cross the Road?

Happy New Year, everyone! As a treat, I present you this hilarious, dirty, misogynistic ditty from Canadian Jon la Joie E=MC Vagina.



Good times in Poland...

That Funny English Language

There is really no other language that is as confusing, as contentious, as English

Working in a language school means that

a) You find out that there is no "one" English
b) Every teacher fancies himself an expert.

I never thought that we Filipinos had our "own" brand of English until I met these people. Jeff, a co-teacher called me over one day and said, "Hey Cathy, is it true that you use the word 'officemate' in the Philippines?"

Now in the dark, cobwebbed corners of my mind, the word 'officemate' made complete sense. Classmate is somebody who you study with, so why not use the word 'officemete' to describe somebody you work with? Besides, I thought that we Filipinos spoke American English?

"Yeah why? It's not used in America?"

"No." He then showed me the Wikipedia webpage on Filipino English, where a number of the words that I took for granted as "universal English" were actually "Filipinizations," if the word exists!

One time I wanted to use a "signpen" to sign a paper, so I asked Michelle, a Canadian teacher, if she had one.

"What's a signpen?"

"You know, a pen with ink."

"You mean a ballpoint pen?"

"No, a ballpoint pen is a ballpen. What I need is a pen with ink flowing from it."

Andrew from New Zealand asked, "You mean a fountain pen?"

"Kind of," I explained, "except that a fountain pen has a funny nib."

"You mean tip?" asked a perplexed Andrew!
-----------------------------------------

The corkboard in the teacher's room has become a minefield of jokes and confusion. Adam walked in one day after another teacher from New Zealand posted a photo with the words "Walking off in a strop" (Read: Walking away in a huff). He did a double-take and asked, "What's that?"

It is now ground zero the battle is now brewing between us and them, the "Brit boys" and American English speakers.

It all started in the teacher's room when Julian from England said that he doesn't drink coffee.

"Me neither." I said.

"'Me neither' is wrong," said Cain from England.

Hamish from Australia said, "I have never used the words 'me neither' until I got here. Where I come from, it's 'me either'."

I hate being corrected when I know I'm right, so I later asked Diane from New York (she has a Long Island accent) to back me up. She was kind enough to produce a piece of paper from the Teacher's Book stating the words "Me neither" is a valid response. I photocopied it, circled the item of interest with a red marker and underlined the words "ME NEITHER." The next day I saw that Hamish scrawled the words, "But that's Berlitz English, not proper English!" at the bottom of the page.

To clear things up, I presented the situation and asked everyone if they would use the words "me neither" in that situation. Andrew from Yorkshire (believe me, that's a whole other dialect), Bruce from New Zealand, and Earl from the US all confirmed that yes, "me neither" is not a mutant form of English. Apparently, the tiff ticked Diane off, who scrawled back "Sez you!" in red letters, just above Hamish's comment.

English is a funny, funny language. Don't get me started on German!

Everybody Changes/Palaisipan/ Mein Lebensrätsel

A year hence, and I still find it hard to believe how radically my life has changed.
It's basically the same routine. I wake up early, I walk through the city streets, I go to work. Go home knackered. Cook dinner. Watch TV. Sleep.

Aber es ist doch anders. Ich bin in Manila letztes Jahr gelaufen. Jetzt ist die Stadt Erfurt. Es ist immer noch unvorstellbar, dass die Leute im Fernsehen Deutsch sprechen. dass ich Euros verdiene, dass dieses Land in einem Tag wunderschön warm und dann wieder 15 Grad kalt werden kann. Europa ist jetzt mein Wahrheit, nicht mehr mein Traum.

Pero malaki ang katumbas ng aking mga pangarap. Minsan pakiramdam ko naghahalo-halo na ang mga wika sa utak ko. Minsan hindi ka maintindihan ng mga tao. Bakit mo ginagawa ito? Bakit mo ginagawa iyan? Hindi talaga maiintindihan ng mga Aleman bakit mas maganda ang Maynila sa aking mga mata kaysa sa mga siyudad nila. Matindi pa rin ang pangungulila ko sa lahat ng may kinalaman sa Pinoy. Siguro dahil bihira akong makipag-halubilo sa mga Pinoy. Dito sa siyudad kung saan ako nakatira, kahit sa Jena, wala akong nakilalang Pinoy na galing Pinas. Kung dati hindi ako nanonood ng The Buzz noong nasa atin pa tayo, updated ako ngayon sa Gretchen-John Estrada issue! Kabobohan, di ba? Pero minsan mas gusto ko pang manood ng kabobohan, maibsan lang ang pamamahay ko. Kasi kahit dito ako nakatira, kahit alam ko ang wika nila, pakiramdam ko pa rin na hindi ako taga-rito.

One thing that I like in my new country is that mostly everybody devotes their brainpower to something useful, unlike in my Motherland. Everything there is bogged down by chismis and politics. I find my current work more stimulating and challenging than my previous job. I work in an international environment, with Americans, Germans, Argentinians, Canadians, South Africans, Cubans and the French, all under one roof! I like my job more than I ever thought I would. I like teaching. I discovered reserves of patience I never thought I had.

Es ist gerarde passiert, aber es wird noch Neuigkeiten in die nächste Monate. Bald werde ich in der Uni gehen. Bald wird mein Leben wieder ändern. Bald wird noch mein Lebenszustand auch anders sein. Manchmal mein Leben bewegt sich so schnell, dass ich sprachlos bin! Einem Jahr ist nicht genug alles zu schlucken. Mein Leben ist nur ständig Änderungen. Ich kann kaum atmen, vor der nächsten Kurve kommt.

I am still trying to come to grips with all the new changes, and the coming changes in my life. Part of me feels grateful that I am living a dream, a part of me wants to go back and be safe. To go to a place to where I know everything, to where I know the language and the rules of the game.

Ganoon ba talaga? Hindi ko alam kung bakit ako nanghihinayang sa nakaraan. Siguro dahil kapag tumingin ako sa harap, hindi ako sigurado kung ano ang ano ang aking magiging kinabukasan. I see a new curveball coming! Hay, heto nanaman!