Article in Japanese: New Year in the Philippines

Please allow me to publish online some of the articles I have written in Japanese. Most of the time, I will be providing translations in English.

　フィリピンでは、1月1日はお正月です。お正月はフィリピンで最もカラフルな祝賀の1つです。 家族と友人は、大晦日の真夜中に夕食を集めて、共有しています。彼らは食物と果物を準備しています。最も顕著であるのは、長寿を象徴するように、ヌードルの料理を作っています。そして、お金を象徴するように果物は大切です。 お正月の間、多くのフィリピン人が、次の年を繁栄しているものにするように習慣と伝統を観測しています。 例えば、人々は、12種類の丸い果物を集めて、食卓の周りに置いています。果物は家庭にお金が来るためのものです。そして、長寿を達成するのにスパゲッティやビフンなどのヌードルを食べています。子供たちの身長が高くなるように、時計が12時を打つとき、跳んでいます。そして、悪霊を追い払うために音を立てています。人々は、一年中お金を持つために自分達のポケットにコインを入れています。 そ して、不運を追い払うために花火と爆竹を明るくしています。お金を招待するために、丸いデザインで衣服を着ています。幸運を歓迎するためにドアに果物、 （例えば、ぶどう）を掛けています。ドアや窓や引き出しなどは、運が入るように開かれています。ほかの習慣もやっています。

　フィリピンでは、お正月はクリスマスと一緒に祝われています。 そ ういうわけで、人々は教会へミサを参列に行って、挨拶を送るために親類の家を訪問しています。そして、その代わりに、子供は親類から贈り物を受け取ってい ます。最も一般的な贈り物がお金です。大勢の家族と友人は、故郷に帰って、集めて、再会をして、祝っています。ところで、中国のお正月も祝っています。

New Year in the Philippines

January 1 is New Year in the Philippines. New Year is one of the most colorful celebrations in the Philippines. Families and friends gather together and share the dinner at the midnight of the New Year's Eve. They prepare food and fruits. Most remarkable are the noodles that symbolize long life; and the fruits, which symbolize money. During New Year, many Filipinos observe customs and traditions to make the coming New Year a prosperous one. For example, people collect 12 kinds of round fruits and put them around the dining table. These fruits are for money to come in the household. People eat noodles such as spaghetti and bihon to achieve long life. Children jump as the clock strikes twelve for them to grow tall. People put coins in their pockets to have money all-year round. Children make noise to drive evil spirits away. People light up fireworks and firecrackers to drive away bad luck. People wear clothes with round designs to invite money. People hang fruits in the door to welcome good luck. Doors, windows and drawers are opened to let the luck come in, and so on.

New Year is celebrated in the Philippines along with Christmas. As such, people visit relatives to send greetings and in return, the children receive gifts from the relatives. Most common gift is in the form of money. Many families and friends gather together and celebrate reunions and homecomings. Also, Chinese New Year is also celebrated.

Two Dreams

Note for the readers: I am not claiming to be a visionary of any sort. I am just an ordinary person. I just had these dreams and I do not want to keep them alone as they might have meanings. These two articles were written March 27, 2005.

A Dream About Hell

Account of a dream sometime in January or February of 2005

In a dream, I was once like St. John in the book if the Revelation, guided by an angel, to the deep area of Hell. I was toured around just like an observer. It seemed like everyone in there did not notice me, as they continue what they were doing.

Inside was dark, although fires everywhere give off light all over the place. I was guided to the main area, should I say a hall, as everyone were there and it seemed like they are having some kind of ritual or activity. I moved around and saw that the area was surrounded by somewhat like a wall made of wood-deep rusty brown in color as lighted by the burning flames. The wall has many arched-shaped wholes that serve as passages. There were people beyond the wall and there were so many people inside the main area. The front part was like theater's stage. It was well lighted as compared to the main area. The Beast was there but I did not look at it. There were many creatures accompanying the Beast in the front area. People were screaming, though I was not sure if due to pain or due to enjoyment of what were going on.

I was then guided to pass through on of the arches. Ironic to my assumption that that particular arch was the same as the other arches in the wall, it led to a small chamber. Inside, there were demons making noises, just like people chatting with each other in a party. I noticed that in the middle of the chamber, there was a table with white cloth and on top of it I saw a horrible creature. It was a human but in an abnormal form-like a person born with physical abnormalities. The person was lying there naked, his limbs were very long. I was not able to look at him so closely but it seemed that he had his limbs connected and he lacked some of his limbs. He had a very dark-colored skin and he was mute. He was in Hell as he was very lustful during his life on earth. He was gay and had many sexual affairs with the same sex. But I will never forget his eyes and face as he looked exactly like one of my friends. Should I name him? Perhaps, I will give a hint instead. He is fond of using his nickname instead of his real name. His nickname starts with the letter M.

The demons loudly asked him to perform some tricks-tricks like twisting his body parts. He did the tricks very well. His body was very flexible so that he could make any form of twisting. The demons laughed and told him that he would perform for the Beast-not body twisting but sex positions. So from performing body tricks, he shifted to assimilating sex positions alone. He just then smiled-like feeling so flattered as he would perform in front of the Beast. I felt like I wanted to cry as I was thinking he was indeed my friend. I felt sorry that because of his immoral life while on earth, now he was in Hell. But it was still a mystery to me, why he looked like he was born with physical abnormalities.

A Dream About the Second Coming

Account of another dream sometime in January or February of 2005

In another dream, I had a vision of the Second Coming. It was not as long as my previous vision of Hell but it had been very detailed.

I was in a city, an urban place with modern technologies, tall buildings, business establishments and many other signs of development. I was particularly in a busy street. It was night then. I knew that I was not alone although I was not sure whether I was with my family or with my friend or friends during that night.

Suddenly, we heard a very loud sound. I could not describe the sound that well but I found it similar to the sound of rumbling rocks as I heard during the July 16, 1990 earthquake in the Philippines. It was so scary so that many people panicked and run away. For my case and whoever family or friend that was or were with me at that time, I or we was/were not able to move out of our place.

I felt very afraid when the land where we were standing broke open. I though we were going to die as we fell down the crack but we were able to stand on top of somewhere down there. As such, we were still able to witness what happened next.

