I DO NOT SMELL LIKE

Most people would not last 10 minutes listening to the songs in my iPod. I don’t have satanic songs though. What I have are songs with lyrics that everybody stereotypes as “ching chong” – songs that when heard by the common person will earn me a face from him. They ask me if I understand what-ever I’m listening to. I simply smile at them and after estimat-ing how much sentences I’ve understood, I say, “some.”

It was more than three years ago when a certain imported GMA 7 show got me hooked. Dae Jang Geum, locally called as Jewel in the Palace for practical purposes, is the first ever non-Filipino show that got me off my computer and taking into account my blunt attachment to the computer and the In-ternet, it was considered a feat. Not content with the Tagalog-dubbed 30-minute cuts that were being aired in the locallocal TV station, during vacation, I watched the 54 one-hour episodes in the pirated DVD copy that my dad got. 54 hours and it was almost consecutive if only I never felt hungry or un-hygienic. I would watch at about 9 AM in the morning and end up at 3 AM. It was almost painful trying to get myself away from the TV screen and it was then that I realized. I al-ready knew what their traditional dresses are called. I already knew the name of the little island right below the Korean pen-insula. I already knew the fact that they only used Chinese characters to write in the olden days. I was hooked to the Korean culture.

With my newfound fascination, I asked my Korean class-mates to teach me how to write in Hangul, the Korean alpha-bet. It felt gratifying to be learning another language and even more gratifying to be speaking it. After a year or two of watch-ing Korean dramas, listening to K-Pop, chatting with Korean friends and reading online lessons, I was already capable of casually conversing with Korean kids and Koreans around my age.

My pursuit to experience more of Asia did not stop right then and there. Just last year, immersing in the Korean culture has broadened my horizon to include the land and culture of its neighbor – Japan. Seeing that the Koreans and the Japa-nese often make cultural, social and economic exchanges, I took the initiative of immersing myself into this new culture. With the help of the Internet, I self-studied the

into this new culture. With the help of the Internet, I self-studied the Japanese phonetic alphabet and the basic gram-mar structures. Being in Ateneo also helped me in my new quest to learn more of the Japanese culture. It is only in Ateneo that I’ve found several schoolmates who are fans of the Japanese culture. It is also in Ateneo where I’ll be officially taking Japanese language classes to help me further. These things served as encouragement and supplement and it is because of these that I’ve decided to be serious with my new quest.

I knew this quest of mine wouldn’t be easy.

It is inevitable for some people to judge me because of this very odd passion of mine. When everybody else watches Tayong Dalawa, Ang Babaeng Hinugot sa Aking Tadyang, House, Heroes and How I Met Your Mother, I log in on You-Tube to watch the Korean drama that I’m currently following. When people read Bob Ong, I turn on my laptop to read Masashi Kishimoto’s manga, Naruto. And like a Gentile amidst Jews in the old days, I am judged.amidst Jews in the old days, I am judged.

“Malansang isda!” That is what some of my friends jokingly call me to quote Jose Rizal’s very nationalistic piece of litera-ture. I laugh it off not wanting to pop their little bubbles like that. If only they knew. If only they knew that before I laid my eyes on this certain Korean drama, I’ve been a faithful follower of Telefantasya shows like Mulawin, Encantadia, Sugo and the likes, have been an avid fangirl of many Filipino young actors, have made websites for them, and have even bought the have made websites for them, and have even bought the dance albums with songs that none of them have even sung or at least written. I’ve already experienced our own local cul-ture like how a Filipino tourist should first tour in the Philip-pines before touring in a foreign land. But all that is merely surface.

Every single day of my life, I talk using my native tongue and it is not out of need. I choose to speak in Tagalog just

because I would not need to think for milliseconds on what word or conjugation I would have to use. It naturally flows like water in a river without a dam. I rarely speak in English either and it is only during times like these that I do. I eat rice and ulam with a fork and a spoon during ordinary days at home and at school just because my stomach does not long for sushi or ramen. I am Filipino by default and I know for myself that whatever I do would not change this fact. It is because of that whatever I do would not change this fact. It is because of this fact that I am not trying to become Korean or Japanese. Trying would result to nothing.

I am a Filipino who simply recognizes the existence of other cultures. Most Filipinos would not only recognize but also even idolize the American culture but it’s not like the American culture is superior to any other culture so there is no reason for me not to broaden my horizon and immerse myself into the Korean and Japanese cultures. For me, it is not being un-patriotic. Throwing a candy wrapper in the Pasig river, speak-ing English to Tagalog-speaking Filipinos, not showing even the slightest concern for the Calatagan farmers and ignoring the blind kababayan in Katipunan whose only source of hope left is his musical instrument – that, for me, is unpatriotic.

Today, with my entrance to the Ateneo, I’ve met several Chi-nese schoolmates and have made friends in them. Being with them for most of my time have already incorporated new words into my vocabulary: Ahia, Atsi, Shoti, Shobe, Hoe, and other random Hokkien terms. This might as well spark a new passion in me – to immerse myself into the Chinese culture where the Korean and Japanese cultures originated. But I will not fear those who would judge me. I know for myself that I not fear those who would judge me. I know for myself that I am not a “malansang isda.” I am still a brown-skinned, Sinigang-loving Filipino teen who still loves her own country’s culture while learning to love other Asian cultures at the same time. It is possible.

“ I am a Filipino who simplyrecognizes the existence of other cultures”

RAW FISH

BEENA is still truly FILIPINO no matter what