Meet my Korean Buddy

Nicole

If you had read in my previous blog post, I was selected to be one of the buddies of the Korean exchange students from Gyeongju University. They will be staying here in the Philippines up to the first week of December to attend English courses.This will already be their second week of stay in the country but I just met my buddy today since I was pretty preoccupied with our thesis defense. My buddy's English name is Nicole.

I met her again after her class and had dinner together with her other Korean friends. One thing I've noticed among them is that they are a conversational bunch of people, they just don't leave people out. I mean, as much as possible, they talk and include you in their conversations. They told me how they liked the chicken in Mang Inasal and how they liked pancit. They also asked me about the taste of balut which was quite funny on my part since I had hesitance on how I would actually describe the taste. They also asked about the different places in the Philippines such as Palawan, Boracay, Cebu, and Bohol but I wasn't really that confident answering since I've never been in those places. Nakakahiya naman di ko alam mga lugar sa sariling bansa ko.

Anyway, here's what I learned from them today:

1. Noona - a term of respect to the older sister. This is equivalent to our "Ate".

Since the Korean students were older than me, most of them aged 20-21, I would call them "noona". In my case, I could address my buddy as Nicole Noona. (not noona Nicole)

2. There is such a thing called as "Korean Age". My buddy is 20 years old in Philippine age but is already 22 in Korean age. This is because they believe that as a child is born, he is already a year old after staying inside the womb of the mother. Then one day after the birth date, this will be considered as another year. So that explains the additional two years. The age would then progress normally every year during their birthday.

3. Their English names are either chosen by them either because it's the one closest to their original names or because they just fancy the name, period. Isn't that cool?

Thesis Defense

Me and thesis-mates during our pilot study

It takes thirty minutes to present a thesis you’ve worked on for the last year. In those minutes, a panel of experts scrutinize every move you do, every word you utter, and every step you’ve taken. And you have no one to lean on aside from yourself and your research team who share the same hopes getting this over. You are sleep deprived for days and the manifestations from the caffeine overdose you inflicted upon yourself last night had become more evident. You could feel the blood vessels in your temporal pulsating and those episodes of blank stares increase in recurrence.

By the way, our study is a True experiment that utilized the use of a video to educate young males about to undergo circumcision. We had two groups: one who received the conventional health teachings while the other group was asked to watch the video. Then we evaluated its effects on the knowledge and the pain perception using a knowledge assessment tool and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. Based on our results, there had been significant increase in the knowledge scores and a decrease in the pain perception. Therefore, our intervention can be concluded as effective.

Although our group had a bumpy start, we realize it is never too late to fix things and pave the way for a smoother, better road. The benefits of delayed gratification just gets even more satisfying as it gets delayed. We have good results, plus we were able to carry on with having a true experiment and it is just up to us on how we will convey the information to the panelists.

Minutes before the defense, I suddenly had this heavy feeling of the stress and exhaustion. Then I remembered a line from the Desiderata which says:

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Indeed, those lines were very comforting at that time. We started the presentation at around two o’clock. At around two thirty, the defense started and I was just simply amazed on how eloquent and spontaneous my groupmates were. At some point, I feel that we are already professionals defending a full blown research, citing sources in our responses, justifying our choices in the research design. Indeed, no one knows your research better than yourselves.

After our defense, the panelists asked us to wait outside while they deliberated among themselves. Personally, I was expecting a grade maximum of 88 based from what we presented. But it turns out that the panelists didn’t seem to agree with me and gave us a score of Meritus (91%) for the manuscript and Bene Meritus  (93%) for the oral defense. 

Good bye sleepless nights! :) 

Let me Inform You

The typhoon Pedring recently entered the Philippine area of responsibility bringing nonstop rains and ballistic winds. Classes were suspended, electricity gone out and then returned again in the afternoon, everyone was on Facebook posting statuses either about their impending thesis day, the floods, damages the typhoon brought, and the favorite resource person when it comes to getting your car stuck in the floods, your one and only, Christopher Lao.

