We are all connected

If you follow this blog; then you know that I do not have a set pattern or schedule for entries. Nor do I have a set list of topics upon which to write =) Originally, I thought that the next entry would be a show and tell with photos, but I've decided to write about how we are all connected instead. Perhaps, it's because we've just begun a whole new year (if you believe in the concept of time and calendars ;p that is) that has me reflecting on what unites us all.

Back when I was growing up my family was one of the few families who were not white/Anglo-Saxon/Caucasian and as such we came under more scrutiny than the other families. Basically everything you did seemed a bit strange to people who didn't live in your household. To be fair though I remember when I started Kindergarten that most people didn't speak more than one language. I thought it was normal to be at least be bilingual if not multilingual.I remember my brother Jonathan and I packing Siopao (a Chinese style Bao steamed bun filled with meat or vegetables) and everybody saying 'Ewww what's that you're eating... are you eating raw dough? gross.' I think we did try to explain to them what it was, but I don't think they listened because we would hear it time and time again.

Check out the link to the site where I got this photo for more information about Siopao =)

I know that my family did try to share information on about the Philippines and about Pilipino Culture whenever they had a chance to; such as when it was near the Holidays. I remember building a parole ( a star shaped lantern, something traditional that you see during the Holidays in the Philippines)  with my Dad. We also made tambourines by flattening bottle caps, using a hammer and nail to punch a whole through the middle of them and sliding them on a hanger bent into a circle.They came by the school dressed in Barong Tagalog and Butterfly dresses. During some Music class my Mother came in to show our class how to dance Tinikling ( a dance not for the poorly hand eye coordinated =) It requires lightening quick reflexes while dancing and jumping through clacking bamboo poles) and I helped demonstrate it too. I think the most memorable part though for my classmates and perhaps the teachers as well as us bringing Lumpia Shanghai (Pilipino Eggrolls).

Some of the more modern type of Paroles, check out the site where I got this photo to learn more about them. =)

In Kindergarten, it was the first time I encountered the feeling of being something different when one of my classmates referred to me as the 'Chinese girl.' Which to me felt obviously wrong because I was well aware of my Pilipino roots. My Kindergarten teacher actually made us talk about it during a sitting circle the same day it happened. If that had happened today; I probably would have been able to succinctly tell them why it felt strange to me to be referred to as the 'Chinese girl', but then go on to explain how we are really all related in the world.

This photos is pretty darn close to what the Lumpia Shanghai that we brought to numerous functions looked like! Check out the link to read more about them as well as to get a recipe =)

Click on the hypertext to see a cool youtube video of the Leyte Philippine Dance Company dancing Tinikling =)

I think the original site where this photo came from is gone, but you can find tons by searching for Filipino Butterfly dresses =)

Check out the original site where I found this photo for more information about Barong Tagalog =)

All through school I would get the question whether politely or rudely 'What are you?' 'Yes, I know you're American, but where are you really from?' Probably my most memorable moment was being so offended that I made somebody list all the Asian countries that they knew and kept on making them try to think really hard.... I think they kept on repeating the same 3 countries over and over again and at the end of it I just said 'I'm from Germany' and walked away.

Now, that was supposed to be some kind of quip from me, but honestly, there's no reason why I couldn't be German. Nobody can say that they 100%  this or that and that they come from one single place or country. Our Ancestors traveled  all over the world and through diaspora and colonization we kept on mixing it up again and again.

I think we all have our hands and feet in so many different cultural pools. On my father's side his ancestors originally migrated to the Philippines Islands from the Fukien Region in China. On my mother's side we have ancestor's that originally came Spain and Mexico. My Mother's side of the family are often referred to as Mestizo or Mestiza because they tended to have much lighter skin than the other Pilipinos.

