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The country is the Philippines, of course.

How come there are 175 languages spoken in such a small country ? Answer : It’s an archipelago of 7,641 islands. The inhabitants of each island in ancient times developed their own language.

So, how do they understand each other ? Answer : They don’t … and didn’t , until Spain came to the scene, united the islands and named the country Las Islas Filipinas ( formerly ???….actually, nameless )in honor of King Philip ll of Spain , and later Anglicized as Philippines by the Americans.

So, why do Filipinos not speak Spanish like South America ? Answer : With the inhabitants speaking 175 different languages, I ;m sure the Spaniards thought it was too troublesome so they just gave up and fortunately, didn’t even try to impose their language on the inhabitants, unlike what they did in Latin America. Speak Spanish or die.

So, how did the Filipinos communicate with each other ? Answer: They had to learn Spanish so that they could communicate with different groups and, most importantly , with the ruling government. I assume it was easier for Filipinos to learn one new language than to learn 175 ones. LOL Filipinos that time did speak Spanish as a second language. Under Spanish rule for 377 years, that was a given.

( ponders )

377 years ! That’s hardcore. Not complaining though. I mean, I wouldn’t be here blogging / existing if not for one adventurous Spaniard from Segovia, Spain . Sorry, off topic. ^_^”

But, how come Filipinos don’t speak Spanish ? The US colonized the Philippines in 1898, ( after the Spanish – American War) and made English the official language and the medium of instruction in schools , in all levels, so those born during American colonial rule grew up learning English , while the rest had to learn another language, yet again . And though the Philippines acquired its independence in 1946, English remained an official language up to present, together with Filipino language, which is based in Tagalog , the lingua franca in the capital region ( Manila ) Tagalog non-speakers had to learn another language for the third time. Filipino language based on Tagalog was added to school curriculum. ( Although , for a time, people from the island of Cebu complained that since there were more Cebuano speakers than Tagalog speakers, the national language should be based on Cebuano ) Anyway, all Filipinos can now understand and speak Tagalog , and that’s a good thing. Native Tagalog speakers , however, still cannot understand the other languages. (+_+ )

So, how different is Tagalog from other Filipino languages ? Answer : As different as Greek from German.

Ex : Where are you going ?

Tagalog : Saan ka pupunta ?

Pampagueno: Nun ka munta ? ( The province of Pampanga is just 66 km. or 41 miles from Manila )

Ilocano: Ayanna papanam ? ( Ilocos Sur is about 297 km / 184 miles from Manila )

Cebuano : Asa ka padulong ? ( Cebu is an island south of Manila, about 573 km. /356 miles )

Ilongo : Diin ka makadto ? ( Ilo-ilo , where Ilongo is spoken, is an island south of Manila , about 465 km/ 289 miles)

Chavacano : Donde ta anda tu ? ( Zamboanga where Chavacano is spoken , is part of Mindanao Island, south of Manila, about 859 km/534 miles)

Although these languages are so different from each other, they sound the same to non-Filipinos.

Except Chavacano.

Check out a Tagalog music video , Dahil Sa ‘ Yo ( Because of You )on my previous post and see if you can detect the difference between Tagalog and Chavacano. Oh, alright, I;m reposting it here. I know you busy folks won’t bother. ( “_” )

So here’s a Chavacano song, Porque ( Because ), sang by Aria Clemente and David DiMuzio. Can you detect the difference between the 2 songs?

Listen to a foreign song, be curious, be entertained.

Please comment down below if you’ve detected the difference.. I’d love to hear from you, dear readers.

Bye for now. Be Safe . Keep your mask on.

Before anything else, I would like to offer my prayers to India for their speedy recovery from Covid. I’ve been watching the news ( mainly from Gravitas/Wion and BBC ) and the images I see are incomprehensible…… over a million infections in 3 days ! People are dying on the streets, gasping for breath on sidewalks, inside cars or whatever vehicle they use to get to hospitals…….. but to no avail. No help is immediately available. It’s unbelievable . If you are a reader from India, please tell us, are the images exagerrated , perhaps ? I hope so, because , darn it, it’s like watching a disaster/ apocalyptic movie ,except this one is real.

Meanwhile, here in the US, there is a spate of mass shootings going on. Sadly, I am already inured to this kind of violence.

Japan is being jolted by earthquakes of different magnitude these past few months, the highest of which is 7.2 Thank goodness there are no accompanying tsunamis. Watching on TV the tsunami disaster in Japan in March, 2011 had traumatized me……… not to mention the tsunami that occured in Indonesia.