We all looked up the heavens and saw that a very bright light came out in the middle of the dark skies. It was very bright red-orange light. I was not able to see what was behind the very bright light as my eyes could not stand looking at it. I then felt this unexplainable fear but I was sure that this is the end of the world as described in the scriptures and that the Son of God has finally come!

I do not know the real reason why I had these two visions but perhaps they appeared to me as means to let me aware of these things and that they exist and will soon occur. Let us pray to God that we would be ready when these things happen.

Welcome to Japan

The lobby the New Tokyo International Airport (Narita)

The long wait was finally over. The plane was descending and the voice-over announced "Welcome to Japan!" At about 14:15 JST, we got off from the plane and all of us-Monbusho scholars from the Philippines seemed to be all excited in setting our feet of the Land of the Rising Sun.

From the terminal, we took a small train to go to the lobby area. We passed by the immigration and looked for our luggage. Outside, at the lobby, the AIEJ (Association for International Education Japan) staffs were all waiting for us. They were so organized in accommodating us. They put us in groups, gave us instructions and made us wait for the airport shuttle bus.

After getting our free time, I looked for a money changer and had my dollar pocket money changed to Japanese yen. I immediately phone home. I told them that I was already in Japan. They informed me in return that my computer at home broke down. At that instant I felt like I want to go back to Manila to fix my computer.


Narita Airport Rest House Hotel Tokyo

The AIEJ staff led us to airport shuttle bus station. It was very cold outside the airport. A few minutes, the shuttle bus came and took us to the Narita Airport Rest House. Along the way, I looked around and I was impressed to see that it was very clean all around. We checked-in the hotel upon arriving. I was assigned in a room with other two Filipino guys. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon then. After settling in, we talked with each other and watched TV. We also dropped by the girls' room. At about 7 o'clock in the evening, we went back to the airport to have our dinner.

We roamed around the stores looking for affordable dinner. But we all had the same impression that things in Japan are about ten times as expensive in the Philippines. And if we keep on converting the Yen prices to Philippine peso, we would all end up hungry. If I can still remember, I just had chicken curry then.


Inside the Narita Airport Rest House

After getting full, we went back to our rooms. Before going to sleep, we took turns in the bathroom. I tried the bathtub but as I wasn't used to it yet at that time, I felt dizzy. After putting on a yukata, and before I went to bed, I first made an impression of the night view around the airport. A few minutes later, I fell asleep. That has been my first night in Japan.

Leaving on a Jetplane

Ninoy Aquino International Airport

It's April 1. Many people know it as April Fool's Day but for me, it was the start of a new chapter of my life. I am now staying here in Japan for a year! As such, I will relive the moments that happened exactly a year ago.

March 31, my last day in the office was quite a jam-packed day for me. I was too busy preparing my things to be brought beck home and at the same time, trying to stop the clock from ticking as I need to finish my tasks before I say my final goodbye to my second home-my office for the past two years.

We had a send-off party at home with my college friends the night before so I took an off during the morning. I just came to the office after lunch to have my last day. About 6 pm, my officemate and friend, Flint, told me that the team prepared a send-off dinner for me. So we went to a Japanese restaurant. They treated me for the dinner and they gave me a gift. It was a bundle of F4 collectible magazines. Flint personally gave me another collectible magazine. I was so touched by their kindness.

After the dinner I went back to the office to continue my work. My academic adviser, Dr. Joey Balmaceda, asked me if I can drop by his office in Diliman as Prof. Ozeki sent some maps and guides for me to use as I come to Japan. Due to my very hectic schedule, I just asked Sir Joey to leave the stuffs to the guard in the Quezon Hall as I was anticipating that I could only drop by there at about 11 o'clock in the evening.

It was about 11 o'clock and I haven't completed all of my work. But as my flight the following morning would be early, I decided to go home. Hanna and Glen, my officemates and friends, went out with me from the office. We took a taxi that would bring me to Diliman. My friends from college, Rose and Mary Ann, also wanted to say their well wishes to me so they also went to Makati to meet me. Unfortunately, due to my tasks, I wasn't able to meet them until I had them picked up at EDSA and let them ride the taxi with me to Diliman.

We dropped off Hanna and Glen along Crossing(?) and me, Rose and Mary Ann straight to Diliman. We got Sir Joey's stuffs from the guard and we sat down for a while behind the UP Oblation to rest.

Rose and Mary Ann gave me a poster and they wrote their messages for me at the back. They also had me write my messages for them in their own posters. After that, we separated ways and I went home. I reached our house at about 2 o'clock in the morning.

I wasn't able to sleep at home. It was because of both excitement and the worries of my tasks that will be left at the office. At about 4 o'clock in the morning, I got online and finished all of my reports, worksheets and hand-off notices for my team. I also sent out "thank you" notes to those who wished me well-my Repo team and the Disputes, Fraud and Letter Writing teams.

Having not that much time, I left our house at about 6 o'clock in the morning. I went to the airport with my family except my younger brother, Patrick, who looked after the house.

Arriving at the airport, I was immediately asked to enter for checking in. I was not able to even hug my parents and siblings for the last time. I was so sad as I would be missing them for a long time but I tried not to shed tears.

Forty-five minutes before the departure, I was still lining up for checking in. My things are so heavy and I know that I would incur overweight baggage charges. A lady in front of me in the line has only one small luggage so I asked her if we can have our luggage checked-in together so we can enjoy the allowable baggage capacity for two people. She agreed so I felt relieved. Unfortunately, the staffed employed to do the checking-in procedures were so inefficient so after the girl had her small luggage weighed, the staff took so much time to weigh my things. As a result, the girl got irritated and told me she was going to come inside for immigration procedures. I was left and they charged me a whooping 3,000 pesos for the excess.