Growing up I never thought I looked like either of my parents, my oldest brother and I look similar, but my 2nd oldest brother looks more like my Dad's side of the family. When I went to the Philippines to visit relatives in 2004, I was introduced to one of my Mother's Aunties to which whom I said 'Kumusta kayo po' and she took one look at me and slapped me hard on the face. It was a truly powerful slap because I was stunned and thought maybe I said something or did something wrong, but the she said in Ilocano the equivalent of 'Son of a gun, you look just like your Mom and Dad.'  =p

My oldest brother and I always get asked if we're Hawaiian, Indian or Native American and my response would always be, 'Well, my Parents are originally from the Philippines, but you know everybody is related in the world; so I really cannot say no.' Most of the time the people will smile and say something like 'Yeah, you know, you're right.' I do get the occasional person who kind of looks at me like I'm a bit kookoo, but that's okay. At least it gives them something to think about for later =)

I am fascinated to think about all of our ancestors and how we all came to be at this point.

If you believe that Earth was once 1 continent named Pangaea; then you know we most likely started all together. Scientifically, if you understand what Carbon Based Life form means then you know that basically we are the universe and the universe is us. Moby tried to tell you all about it in his song 'Stars' =)

'People they come together, people they fall apart, nothing can stop us now, we are all made of stars...'

Whether you not you believe that; I think that when we all mourn or rejoice together; it's because we see each other in ourselves. We have the ability to achieve good and positive things together; if we choose to do so. We also have the potential to create great harm and I always hope people choose to be positive.

Through events in history; society has tried to devise ways to divide people into groups or classes. The most famous societal invention is the idea of 'race.' Whenever I talk to people and this comes up in conversation I often refer to the American Anthropological Association's Statement on 'Race.'

http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm

I remember sitting in class when my Anthropology professor was discussing it and seeing so many people's jaw's dropping in amazement. I think that the idea of 'race' is so deeply ingrained in society that it seemed like a revelation to them. Anyway, read through it yourself and let me know what you think.

It's hard to let go of preconceptions; no matter what the topic may be, but you just have to  realize that people are people; so we should just respect one another.

Let go of the prejudice and just embrace one another.

We are all connected and together we are all family.

Love,

Jessica

Lookout for those language traps!

I love language and culture. I've studied a handful of languages over the years including: Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Kiswahili, Japanese as well as smatterings of many others. As I said in my first post, I grew up bilingual and I guess it was from that moment in Kindergarten where I realized that most other people didn't speak two languages at home. It was probably one of the reasons why I always loved language/culture. I understood that there were many different worlds to explore and that language was the key to gates of the world.


It's definitely intimidating speaking to native speakers sometimes, but you cannot really learn a language until you practice conversing in the language. Whenever I would start learning a new language from scratch I would do my best to have some sort of immersion in the culture. I found literature and movies and music in that language and really listened. I've always felt that once you felt comfortable enough to joke in a language that you have achieved a great success.

It's really funny and sometimes embarrassing when you're learning a new language and your first attempts to converse lead to titters or looks of shock. There are some things that do not translate into other languages word for word or may not even exist at all. Even the most seasoned speakers do make mistakes and it's only fair to point out that to speak a language 'fluently', is a bit misleading because almost everybody makes mistakes in their own mother tongue. If you are a native speaker of English and have ever taken an A.P. English course you know the deadly list of grammatical 'sins.' Here's a link to a wikipedia article about commonly misused English words:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commonly_misused_English_words


I admit that I am sometimes the 'grammar police' when I read/hear what other people write/say, but I do not have absolutely perfect grammar or punctuation in every situation myself; so I really shouldn't be so up in arms about it. There are still some sentences that I've heard that make me cringe though =p


If you're currently learning a new language or perhaps traveling to a different country; here is some information about 2 language traps that can lead to some interesting blunders.


Two language traps to which everybody falls victim are:

Homophones & Cognates

hom·o·phone

[hom-uh-fohn, hoh-muh-] Show IPA
noun
1.Phonetics . a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air.

2. a written element that represents the same spoken unit as another, asks, a homophone of x in English.

I can recall sitting in a middle school Spanish class listening to my teacher talk about her husband making blunders while he was at a restaurant in Mexico. She relished in the fact that he had once ordered jabón instead of jamón. Those are two very different things indeed. Jabón is the word for soap in Spanish. Jamón is the word for ham in Spanish. I know that from that time on, her husband never made that mistake again =)


cog·nate

[kog-neyt] Show IPA
adjective
1.related by birth; of the same parentage, descent, etc.
2.Linguistics . descended from the same language or form:such cognate languages as French and Spanish.
3.allied or similar in nature or quality.

