Middle class sensibilities
June 7, 2009Last week I went to our carinderia to serve as my sister’s reliever because she got sick. I didn’t like the experience. First of all, our carinderia is the sort that only has two trapals for walls. It’s an open-air structure – and my mother has no intention of improving it. We are only renting the place without a contract and in case the spot’s owner decides to throw us out (which is very possible since the relationships there are so political), our investment there will go to waste. For the first time in my life I realized how close to our future those lessons in Economics 11 – why would we invest in something that we have no security in owning? For a modest profit margin we have to contend with the rapid temperature changes, which took a toll on my health the first and only day I was there. Come pelting rain and I had to rearrange everything in a space barely 2 square meters in area to avoid them getting wet. However, I would rather have rain than sun in that kind of place. It’s so hot and humid that I got dizzy. I felt so sick that I vomited. My mother told me I was being maarte. I tried to be polite and kept quiet (there are so many people around). If we were at home, I would have argued, which, oftentimes, get too loud and discomforting to hear.
I felt sad that my sister had to put up with this kind of life. By the way, because she didn’t pass the entrance exam at the Technological University of the Philippines, she is not going to study this year. Well… she had been given this kind of punishment so it wasn’t a big deal to her. When she was in grade school, my parents pressured her to excel just like me (as if I was actually excelling). For a time she tried but after seeing how my life took a hairpin turn to depression, she decided that being smart has its costs too. Her first punishment was to be sent to a public high school. She seemed to have enjoyed it. Her second punishment is to stop for a year – and she doesn’t seem to mind. But she doesn’t want to become useless. Unlike me, she volunteered to tend the carinderia. I would have never volunteered, much less if I were the one going to stop school. Maybe she is more family-oriented than I am.
The people eating at our carinderia are much worse than I expected. Let’s just say their incomes categorize them as Class E. But then, because they have a feudalistic way of thinking that downgrades merchants or sellers, they treat us as if we would grovel at their feet for a few pennies (which, I’m saying this out of anger, is all that they have after every pay day). They keep on telling us, sometimes in an improper manner, to lower our prices or increase our servings. Yes, yes, yes, we live in a capitalist setting and that you want the best your money can get. But then, we can’t give away our food for free, can we? Compared to other carinderias in the area, our food is clean. I know it because I have seen how it’s prepared. We don’t leave our food to the flies (unlike the other one) because we’re going to eat it too. We only buy ingredients which we deem fit for ourselves. One reason why some carinderias sell really cheap food is because they use double-dead meat or bad fish. We have been offered double-dead meat one time but my mother declined. She wouldn’t sell anything that she wouldn’t feed us or we won’t eat. We have a barangay sanitation permit (around P150.00) that the others don’t bother to get. The extra peso one spends in our food is a peso he saves for his health. If one chooses to eat at another carinderia, at least one can spare us the hurtful words.
Poverty brings out the best and worse in people. There are some customers who insist on “free tastes” and by the time you know it, they have eaten more than a regular serving. There are those who come with jugs to refill for “free water”. I don’t mind if they drank water from us even if they don’t buy anything, but then, it’s really annoying when they come with a jug or drink a glass every half-hour. We are not an office water station. We are making a living and not doing public service. There are some are so good in play-acting that I give them extra or some pieces for free. They would tell us how hard their life is, but then, come night, I would see them at the nearby beerhouse (I would be damned if they give them beers there for free). That’s how hard their life is, my mother said. It’s so hard that they would rather spend their money for momentary satisfaction than make their futures better. People passing at the carinderia sometimes give our food a sneer. It’s too pricey or not tasty they say. But when they have little money, they would come to my mother to loan their food. Their lists just keep on growing longer – they eat more than they can pay every pay day. My mother has a soft spot for lending because that’s how we survived for so many years – out of the “goodwill” of other people. She doesn’t pressure people to pay because she believes that they would pay it when they have the money. I can’t tell her to stop the practice because it might ruin our business. She takes it as a moral obligation to feed those who need to be fed. I would have told her to run a charity instead.