About thirty minutes before the departure, I was able to board the plane. My seatmate's nickname was AJ. He was also a Monbusho scholar like me but he would stay in Tokyo. The flight took four hours non-stop. We had a Japanese lunch set and AJ and I had sake or Japanese rice wine. So as a trivia, I entered the Japanese territory under the influence of alcohol. :-)

My Own Review of 천국의계단 (Cheonguk ui Gyedan) - Stairway to Heaven

천국의계단 (Cheonguk ui Gyedan) - Stairway to Heaven

Korean TV Drama

Original Korean title: 천국의계단 (Cheonguk ui Gyedan)

English title: Stairway to Heaven/Paradise

Japanese title: 天国の階段 (Tengoku no Kaidan)

Chinese title: 天国的阶段 (Tianguo de Jieduan)

Starring: Kwon Sangwoo, Choi Jiwoo, Shin Hyunjoon, Kim Taehee

Cross-references to Character names used in the Philippines (Korea):
Kwon Sangwoo as Cholo (Cha Songjoo)
Choi Jiwoo as Jodi/Jenna (Han Jungseo/Kim Jisoo)
Shin Hyunjoon as Tristan/Charlie (Han Taehwa/Han Chulsoo)
Kim Taehee as Eunice (Han Yoori)

Remarks:
20 episodes
I watched the Korean version with English subtitles, and a few episodes (eps. 4, 18 & 19) dubbed in Japanese.

Summary:
Long time childhood friends Cha Songjoo (Kwon Sangwoo) and Han Jungseo (Choi Jiwoo) got separated first when Songjoo flew to the US for his studies. Jungseo was left with her evil stepmother, actress Tae Mira and stepsister, Han Yoori (Kim Taehee). In addition to that, she felt uncomfortable due to her stepbrother, Han Taehwa (Shin Hyunjoon) showing affection to her.

After three years, Songjoo came back to Korea and was about to meet Jungseo. Having only a glimpse of his love's face, he was not able to meet her as she was hit by the car the drunken Yoori was driving. Yoori made it known that Jungseo died due to a car accident, allegedly not her own fault. She kept Jungseo under her biological father's (Han Pilsoo) care.

Poor Jungseo lost her memory as result of the accident. Taehwa took this as an opportunity to keep Jungseo as he gave her a new identity as Kim Jisoo as his girlfriend. They stayed with Pilsoo under one roof for five years.

Wicked Tae Mira and Yoori planned well so that Yoori will marry Songjoo, who will inherit the whole Global Group afterwards.

Songjoo, who hasn't gotten over Jungseo's "death", saw Kim Jisoo in the amusement park. As he was thinking she was Jungseo, he did everything to get near her and tried everything to make her admit she is Jungseo. Tae Mira, Yoori and Taehwa would try their best to make sure that the star-crossed lovers will never be together.

Eventually, Jungseo regained her memory and remembered her love for Songjoo. Taehwa then conceded in his pursuits for Jungseo as he committed himself in looking after her as an older brother. She was about to fight all her way against Yoori for Songjoo until she found out that she will become blind, eventually will die of eye cancer, as her mother. She tried to give up Songjoo so as not to make him feel sad.

Songjoo later on realized Jungseo's real condition but never had his feelings changed for her. Shortly, Jungseo lost her vision. Songjoo never gave up as he had Jungseo undergo eye surgery as treatment for her eye cancer. On a supposed to be a pre-wedding gathering for him and Yoori, the truth regarding Tae Mira and Yoori's evil doings were revealed by Taehwa and Pilsoo. Songjoo got his mother's blessings and married Jungseo at last.

Everything seemed to be going well until Jungseo showed again signs which lead to the diagnosis that her cancer metastasized to her brain. Songjoo wished to donate one of his eyes to Jungseo, but doctors do not allow eye transplants from a living donor. Inspired by Jungseo's wish to be able to see her beloved Songjoo again even just for only one time, Taehwa engaged himself in a car accident to donate his eyes to Joungseo; in exchange of the happiness she had brought to his life.

Eventually, Jungseo will die in Songjoo's arms. In the end, Songjoo will be seen playing a piano piece for Jungseo by the sea.

Review:

The drama progressed with a very nice story. From their childhood, the plot made its premises. Why the characters acted that way as the story progressed could be easily understood in the childhood days of the characters. As they grew up to be adults, the story fast forwarded ten years later.

Although it had a nice storyline, the themes of wicked stepmother and stepsister, amnesia and terminal illness seemed to be stereotypes in soap operas. Tae Mira’s character was strictly evil. She had been the mastermind of all plots against Jungseo, except the car accident one. To her Yoori seeks refuge as to how she (Yoori) will react to the dynamic turn of events.

Yoori, as a child was a wicked girl in herself. But as she grew up, she became dependent on her mom with regards to the evil tactics. An exception to this was when she made to appear that Jungseo died. This is an attempt to conceal her involvement in the real incident. But as the story goes, she seemed to be helpless on her own. Songjoo had been aloof to her despite the fact that they will be engaged, especially since Songjoo saw Kim Jisoo. Personally, I felt that Yoori turned out to be somewhat like a martyr in the name of love. In addition to that, everyone will notice that Kim Taehee possesses such a very lovely face. She was able to conceal it under a very fierce and wicked image during the entire drama.

Taehwa's full 180 degree turn from a pursuing guy to an almost "guardian angel" to Jungseo was so remarkable. As he competed for Jungseo, everyone would hate him, but he will soon win everyone's sympathy especially for his act of love... giving Jungseo the chance to see the world again.

With regards to Jungseo, I came to the point that I got sick of her tendency to keep everything within herself. No matter how persevering Songjoo has been to win her, there had been not a few attempts that she turned him down, despite the fact that she loves him as well.

I have my hat off for Songjoo. I have never seen or heard such a very dedicated lover to follow Jungseo wherever she goes, literally and emotionally, in real life.

I have to admit got bored in the middle of the series, especially when Songjoo's mother began to hate Kim Jisoo and Jungseo. She got brainwashed by Tae Mira and Yoori obviously. Also, for me, by that time I had enough of Jungseo denying herself her right to be happy.

But it seems like the Koreans dramas are following the same trend-tragic endings. As we are just taking a peek at their own little world, cultural differences may affect out personal enjoyment of the series.

I am just wondering until now. Why is Jungseo still calling Songjoo "Oppa (Brother)" after they got married? It was quite uncomfortable.

The sountrack was also superb. Try to feel the suspense and excitement being conveyed by Rebecca Luker's Ave Maria.

