Final Blog: A Reflection of Reality

Bryan Agliam

CHID Study Abroad 2k14

Third Andresen/Leah Panginiban

August 11, 2014

Final Paper/Blog: A Refection of Reality

“Welcome to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport,” the pilot announced in the plane and from there I knew I was back to “reality”. From here, it goes back to budget meals everyday, manicure and pedicures when you have extra money, one drink at the bars, and being really cautious of your money. I have to go back to work on August 12^th, and I am for sure dreading to go in just because I am so used to living a lavish life in the Philippines—thus, worry free about having to work to have money. As I reminisce about the Philippines, I come to realize how “good” we have it in Seattle and how much we take things for granted. 

There were many questions and curiosities that were brought up by students that justify my last statement and really frustrated me during the trip. I will not state certain quotes that will put people on blast, however, comparing the United States and the Philippines and expecting the living situations to be the same, to me, comes off as being completely ignorant—thus, not having to think about how the things they say could affect people from the country and the country in itself.

Fortunately, I was able to really learn from these comments and complain from students and really change the way I think about how I live my life in America and how I would react to being in different worlds. For example, going to Boracay and driving to the hotel, I thought about how the locals feel about seeing all these tourist coming in their town and staying there for vacation. There are all these hotels that are being built in order to accommodate the entire tourism epidemic causing the local people to be in the outskirts of the city. There, they lack the amount of proper resources they need to live such as water, electricity, and the conveniences of grocery stores. I highly doubt many of us students thought about how the local people live simply because Boracay has been advertised in a way to hail tourist such as ourselves, therefore, we spent the time in Boracay lavishly.

Along with all the histories I have learned about the Philippines during the trip, more importantly I learned how to re-interpret my thoughts and behavior while in the Philippines. I have shared some of my thoughts and experiences in the previous paragraphs and it only relates to the theory of empire/colonization in a way to make sense of the conditioning many students have inherited. Many of us are well conditioned not to think about certain things such as the local people living in Boracay or simply think about why certain parts of the world have floods and more pollution than us in the United States. In addition, the history of Boracay being a place of no electricity and no water to making it once on the top ten of being one of the greatest tourist places in the world, we are conditioned not to think about how it made it but rather know that it holds a great beach with blue water and white sand.

To steer away from the event in Boracay, I also thought about people’s lifestyle here in America and how I could interpret it in a way to realize how an individual live in relation to the Philippines. People consider Philippines to be a third world country, however, I disagree with the following reasons. Being in the Philippines for six weeks, I have seen many things that are present in America that are present in the Philippines. A good majority of people has cellphones, cars, money to eat at restaurants—hence, the amount of people at Jollibee and Starbucks. Yes, we could all agree that all the things we see is related to colonialism, however, the people that has these material things are those who works hard for them. My uncle once said, “Those who are lazy, are the those who don’t have motorcycles.” Despite the living conditions in the Philippines and the things you hear about the country lacking job opportunities, somehow, people are able to afford motorcycles, cellphones and its prepaid load. I become so humble because, I, being the Balikbayan [people who are in the states that return home], we can’t even afford to buy a car yet alone our motorcycle is from 1997 after my parents got married. I included this paragraph because it reminded me of Dr. Third Andresen when he shared that he owns a house and two Mercedes Benz. He goes on to say, “It is not a sign of being cocky, but rather showing what I have worked for.” I believe it is very important to think about why Dr. Third Andresen said that and I have came up with having a Filipino mentality. It goes back to my parents when they continually told me, “If you work hard, you could have whatever you want” and it’s quite true to some extent. And this is what I mean when I say re-interpreting the way people live to see a connection with how people live in the Philippines and the mentality of the people.

The story of Dr. Third Andresen also highlights the theory of assimilation and acculturation where, in order to be [to be seen] successful you must become somewhat assimilated. A high-end car such as a Mercedes Benz, a person inherits a higher social status versus having a typical Honda. It is also the same in the Philippines, where Abercrombie, Hollister, Aeropostale, clothing brands that we see here in America, places a higher social status on people wearing them. Unfortunately, here in America, at times when people see people of color or people who they think shouldn’t be driving a car like a Mercedes Benz, they are then classified as drug dealers or “Thugs”—whereas in the Philippines, they may be drug dealers also, but they are mostly seen as the wealthy people. We could definitely see a difference in culture and beliefs from the two countries.

