♥ Mystery Guy ♥

♥ You asked for my number from a classmate, or so you said you did. But he said you did NOT. According to him, you borrowed his phone and he assumed that you might have copied my number from there. I thought the word "W-e-i-r-d" is out of my vocabulary now, but then you came along. I mean, of course, I used the word once but I thought it would only be for that instance alone.

♥ Now here you are, or should I say, there you are, calling me in the middle of the night and we talk about things I could hardly relate to. I mean yes, we talk about your passion and you listen to me when I tell you mine. Though there's nothing really wrong about that, but what's bothering me is the fact that we barely know each other --- we're two complete strangers. You even barely text me, say, in a day. And when you do, a word or two is all the spaces that that it takes. You asked me how my day was, I said it was fine, and you just said "okay". So what you do you expect me to do? Or what not to do? Or are you really expecting anything from me? I guess not.

♥ I don't have any problem with this set-up....... before. But then things changed. Your calls became more constant each night. And then you told me that you already saw me in school. THAT'S SO UNFAIR!!! I have NOT seen you... yet. And I don't think you'll ever reveal yourself to me. What's keeping you from being seen by me? Anyways, you're becoming more and more of a mystery to me. Your calls too are becoming odd. You never talk about personal things to me. I don't even know if someone might be angry if you call me at night, err... a girlfriend perhaps. You didn't even ask me if I have a boyfriend or not.

♥ So with these things being said, I gathered that you have no interest in me. So what is it that you really want from me? If you want me for a friend, then why not reveal yourself in person to me? What's the real deal with you calling me in the middle of the night and for hours? And why do you keep on being a mystery to me?

♥ These questions will never be answered. Not until I ask you what it is that you really want from me.. And not until you truly reveal yourself to me. Until that time, all I have to do is just WAIT.

*Boooo! **

(Actually, I have written this on the back of my test paper in PolSc12 last August 26, Tuesday 4:00 - 5:30.)

Ang Daan Patunong Kalimugtong: Reaction Paper

A film that had caught my attention and intrigued me, Mes de Guzman’s Independent Film entitled “Ang Daan Patungong Kalimugtong” (The Road to Kalimugtong) showcased the life story of two Igorot kids, Jinky and Potpot, who traversed mountains and crossed streams and hanging bridges just to reach their school in Kalimugtong every single day. Orphaned, having an invalid grandfather and two older siblings who worked at a mining company, Jinky and Potpot, struggled to survive each day, cooking their own ‘sayote’ meal and taking care of their grandfather and their pig.

The film showed how these two elementary kids live their lives, without their parents, and how Jinky, would put much priority in her studies and in taking care of her younger brother. It also showed the life of a typical teacher who is under qualified, if I may say, to teach her students, and who wasn’t able to pass the board exam three times.

Actually, the film presents us with a lot of symbolisms. Upon which, here are some of what I have gathered. The film began by showing us how Jinky, the only sister that Potpot has, would boil coffee and prepare herself and her younger brother for school. It showed the treacherous trail upon which Jinky, her brother and two of her classmates has to embark on everyday just to reach their school at Kalimugtong. This symbolizes the life of a human being anxious to be educated and to socialize with other human beings. He/she tends to do whatever it takes just to cross the other side of the world so as to gain more knowledge and gather experiences so that later on he/she would get something from it, create a patterned norm and diffuse the information through cultural dissemination. But for now, let us focus on the symbols shown in the film.

Let us continue, upon reaching school, we are introduced to another character, Jinky’s teacher, who is not that competent to teach because of failing the board exams three times. Not only that, she symbolizes the kind of educational system that our country has, specifically teachers assigned to teach in public schools at rural areas. Most of them, if not all, are not well-equipped to teach their students. It is so sad to note that our children, whom Rizal refers to as “the hope of our motherland”, are trained limitedly by what their incapable teachers teach them. No wonder we have lots of countrymen who are slow in the uptake, so sorry for the choice of words, I couldn’t put it more tactfully.

Anyways, then there are Manong Ramil (“Tatang”) and Manong Ronaldo who have inherited the duty of taking care of their younger siblings and grandfather after their parents’ death. These two characters symbolize the real life picture of a typical Filipino. They took jobs as vegetable packers, market porters, carpenters, and later on as miners at a mining company. All these work just to sustain their family and provide for the needs of their siblings. They also symbolize how the elders in the family take full responsibility in the absence of the patriarchal or matriarchal authority. This shows that in our culture, Filipinos are bounded by their task to their family, especially when they are the eldest. Furthermore, it shows how their wrong examples, as shown by the pilfering of vegetables by Manong Ramil, are set right in the eyes of the children as it is bounded for their survival. Manong Ronaldo’s excessive lying kept the hopes of his family up; thus, his optimism sometimes elevates the feelings of loneliness by his other siblings. And lastly, the invalid grandfather symbolized the helplessness of our aged citizens. It conveys a message to each and every one of us that there is a need for us to return our gratitude for all their caring and loving when we were still young, now that they are old and could no longer live without a little help from their sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. More importantly, we have to offer them even the little things that make them happy; just like the case of the children’s grandfather, Jinky had to sing “El Shaddai” while Potpot sings “Oh Kay Liit ng Mundo” (It’s a Small World After All) to lift their grandfather’s feelings .

All in all, the melodramatic sequence of the real-life setting of Jinky and Potpot is an eye-opener to all of us Filipinos. It makes us aware of the reality that some of our fellowmen are living in very remote rural areas. They are too far from the civilization and we should realize by now that we have not paid any concern to our brothers and sisters in those areas. The film showed us that poverty is prevalent even to those who are under the low-cost of living status quo. It showed us realistic scenes as viewed by the two siblings ranging from their teacher’s lack of training to their grandfather’s helplessness and even to their brothers’ perseverance to look for stable jobs to uphold their family. And most significantly, we are touched, moved and carried away by the children’s determination to go to school, acquire knowledge and be able to understand the world and its behavior with respect to their actions and interactions with other individuals in their own little cultural society in the mountains of Benguet.