Category: FEATURED
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Study abroad, neoliberal education, and lockdown students
I’m putting this together for my students at the University of the Philippines Open University who missed our video conference this term. A friend had suggested I teach at UPOU after returning from my studies abroad. I said yes to one semester, while working for an American newswire and hustling for commissioned international projects. A […]
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Osaka-Kyoto Notes
If I were to write a quick note to friends planning their first trip to Osaka or Kyoto, Japan, this would be it. This isn’t comprehensive. In fact, I’m writing point after random point, with no clear outline in mind – just typing away in the middle of the night, in a Kyoto townhouse that […]
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A spa called “Ginhawa”
Undressing for a stranger’s touch and paying for it may be a bizarre thing to do but that’s what a spa is all about. While reading an Englishman’s gastronomical adventures in France, I learned a little about spas. A proper spa facility has a wet area (jacuzzi and/or pool), a massage parlor with health treatments, and […]
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A cozy inn one night a superstorm washed Puerto Princesa
Inns are usually country houses where travelers dine and rent a room to sleep in. Aside from lodging, it’s also defined as “a residence formerly provided for British students in London and especially for students of law” (Merriam). The word ‘inn,’ first used in the 12th century, is sometimes interchanged with ‘hostel’ (first use: 14th […]
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Walking among the millionaires in Singapore (SG post 2)
Singapore’s leading publisher, SPH, reported that the country has the “highest density of millionaires” around the world because of the state’s small size and the number of millionaires living here: 99,000! A typical millionaire, the report says, has an average of 3 signature watches (SGD15,000 each or half a million pesos), and travels out of […]
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iPhone 4s (technology meets art: perfection)
Once upon a modern time, before iPhone 4s was released, my game designer friend Jay warned me, in an arcane tone, that the way you look at mobile phones will never be the same again once you use an iPhone. Since I was never a techie person, that geek data he was trying to feed […]
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I was published in Young Blood!
Today’s a lovely day. I’m back at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquarters in Los Baños to start another issue of Rice Today. IRRI is just beside the UPLB campus, so walking around the university brings me back to my golden days of 2001 when I was a freshman. I felt like a student […]
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High risk (How I was persuaded to get a private insurance plus investment)
Insurance would probably be the last thing that many young people like me would spend money on. “Getting insured” seems apt only for the sick and aging people. In the Philippines, getting an insurance plan is the least of the majority’s concern, since many of the Filipinos would rather buy food for the table than […]
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first timer in Vietnam (snapshots of walk trips, people, and all things lovely)
When I checked in and entered my room, I literally stopped in awe at the room reserved for me (my mind said: omigoshoigoshomigosh). Like in my other trips, I don’t expect much from the places nor do I read so many travel guides since they may spoil my own impressions. One funny habit I have […]
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I want more Vietnamese food!
Oh my. Vietnamese food is all goodness. Heaven’s delight. pho Honestly I had zero idea what specialty Vietnam has, until my co-editor at IRRI, Lanie, advised me to try pho, noodles made of rice! (they’re abundant with rice, Vietnam being the world’s second largest rice exporter (after Thailand). That advice came to me weeks before […]
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Given
Do you remember me, Ms Ai? would always be the exacting question of a former student whom I’d run into; I’d answer not with a categorical yes or no, but with a classroom no. and seat location, or a topic in research paper–that’s where you sat, that’s what you wrote in class, I would answer; then comes the predictable reaction…
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Ohhh Sad Movies. Always. Make Me. Cry.
Couple of days ago, I solicited suggestions for all-time tear-jerker movies, the kind that will give you swollen eyes and runny nose. And here’s what I got: Rizza: A Moment to Remember
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Drowning End-Of-The-World Thoughts With Tsunamic Love
In Japanese, the name Ai means- love. (Says meaning-of-names.com) If the tsunami in Japan sent waves of panic and end-of-the-world thoughts (and jokes) around the globe, I could only think of that statement. In Japanese, the name Ai means- love. Our social conscience would tug at our heart strings, feel for Japan, and offer a […]
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confessions of the tita who suggested abortion to her sister crying in vain what to do one night she found out she's pregnant with a man she doesn't love
This is my first nephew, Marcus Wayne. He loves to sleep and make face. Most of the time he’s in deep thoughts. Rarely he smiles. Always he stares. Babies. More than nine months ago, his mother would always engage me in philosophical talks, trying to answer the most painful questions about life, love, and […]
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Strawberry fields forever lalala (La Trinidad, Benguet)
Harvest images of happiness here: “Let me take you down/ cos I’m going to strawberry fields/ Nothing is real/ and nothing to get hung about…” (the Beatles) How is the strawberry field connected to art, I asked as the field trip buses of Hum 2 (Art, Society, and the Individual) belched intermittently in their struggle […]
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elbi students
Here’s a toast and roast to UP students in Los Baños (the ones I’ve handled, at least) who are worth the stay for about four years now in the University of the Philippines: 1. Elbi students’ fashion sense is extreme. In one room, you could see the typical maong and shirt/blouse, as well as shorts […]
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what’s inside Sogo (and kulturang motel)*
Apparently Sogo hotels stand on areas where the masses hang around—not in Rockwell Makati but in Guadalupe, not along Roxas Boulevard but Malate, not in Filinvest but Alabang Rotonda.
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