A frustrating customer asked me how much a cup of rice cost. I told him it costs 6 pesos. He asked me if he could get it for five, and I agreed. I asked him for the ulam that would go with his rice (that day we had menudo, sinigang, igado, pesa, adobo, lumpiang shanghai, pansit canton and binagoongang baboy). He told me he is not buying. Queer guy I thought. One moment later I saw him reaching for the cup we use on our sabaw ng sinigang, which, traditionally, is free. I was dumbfounded after I saw him pouring three to four cups of sabaw on his rice. One cup might have been permissible, but four cups is clearly abuse. I told my mother, who was attending another customer, but she told me that is was OK. Apparently it is an accepted practice there. Thinking that it would soften my indignant self a bit, the customer told me that the sabaw was delicious and asked for another cup of rice. He opened his wallet (it had some crisp bills in it) but handed me a five peso coin. A person who has a thick wad of bills in his wallet should eat a decent meal. Frugality for one might be cruelty for another.
Not all customers were as garapal as the others were. One, whose only fault for me was that he was a chain-smoker, praised our food and bought a big order for his family. A woman, who told us that she has a carinderia herself, gave us some tips (and I’m not revealing it!) My mother had several sukis who eat at our carinderia unwaveringly. One of them, a beautiful gay parlorista, tells entertaining stories and defends us against her more fault-finding “sisters”. She has a boyfriend who is as charming as her who we have named Mr. Extra because he always asks for an extra serving. The good thing about the couple is that it is they divide the bill. I like Mr. Extra, not just because he is good-looking, but because he, as far as I can see it, really loves the gay parlorista. After all, he has a better job than her; it is unlikely that he would have this relationship with her if only for money.
A man who I later identified as a cigarette-and-candy hawker bought a good number of puto. My mother added three extra pieces. She told me that the man shares his food with his fellow hawkers. Apparently, this hawker got the most profitable “territory” and, in exchange for his fortune, shares some of his earnings to his fellow hawkers who are not as fortunate. His life is already hard as it is and the fact that he chooses to be generous is a reminder that poverty should not be an excuse to lose humanity.
The day ended with a gay parlorista bad-mouthing our food before asking for a free lumpia (and we gave her). Despite of all the perceived abuse I experienced, we managed P 2,400.00 that day, a big sale for an investment of P 1,000.00. We could have netted a much larger amount, but then, that’s the cost of doing business.
People who say that they are for the poor should first experience how to be poor and live with them, without all the pretensions people are apt in donning. As much as there are evil rich people so are there evil poor people who take their poverty as an excuse for doing all sort of uncivil stuff. It takes an extraordinary amount of conviction to face them with optimism and heart-felt humanity everyday. Try a big-town carinderia.
Something about Red Cliff 1 (before I watch the second installment)
June 1, 2009
“It’s not hard to know a lot of stuff; what’s hard is to know what stuff to share.”
After three hours of wracking my mind what to share, here’s what I came up with.
To VZ:
This is not a film review. Well, as if you’ll think it is.
The movie Red Cliff is based on the Chinese classic novel Sān Guó Yǎnyì or Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), written Luo Guanzhong and edited by Chen Shou which I am currently reading. Sān Guó is, roughly, the Chinese parallel of Tales of King Arthur, of Charlemagne and his paladinso r, still more relevant to the present world, of Richard Lionheart and his Crusaders. Sān Guó was set in the period of anarchy and civil war following the destruction of the Han Dynasty by 200 AD. Cao Cao, the apparent antagonist in the movie, because of his cruelty and craftiness, emerged the leader of China north of the Great River (Yangtze or Yangzi River). The apparent protagonists were Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang, men of the southern state of Shu-Han and the Kingdom of Wu under the House of Sun (leader was Sun Qian).
I am saying “apparent” because, when interpreted with a Confucian worldview, Cao Cao was the “right” man to lead and unify the Han people, which had fallen to disunity with the disintegration of the Han Dynasty. By another moral standard, however, the loyal Liu Bei, the brave Guan Yu and the brilliant Zhuge Liang, all of whom set the benchmark for virtuousness for the succeeding generations, have their rebellion and defiance of imperial authority justified. Because of Cao Cao’s failure to destroy his two great rivals in the south, disunity prevailed and eventually spelled disaster to his own unified order in the north when he died by 220 AD. Cao Cao is not really the antagonist he is portrayed in the movie when his historical imprint is examined. He gave the northern Han people a functioning government and peace – important requisites for the Mandate of Heaven. The government he found was authoritative (not delegating greater power to the great lineages or clans as was in the case of the Han) and was predicated on the individual merit rather than inheritance. This was strongly refused by the great families who stand to lose their power to lowly but highly-competent people. Liu Bei and Sun Qian were both classic representatives of the great houses which were once favored by the Han emperors, and their refusal of Cao Cao’s order is unsurprising. Cao Cao’s rivals appealed only to their power (aided by the natural defense given by the Yangtze and the richness of the land they held) and much powerful personalities. Thus, when Sun Qian of Wu died, the successors of northern China, the Jin Dynasty of the House of Sima, easily imposed their power on the southern kingdoms.
