23

I never celebrated my birthday away from home. This is the first time. There are some birthdays that I had that sucked. I remember my 9th birthday in 1993 where there was a f*cking typhoon. One of the hardest that hit the Philippines. It sucked so hard since I cannot leave my house since there were roofs flying all over the metro. But the worst of all is that there was no electricity in the whole of Metro Manila.

There are also some birthdays that I had that I wasn't really happy. I thought that this was one of them. I did not tell any of my friends here that it is my birthday. As a Filipino, we usually don't broadcast to the whole world that it is our day. No one does that much.

I went to Suzhou a few hours before the clock ticked 12. A few hours before that, I missed my train. It sucked. I was late. The good thing was 3 of my friends waited for me and then we took the last train from Shanghai to Suzhou. We got there an hour before 12. Usually I had parties on the 2nd of November waiting for the clock to sound and celebrate another year of existence. But this year it was different.

As the clock ticked 12, I got calls from very special people in my life that assured me that this day will be alright. They made me feel that this day was special for me. After that my friends here knew that it was my birthday and greeted me. I felt happy. It may sound like its a shallow feeling but I liked it.

As my day went on I discovered the beautiful sights of Suzhou. We went around, horseplayed a lot and enjoyed each other's company. We even watched Filipino and English TV. Our friends there had cable. Nice!!! We were like mountain people, never watched TV before.

After which, we had dinner. Then these bastards got me a cake. It is a small cake but it felt it was really big as it melted my heart. They sang and stuff. You know the drill...

We went on drinking after that and enjoyed the night. It was a hell of a day for me. I missed a lot of people but I sure was happy.

I Never Lose!!!

I was reading a book... It is very popular all over. The author is not the "best writer" but a "best seller"...

His book makes a lot of sense. So as his thoughts. Learned a lot. Way lot!

In a different perspective, people are always afraid to lose! I am one of them. I am a SORE LOSER up to this day. I never liked the feeling. This is how I felt before. Being turned down to a job, losing a basketball game, fail a class, demotion, being broke, etc.

But then I realized... I never lost! I never lose! Yes you read that right. It is not because I am sour graping again. This is because I learn from my mistakes and they made me who I am today. Sure I make a lot of those mistakes, sure I fall. But then I stand up again. Doing things right the next time. Doing better and better and better.

Now I have a new mantra. I will stick by it forever. It changed my perception on life, on work, on studies on everything!

HERE IT GOES and you can quote me on this:

"I NEVER LOSE! It is either I WIN or I LEARN!"

Chinese Class

I am part of a kindergarten class. Don't get me wrong. I am not a retard like Billy Madison who went back to kindergarten just to run his dad's company. Together with other international students who had no prior knowledge whatsoever in Chinese language or Putonghua, we are schooled like small kids.

Started from tomes up to the pronunciation and further to writing Chinese characters. I feel stupid because now I am illiterate. I do not even know how to write my Chinese name. I am so f*cked to say the least! I see children, real children, walking around speaking and writing and reading while I am trying to figure out how people can understand the words that are coming out of my mouth.

I am now studying and learning. Now I can write my name and a few characters and can order food and be understood by people around me... Well a little bit. I need to practice some more but I will get there. It took me 1 month to learn essential Thai with work as my main purpose. Now, I am in China, a full time student so I guess I can learn faster and better than before.

My classes are sometimes interesting and at times a bore. Some are easy while some are hard. It is not as easy as I imagined. As the days go by, the characters get complicated and harder to write. Plus, they are getting more and more that I cannot remember all of them.

I belong to a class with a lot of Vietnamese, A few Mongolians, 3 Africans, an Indonesian and a crazy South Korean. I am the only Filipino in my university.

I need a lot of help with my Chinese... I want to learn and fast... More on the speaking aspect rather than writing...

It is getting hard each day but we will see what progress I make.

Home Away From Home

I live inside a big university. Well I think it is. There are 3 buildings dedicated to International Students and more for Chinese Students. I live on the 12th floor of this building. The good thing about this building is it is new and never closes!

Usually when I go out, I can just get home whenever I want. Sure there are CCTV Cameras (surveillance cameras) all over the building but nobody cares unless something bad happens.

Me and my friends in school usually drink downstairs, near a pond. Or just hang out. Everyone minds their own business. I can play basketball anytime I want or run at the track and field oval whenever. There is also a gym inside campus and stores as well.

The only thing bad about this school is it is far from the nightspots and the busy areas. It will take at least 45 minutes to get to the nice shopping centers, bars, clubs and the like. But if you want to get peace, chill out and relax, well this seems a good place to get away from it all.

Ebony, Ivory and What...

When I first set foot to this country, I was not exactly sure what I was going to expect. The environment, the culture, the trials and all those other things that a man will face once he sets foot in the first time to a place unfamiliar to him.


I had encountered the same when I was in Bangkok but the thing about this place is, I did not have anyone with me on my first trip. When I was in the place which they referred to the "City of Angels" in Asia, I was with my former superior and friend. Now I am all alone.

I did not have any leads. So I have to really start from scratch. I entered the school without expecting anything. On my second day I met my first friend here in China. He was half Jamaican-half Ethopian. He helped me shop and introduced me to people. He is like my brother here. He is the one on the lower right of this picture. The one beside him is the guy who lives beside me, the third person I knew in China. It took a few days and I knew a lot of people around campus; blacks, whites and Asians.

After which, a good friend of mine gave me contacts of Filipinos here in Shanghai. This made me feel like I am home. Like I never left. Once again I am living the same life that I was living in Manila, belonging to different groups of people, knowing more and more everyday and learning in and out of the classroom...