A brief tour around southeastern Asia

In just a few minutes....

From Fukuoka, I went to Inchun, to Seoul, then to Hongkong, then to Singapore, to Malaysia, even to Narita--in search for flights that will bring me home straight to my home city. I hate to pass by Manila. I get sick or food poisoned everytime I pass by there. After the brief tour, I felt some kind of sadness as I looked at my suggested trip schedule. A part of me wants to go while another part refuses. I have come to love this place after all.

PhD in Divinity major in Fun

I am lucky to have been in this place. People are courteous, polite, hardworking, highly industrious,who works without being told to, are disciplined, and most of all, honest and humble, who think of the greater welfare more than he thinks of himself. I feel good being nice here and be, uhm, just like them without any feeling of resentments. I didnt ever feel like having sharks around waiting to take advantage of my kindness when I do good. People try to match up the any thing--be it kindness, a thing-- they receive. It feels so good to give and receive.

I am happy to have been able to contribute and cooperate in collective efforts, to be a responsible member of the laboratory, to do things on my own, to be obedient, even without the reward of recognition, much more, applause. I am happy to have been the least and just stayed in the background--even to the extent of being discriminated against (I am the only foreigner in the lab). I am simply happy to be the most ignored and least valued. It feels good when the spotlight is not on you and the world around you doesnt care what you do and what is happenning to you.

On the other hand, too much immersion in gimmicks and fun, leave me empty and wanting after the laughter dies. There must be wisdom in the proverb "sorrow is better than laughter", and in the word of The Christ "to be the last is to be the first", "that if you want to be great, then you must humble yourself".

Amen? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay-MEN!

Sayonara karaoke

The lady with me is a good belter. SHe is a good partner in singing Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and other throat-challenging songs. No, I am not saying I am a good singer. I just know how to shout. :-)

Skin color is like coffee. It does get diluted too

I thought the child gets the color of either the mother or the father (if both are extremely contrasting colors) but not the mixture in the literal sense of the word (well, except after many generations of "evolutions" and "dilutions"). But it isn't always so--just as this 4-yr old half Nigerian, half Japanese cute little boy shows. Compared to the pure Nigerian infant (who was similarly born here), this boy is relatively lighter in color so much like a Filipino child. His color is literally like a coffee diluted with milk. And his hair is not as wooly as that of the pure-bred.

We burned the dormitory!.... The tuna massacre

In honor of a few who are leaving soon, the Flipapinos grilled a huge head of fatty tuna inside a teeny weeny stove top oven. Guess what happened? The oils of the fish caught up with fire and burned the oven and part of the dorm kitchen. Pink ashes of the fire extinguisher filled the kitchen and the hallways. No one, including the dorm head who lives on the floor below, got no idea of what happened. (The fire alarm didn't ring!). The residents, upon seeing the ashes everywhere even in their own rooms when they got home late in the evening, thought they were ashfalls from the nearby Sakurajima volcano. Now, everyone is quiet and lying low--hoping to find a good opportunity to tell the dorm head how the fire extinguisher ran out :-)