But all of these not so good points that I've mentioned above didn't restrain me from falling in love with the series-the Korean drama I have ever watched.

Launching of "OBANDO: LEGEND OF A DANCE" website

Obando: Legend of a Dance

Hello everyone,

Every year during the middle part of May,
while the bamboo musicians of Obando are
energetically blowing air into their wind
instruments, the old men and women wearing antique
Pilipino clothes are continuously dancing and
teasing along the street, which is followed by the
carriages of Saint Paschal, Saint Claire and the
Our Lady of Salambao. The hymn of "Santa Clarang
Pinung-pino (Very Fine St. Claire)" seems to be
filling the air all over the place...

I would like to announce the re-launching of
my website-Obando Fertility Dance. It has been
launched last September 29, 2001 in Filipino
version but today I added an English version as well.

The URL is http://www.geocities.com/obando81.

Please do not forget to sign the guestbook.

Thanks,
Eric
Obando: Legend of a Dance webmaster

Poisoning the Well

I am staying here in Japan as a research student. I go to school to study. But on my free time, I have other things aside from studying. For example, some time in April of last year, I was invited by a student to join their salsa practice every week. This student was asked before by the International Student Section to tour us around the campus. As a sign of good will, I joined. Some time in June one of the International Student Center's tutors asked me if I could join a sports club for health purposes. Having been overweight for the past few months by that time, and again, as a sign of good will, I joined. Sometimes I used the training exercises but most of the time I did swimming. Then I was glad about the results. I lost - not just a few pounds - but a few kilograms! Then came August, during my preparations for taking the entrance exam, one of the Japanese language instructors from the International Student Center asked me if I can spare some time to do volunteer work. There are some Filipino kids here in Yamagata that needs help in their schooling. Again, as a sign of good will, I joined. To these Filipino kids, I taught Mathematics, English and Japanese.

As I have written in my previous article "The Japanese Smear Campaign", my supervisor once confronted me about going to the sports club. I told him that I go there for health reasons. He also checked if my financial situation was alright. I said that it was alright. For the record, I had been into this financial trouble when the International Student Center wanted me to move out of the dormitory as I am receiving scholarship from the Japanese government. But (even until now) our stipend is (until now) one month delayed, I thought that I might be in trouble as moving to a new apartments requires a big amount of money. I asked the International Student Center if I could file for an extension in the dormitory but they did not allowed me. Instead, they claimed that the stipend would be enough to cover the expenses of moving out. NOt only that, they interrogated me about my monthly expenses. Although, for me, asking my monthly expenses is quite a personal thing, they kept on asking me. So what happened was, I did belt-tightening measures just to bridge the gap in my finances. I just moved in an apartment that is quite cheaper but far from the university.

Knowing that perhaps my tutor has been squealing things about me to my supervisor, I feel that it has created a bad impression of me. Aside from that, it appeared that I had been keeping secrets to my supervisor... as he heard things about me from another person and not directly from me. But the things for me is, there are some things that need not to be told to my supervisor. In other words, some things are private. But eventually were disclosed to him.

Some time in Octiber or November, the International Student Center asked me to come to their office. Again they asked me about my expenses. I told them that my financial situation was already ok as I already moved in to a new apartment. Then they mentioned about me attending the sports club. I told the clerk that I already quitted going to the sports club. Then they told me that heard I was taking piano lessons under a music instructor. I denied it as it was really not true. Once, in a Japanese language class we wrote messages in a postcard assuming that we were to sent the postcards to our friends. For my postcard, I assumed writing to my Japanese friend who plays the piano very well to each me how to play. So I thought they got the idea about the piano lessons from the postcard. But for me, as the postcard activity was just a "simulation", what I wrote on it was not necessarily true.

From that time onwards, I felt that the Japanese were looking closely at me and my activities. At first, I had this suspiscion that all of these bad publicities going around my academic supervisor were from my tutor. I know that as my tutor, he is receiving money from the Japanese government. But instead of teaching me Japanese or help me make my life here in Japan better, here he comes telling my supervisor everything he (tutor) knows about me, most of the time things that he just heard from other Japanese people as well. And he is doing this beyond my knowledge. As a result, my supervisor will have a bad impression of me. These past few days, I felt my supervisor had already changed in the way that he has been treating me. It is a sign that he has already been affected by the rumors. I had long been silent about this matter but I decided that one day I will stand up and talk to him. Sunday night I asked my tutor not to tell to my supervisor things that are not related to my studies. But he denied it as he told me that the clerk in the International Student Center was the one telling all of these things to my supervisor. My tutor enumerated to me all the things that the clerk disclosed to my supervisor. And I was surprised to know that the clerk knows everything about me-the sports club, the salsa and the volunteer work. Not only the extra-curricular activities that I do, she also knows what things I bought. For example, the keyboard that I got from a second hand shop. She told my supervisor that she was thinking that I was still attending the sports club thus, spending lots and lots of money. She claimed that she was just worried about my financial situation.

I told my tutor that I was surprised upon knowing these things. I had this comment that "This clerk is so terrible. Why just don't do her job properly and not mingle with things regarding me?" But my tutor replied that "It is her duty." Huh? Duty? It is only now that I heard this kind of duty in the school? What duty is this? Look after the private lives of the scholars? I felt that my privacy had been compromised. I felt that I was betrayed. She can not claim that she is just helping me because she has been doing all these things behind my back. In reality, she is not helping me at all. In fact, she has long been destroying my credibility to my supervisor-all behind my back!

My tutor came to talk to the clerk to tell her that I already quitted the sports club. I don't know what happened and what would be the effect to me. It seems that my tutor doesn't fully understand the situation. All he believes is that the clerk is just doing her job and it is me who needs to take care as the clerk has been watching me.

Knowing all of these conspiracies, I lost my drive for studying. I lost my interest in attending the salsa practice and in doing volunteer work. Just as the same effect when they mingled with my sports club activities, I feel like I want to quit everything. I feel that the clerk had been too much in invading my privacy. It is me who knows which things should I disclose to my supervisor. But instead, now my supervisor is thinking that I had been keeping everything to him. I am now in total disaster. Thanks to that stupid clerk.

