remember when i was out of the country for 3 months?

so i know i haven't been the greatest with updating lately, but the slow realization that my time spent sleeping in and blogging could have been spent coding my research has made me s my p's a little bit.

accordingly, i've been scrambling to schedule last minute interviews, dinners with friends, and fit in time to reflect on my data.

hence, my temporary desk at the department of health.

in lieu of my sorely missed absence on the blogosphere, i'm going to share with you, readers (yes, all one of you...mom) little tidbits of what i hope will be longer blog posts during my break times here in the 'pines.


my personally anticipated foray into examining the filipino celebrity phenomenon

picking my dad up from the airport a few weeks ago, i was fully immersed in the media storm, as they prepared for the concurrent arrival of kris aquino (sister of the current president and daughter of the former president Cory Aquino - sorry we have no relation nor do i think she did anything productive for this country, so i'm not calling her 'tita cory')


either way, the hype was ridiculous, considering kris aquino seems to be the 'oprah' of the philippines. (boy, did my dad have some choice words about her after traveling on the same plane)

as-yet unmentioned filipino obsession with korean music and culture

so that's why all the filipino guys think the kate gosselin hairstyle is awesome - because on the fair-skinned korean popstars, it is. on you, my dark-skinned midget countrymen, not so much.

anywho, seeing channels dedicated to k-pop and the prominence of some annoying, albeit horribly catchy song, the philippines has a sick obsession with korean culture. don't get me wrong, i loves me some bulgogi and i can kimchi my rice to the high heavens, but there comes a point when i don't really appreciate music or television when i don't speak the language.

here's a smattering of k-pop cd's at a store:


a follow-up to my charice post on filipino beauty - skin whitening

i didn't think i would find anything TOO explicit in terms of expressing how filipinos emphasize that white is beautiful.

that was until i was at the mall (where most of my epiphanies regarding this country occur) and i saw this banner:


what.the.f***. essentially, as i draw upon the hackneyed discussions of beauty on various blogs, this poster very clearly tells filipinos:

black and nappy is fugs

white and straight-haired is gorgeous

so by transitive property, chemical dying your skin to look like a cross between michael jackson a la "you are not alone" (sham-oh!) and a bowl of rice will make you attractive.

un.believ.able.

(i say this as i examine my combined acne-fighting/whitening face wash - come on, allow me to indulge myself in one form of filipino vanity, as a fil-am i'm almost expected to!)

the treasure trove of family history that i've learned in the past month

traveling to both my parents' respective provinces, i've learned an invaluable amount about my family and my past.

not to mention finding an awesome pair of raybans in my dad's closet, sitting dustily atop, wait for it, A SIGNED PORTRAIT OF FERDINAND MARCOS.

one of my highlights was speaking to gen. hamilton dimaya, cousin of my grandpa and marcos' legal counsel.

while the rest of family took pity on me, saying that i got lolo milton talking again, i actually enjoyed the 2 hours that we spent discussing the recent history of the philippines and his take on the status quo.

my favorite part was when lolo milton, to disprove his supposed senility, recited:

1. the 79 provinces of the philippines (by region)
2. the 50 US states and their capitals
3. the Gettysburg Address (word for word, shit you not)
4. the Beatitudes
5. and some famous thing in Spanish that I didn't recognize but smiled my way through

i know i get annoyed by old people sometimes, especially when at a stoplight or in line at safeway, but it's amazing how much we devalue the wealth of history and information that they retain and are willing to share.

he told me he wanted to see me again so that we/he could talk more. ( i have a feeling no one listens to his stories. sad face.)

last but not least, FOOD!

anyone who comes to the philippines must go to ma mon luk. i can bath in their broth and shampoo with the siopao sauce.

wholly dissatisfied with my adventures in mexican cuisine, when i tried an enchilida (read: a tortilla filled with liquid nacho cheese), i decided that the filipino version of mexican food is an abomination of the word. much like filipino spaghetti.

to cleanse my body of this desecrecation of my favorite type of food, i ran for the border! not in arizona, sillies - taco bell!

and yes. it tastes the same (glorious) even in another country.

and they even played with their words! how can you NOT appreciate this?

until next time, when i choose from this cornucopia of blog topics, thanks for reading!