Why Walking in Flood Water is Easy

First: You can leave your death threats in the comment section. 

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on with the blogpost.

It has been three days since the Maring and the Habagat joined forces and brought watery hell down our heads. In Paranaque, it was no surprise that there were floods. Water would rise and wane with every burst of rain. People flocked to our sari-sari store because they had no food and they could not cook. The first night of the flood was Sunday. My mother did not sleep, because even though our house was pretty safe, the rising water scared her. 

 

3AM, Monday: The house in front of us has been repeatedly raped by the flood.

3AM, Monday: My mom had not slept. She kept vigil until noon, helping people and keeping watch just in case flood waters enter the house. She's like Wonder Woman that way.

I don't blame her. Years ago, we would have been panicking at the thought of rising water as well. I would have been stuffing clothes and food in plastic bags from Pure Gold and stuffing it in the highest shelves of my closet, along with important documents and my favorite books. I would have proceeded to put most of our possessions on top of each other. Then I would have waited (and hoped fervently)for the rain to stop. 

I grew up walking through flood waters. In fact, having to wade through dirty, muddy, smelly flood water from polluted rivers, drainage, and sewers is part of my high school memories. When I was in college, it was jumping onto a dump truck (you know, where they put trash and shit - literally, to my dismay) in my white nursing uniform so I could get across the flood around SM Sucat and get home. It is still a mystery how my uniform survived, but it did.

Tuesday morning: The water had been rising and waning. Above is a shot of the water entering our gate. Below are photos of how the rest of the neighborhood looked.

Which brings me to my point: walking through flood water is not a noble thing. It is not something to be applauded. And like many other things, it should not be a source of that false manifestation of nationality, "Pinoy Pride". I agree that it is a show of resilience, the "I need to fucking get home" kind or the "I'm going to die if I don't get out of this leptospirosis-infested water" kind.

Think of this, however: If Mother Nature had PMS everyday and decided to unleash its watery fury on us non-water benders, then the Filipino people would be walking in flood water everyday. You know what? Because we would have no choice.

It is easy walk through flood water. All one has to do is put your life, your family and your properties on the line. I promise you, you grit your teeth and take the plunge, shit in dump-truck, swimming rats, and floating cockroaches be damned. Any sane person with a relatively intact moral compass would do the same thing.

Yung totoo, hindi 'eto nakakabilib.

Alam mo kung ano yung nakakabilib? Yung sa susunod na delubyo, wala nang baha.

In Pursuit of Fairy Tales, etc.

Photo by Drei dela Cruz. And yes, that picture is my entry.

The International Labour Organization - Decent Work Across Boarders (ILO-DWAB) Photo Competition, in partnership with the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates International, was held last year. I joined this contest as last-minute entry and was rather surprised when I was selected as part of the Top 21. I did not win, but seeing as it is an international competition and my entry was a grab-'em-and-shoot-'em kind of picture, I was still pretty happy about the results. Along with fellow bloggers Drei dela Cruz and Erick Bernardo, we visited RCBC Yuchengco Tower in Makati last Tuesday to check out our photos.

My enrollment to the Nursing course was prompted by my desire to migrate abroad, either to the land of sexy English accents and Harry Potter so I could imbibe the culture and write something magical like J.K. Rowling did, or to the United States where, after a couple of years of being a nurse, I can work my way to med school and eventually follow in the foodsteps on one of my ultimate girl crushes, forensic pathologist. We grew up in a society that is apparently proud of our Filipino heritage, but would rather work outside the country because everything beyond the Philippines is better. That's rather ironic, although understandable. The money you will earn in abroad, the benefits, and the simple fact that you are on an adventure (new place, new culture) are things that you may not necessarily earn here, unless you are a business mogul or Henry Sy's relative. 

This ideology is the inspiration for my photo: the pursuit of better life - of fairy tales for our children - climaxes outside the borders of our country.

My entry to the DWAB-ILO Photo Contest

Like I said, this ideology is both understandable and ironic. Having had the experience of being a lecturer for an English exam that is required so one can work, study, or migrate in an English-speaking country, I know a thing or two about going abroad, about how difficult it is to pursue fairy tales. We either forget or fail to realize that having achieved the fairy tale is not all fun and games and sparkle. 