You can say some pretty silly things when you are overly confident when using cognates. There may be some words in a language that exist, but they do not mean the same thing. Take for example the time when a few friends in France were at a fairly ritzy restaurant and one of them said apparently being very conscious about their dietary intake and insisting that they wanted bread without any preservatives 'Je voudrais du pain sans préservatifs.'


Their waiter's face had a look of shock and bewilderment because the term for condoms in French is 'préservatifs.' Oops! =o Indeed the patron would have been better off changing their phrase to
 ' Je voudrais du pain sans additifs.'


I don't know whether or not they made the patron leave or the if the waiter might have had some fun, but I'm fairly sure that if this person had some native French speakers sitting at the same table. They probably either hurriedly excused their friend or burst out laughing much to the chagrin of their blundering friend. =)


Despite the facts of high likely-hood that you will make mistakes while speaking your non native language; that should not be a deterrent for you to keep going. You will definitely learn from your mistakes and end up having a funny story to tell somebody someday.

'To have another language is to possess a second soul.'

                                                           - Charlemagne

When we travel or visit with different cultures; they really do appreciate it when you make an effort to speak to them in their own language. You may not say it perfectly, but it will make them smile and who knows you may make a new lifelong friend along the way =)

Hello, it's nice to finally meet you =)

Hello out there,

WARNING: The following entry is very scatterbrained. All of this blogginess is new to me and the next entries 

      will be more concise, but for now you must deal with a bit of my verbosity =) 

                      Thank you for your patience

I've finally settled on a blog title. It took quite a stretch of time, but I finally picked one! I had mused earlier in the year with a friend about opening up a tea shop. I said that it would be called 'Humanitea' =) I really do not have plans to open up a tea shop, but I do enjoy tea of vast varieties. I have made a porte-manteau of Humanity and Tea, which I suppose reveals an aspect of my personality and interests. I think puns are cool and clever. They might be cheesy at times, but I always have to give them a bit of respect. All comedy of errors plays/novels/musicals make me laugh tremendously. Some famous writers of comedy of errors include Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. I mean, who can overlook the Importance of Being Earnest =p

Anyhow, I don't have a one single subject matter for this blog. Lest the title of the blog mislead you; it will not always be about humanity or the beverage of tea etc. I do a lot of cooking so you may find some entries about what I've made that day or photos from out and about at restaurants etc. I can tell you that it's for certain that there are going to be entries about Vegetarianism/Vegetarian Cooking.  I've been a Vegetarian since about the age of 11; so it's been a big part of my life. I'm sure they'll be recipes and some tips and information about Vegetarianism. You'll definitely get to read about the reasons why I became a Vegetarian.

I adore taking photos and am thankful for digital cameras. I think my record for amount of photos in 1 day is a little over 2,000. I've scaled that amount down quite a bit (I couldn't afford all the memory cards! I am one of those people who take photos of anything that catches their eye. I am also one of those people who take photos of  their food at restaurants/markets. If that makes me weird; then I'm weird and that's fine with me =) 

I love languages and culture; so I'm sure I'll be writing about that for sure. I grew up bilingual. I spoke Tagalog and English at home. It wasn't until I was in Kindergarten that I realized that being multilingual was not the 'norm', for the other kids. When I was in those younger years the community that I lived in what not as diverse as it is today; so in a way I kind of felt like my family and I were kind of ambassadors in educating the school community about the Philippines, the homeland of my parents. That's most likely why I've always had an interest in languages and culture. I never liked the feeling of being boxed in and I think always learning new languages and about different cultures will help you to be more open to the world. 

Well, I hope to be writing more entries soon. Prior to me creating this blog I did share entries as 'Notes' on my facebook page. I may transfer some of those entries onto this blog; while I make the transition. 

Sorry, this wasn't the most exciting entry, but hopefully you'll be willing to stick around and see what'll come next. =)

Thanks so much for stopping by to read this, you've made me smile by doing so =)

Love,

Jessica