I feel that I do not deserve this kind of treatment. To tell the truth, my lifestyle here is one of the simplest as compared to other scholars. Other scholars go on trips abroad. Some of them always indulge themselves on shopping for new clothes, eating in fine dining restaurants. Some of them always buy the newest electronic gadgets. But I am not like them. Does this good-for-nothing clerk disclose these things to the other scholars' supervisors? Or does she know about these things in the first place?

Unfortunately, to make things worst, my academic situation now is not that good. My mathematical background is not enough to catch up with my lessons here. So I have this problem on top of my list. Then I would discover these evil doings by that narrow-minded clerk. My point is, no matter how good I keep on persevering, as my supervisor already have this bad impression of me, life will be severely difficult for me. Oh, well! She had long been poisoning the well and she had succeeded in doing it. How I wish one day, she will drink water from that well.

February 8, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Poetry: Your Number One Fan

Emotional poem.

**************************************

Your Number One Fan

I was there waiting
For the show to start
Just as many people waiting there
Hoping to see you come out from the backstage.

And then the moment has come
You came out to the limelight
Those in the front row
Got the best view of you.

I envy them, as they can see you well
I am just here in a corner
Eating my heart out
But seeing you then is more than just enough.

Then all of a sudden
I was starstrucked
Can not believe that you are right there
Talking to me, looking at me.

Days passed by and we became friends
I no longer feel starstrucked
As I begin to know the real you
And you start to open yourself to me.

People then started asking you
About the person who has been always with you
That time we started thinking
As to who we are to each other.

At this time you are no longer
Just a movie star staying in my dreams
Now I can touch you and I can feel you
Seems like this can not be so true.

My dream of seeing my favorite star
Surpassed reality as you are now here with me
Holding me like as you say "I'll never
Never let you away from me."

As we share this wonderful feeling
Our lives flourished as well
I got the strength to stand stiff
And you shone more brilliant as before.

Then the director called upon you
You should never let this chance pass
He booked you in many engagements
And made you appear in a big opus.

Then I slowly feel you moving away from me
Noticing it you assured me that you will never be gone
I uphold to your promise day after day
As I see you mingling with people of all walks of life.

You seemed to be so absorbed
You can not say no to every opportunity
Until I found myself alone
Here in our secret rendezvous.

Now I envy those nameless fans
Who get to meet you every now and then
Unlike me who has been eternally waiting
For you to be back in my arms.

But as time goes by, I realized
I won't envy them as I had been and always be,
Until the day that you reach your dream of fame,
Your number one fan.

**************************************

February 1, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

My TV Interview

I had been interviewed for a TV program on the local cable TV...

Interviewer: So you have mentioned before that you were the valedictorian during your first year to third year high school, isn't it? But can I ask you what happened when you were in fourth year high school?

Eric : Oh well, I graduated salutatorian by that time.

Interviewer: Salutatorian? That's strange. You were the consistent valedictorian for three years and then you suddenly graduated as salutatorian? How did that happened?

Eric : How can I say this? Uh-oh, I was just informed by our class adviser a few days before the graduation that I didn't make it to the valedictory position. That's it.

Interviewer: How did that happened? Was it with the grades?

Eric : Yes, actually our class adviser told me that all of them (ed.: the teachers) really regretted that I didn't make it. She told me that it had just been a matter of a very small difference in the general averages.

Interviewer: How did that happen?

Eric : Simply that when they computed the general averages, mine was a few decimals lower than that of the class valedictorian.

Interviewer: And who was the class valedictorian? Was he or she a real contender for the valedictory position?

Eric : I opt not to mention the name. Yes, he was a contender for the post. He always ranked next to me in the last two years prior to graduation.

Interviewer: Two years only? What about during the first year?

Eric : Oh, he was a transferee. He just came to the school during our second year.

Interviewer: That was really strange. You were ousted by a transferee.

Eric : Strange as it was but it was true. It happened.

Interviewer: So you mean it was just because of the grades. You mean that you didn't do well during the last year?

Eric : Of course I did well all the time. The problem at that time was I think the teachers themselves.

Interviewer: What do you mean by that?

Eric : I knew that they were playing with the grades ever since.

Interviewer: Playing with the grades? You mean altering the records, like that?

Eric : Not really altering the records. By they already did the magic even before entering the grades in the records.

Interviewer: How were you sure about that?

Eric : During that time that our class adviser informed me about it, she showed to me my grades and the grades of the class valedictorian.

Interviewer: And what did you find out?

Eric : That the class valedictorian really had the advantage over me. There was a great difference in the grades. His grades were higher than mine in almost all of the subjects.

Interviewer: But you mentioned earlier that the difference was just small...

Eric : What they did was that they combined the grades during our third year and fourth year high school, and divided the sum by two.

Interviewer: Eh? Is that so? Is that really how it was computed?

Eric : I was also surprised upon knowing that. All I know was that all that would matter would be those only during the fourth year.

(I haven't finished transcribing the interview from the video tape.)

At last, Touhoku University!

Graduate School of Information Sciences, Touhoku University
Sendai City, Japan

*Blog for January 24-25, 2005

I was not able to sleep well last Sunday night because of my excitement in going to Touhoku University. I was to attend a 2-day seminar on number theory and combinatorics. I was excited not only to the fact that I would be going to a top university in Japan, not only because I will be meeting Prof. Munemasa (according to my academic supervisor, he will transition me to Prof. Munemasa for my Ph. D. program) but also because I would be going there on my own. My supervisor just gave me a map and told me what bus to ride to go there. Feeling that I still do not have enough information to reach the place, I search in the web how to go there. Luckily, I found a very detailed one. It was saying that I should take either of the four bus routes going to the university campus and get off at the "Graduate School of Information Science" stop. The bus will be picking up the passengers from bus stop No. 9 which is located in front of the Metropolitan Hotel Sendai which is at the west exit of the station.

