Dear Migs (London Reflections)

17 April 2008

Hi Migs,

How are you? School ended in early April right, I hope 2nd semester went well for you. I'm not sure if you enrolled for Summer, if you did I wish you luck.

I often think of you, especially when I wear the jacket you lent me :). I especially remembered you for the last couple of days when I got hold of TUPAC's "The Rose  that grew from Concrete" book from our work supervisor. You see my work partner and I are working on a project that will invite the youth here in our community to speak up and share their opinions about issues that affect them. We want them to do that through photography, paintings, poems or short articles. We will be using a couple of Tupac's writings as examples.

He really writes well, Tupac I mean. I'm not so sure if you still like him, do you? I remember years ago you really liked him - we would go to Tower Records and look for his albums. But you are more into Depeche Mode and Nirvana now, aren't you?

Anyway, Newham, the community we are assigned in is a diverse community. People from different ethnicities live here - Africans, Indians, Asians, Pakistans, Russians, Polish and ofcourse Native English/British live in Newham. The diversity is amazing that there are streets here where you won't feel like you are in the United Kingdom. The many ethnicities is a source of celebration. Sadly though the diversity - the youth's search for identity and belongingness can also be a source of problems. This project we are working on will hopefully aid the youth (of all races) to say their opinions and bring out their emotions in an artistic form and not through violent means. The work is challenging, especially since we only have about 2 months to work on the project - but it is exciting as well.

My work will entail having to invite teenagers, 14-19years old (to early 20's) to speak up and let their voices be heard. We will be shooting them and doing a video documentary so I need to convince them not to be camera shy. You'll be one of my inspirations for this project Migs as you are of the same age as our target market. I'll have in mind all the other young people in our country as well. The message of the project will be like this Migs- for each individual that we'll interview and invite to participate, we want him/her to always remember that his/her voice is important and it will be heard - that it matters and so s/he must use it to be able to become a better person.

Migs, you also write well by the way, I don't think I ever told you that. I hope you write more often - express yourself more and show everyone your talent. The world is your stage Migs! Shine! and seek the many opportunities before you. I've always seen you as a good young man, but when I read your writings and your thoughts I always think you can be great. Dream Big Migs and Be Ambitious - but always remember to remain kind and humane. Explore, discover, take risks. And in your journey to discovery and greatness, I hope you don't forget the country you are in  and all those who live in it. Do not to leave the country behind - you(we) only have one, you(we) can't claim any other country than that of our own.

Take care of yourself always, especially when driving. I love you and send my love to Miton and To Ed and to Bianca ofcourse. Drive for Mama and Papa when you can; take Papa to see baby aliq every now and then. Have Papa tell you his stories if you want, they are full of history and learnings.

Laugh, Sing, Love, Live.

(Migs -Miguel Antonio- is my 1st cousin. I use to accompany my grandmother (aka Mama) in taking care of him when he was about 2-3 years old. When he learned I was going to London, Migs asked me if I wanted to bring his jersey jacket from when he was part of Ateneo Basketball Varsity in HS. It was really sweet of him :) - I love that it's his jacket, that it has ateneo in it and that it bears one of my favorite numbers,12) 

Dear TQ (London Reflections)

Happy Bday! (i hope i get to finish this entry for your bday)

Salamat sa pabaon mo sa akin bago ako umalis noong Marso, nakatulong ito ng labis nung magsnow dito nakaraang linggo. Mabuti naman ako, malamig pero may sapat namang mga damit. Nagsimula na akong magtrabaho (sa wakas) kaya't di na ako gaanong nadedepress. Noong unang linggo kasi, habang ang lahat ay may trabaho na, ako at ang work counterpart kong si Ferg (18years old na British) halos nakatanga lang dahil nagleave ang work supervisor namin. Dumating sya noong Martes so nakapagtrabaho kami nung Miyerkules at Huwebes na.

Nitong nakaraang linggo, may mga bagay akong napagtanto. Karamihan naman di bago; madami nga alam na natin noon pa kaya lang nadiin lang siguro ng kaunti dahil sa nandito ako sa malayong lugar. Mga ilang bagay lang, random thoughts i want to share with you:

1) Labis ang naghihirap sa ating bayan - at malalim ito na hirap di lamang sa yaman kundi sa iba pang aspeto(psychological, emotional, etc) - nakakalungkot; 2) Akala ko sa rural area kami pupunta, pero ang Newham, kung nasan kami assigned ay tondo-cubao-recto combined. hahaha; 3) Kahibangan nga siguro ang isiping kaya ko o ng isang organisasyon na baguhin ang ilang sistema na patuloy na nagpapahirap sa mga tao sa ating bansa; 4) Sana humiwalay na lang talaga ang Mindanao(wahaha); 5) Sadyang ang pagiging sakim ay kawalan ng kosensya; 6) Ang sakim, di alam ang tunay na pagmamahal sa iba; 7) Matanda na ako pero bata pa din (hahaha, ang sarap maglaro sa snow at ng frisbee habang may hangin at ulan; 8) Miss ko ng manood ng sine at kumain sa labas tuwing Biyernes, pero masaya din namang makipagkwentuhan kasama ang mga bagong kaibigan sa loob ng isang pub; 9)Kapag malamig, masarap uminom;10)Mura ang coke sa Pinas, at walang sarsi lite dito -dapat pala inaraw-araw ko yun bago umalis.hehehe

Miss kita at marami pang ibang tao, pero araw-araw madami akong natututunan sa mundo. Ang dami kong natututunan sa aking mga kasama; sa aming mga seryoso at patawang usapan. Madami ding bagay ang bago na nakukuha mula sa organisasyon kung saan ako nagtatratrabaho. Di ako kikita sa loob ng anim na buwan, pero (so far) araw-araw madami akong nakikita - gamit ang mata, ang pandinig, ang isip at ang puso.