Currently , there is a spike in volcanic activities worldwide. Japan, Indonesia, Italy , South America. Last year in Jan. 2020, Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupted , 3 weeks before my scheduled vacation in the Philippines. The volcano is just 30 miles from Manila, so I got to see the volcano while it was still actively spewing smoke and steam. There are currently an ongoing elevated seismic activities around the volcano, sparking fears that it will erupt again.

So, what else can we pile up on top of these man-made and natural disasters?

Oh, wait, I haven’t mentioned typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes that have become more vicious and destructive due to climate change.

This is like Murphy’s Law being put to work in 2020 and 2021.

These are indeed interesting times.

sigh

I can feel a negative aura surrounding me .

• turns on in denial mode. *

Bye for now. Stay safe. Keep the mask on.

Do you know anything about the Philippines ? The Philippines is in Southeast Asia, an archipelago of 7, 641 islands , with a population of more than 110 million, 12 th largest in the world.

In the US, the only Asians they recognize are East Asians ( Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese ) or people that look like them.

Do you know that Indians, Pakistanis, SriLankans, Nepalese , Bangladeshis, and Maldives are Asians, too ? They are Southern Asians. How about Kazakhstan, Aszerbaizan, Georgia, Turkemenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan ? They are Central and Western Asians. And like the Philippines , Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore are Southeast Asians. You may include the Pacific Islanders . The Philippines is sometimes recognized as Pacific Islanders. And that is right… Filipinos and Pacific Islanders have the same DNA. The Philippines’ race is Malay-Indo- Polynesian.

So, what the heck is this Asian hate ? Get your hate straightened out. Get a grip.

Who is SB19 ?

I’ve been checking out Philippine music scene on YouTube for quite a while now . SB19 is a young Filipino boyband that is super duper popular in the Philippines. It’s a pity that just as they were starting out, ( 2020 was fully booked ) the pandemic happened. So , now they make do with uploading music videos, hoping people get to watch them on YOUTUBE , without skipping the ads. That is where they get their income . My friend and I see to it we watch their videos , at least once a day to support them. They are very talented…. they write and compose their own songs, and do the choreography themselves.

Go, SB19 ! ! Stell Ajero is my bias. He’s the one on the left, and is their main singer. Then , next to Stell is Pablo Nase ( composer/writer,) Justin de Dios, ( creative director) , Ken Suson, Josh Santos.

So, guys, check out Filipino music. Be curious and watch something different. And most importantly, be entertained.

The Philippines is the center of calamities and disasters….. earthquakes, off the chart typhoons, volcanic eruptions. The Filipinos have long accepted it as their Fate. Hence, the “Bahala na ” attitude….. which roughly means, what will be , will be… then , they shrug it off, and move on. ( Or smile it off )

It this happened in the US, FEMA ( Federal Emergency Management Agency ) would be all over the place and evacuating the people. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, people would be enjoying candle-lit dinners. They get typhoons at least 20 x over 6 month typhoon season , which is from June to November. Filipinos be like, “Eh.”

The title of the video says it all. Bagyo ka lang, Filipino kami. ( You’re just a typhoon, but we’re Filipinos. )

I’m sorry the original uploader has taken out the video. from YouTube. Don’t know why. It has millions and millions of views, already. Please make do with the original’s video reaction from 2 eye candy, cute Japanese guys. Ah, the dimples. ~( ^__^ ~) (~^__^)~ Recommended; Watch on FULL SCREEN !

So anti-climactic .

No reactions ?? Aren’t we supposed to feel something unpleasant after the second dose ? Is that a good thing or what ?

We got Pfizer vaccine.

Anyway,

Yay ! We’re done ! We’re still going to wear a mask, though. At work, wearing mask is mandatory. We’re not totally immune yet, you know. There are now 4 variants of the virus ,lurking, ready to strike, and they are deadlier and more dangerous than the original, especially the one from Brazil.

Stay safe.