I will also add in the theory of colonial mentality that is clearly happening in the Philippines. As we concluded with our final projects, we have discovered that music and art is influenced from the United States. According to Boo, one of the skateboarders, he goes on to say, “Graffiti and skateboarding comes from watching YouTube and the states. Skateboarding recently became a style because we watch people from California do it.” From his sentence alone, he tells us it’s from California and the use of one of the biggest social media site in America and perhaps the world, YouTube. Also, with the group presenting on skin whitening, the desire to have white skin because it shows higher status and confidence, resembles colonial mentality. Filipinos continually want to look American through their skin and clothing brands such as those stated above in the previous paragraph. The changes in the education system of University of the Philippines Dilliman were made in order to reflect the educational system in America. It also goes for the University of Ataneo, where the English language has become their primary language in the school setting. The amount and varying kinds of alcoholic drinks that we serve at our bars in America has made it to the bars in the Philippines. Not only has it become the material things, but so has political decisions. When I was at Illocos Norte, Philippines visiting my family, they have told me how laws have changed specifically in the disciplinary actions we give to our child. When I was growing up in the Philippines, I received punishment through violence (spanking), at home and at school. However, they have changed it now so that it fits the regulations of America where the parent would serve jail time if Child Protective Services (CPS) were to find out. You could see how colonial mentality continues to evolve in the Philippines and mostly from the American ways. This is due to the history of colonization from the United States and its close ties with them now. Little do we know, United States and Philippines are in a middle of an agreement discussion where American soldiers will occupy military bases in the Philippines that was once occupied by the United States. History and close ties within the two countries and social media in addition, really keeps this colonial mentality rolling.

For this program, we were assigned groups to work with on our assignments and projects. First off, I would not trade my group for anything. I feel like my group was diverse and equally intelligent that each and everyone brought a different perspective and talent to the group that everyone benefited from. Everyone brought different experiences that we shared amongst each other in order to really get to know each other and find commonalities not only within the group but also with the Philippines and its people. For that matter, it was impossible for conflict to arise within the group. If there were something that everyone did not agree on in terms of how an assignment should be, we would talk it out as a group and come to an agreement right away. Like I said, it was almost impossible to have conflict just because everyone got along so well and agreed on the things we did.What types of decisions were made? I don’t really know how to answer that in a way to really pinpoint certain things. However, I am here to say that my group worked as a team. Like Kuya Frank said, “ T.E.A.M—Together We Achieve More,” and that’s exactly how it was. Every decision that was made, we did as a team. All decisions, thoughts, and ideas had to go through each and every one of us. If one disagrees with something, we would have a group discussion and from there we would find a middle ground so everyone was highly satisfied—thus, no one got left behind. I remember for our last project I asked what our topic was going to be and it was on street art. I am not a very artsy person in general so I disagreed and wanted to do something else. I remember Savannah telling me how much Monica loves art and how much connection and work she has done already with art. I remember Louie and Monica telling me about the plans they were thinking about and from there I was not only lured by dominating numbers within the group but the ideas my group came up with.

My group brought their own skills to the table and that’s how we played our cards. As we would assign roles, we not only ask what people want to do but also what they were comfortable doing. After assigning tasks to group members, there was always a closing question before we broke off: “Everyone good with that?” It was to reassure our group that everyone felt comfortable with their assigned task. I know I said I am not a very artsy person but I put together all of our visual representations (video/PowerPoint). The rest of my group members divided the work either by readings and sections that we would present. By dividing, it did not mean that no other team member could not edit or put in ideas. Like me, I was in charge of visual representations, however, people chose different pictures and layouts that I would have to put together. Also, I would like to add that, other than working on assignments, I served as a leader to the group in terms of being a local director almost. It is understood that I know my ways around metro Manila and knowing how to speak the language was a bonus so as far as navigating my group around town, I was a leader in that.

I am forever grateful for my intelligent, hardworking, respectful group. If it weren’t for them, our works would not have been a success. I am also forever grateful for this program—one, because I got the opportunity to participate in it, two, programs like this creates positive changes within individuals that we all hope they bring back to where they came from, and three, it gives a chance for people to really meet their identity if not for the first time, the second of third. Lastly, I would like to thank our four staff, Dr. Andresen, Mama Leah, DJ Frank1, and King Selfie Body [Rich] Chard—without them this trip would not have been possible. The experiences, the friendships, the connections, the relationships, the people, and the pictures will never be forgotten. Words can’t express how grateful I am.