2 words!

(sa mga di nakakaalam si TQ o tess quijano ay aking batchmate mula sa JVP, batch22. magkasama din kaming nagtrabaho sa JVP central office. isa sya sa mga pinakamabuting taong kilala ko. pramis!)

Isnow Ito!

So nag snow kahapon! (07April08)

Wohoo! too bad i can't post any pictures yet. most of the pics are in ate tatit's camera. yupyupyup - she finally got her new Nikon d40x which mehanne and i brought from the philippines. we met her saturday in central london then she came to visit us here in stratford yesterday. wohoo! International kaladkaran.

Anyway, it was perfect timing for us to meet and "show-off" (hahaha) that our travels have gone bigtime - as if!! hahaha. seriously, it was just great timing, we had fun taking pictures of how "jologs" and "ignoy" we are of the snow. as soon as i get the pictures i'd post them here.

The events leading to this snow milestone was started at around 720ish when my Kate (hosthome person Hannah and I living with) knocked on our door saying "It's Snowing, It's Snowing" For a moment I thought I was dreaming. But she said it again and i looked out the window and true enough it was snowing!... Hala! I don't think I ever got up that quickly in my life. Picked up pumbi (my camera), wore my coat and ran downstairs to look at the snow falling. Amazing! ;) I almost walked out of the house wearing my flipflops when Kate said - "wear proper shoes, wear this, wear mine." it was funny! I'm glad pumbi worked because he has been konking out the last couple of days :)

I couldn't get back to sleep so i instead drank my coffee and ate some toast while i watched the snow. Again, Amazing! :) Ang laki nung snowflakes, just as i imagined it. Had to take a shower by 9AM coz I was meeting Ate Tatit at stratford mall by 1030. Walked in the snow, wrapped my shoes in plastic (picture to follow), afraid that my feet would get wet. It was so funny, I swear! :) And when Ate Tatit and I finally saw each other, we couldn't help but trigger happy under the snow. When MehAnne joined in, more pics were taken.

Amazing!

Some London Highlights

It's cold but im doing well. I hope I continue to do well.

Arrived here March 25 - 3pm here i think it's March 26 na sa Pinas. Malamig pero keri

Training kami - met the UK volunteers in Streatly, ganda. Bricks kung bricks. alala ko ang video ni ate tatit which said  bricks mula daan hanggang bubon.

THe Bull - the name of the Pub we all went to.mga 3mins away from training venue. 600 years old na yung pub, astig. tsaka na ako magsheshare ng pics.

Newham - by March 29 nasa newham na kami. Hannah is my counterpart and she's such a sweet girl. But we won't be living in Newham but in Hackney, a different borough. shiyet ang layo! at nagbus kami mula newham hanggang hackney. 2bus yun, lipat lipat. imagine niyo ako balot na balot may malaking backpack at may hila hilang luggage.

Hackney - Sunday we heard mass :) and walked around hackney. and i mean Walk mga mare at pare. mga for almost 3 hours yun. my gosh.

Laundry - finally did it last Sunday. yahoo! i have clean clothes. although feeling ko marumi pa din sila. ewan. hehhe

Work - volunteer work was supposed to start yesterday but our work supervisor is on a holiday until Tuesday. so loser kami! as in halos wala pang work talaga. so we don't know what we should be doing yet. it's a downer.

Sana - i hope we get to be assigned to the Youth Center under the organization we are in. We got a bit of an orientation of the youth center but we are not sure if that' s the work we'll be doing. school break is up and daming activities na mala-field trip ang dating, so that would be cool. may mga youth sessions din kaya parang exciting.

Seriously i should be doing a research for our Global Citizenship Day but as you can see i just checked my email. im terrible. tsktsktsk. Gotta go.

LONDON pics - see my photos

Wish me luck with work. :)

Snapshots of UK

just to send a message to everyone that im still alive and that im fine despite the cold. spring is coming so we are looking forward to the sun coming out more often than it does now. :)

Sorry can't upload more photos, i'll try to find more time next week to do that. But here are 5 photos:

Team 71 - without Shailoe (who took the pic) and I think Pat is not there too. Our 2 Program Supervisors, Jay and Victoria are not there as well. They were preparing the training room

Streatly - that's outside our venue of the In Country Training. It's a nice village, peaceful.

Hannah - is my counterpart (meaning the one i live with). This pic was taken soon after we found we were going to live together. She's a great girl, like a little sister.

LondonEye - from Streatly going to Newham (our community), the driver passed through central london and we had a glimpse of the famous spots like the london eye, big ben, british museum,etc. it was a great teaser.. We are GOING to go to CENTRAL LONDON on Sat. Yahoo!

Hackney - Hannah and I live in another borough (not Newham) - Hackney, with a VSO returned volunteer named Kate. We are the farthest in terms of hosthomes coz it takes us an hour and a half to get to Newham. But Hackney is a nice place. This is on top of the old St. Augustine Church tower overlooking hackney and central london. nice!

That's it for now.