I forced myself to sleep even just for two hours. I fell asleep at about 4:30 am, two hours later; I got up and prepared to leave. I got to take the 7:56 am bus from Yamagata. The bus was scheduled to reach Sendai in an hour so I was still able to sleep, I thought. Yes, I slept while on the bus but the bus came a bit late. It was already 9:10 when it reached the Sendai station. I quickly headed to the Sendai station and looked for the west exit. I saw a sign pointing to the west exit and I followed it. I was able to see some bus stops but those were Nos. 39-41. I just walked following the direction of the arrow. After walking for about 5 minutes still not finding the bus stop No. 9, I turned back and walked back the station. I thought I was already lost so I asked a Japanese woman who was sweeping the street. She was not sure where it was but told me to wake further and turn right. I followed her instructions but apparently, it was still not the bus stop I was looking for. I was already worried as it was already 10 minutes before the seminar starts and I was still looking for the bus stop. All of a sudden, I saw the big building to the left of the station with the sign "Metropolitan Hotel Sendai". I was a bit stupid as I forgot to look for it. I found the station and it was good that the bus arrived the moment I reached the bus stop.

Inside the bus I found no seats available except for two orange seats. Most of the seats were green. I was a bit wondering why the two seats were orange but I still took my seat there. Then I noticed a sign over the seat where I was seated and it was saying "for the elderly and the disabled" (of course, written in Japanese). I though of standing up and to move to another seat but as there were no empty seats anymore, I just kept on sitting there. I am a foreigner so they might think that I could not read Japanese. Anyway, I gave up my seat when an old man got on the bus.

The Touhoku University campus reminded me again of my former university, the University of the Philippines (UP). Buildings are located distantly from one another so students are taking buses to come in. We seldom had buses in UP but we always relied on the jeepneys for transport. The campus itself is in a mountain area so there are many trees.

I came in the seminar 10 minutes late. It was of course; quite embarrassing but it was a good thing that my supervisor was not yet there. He arrived ten minutes later. The lecturers were all Japanese except for a Korean professor. Their talks were in Japanese but their transparencies are in English so it had been quite convenient for me.

At about 12:40 pm, we had the lunch break. They gave away maps of the campus with information as to where we can find cafeterias. In the building where we were having the seminar, there was no cafeteria and the next cafeteria could be reached by taking a bus. I didn't want to bother myself in getting on a bus again. Besides, I am bad with maps so I did not dare using it to look for food. All I could remember in the map was there was a booth where I could buy boxed lunch ("bentou").I thought that I had put a bread in my bag before going that morning so I think that would be enough. But as I was walking outside looking for a place where I could eat my bread, I noticed that I forgot to bring it. Ouch! My stomach feels very hungry. I just walked to the nearby Faculty of Science hoping that they have a cafeteria. I checked the building directory looking for a canteen or cafeteria ("shokudo") but I was not able to find one. I thought I would just give up the idea of eating lunch and that I would just endure my hunger until the seminar ends. I just walked to the next building, Department of Earth Sciences to kill the time. As I entered the building, I immediately saw a sign, "Place for selling bentou". Bingo! That was the place where I could buy boxed lunch. A few minutes then I was found walking along the road looking for a place where I could eat my lunch. I could not find a place so I just decided to eat in the waiting shed in the bus stop. Some students saw me eating in the waiting shed but I didn't give them a damn. I was hungry and they could nothing to help. Instead, I am a foreigner so that I could just pretend that would think that I didn't know that I was not supposed to eat there.

The seminar ended for the day and I went back to Yamagata. I was very busy that night as I was to submit my speech script the following day, and a Korean friend was also asking me to translate a Physics article in English to Japanese. I barely had 3 hours of sleep then. To cut the long story short, I came late again at the seminar, 15 minutes late to be exact. My supervisor was already there.

My supervisor was the last one to present and the seminar ended at about 5:10 pm. My supervisor left without asking if I would like to go with him back to Yamagata so I assumed we had to go home separately. But before going back I thought of walking around the Sendai station to look for electronic shops. I would like to buy a memory stick for my camera. I entered a building and climbed up to the seventh floor. I didn't find any electronic store but instead, I saw a bookstore. I decided that I would just check out the books there.

Incidentally, I met my supervisor there. He asked me how I knew the place. I just told him that I was just walking around. Then he just told me that it was the biggest bookstore in Sendai.

I was very exhausted and very sleepy these past two days because of the seminar. But for the following day, I still needed to prepare for my seminar with my supervisor.

January 30, 2005
Yamagata, Japan

Whatta Sunday!

I was to attend the 9:30 am Japanese mass but I woke up at exactly 9:48 am. Father will also have the afternoon mass but in another place one-and-a-half hour from our place. So I just felt weak missing the Sunday mass.

Over lunch, the idea of buying a dig cam popped into my mind. Incidentally, I will be attending a math seminar in another university tomorrow so I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity of documenting my presence there through pictures. And besides, I want to take some snow pictures also outside while the roads and fields are still white with snow.

Good thing that I was really to withdraw money from my bank account as I was already running out of cash for tomorrow's trip so I also put out some for the cam. I went to Super Denkodo and checked out their cameras there. I liked two models... one from Sony and another one from Fujifilm. I took note of the model numbers and the corresponding prices and headed to another electrical appliance shop, Yamada Denki.

I didn't think that going to Yamada Denki was one bit of a hell. Using the bicycle, I can go there from Super Denkodo in about 15 minutes. But as it is winter, I was not able to bring my bicycle. So I had no choice but to walk. And dangers of all dangers, the road was very slippery. These past few days the temperature had gone up a bit so that some of the snow melted. But today the temperature dropped to negative again so the melted snow turned to ice… yeah, hard slippery ice on the road. Can you imagine doing ice skating using your own shoes? I almost slipped a number of times so I just stepped over the snow for a good grip. It took me about 20 minutes to reach my destination.

Luckily, I saw lower prices in Yamada Denki-not only lower prices but more models in their line up. I was just expecting to buy the one like model I saw in Super Denkodo but I ended up bringing home a more expensive one. Just a bit... about 3,000 yen more. But the features are almost the same though the shape and feel is better, except for a few more enhancements. The main reason that drove me to finally give in to buying was the price. They lowered the price by about 11,000 yen! What a nice bargain. Then I used up all of my points (like the one in the Reward Plus program) so I got another 6,000 yen price down. So in the end, the register displayed 35,000 yen and some amount. Not bad, as compared to the original price of 52,000 yen.