In this time when some of our kababayans are stranded, standing in the gutters waiting for some miracle to help them, or some street children are about to drown in the flood, couldn’t the people think more than Christopher Lao’s mishap? I mean, can’t we get over that one biased report by 24 Oras?  If I were him, I would sue the station for showing a clip of me in my most irate time. Media has the power to sensationalize and curb the reactions of the people they must therefore use that power responsibly. In this case, I think the reporter who fell short in Journalism ethics is one person to blame. 

Lao

Well, let me inform you that there is such a thing that we call “Cyber-bullying”. Here’s my improved version of Bill Belsey’s definition: It is the use of internet, especially the social media, to harm other people’s reputation, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner.

Sadly, we do not yet have specific legislations on cyberbullying in our country. All we have against it is the Article II Section 5 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which states that, “the maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and the promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all people of the blessings of democracy.”  It is through this where the state recognizes that the general welfare of the people are affected by such morally injurious acts.

In 2009, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile filed Senate Bill No. 3177 with the tile of An Act Defining Cybercrime, providing for the prevention, suppression and imposition of penalties and for other purposes. Unfortunately, this bill speaks little of cyber-bullying as it focuses more on the graver instances of cybercrime. Even cyber-bullying goes without formal legislation, we have to be cautious of our limits in posting, taking a responsible and mature opinion, and refrain overreacting with our comments.

You have been informed.

Photo form glogster.com

Favorite Youtube Stars

Here's a rundown of all the Youtube celebrities I regularly follow:

Paolo "Kimpoy" Feliciano 
It all started when I saw his "banat" video while browsing. It found it very "benta". He doesn't do anything special yet his fans gawk at him. He also seems such a nice guy based from his posts in tumblr.


Anna Tan
I've known her from school, I was a junior when she was a senior. I remember having invited her to host our Battle of the Bands and she agreed right away. She has this "conyo" look but she's really a simple, bubbly person gifted with wit. Watching her video is like being glued on what she's going to say next. She is never boring and she definitely captures my humor.



Petra Mahalimuyak
She keeps me laughing everytime I watch her videos.Her accent coupled with hilarious step on how to do things is such a stress relief. She dances. She sings. She acts. Where are the talent agencies?


Lourd de Veyra
If he would have come up with a bible containing the "Words of the Lourd", I'd read it from cover to cover. His short clips spark some realizations about the society at large. He talks about the truths and issues about government, the culture and their practices in a bold and very simple way that could be understood by all. Kumbaga parang nagkukwento lang pero hanep sa impact.

Do you have a favorite Youtube star? Tell me. :)

1st Celebrated Blog Anniversary

My first blog anniversary was very uneventful. Mainly, the reason for this is that I don't even remember the date when I started this blog. Months passed an it just felt like everyone's having their own anniversary with me greeting them. Bakit ako hindi nag ba-blogsary?  Because of that, I've rechecked my post timeline last week and out of coincidence, I just found that I'm celebrating my blog birthday today. Hence, the post.

Allow me to be a little egocentric and less objective this time.

I would like to thank everyone who made my blogging experience more fun and exciting. Through blogging, I was able to meet more people from different walks of life, experience things I would not even dare do by myself, and go to places I could have never discovered. Truly, blogging has made me a more open-minded individual, valuing new perspectives and accepting people as they are.

To all the people I have met through blogging (in person or not), I'm really happy to have read across your blogs. It's great meeting bloggers since there is always a sense of profundity or humor among them. You have been great sources of inspiration for my own writing and way of thinking.

To the people who follow and regularly comment, I appreciate every new string of idea you add to my post. They have been very valuable in stimulating new ideas and challenging my ways of thinking.

To my friends who read my blog, thank you for reading and sharing your comments personally. You have been really good motivators for continuing this blog.

To my mom, thank you for proof-reading my blog (she would always text me if I had wrong grammar in my posts.haha) and advising me on some topics that are too controversial or too subersive.

Okay, this is going like the Acknowledgement page in our thesis. I better stop now.