The journey to achieving a better life abroad is difficult, so here is a little something for everyone who needs a bit of help on one aspect of their application - English proficiency exam. Scribbles on the Clipboard is a non-profit instructional blog. I'll be posting tidbits on Grammar, tips on writing well and achieving confidence in speaking, and other stuff in between. I will miss teaching, and I guess you can say that this is my way to reconnect with students. This is dedicated to all my students as well, those who inspired me to strive to be a better instructor. 

For more information on the ILO-DWAB Competition as well as the winners, please check out AYNLA's website.

VAGINA: Say it three times, slowly, and with relish

People will probably throw you weird looks, flinch horribly, and think you’re a maniac.

The Pinoy society is apparently sensitive to the topic of sex and sexuality, treating it as taboo. Ironically, sensuous pictures are used in ads, prostitution is rampant, and the ordinary Juan’s mouth would spill something green, and sometimes down-right malicious- during the everyday tambay mode. It’s not just the drunk men on the sidewalk toma parties, either. College students. Professionals. Mothers with little children.

My problem is this: For heaven’s sakes, we blab about sex almost all the time, use it as topics for jokes, as trinkets on ads (that sometimes do not even make sense). Kids hear it. They see it on TV. Adolescents talk about it in school. Boys as young as twelve gossip about who’s got the biggest boobs, and that weird tingling sensation they get down there when they ‘accidentally’ touch them.

Not a big thing, right? It’s part of today’s society, like internet porn, jejemons, PNoy’s love life, and Willie Revillame. If it were, protesters might be storming the Congress as we speak, demanding laws against people with dirty mouths.

Then why is shedding light to sex, in a clear, rational, scientific way a problem?

Many people point out that sex education is the responsibility of the parents. True. Parents are, as the old saying goes, the first teachers.

Just a thought: Because of the apparent “sensitivity” of Filipinos to the topic of sex, parents very rarely speak to their children. There are no “the birds and the bees” conversations, just “Don’t get pregnant", or "I’ll kick your ass out of the house” proclamations. Or worse: “Sex is bad.”

You can’t deny that it happens. Perhaps not to you, if you’re lucky, but to most Pinoys, they learn about sex through three possible was: the biology book, the secret conversation with their peers, and through experience, willing or not.

These methods of learning are not exactly ideal, and the typical Pinoy parent is either too busy to talk sex, or is too embarrassed to do so. Even if they did have the time, their knowledge would be better supplemented by medical professionals who study these things intensively. Take into consideration that sexuality is not just about morality, it is also a great factor that affects social, emotional, and physiological well-being. Who spent years prying the functions of the human body for years? Doctors. Nurses. Health workers. I’ve still got my books to prove it.

“So go to an OB.” Easy enough to do. But if you are young, this simple step proves to be a challenge. Being in the stage of adolescence and at a lost about sexuality, and being distrustful of most adults (who probably most of which probably exude an air of distrust and suspiciousness), most teenagers opt to keep their questions to themselves. This is when the apparent “shame” gets in the way of information.

So first thing’s first: Remove the tags “devil”, “life will be ruined”, “evil” and “obscene” to the discussion of sexuality. Speak sensibly about it, especially to children, to teens, so that they will be able to talk about it, their concerns, about the things that confuse them. Doing this will result to better communication between child and parents.

Second step: Allow professional support. People from the medical profession genuinely want to help. In fact, it is our responsibility to do so. No one can deny that expert advice is an advantage in any situation. Allow well-trained teachers to supplement everyone with the know-how on how to be sexually healthy, not only physically, but in all aspects as well.

Open up, let the knowledge flow. Information leads and well-formed decisions, perhaps not all the time, but most of the time. And in this day and age, information (true or false) is widely available. Would you rather have hearsays or concrete facts and data?

Open up.

Begin by saying “vagina” slowly, three times, and with relish. I assure you, it’s liberating.

And to hell with what others think.