Cao Cao’s failure was the Battle at the Red Cliffs (near present-day Wuhan), a strategic point at the Great River. Before that time, the south was populated mostly by non-Han people (like the Yue or southern tribes) but developments under the Han Dynasty enabled the Han colonization of this region. Today, there’s but a feeble remnant of the original non-Han inhabitants of this region, in fact, southern China and the Sichuan Basin (roughly the domain of Shu-Han) are the most populous regions in China today. The face-off at the Red Cliffs not only envisaged the end of Cao Cao’s order but also strengthened the divide between Northern and Southern China. Broken was the stifling power that Confucianism commanded in the hearts and minds of lowly and aristocratic Chinese, Chinese indigenous philosophy (Daoism) flourished in the following periods. As portrayed in the movie (notably by Sun Qian’s sister), females briefly regained some power and participated in the affairs of the state.
I’m not yet finished with the book (I’m seeking an abridged version because the one I have has 120 chapters!) but the first few chapters are exciting and very informative. This is one of the most popular Chinese novels of all time; I need to at least acquaint myself with this if I want to achieve some degree of competence with Chinese affairs or be able to present myself intelligently to the Chinese.
I know that Liu Bei (You Yong) Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and the handsome emperor of Wu, Sun Qian (Chang Chen) will prevail, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to get my copy of Red Cliff 2! The first one was awesome. I also want to know how Cao Cao’s (Zhang Fengyi) million warships would end.
It’s amazing how much new knowledge I absorbed from idling my summer vacation in front of a PC.
It’s beginning to be All About Me!
May 31, 2009
My Facebook and Friendster profiles suck. I have left a lot of blanks empty whereas my “friends” (that’s what they call members who are privileged to snoop on your account) assiduously fill theirs. So, to return the favor, I’m filling out mine. Here’s what I copy-pasted on my Facebook account.
Activities
Reading, practicing spoken Mandarin, doing tàijí qìgōng (太极气功) exercises, surfing the Internet, folding aerodynamic paper airplanes and origami, playing chess, listening to the radio.
Interests
After reading my entries, I think it will become apparent.
Music
Music genres: acoustic, alternative, easy listening, dance, latin, pop, R&B, rock, traditional.
Artists: 12 Girls Band, ABBA, Alex Toh, Arashi, Ayumi Hamasaki, Bob Marley, Fall Out Boy, F.I.R., Jay Chou, JJ Lin, Kitchie Nadal, Lisa Loeb, Namie Amuro, Siti Nurhaliza, S.H.E., Stefanie Sun, Teresa Teng, Utada Hikaru, Wang Lee-Hom, Wilber Pan, Wilson Philips.
*Hahaha! Got lazy so I just copy-pasted lame Wikipedia links.
TV Shows
I don’t watch TV on a dedicated basis.
Movies
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Kung Fu Hustle; House of Flying Daggers; Hero; Eat, Drink, Man, Woman; Infernal Affairs; Love of Siam; Red Cliff; Princess Mononoke.
Books
Types: Nonfiction (autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, travel, social science-related), histories, detective novels, conceptual science and technology
Titles: Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong trans. by C.H. Brewitt-Taylor), Animal Farm (George Orwell), Forrest Gump (Winston Groom), The End of History and the Last Man (Francis Fukuyama), Civilizations (Felipe Fernandez-Armesto), From Beirut to Jerusalem (Thomas L. Friedman), The Physics of Star Trek (Lawrence Krauss), Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), Legacy of Ashes (Tim Weiner), Seven Years in Tibet (Heinrich Harrer), The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck), Wild Swan (Jung Chang), Hiroshima (John Hershey), Kamikaze (Yasuo Kuwahara & Gordon Allred), Balloon Top (Nobuko Albery), First They Killed My Father (Loung Ung), The Elements of Style (William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White).