 UPDATES:

1. I just received a letter from Google where my Adsense PIN number was enclosed. I really have no idea of what to do with it. But hey, not everyone receives mail from Google right?
2. I've been selected as one of the student buddies of Korean exchange program students from Gyeongju University. Anyong ha seo!
3. My thesis defense is on Thursday. Next week, it'll be the Final exams. Hope I do well.
4. I'm joining a t-shirt design contest for our college shirt. I hope my entry wins. I hope the people in our college consider not only the design itself but more so bank on how feasible it would look when printed. I'm seeing other good designs yet I don't get it why don't they vote for those entries? Please, I don't want a jejemon shirt again :(

Career Map Grandeurism

In the spirit of us being graduating students, our Professional Adjustment lecturer asked us to do a career map, tracing what would we want to be like or what we want to achieve in the future. So here is my semi-grandeuristic, highfalutin career map.  

It may sound really unfeasible pero sabi nga nila, libre lang mangarap. I hope this materializes :)

Chinese Food and Kalesas

At one random day, half of our class decided to eat at Binondo. It all started when one of the subgroups of our class started raving about this Chinese fastfood  chain called "Wai Ying" where they would always go to every after their research data collection in a hospital nearby.

It was such an unplanned activity for the class. It was 12:00pm, about two hours from our Basic Life Support training that's why I was hesistant in joining them. But who would let these moments pass by, especially now that we're graduating?

It can't really remember the street where the shop is located, but thanks to Google, I've found out that it's along Benavidez St. in Binondo, near the age-old Binondo church.



Upon entering the fastfood and having handed over the menu, I quickly scanned the menu for something light to eat. I always have my baon so another heavy meal would be just too filling. I ordered Hakao (shrimp dumpling) and iced milk tea,70 and 40 pesos respectively. Based from the prices written on the menu, I can say that the rice meals were not that student-budget friendly, ranging from 100 and above. But when the orders of my classmates arrived, I totally changed my mind since the servings are really big. The flavorful Roasted Duck and White Chicken meal is so good that you will come to think that the dish's price is underrated. Wai Ying reminds me of the Cantonese restaurant, Luk Foo where our family occasionally eat in Pampanga.

Roasted Duck/ White Chicken for P150, Zhachiang Mami Bihon for 100P and Asado Chicken for 150P

I've been really a big fan of milk tea ever since the time when SimpleLine was still Simplelife. What I liked most about their milktea which is for me, tastes better than SimpleLine, is that Wai Ying's milktea retains that distinct tea flavor with just about the right level of sweetness.

Happy days with classmates. :)

Going home, we rode a kalesa from Binondo to UST. We had five kalesas to accomodate us all. It took us around thirty mins. to get back to school. When we stepped down from our seats, I could see the surprised faces of the people walking past us. Maybe we need to reintroduce to them the good-ol-kalesa. The randomness and spontaineity of the day made me happy. :)





**I would just like to greet Will of melikesart.com on his 1st blog anniversary! Looking forward for more entries! :)

The CCTV Hullabaloo

Photo by Mark Sherwin Vardeleon

I am not buying the university’s reason for the installment of the CCTV’s in every street, hallway, and classroom. According to the report of the Varsitarian (V) entitled “FMO installs CCTV cameras”, the CCTV’s were installed to heighten the security in the campus. Probably, the recommendation of the Management Association of Security and School Officials (Masso) last May which is to install the cameras in “strategic locations” inside campuses was also considered. In Camille Anne Arcilla’s article in the V, it was said that Masso president Eduardo Masangcay verbalized that “student will now think twice about doing anything bad or illegal if there are CCTV cameras.” Here now sparks a question on whose “security” Masangcay was referring to. Is it the university’s property, students, or both? 

I understand that the UST is a public place where basically anyone, including snatchers, hold uppers, etc., can easily infiltrate but what I cannot comprehend is why do they have to extend it to the classrooms? Hardly any unauthorized person can enter the buildings as one has to pay tribute to the presence of the guard by swiping their ID’s before proceeding. One reason that I see is that probably it is a way of catching the artistic few (or those who believe themselves to be artistic) who vandalize the university’s property or the libido incontinent people who do PDA inside the classrooms.