I hurried back to Super Denkodo's area so I could catch the last bus at 5:15 pm. It seemed that I wouldn't make it to the bus but I just walked that fast so I was still able to manage to buy some pastries before getting into the bus. But I was really exhausted. Anyway, I am happy as I already have a cam and I did exercise for about 40 minutes.

I will just call it a day by refreshing myself in the bathtub. See you!

January 24, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Getting Cyber geeky... once again!

I almost did nothing for today. My day started by going to my volunteer work. I biked all my way amidst the strong snowfall. I forgot to bring my bonnet; neither could I use my umbrella while riding the bike as it would be very dangerous to drive it with only one hand as the road was very slippery. But thanks heavens that I was able to come to the place safely. I taught Japanese today to a Filipina child. We had a simple lesson for today, but it seemed that she was ahving a hard time answering the exercises. The child looks smart. But according to her, as there are lots of lessons being pushed into her head, she can barely remember everything. While we were discussing the lesson, a group of media people came and interviewed me and the child for their documentary program. We were both shy and nervous as the interview was in Japanese.

By 12 o'clock, we finished our lesson and I just had lunch in an affordable fast food stop. After going back to my place, I checked my mails and chatted with some friends. By 3:30 pm, I hurried to catch the free shuttle bus to the supermarket and I did my grocery for the week.

Going back to my room, I immediately tried my new webcam and microphone. To my surprise, the microphone was working but the camera was not. It seemed like it was not compatible to Yahoo! Messenger. But I could use it with MSN Messenger.

Late at night I remembered my Obando website. I created a website about my hometown a long time ago and I thought of putting English, Spanish and Japanese versions on the web. At least those are the languages that I pretty understand aside from my mother tongue. While I was searching for my webpage (I already forgot the URL.), I saw another webpage containing the exact material as mine. I want to mention it here that a person copied my web pages and claimed that he redesigned it. Poor boy, by just changing the background picture, he was taking part of the credit. He mentioned that the original design was mine but he never informed me that he would be using my webpages for his own homepage. Oh well, here is the URL of the perpetrator: http://www.geocities.com/albinoski/obando.html.

Mine is http://www.geocities.com/obando81.

Now launching my English to Japanese/Japanese to English translator software, and AltaVista’s Babel fish translator as my aids, I am painstakingly translating the Tagalog material about Obando to English, then to Spanish and lastly to Japanese. Let us see if the cyber thief will still rob my work.

I am getting serious into making my Obando web pages a nice one. I am also thinking of going back to the Philippines to take more pictures of the Obando church. I also want to make more research about the Obando fertility dance. I am also hoping that I can find video clips featuring the dance. Aside from this, I am also planning to include church information regarding our church here in Yamagata. I hope to upload the developments soon. My a-few-years old HTML genes are now getting in action again. I first learned HTML in the UP Math Department when we were supposed to build the department's website but due to unexpected circumstances, the project did not pushed through. Anyway, the little training I had led to the creation of my own webpage.

January 23, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Erikku

Hello everyone!

This is my very first The Wonderful World of Erikku entry. Erikku is the Japanese pronunciation of my name, Eric. When I was born, my grandma Precy, found my name in a book and Eric means ever king. Yes, if you may want to ask... I am a king. Actually, everyone is a king or a queen in his own or her own right. So, what a nice way to have my welcome remarks as I open this new web log!

Well, as I have entered in this blog's description, I will try to chronicle every event in my everyday life. Today (I mean, yesterday, January 21), is just another ordinary day for me. It is a Friday so I was excited for the coming weekend. Ever since I got to work, I fell in love with Saturday and Sunday as they are the least stressful days for me. But I should admit that I fear Sunday nights as they signify that the following day is the beginning of another week.

Maybe this is just an idea of a stressed person. Yes, I should admit that I am stressed. I had been stressed since I started to feel awkward against my work. But I will put it aside for another article. I will not overload the minds of people reading this article who do not know me. (Who am I to assume that there are people reading my article except me?) Oh, well. It must have been one of my expectations in signing up for a web log account, right?

So going back to what happened to my day today... I set my alarm last night to wake me up by 7:30 am. Then when it woke me up, I begged for another half an hour and adjusted it to 8:00 am. Ever since this winter had started, I am having a hard time getting myself up. I always crave for longer sleeping hours. Anyway, I deserve it since I always sleep late. My earliest bedtime is about 2:00 am. Whether it is still an aftermath of my stressful office life way back in the Philippines, or if it is an occurring personal imbalance while I am here in Japan, it is inevitably giving me problems. Most especially in making it to class on time. Japanese are known to be punctual. And Filipinos are known to be the opposite. As expected, I came late to my Japanese language class. As I got up merely ten minutes before my class starts, even though I used my bike on my way to school (knowing that it is dangerous to bike over snow), it is a known fact that I will still not make it on time. Shameful as it may be, but I am always coming to my Japanese class late. And it is mainly attributable to my uncomfortable sleeping habit.

After the Japanese language class, I proceeded to attend my Topology sit-in class (sit-in class: a class that I attend without getting credits, merely for listening only). The professor mentioned that he will continue from where he finished last week. Oh no, they had class last week? Last week, the clerk in the International Student Section told us that there would be no classes on Friday (of last week) as there would be preparations for the upcoming Center Examination on the weekend (of last week). Instead of going to class, she asked me and my fellow international students to join a Kouryuukai (Exchange Assembly) with Japanese junior high school students. So it appeared to me that she only made lie to us. I will set aside my comments about her on a separate article.

After about thirty minutes (1/3 of the class period), I started to feel sleepy. The topic was interesting. The only thing was it was in Japanese. I have been taking Japanese lessons for about 7 months already but those 7 months of study are still not yet enough to make me understand everything inside a lecture. It is a good thing that Topology has many illustrations incorporated in it so those illustrations helped me a lot not to fall asleep while in class.

