Reverse Culture Shock

Time flies so fast... and yeah, I have experienced all the warnings that VSO trainings told me..
so for other volunteers (and wanting to be volunteers), consider this a testimony. ^_^


so you think you'll get a red carpet welcome when you get here.. from all the hardships that you've encountered, challenges you have overcome, im sure we volunteers deserve it.. but it does not always happen.. life goes on.. others will be busy hearing your story, and will also get annoyed specially that you wont have money to make libre.


well, from my case I got the e-card from my company which will be viewed by a couple thousand of other employees.. and a chance to talk to Beth Lui and other senior execs on the "extra challenge"..


and hopefully raise awareness that volunteering indeed is not just for the Manangs or Rich kids who have nothing else to do with their money... but for skilled people also ;)


But aside from that, everything goes back to normal... parang ganto ang feeling -> GO BACK TO PROPER WORK!!!





......


so before eye bugs creeps out of me, i still would like to see the bright side of life.. I went to the road less travelled, made genuine friends, lived with scarce money, yet it did seemed so much that I still got to travel, rode camels and elephants, see Taj Mahal and millimeter of Himalayas.... and lived my life to the fullest....


so I still say, even if its back to corporate reality, even if im back to my small cubicle, life is still good... so here I go spreading ripple effects of Good News..



and where did the ripple go? Here ye:

here I come Philippines kong Mahal

so I was happy stepping into the Philippine grounds! alive!!

and I talked to curious minds and I was glad to share to them what I have gone thru.

so they say, "parang Pilipinas lang"... and the continuation of the question of why didnt I helped my own country in the first place?

Actually.... I did... and I will be doing it again. That's why I went back right? To apply what I have learned from India to my own country.

Now the challenge is how do I that? Im a nobody in my own country.

hrrmmmm I dont need to be somebody to help in my own way, for ripple effects of goodness goes a long way.

here I go infecting love to everybody... may God help me. ^_^

Delhi Scenarios

so after my volunteer stint in Kolkata, a short holiday in Kerala, im now transferred to New Delhi to work with the VSO website (http://www.vsoindia.org) for a month.

Its existing already, but they wanted to implement a system that is CMS based... and if they can get it for free... then it would be fab!

And after deliriously searching from google, and being offered deliriously high costs for such a small website... at last, i found southasia.oneworld.net thru another VSO volunteer.... ah networking works wonders! ^_^

here's me doing stuff at the VSO office:



so hope all goes well.... ^_^ not so much freaky and pain in the ass coz im not going into the details of actual development... one thing just annoys me is the FRRO visa process... really frustrating :(.... and all volunteers experience this one way or the other... hope one day, these kinds of processes will improve... i have hope in India... ^_^ just like I have hope in my own Motherland. ^_^

Beautiful Kerala

After the extra challenge in Kolkata, I finally had a proper holiday in Kerala.... at last!!

This is actually a hidden agenda (which is not hidden anymore! ^_^) why I went on VSO anyway...

I travelled 3 days by train alone just to visit my friend who is a nun and is living in a convent in the mountains of Chatizah, Trivandrum. Its a very peaceful place, for once, I feel like I'm safe from all the worries in the world... best place to rest, charge my batteries before going crazy again at work.

There were kids in the convent having their formation, very lovely kids ages 12-20.. holding my hands hugging me every time now I think my hair inherited their lice... geeshh ^_^

In return, they practice speaking english to me, and I taught them broken english... whoops! But its the best thing I can do, ki korbe? ^_^

The structure of the convent is very impressive, makes me think the Roman Catholic church is indeed rich. But come to think of it, they grow their own food and have their own livestock and it makes them self sustainable... money that is scarce are still so much because of their ability to be self sustainable...

and still, they are able to help other people out... like helping me recuperate is one thing.

the irony is i feel im receiving too much, yet my friend is far more skinnier than me! i just hope i can also give so much love as she continue to lay her life to everyone.. loving everybody in the present moment.

http://children4unity-kerala.blogspot.com

survival techniques

Living out of my instinctive bounderies left me lessons learned that i will have never known if I have not ventured into the field of Pailan.

Challenge: 40 degree weather
Coping Strategy: take a bath more than 3 times a day.

If you are in the city, go to the nearest ATM machine pretending to withdraw money but actually, you're there to just cool your ass off the freaking weather. Same strategy goes to aircon malls or similar buildings.

Challenge: 10 degree weather without heater
Coping Strategy: Plantsa! Makes bed warmer before you sleep. :D

Challenge: Salon is too expensive.
Coping Strategy: Wag magpa salon! Sudder street are full of foreign caucacian hippies.. be like them for a change.

(Dhonabad Virginia Roncaliogne for the picture.. I already asked permission from Thomasso to post this ^_^)

Challenge: Walang Starbucks.
Coping Strategy: Good thing there is Barista.. which is also like Starbucks. So just go there once in a while if you're allowance allows it... order the cheapest iced cafe mocha, and sit for 5 hours.

Challenge: You dont have TV.
Coping Strategy: Read. I couldnt believe I have read the thickest books I have ever read in my entire life! A thousand spendid suns is a recommendation specially if you are bound to a muslim area.

Challenge: Bus or rickshaw driver does not speak nor understand English.
Coping Strategy: Learn the language, even just the survival basics. Otherwise, learn to sign, tap Dada on the back, say na! na! heh! heh!.. or dont go out at all!

Challenge: Culture Shock.
Coping Strategy: hmm.. Understand before you will be understood. People are different. Learn to appreciate the beauty of Humanity... Collaborate rather than Discriminate.

mona lisa smile

"I called her an aimless wanderer... but not all who wander are aimless.. specially not those who seek truth beyond tradition... beyond definition... beyond the image..."

*sigh*


awwwww such good movies *sobs*

brothers and sisters of the same world

how hard it is to keep unity.

Every person (irregardless of age, race, gender, etc) has its own set of logic reasoning... where every person may disagree with another yet both of them can be proved correct.

and sometimes its hard to take sides...

but we are all unique individuals.. different colors yet when gathered present the magnificent rainbow... when blended produces a beautiful painting masterpiece..
so i humbly ask humanity... no ego bashing, no feet stepping, no hypocrisy, no hatred...






no war.