Installing surveillance cameras inside the classrooms is clearly a violation of the right to freedom and privacy of the students. Arguments such as the “if-you-don’t-do-bad-things-you-have-no-reason-to-worry-about” may be raised but the mere thought of complete surveillance (except in the comfort rooms. I have yet to find out if they still also plan to install ones there) is like bringing us back to the Orwellian times.

A friend once told me in the middle of the hallway that she had wedgie. (Not that we were very indiscreet with those talks but you get the point) “Why don’t you fix it then?”, I said quickly. “With the entire CCTV team watching you, fixing a wedgie now is like fixing a wedgie in PBB where everyone watches you.”, she replied. I had no problems fixing a wedgie in public but at that time, I saw how some of the students’ usual activities were limited by the presence of these “wards”. In a sense, it is a form of controlling the students. Even if the students are not doing anything wrong, one still needs that little privacy to do those little innocent things that need not be seen by the camera.

Two days ago, our batch coordinator posted a status via Facebook reminding the girls to sit properly since a lot were “nakikitaan” in the CCTV. Since then I had the idea that the CCTVs actually intend to monitor not only the security of the students but also their actions. For fairness sake, the “security upgrade” must cover all sectors of the university which include the faculty rooms, the Dean’s offices, the administrator’s offices, and the seminary. The implementation of this policy should not be a one way street but rather must extend to all so that maximum efficiency may be achieved.

If administrators of UST want to implement changes as big as this, a public consultation with the entire student body and faculty would be a good method to hear their opinions regarding the matter. In another article from V, the UST Faculty Union vice president for grievances Reynaldo Reyes shared that no consultation with the faculty was done by the administrators prior to the implementation. In our Law on Persons class in high school, I’ve learned that a policy cannot be implemented without promulgating it first. In the same spirit, the administration should’ve informed all of the changes so that the input from the students and faculty may be considered. They must be partners that work together to solve the issues and refrain from being dogmatic in their policy-making.

Fishbowl Method Win

Sometimes being a winner is hard. Everyone looks up you, expecting that flicker of greatness in every facet, in every turn, in every action. Glitches may be magnified, misdemeanors exaggerated.

The winner should be meek as any form of complaint from her may be misinterpreted as an act of being boastful or an unconscious struggle to control the current situation. Submissiveness and pseudo-humility  is one way of describing the “ideal” winner attitude that most of the society dictates.

The non-winners may have high affinity for sourgraping, believing every move of the winner, even if valid, is a step against equality or should I say, their equality. It obvious that the winners of a competition are not selected by luck but on a form of ballot or may be judged by setting criteria so all still have equal chances of winning. It then all boils down to your work, not the number of entries a participant sends.

In any competition, organizers are the primary guideline-making authority. Should there be contest of their guidelines or a negative feedback by a certain sector, they must carefully consider the repercussions and the validity of the complaint. Once determined valid, the action taken should then be, at least, as much as possible be sound. It shall ensure equal protection of the interests of all and not only by those of the complainants. 

No to Height Requirements in Personality Searches!

 I now write for the online publication of our university. My pseudo stint as a writer all began when I started writing news articles for the local college paper. This year I wanted to learn and experience more thus I decided to go university-wide by applying for a news writer slot at the online publication .

Being a university-wide news writer now gave me more opportunities to better my writing skills. The perks were also better compared to writing for a relatively small college. First is that I get the best seats and backstage passes in programs and events. I could see productions in a bigger sense, even seeing what going on behind the curtain. Another thing is that I get to mingle with a lot of people -those that I don’t know, those I won’t approach and those people from different backgrounds – to get information for my article.

I’m also learning to communicate more effectively and still maintain being relaxed during conversations. (I used to stutter a lot) I get to see the difference among the cultures of the different colleges, from the way they organize events to the supportiveness of the administrators, and even to the caliber of talent each college have. I had been witness to the full support of the regent of the College of Education during their celebration of Buwan ng Wika and to the active participation and fun involvement of the student of Rehabilitation Sciences during their college week, just to name a few.

