What A Small World After All !!!
Yesterday, I happened to chat with a Filipina who is married with two children, one in Kindergarten and another one in Primary One. The husband is a professional working in Singapore and the family has been staying here, in my neighbourhood, for a couple of years.
There is something typical of Filipinos. The sincerity and warmth in their heart is naturally manifested through their outward expressions and gestures of hospitality. Naturally, she invited me into her home without hesitation.
As we continued the conversation at the gate, she told me that she came from San Fernando in La Union in the northern part of Luzon. It immediately rang a bell! Oh yes! That was the place where I had stayed for a couple of weeks. San Fernando of La Union (because there is another San Fernando in Pangasinan) is about eight to nine hours of bus ride away from Makati. Indeed a small world that we met here in my neighbourhood! For the uninitiated, the Philippines is divided into three large zones, namely Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
In fact, the world was made even unbelievably smaller when she told me she graduated from the Nursing School of Union Christian College (UCC). Hey! That rang another bell!!! Isn't that the college in La Union? YES. That was the college where I was invited to speak to the graduating students when I was in the Philippines last year. Isn't the world really small?
Hmmmm... A word of advice: Better not do funny things or monkey business elsewhere, thinking that nobody would come to know! But, your neighbour might know, you know?
Well, as we continued talking, the new friendship certainly became friendlier when I started to impress her with a few Tagalog (Filipino Language) words. Frankly, I don't speak much Tagalog, but have picked up enough simple vocabularies just to impress. Ooops.. Did I just let the cat out of the bag? Anyway, speaking a person's language usually breaks the ice and closes the communication gap more quickly and easily.
From my experience, it makes the learning of Tagalog easier if you know the Malay Language. The pronunciation of the Tagalog words is very similar to that of the Malay words. For example, Mahal kita = I love you. Anong pangalan mo? = What is your name?
Have I wetted your appetite to learn Tagalog? May be not, unless you have a Pinay girlfriend or Pinoy boyfriend?! So, you might be wondering why I learnt Tagalog? I will keep you in suspense indefinitely!!!
There is something typical of Filipinos. The sincerity and warmth in their heart is naturally manifested through their outward expressions and gestures of hospitality. Naturally, she invited me into her home without hesitation.
As we continued the conversation at the gate, she told me that she came from San Fernando in La Union in the northern part of Luzon. It immediately rang a bell! Oh yes! That was the place where I had stayed for a couple of weeks. San Fernando of La Union (because there is another San Fernando in Pangasinan) is about eight to nine hours of bus ride away from Makati. Indeed a small world that we met here in my neighbourhood! For the uninitiated, the Philippines is divided into three large zones, namely Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
In fact, the world was made even unbelievably smaller when she told me she graduated from the Nursing School of Union Christian College (UCC). Hey! That rang another bell!!! Isn't that the college in La Union? YES. That was the college where I was invited to speak to the graduating students when I was in the Philippines last year. Isn't the world really small?
Hmmmm... A word of advice: Better not do funny things or monkey business elsewhere, thinking that nobody would come to know! But, your neighbour might know, you know?
Well, as we continued talking, the new friendship certainly became friendlier when I started to impress her with a few Tagalog (Filipino Language) words. Frankly, I don't speak much Tagalog, but have picked up enough simple vocabularies just to impress. Ooops.. Did I just let the cat out of the bag? Anyway, speaking a person's language usually breaks the ice and closes the communication gap more quickly and easily.
From my experience, it makes the learning of Tagalog easier if you know the Malay Language. The pronunciation of the Tagalog words is very similar to that of the Malay words. For example, Mahal kita = I love you. Anong pangalan mo? = What is your name?
Have I wetted your appetite to learn Tagalog? May be not, unless you have a Pinay girlfriend or Pinoy boyfriend?! So, you might be wondering why I learnt Tagalog? I will keep you in suspense indefinitely!!!
posted by Jonathan Ooi @ 12.1.06
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