Quotations
So many deeds cry out to be done, / And always urgently; / The world rolls on, / Time passes. / Ten thousand years are too long, / Seize the day, seize the hour (Yī wàn nián tài jiŭ / zhĭ zhēng zhāo xī). – Mao Zedong (1963).
About Me
I’m digging my way to China!
***
By the way, I hate Facebook and I’m not using it (on a dedicated basis) again. It’s too chaotic. I get edgy with the security issues and constant emails. The interface looks unmanageable! Because of that, I’m imposing an indefinite moratorium on accepting friends in Facebook and Friendster and a complete ban on sending invites. It’s not permanent though.
***
Happy birthday to my sister!
Missing Ms. Class Secretary
May 29, 2009
I miss the class’ secretary. Now I have to keep track and do all of this things alone. She had a big capacity for remembering and reminding others of things.
Late registration schedule
3 June (Wednesday)
Damn! I’m not getting Speech 11 (it will be changed to Comm III), I’ll be adding DS 125 instead of 128 (daming nag-enroll e!) and I’m changing my NS 4 schedule to make things more compact and schedule-friendly. Oh well, as if I wasn’t a veteranof this…
Start of classes
8 June (Monday)
I’m enforcing a “No Absence Allowed” rule on myself since I only have 3 days of school each week, and all of my classes are all conveniently scheduled (like, erm, 1 pm?) I only have 5 subjects and none of them approach Soc. Sci. 199 or AS 131 threat level, leaving me a lot of time to enjoy non-school life.
“Independence” Day
12 June (Friday)
42nd UPM Anniversary as the Health Sciences Center
17 June (Wednesday)
Don’t know what happens on this day. And, frankly, I don’t care.
101st UP Foundation Day
18 June (Thursday)
Don’t know what happens on this day either.
Araw ng Maynila
24 June (Wednesday)
Deadline for filing application for graduation for 1st Semester, 2009-2010 graduates
25 June (Thursday)
Yeah, I’m confident of graduating this October. I’m killing myself if I don’t. (About the suicidal remark, just kidding.)
Deadline for colleges to submit tentative list of candidates for graduation for 1st Semester, 2009-2010 graduates
1 July (Wednesday)
UPCAT
1 – 2 August (Saturday to Sunday)
Mid-semester
7 August (Friday)
Ninoy Aquino Day
21 August (Friday)
National Heroes Day
31 August (Monday)
Deadline for dropping of subjects
9 September (Wednesday)
I’m not going to do this.
E’idl Fitr
21 September (Monday)
Deadline for filing Leave of Absence for students currently enrolled
22 September (Tuesday)
I’m not going to do this either.
End of classes
7 October (Wednesday)
My favorite part of school.
Integration period
8 – 9 October (Thursday to Friday)
Final examinations for graduating students
12 – 13 October (Monday to Tuesday)
Sorry classmates… but then isn’t an early semestral break always good?
Deadline for submission of grades for graduating students
20 October (Tuesday)
Deadline for colleges to submit approved list of candidates for graduation
13 November (Friday)
I’m going to make sure my name appears there.
Commencement exercises
21, 22 or 23 April 2010 (Wednesday, Thursday or Friday)
I’m attending only if I get a scholastic award. If I don’t (and it is very probable), why bother? These days, graduating (and all its attendant enterprises) is a greater luxury than attending the classes required to reach it.
Wishing myself success! 祝我成功! Zhù wǒ chénggōng!
About Me and Reading Station
May 28, 2009欢迎你来我的网站阅览车站!
Welcome to my website, Reading Station!
My name is Jeric Lawrence Mangalonzo Mina.
Reading Station is a blog about my personal experiences and thoughts and my passion for anything and everything under the sun (and the moon and stars too!)
I live at Bacoor, Cavite, Philippines. I am a BA Social Science (major in Area Studies) at the University of the Philippines Manila. My reading interests are in the fields of history, anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, Asian studies, Asian literature, Mandarin Chinese, philosophy, environmental science, human ecology, public health and Oriental medicine. Aside from reading books and practicing spoken Mandarin and Chinese calligraphy, I also enjoy doing taiji qigong exercises, surfing the internet, folding paper planes and origami, and watching movies. I don’t know what I really want to become in life, if there’s one thing for sure, I want a career that will make the best use of what I know and what I can do, and make me happy knowing that what I’m doing will improve the lives of many people.
Hope you liked my site and found it useful. 太谢谢你了! Thank you very much! Also feel free to correct my bad Chinese!