***

MMRS 2011: Safari Royalties

Last night, I was assigned to cover the 2011 Mr. and Ms. Rehabilitation Sciences Personality Pageant. From my point of view, the contest lived up to the name of being a “personality” contest. It hardly did discriminate those with less impressive height, weight, or face value. I was talking to Steffi Majarais, CRS Secretary and Project head of the pageant, and I was surprised to learn that no minimum requirement was set for those who aspire to join the contest. I realize that it’s a personality search for chrissakes! A model-esque height or a pretty face does not add to the beauty of one’s personality. 

At the near end of the pageant, the top 5 contestants were then judged based on equal percentage of beauty and intelligence. I am puzzled on the reason why the intelligence portion is measured based on impromptu answers of the candidates to the on-the-spot questions. Although it may be said that it measures how quick the candidate formulate an answer to a question, it fails to consider the other aspects of intelligence. I recommend that should the judges want to measure the intelligence of the individual holistically, let the SAT’s, IQ tests, and other tools that measure the multiple intelligences  do the talking! The judges would then be given a copy as to give some objectivity to the “intelligence” portion. Then again, this is is a personality contest and not a quiz bee so my suggestion might not be necessary.

In realizing these shortcomings in personality searches, I fear some colleges are clearly missing the point of these events by setting minimum height requirements for its participants. Because by doing so, a pageant becomes discriminating to the vertically challenged people (favoring the genetically gifted). It becomes prejudicial since it may presuppose that short people do not have enough personality to qualify for being a candidate, and at one standpoint, dictatorial since the standards of what a good personality is forced upon us. I hope our college this year may have winners who have both the personality and the intelligence to boot.

PS:

Congratulations to the College of Rehabilitation Sciences for being less conformant to the usual beauty pageant standards!I hope the other colleges and the organizers of The Search for the Ideal Thomasian Personality review the mechanics regarding the minimum height requirement.

All pictures came from the MMRS 2011 Facebook page

Science Applied No.1

There is much wisdom hidden in the principles of science that we often do not notice. Newton unknowingly touches on principles of justice when he states that “For every action, there should be a reaction”. But this reaction should not be a lesser or greater one but rather an equal force exerted on both objects. With the forces equal, the object remains inert.

In work, one must be compensated fairly. In our Leadership and Management class this is referred to as remuneration or getting the equal amount of compensation for the efforts exerted. Now if a party asks a worker to do something and the benefit the party gets is largely unproportionate to the worker’s benefit, then clearly this is an abuse to the worker.

Say for example in a design contest where the winner receives much much less than the profit the organizers raised (a thousand pesos and the ego boost that a lot of people would be wearing your work), then this is clearly shows us that the designer is compensated unequally. Granting that this is a fund raising contest and that the prize is announced beforehand but don’t the organizers feel ashamed of compensating the worker unfairly?

I suppose this is also the reason why few people and brilliant works really enter contests with low prizes. Prize and money are strong motivators and a reasonable compensation is just tempting.

TQM: Going Beyond Expectations in Health Care Seminar

The 4th year senior nursing students of UST College of Nursing invites everyone (nursing students and professionals) to a seminar on Total Quality Management with the theme "TQM: Going Beyond Expectations in Health Care" which seeks to to enhance the understanding of students and people directly involved in providing care to patients regarding total quality management in health care and its implementation in an internationally accredited health care facility.
 
Registration fee: Php50 (exclusive of snacks and personal ID)
Registration time: 7:00am - 8:00am
Event start: 8:00am
Event end: 12:00pm




Resource Speaker:

Annabelle Borromeo, R.N., Ph.D., CPAN, CCNS, CRNS
Chief Nursing Officer and Vice-President of Nursing Services
St. Luke's Medical Center Global City

We hope to see you there! :)

ATTIRE: Strictly corporate attire! =)