Curious About Chile

More than six years ago, I was in the General References Section of our University's library most likely passing the time, I don't quite remember. But I do recall that I picked up a travel guide about Chile. I did not know a lot about the country except that it was in South America. It was also around this time that I learned from Literature class that Pablo Neruda did not only write love poems, ones we often dreamily read in high school, but also wrote political ones. After browsing the guidebook, I decided that I would one day go to Chile.

A Birthday Wish and A Birthday Gift

Before we left for Canada, my mother brought me and my sisters to a Joey Ayala concert. His melodies were a part of my childhood music education along with The Phantom of the Opera, the Bukidnon lullabye and assorted children's songs but I have never been in one of his performances until then. I was excited!

I learned during this event that aside from being an exceptional artist, Joey Ayala is also a super effective facilitator*. Instead of a traditional music session, I found myself participating in a workshop! We were seated around tables, provided papers and coloured pencils. Imagine the audience being asked, What do you love doing? by a man walking around with a guitar and singing Ang Lahat ng Bagay ay Magkaugnay. He continued with more ideas and questions: What are you good at? What are your strengths? What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? 

On Language

I grew up speaking Cebuano (or commonly known as Bisaya). Everytime people, mostly Tagalog-speaking, comment on  someone's "off" accent in English  as "Bisaya kasi", it really turns me off. Most of the time, I don't say anything because I find it exhausting to argue. Sometimes I want to retaliate by saying, "I've heard a lot of Non-Cebuano people say em arrr teee with a rolled R when they say MRT. Or they say wan tertiii, again rolling the R, when they want to say one thirty. Also they say sirkel when they want to say circle." I could get as stereotypical as they are and inform them that the best English speakers I have met in the Philippines are Cebuanos and Ifugaos. But I keep my mouth shut because again I am not as aggressive as I really want or ought to be. Plus, how far better off am I if I judge people by the way they pronounce things?

However, I do wish that teachers would especially make the effort to be critical about what they say in class because they have the power to influence children. If anything, they should encourage children to be more articulate in ANY language they are comfortable with. And how I wish we were all comfortable in our language no matter what it is. During one of our field work in college, one of our Matigsalug interviewee shared that some Matigsalug children sometimes did not want to speak their language in school because the Visayan children would make fun of them. This time, it's the Bisaya who think they are better off in a so-called hierarchy of languages/ethnicity. To even think that there should be a hierarchy of ethnicity is limited, too linear and actually HORRIBLE but this is what society perpetuates. I write more comfortably in English than Bisaya but I speak more comfortably in Bisaya than in any other language. It's never black and white. It's complicated but it's also exciting. So despite the odds, let's choose to appreciate diversity instead.

This is the clip from Aljazeera that made me write this post:

Sunday Lunch

Before we left for the big C, I was eyeing a cookbook on the shelves of National Bookstore. I had read food writer Margaux Salcedo's article about it on the Sunday Inquirer Magazine. The book was Kulinarya. It was a little more than a thousand pesos so I didn't think of getting a copy. I was only in my first real job and I couldn't afford it. But, I looked at it every time I was in the bookstore and read the blurbs of all six Filipino chefs who collaborated to produce the guidebook.  I don't know but by a stroke of good luck, the book was given to our family as a going-away present!

Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Contest 2012

Back when I was a college freshman, it had become a habit of mine to peruse books from my paternal aunt's kitchen shelves every time I visited her family on the weekends. After being fed delicious dishes whipped up by Ate Uma and Ate Daisy, my aunt's housekeepers, I would sit in the dining room scanning various cookbooks and food books. I'd take out a book or two to browse leisurely as I nibbled whatever was left on the dining table after a meal. It was one of those lazy weekends when I discovered Doreen Fernandez's essays on Philippine Food.

Unfortunately, this amazing woman is no longer with us having died of pneumonia in 2002. It was a great loss not only for Philippine's culinary world but the literary world as well. However, her legacy lives on. Which is why I want to share this with you. I hadn't known that there was a Food Writing Award organized in her honor until I decided to read about her again just yesterday.

For the foodies and writers out there, how about joining the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Contest 2012? More than winning prizes, it's a great opportunity to contribute to the growing literature on Philippine culinaria and to refresh your cultural, gastronomic and personal memories. Below are the details about the contest which I reposted from DGF Awards Facebook Account (see link):

 In her essay “Inside Information: A Tribute to Mothers” (Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture, Anvil Publishing, 1994), Doreen G. Fernandez detailed a recipe each from four cookbooks she considered “delicious records of our familial culture, and documents of mother-love and woman-power”—all of them sweet: Enriqueta David Perez’s Pinipig Ice Cream, Sofia R. de Veyra and Maria Paz Z. de Mascunana’s Honey Mousse, Pura Villanueva Kalaw’s Jalea de Calabaza and Purita Kalaw Ledesma’s Corn Alupi (native corn pudding).

For this year’s Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award, sweets, himagas orminatamis is the subject matter. From this will come the concluding chapter for the book that will gather the winning DGF Food Writing Award essays (including honorable mentions) through ten years of the award. And because this year’s winning entries are to be included in the publication slated for release later this year, the deadline has been moved up to April 10, 2012.

The rules are the same as in years past: entries must be in English, in essay form, 800 words or 5,000 characters. Up to two essays may be submitted by each entrant, but each submission must have a different pen name. A separate file should contain the author’s information: pen name, real name, address, contact numbers (home/work/mobile). Indicate if you are a student (although this has no bearing on the judging). Submit by email to dgfawards@yahoo.com.ph. Remember the deadline—April 10, 2012.

For inquiries, write to the same email address or call Girlie Canlas at 632-895-2021.

Prizes include cash, books and magazines, and inclusion in the DGF Food Writing Award book to be launched later in the year.

Dream One

I just thought I would share this video that Josh Halpurn of outsidejosh made of his WWOOFING experience. It made me super excited to go home to the Philippines. I have been thinking of going WWOOFing for the longest time! WWOOF is an acronym for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Check the Philippine's site here and their international site here. Basically, through the WWOOF network, you volunteer in a host farm of your choice and in exchange for your services, they give you free board and lodging. It's the perfect way to travel, learn and meet people without breaking the bank. Some hosts also allow volunteers to extend their stay without working if they pay for their board and lodging. Of course, this is just one idea and it totally depends on your travel objectives whether this idea will suit you. Anyhow, this is definitely on my must-do list!

Speaking of a must-do list, I don't exactly know when I started daydreaming of having my own business someday. I remember a talk with C where she shared her own thoughts about having a beautiful cafe that we would all want to go to. I've never been a farm girl but I get excited about the idea of raising goats and having my own bee farm. Being green and environmentally conscious is a process and it is quite difficult for most of us city dwellers. Even I cringe at the price of organic food here in Vancouver. It's a long way off but of course I want my goat and bee farm to be organic. Not impossible, seeing that video of ENCA farms right there.

So I hope this little entry inspires you to dream your dream and live it someday. Hopefully, live it as soon as possible! Cheers!