I’ve been watching Philippine entertainment scene on YouTube and I notice it’s a youth – oriented – IDOL type , much like this K-Pop and J- Pop thing going on in South Korea and Japan, and , most likely, the whole of Asia. Do I like it ? Hmmm, I don’t know. Maybe. But , it does entertain me. A lot. lol I saw this Filipino all-female girl group whose songs sound like a Japanese Anime theme song. Then, I found out the group is actually managed by a Philippine -Japanese entertainment company. The group is MNL48. MNL means Manila, and they have a counterpart in Japan , JNK48 . Are they trying to homogenize Asian entertainment ? It’s fun to watch them, though. I gave the link to my Filipino co-worker, and I think I ‘ve turned her into an obsessive fan. Everytime we see each other at work, we do this finger thing and sing, ” Tension, sion, sion, sion, sion, tension max…. good job, job, job, job, good job, yeah…” And my co-workers are like, what’s going on with you two ? Hahaha.

Anyways,

Here it is………. Click to be amused and entertained.

The song is stuck in my brain ! !!

It’s been a while. My last post was in mid- October, 2020. I’m posting now just to let you know I’m okay and Covid-free.

So , how is life coming along, guys ? I hope you’re all well and healthy.

About the title of this post…….. The state of politics here in the US is so sad and negative that I don’t feel motivated to write anymore. It’s disgusting….. and scary. I’m sure you know why .

sigh

And this ” new ” WordPress is so annoying. … not user-friendly at all. Or maybe it’s just me ?

Oh, and newsflash ! I ‘ve moved out ,temporarily, and will come back when my parents get their vaccinations. I do believe I’m a lethal weapon , so to protect them from getting the virus, I have to make myself scarce until it’s safe for me to come back. I’m now staying at my co-worker’s condo.

This is all for now. Bye and stay safe. It ain’t over yet.

He’s a Filipino singer, singing live on Wish 107.5 Bus , a radio station in the Philippines. In this video , Marcelito Pomoy sings a duet by Andrea Bocellii and Celine Dion. Watch and be amazed.

Hi !

So, how’s it going, folks?

I just gave my last donation to the Biden campaign. I hope he wins. But if he doesn’t , I won’t feel depressed , unlike what I felt when Trump won in 2016. I wanted to jump off the cliff. If you think that ‘s just me being a drama queen, think again. Those who were seriously involved that time, what did you feel ? Yes, exactly.

If tRump wins, perhaps, this time, after venting my spleen and vomiting blood, I’m sure I’d feel fine .You see, I’m hoping ,with all my heart, that tRump will stay the course regarding his stance on Communist China. This is going to help the Philippines, my birth country, to withstand China’s blatant aggression on the Philippines’ territorial rights. I don’t want the Philippines to be renamed ChingChangChong, Province of China. “…”

” Ren, you’re so nasty. ” Huh ? I’m nasty? If that’s nasty, what do you think of a country forcibly taking another country’s territories, and killing its fishermen ? ”

There are things going on in the Philippines that I’m happy about. I cannot believe the country can just ignore vile president duterte ‘s treason and cowardice to go on and on unimpeded. After all, the Philippines had already taken out 2 presidents while they were still in power. One was forcibly banished to Hawaii, and one was impeached and jailed. These two ( Marcos and Estrada ) former presidents’ institutionalized corruption and thievery cannot compare with vile duterte’s outright treason. Selling off a country’s sovereignity is the worst.

That’s all I can say.

Oh, wait, while I’m at it……………being nasty, I mean.

There’s a guy who tells the girl he loves her and wants to marry her, and that he can’t live without her by his side. The girl says, ” I’m sorry, but my parents don’t like you and think you’re just a ne’er – do – well and good- for – nothing person. ” Then , the guy says, ” If you don’t marry me , I’ll kill myself right before your eyes. ” Then , he takes a gun and points it at his temple. The girl panics, and tells him, ” Okay, okay, please wait ! Don’t do anything. I need to ask my parents first. She leaves, then returns after a few minutes, and tells him nonchalantly, ” My parents said I’m a grown -up now, so I can watch a bloody scene. You may go ahead. ”

Heh, I know it’s a totally inappropriate joke. Go ahead, slap me.

sigh

I’m not feeling good about this election. To be honest, I don’t feel good about these mail -in votes, either. Over in Southern California, they discovered several suspicious drop boxes scattered all over SoCal. It’s obvious what will happen to those votes that have been dropped there. Trashed. If they can do this in California where Democrats are always a shoo-in, they can do this anywhere, especially in states where outcome can go either way. Tsk. What a mess. We’ll vote in person on Nov. 3. I’m sure they’re going to put in C-virus precautions. * sigh *

This is all for now. Stay safe. Wear a mask. Okay ? Bye.