After my Topology class, I proceeded to the canteen where I had another share of their daily buffet. Daily as in they serve the same dishes everyday. It can be considered luck already that they occasionally change some of the dishes, but the main courses are always the same over and over again. After having my lunch, I felt satiated and I went to the International Students' Exchange Room to surf the internet. My Thai friend told me that the clerk of the International Student Section informed him that starting next fiscal year, our monthly stipend will be given to us via a post office account so we need to open a new one. Hearing this, I thought of it as another messy thing. We already have our bank accounts in the leading city bank here and already made auto-debit arrangements for our electricity, phone, gas and other bills. Now here comes the clerk informing us to have another bank account-this time, the one in the post office. Oh well, another procedure to be undertaken. Another thing that we have no choice but to follow.

After that I went to see the coordinator of the Japanese language class to ask her permission to absent myself from the Japanese class during Monday and Tuesday of next week. I will be attending a math seminar in a nearby university so that I will not be able to attend my Japanese language classes for two days.

I was about to go back home when I remembered to borrow books on Complex Analysis in preparation for my weekly seminar on Wednesday.

That ended my day outside my room. Now I am spending about five hours in front of the computer. And I finished my first article for my new blog. I hope you enjoyed it.

I am planning to incorporate bits of information about myself in my future articles, for the sake of readers who still don't know me. I am looking forward to that.

January 22, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Christmas Charity Concert and Year-End Party

Dec. 19, 2004 - Christmas Charity Concert, Yamagata Catholic Church

2004年12月19日（日）

　僕は午前8時に起きて、おそばを朝御飯として食べて、2時のミサに参列するつもりだった。でも、途中で衛くんからメールが来た。午後の忘年会の事を聞いた。僕の返事にクリスマスチャリティ―コンサートのことも書いた。衛くんは 教会に行きたいといって、教会までの行く道を聞いた。そして、スーツとズボンをよく見たら、アイロンをしなければならないと思った。だから、僕はミサに遅れた残念だったけど、午後は忘年会だから、英語のミサに参列ができない。

　ミサの後、エミリーさんとクリスティーさんを見た。二人はコンサートを見に行った。コンサートの数分前、衛くんが来た。信じられないけど、僕はうれしい。衛くんは遠い所からコンサートを見に行ってくれた。コンサートはよかった。

　コンサートのあと、僕は山形市国際交流協会の忘年会へ行った。子供たちとスタッフと学生ボランティアーと一緒にゲームをしたり食べたりした。春雨という料理は一番おいしかった。

　家に帰ってから、4時間寝た。夜は母に電話した。明日は学校へ行く。おやすみ。

English Translation:

December 19, 2004 (Sunday)

I got up at 8 o’clock, ate soba for breakfast, and intended to attend the mass at 2:00. However, an e-mail came from Mamoru. He asked me about the year end party in the afternoon. The Christmas Charity Concert has also been in my response. Mamoru said he wanted to go to the church, and asked the directions going to it. And then, I thought that I had to iron the suit and the pair of trousers as I looked at them carefully. Thus, I even though I would be late for the Japanese mass, I decided to attend to it as I could not attend the English mass for the reason that I was going to the year end party in the afternoon instead.

I saw Emily and Ate Cristy after the mass. They went to see the concert. Mamoru had come a few minutes before the concert. I could not believe that he could make it to the church but I am glad that he did. It is because he came from a faraway place just to see the concert. The concert went well.

After the concert I went to year end party of the Yamagata City International Friendship Association. We played games with children, staff, and the student volunteers and we had food. The dish called “harusame” or spring rain was the most delicious for me.

I slept for four hours after I had returned to the house. I called my mother at night. I will go to school tomorrow. Good night.

Street Dancing

August 5, 2004 - Hanagasa Festival (Ken, Jay-R, Eric, Arlene)

* Originally posted in my Multiply account, http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com.

Yesterday was so fun, though a bit tough. We had the annual Hanagasa Flower Hat Dance Festival. It is actually held for hree days every year but the international students (like me) danced only on the first day. Some groups were devotingly practising since last year as they will be dancing for three days. Anyway, my experience yesterday was quite enough for me to give it a try again next year.

I came to the city hall at about 3 pm. It was the assembly place for all that will dance under the Yamagata City International Friendship Association umbrella. Being under the International Student Center of Yamagata University, we were also under the association. In the assembly hall there were so many foreigners. Most noticeable are the Chinese and the Koreans, who comprised the greatest number. There were also some Malaysians, Brazilian, Indonesians, Americans and Canadians.

I though I was the lone Filipino there since I am the only one wearing the Firipin sash. But eventually, I met two more and we instantly became friends.

The Hanagasa Dance reminded me of the Obando Fertility Dance, same street dancing type and both are so much fun.

*To know more about the Obando Fertility Dance, please go to http://www.geocities.com/obando81.
Picture taken at Nanoka-machi, Yamagata City, Japan.

Entrance Exam Blues - I passed it!

* Originally posted in my Multiply account, http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com.

Now is summer vacation here in Japan but I will still be busy in preparing for my entrance exam on the 23rd. Actually, I will be meeting my tutor as I will familiarize myself with my research proposal which he will be translating for me in Japanese.

The exam will be an interview by the Math department faculty panel and it will be in Japanese. I don't really know if I can reply to them in Japanses but at least I need to familiarize myself again with my undergraduate thesis which was written almost three years ago. I have forgotten what it was about already.

I am worrying about the entrance exam in two ways. One is the content itself of the interview. Next is how to have it in Japanese. Well, I will just leave it to God, to my tutor, to my academic supervisor, to the math faculty panel, and to myself.

Gambarimasu!

Teaching Math for Kids is Fun!

* Originally posted in my Multiply account, http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com

Lately I have started teaching mathematics to some Filipino children here in Japan. I actually have two students. The one is in high school already and the other one is in elementary. The high school student still knows how to communicate in Tagalog, which was a great convenience for me. However, the other one speaks no other than Japanese, so every time we have the session, I am quite nervous with my Japanese. It is obvious that the little girl is more fluent than me in Japanese but it is ok. The girl at first seemed to be very shy but as the sessions went on, we are having fun.

It is very fulfilling for me to see them learning their math with me as their tutor. Someone told me that why did ‚h choose teaching math for kids as a volunteer work instead of having it as a part time job. I really don't know why also. But for me, it is experience and fulfillment that matter most to me. May be some other time, I can teach math or English as a part-time job, but for now, I will just let myself experience the fun being with children of the same country as where I came from.