So now there’s a Filipino worker being held hostage in Iraq. The same setup as usual: Masked men bearing swords standing above a kneeling hostage, who in no uncertain terms, looks terrified. Makes for a shocking story on TV Patrol, the national nightly news program. Pictures of Filipinos in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs demanding a pullout of Filipino forces from Iraq are pretty striking too. (I don’t know the details because TV here is in Tagalog, more or less the national language. I am learning Cebuano, slowly but surely.) This morning the radio programs (in Cebuano) were talking about it. They seemed pretty fired up. I think it’s been quite a while since a story regarding Iraq has drawn much attention here. Let’s hope the guy makes it out alive. Oh, and what do you know, perfect timing for the flood Fahrenheit 9/11 bootlegs into the Philippines. (My copy just arrived, special delivery.)
Now, onto more mundane things. I undeniably butchered Prince’s Raspberry Beret on the videoke machine the other night. It’s one of those songs I thought I knew, but when it came on, I realized all I knew “She wore a raspberry beret, the kind you’d find in a second hand store…and if it were hot she wouldn’t wear much more.” And I am no match for Prince’s vocals. Still, nobody in the place knew the tune or cared enough to help me out. I was so embarrassed I didn’t sing another song the rest of the night. In fact the world would not be a worse place if I never take the mic again.
Whatever my videoke future, it seems I’ve awoken the Prince ghost. Yesterday, at the electronics repair place across the “highway,” – and yes, they can repair anything -- I sat down to watch some TV. (I’m trying to get in with them so I can bring F9/11 over there and use their VCD player.) There’s a channel called MYX broadcasting out of Cebu. These tech wizards have managed to pull down a fairly decent signal from Cebu. The show is called Take 5. It was Prince day. So, as the name implies, they played 5 Prince videos. Of course they played my favorite.
I explained to my fellow couch potatoes (except picture plastic stools) that second hand store is the English term for ukay-ukay. One of the girls was like “hold on, wait a second, you have ukay-ukay in America?” Most Filipinos are under the impression that all Americans are loaded. Why would we ever buy used clothing? (In fact, it would be great if everyone bought used clothing, if only because nearly 25% of pesticides worldwide are sprayed on cotton.)
When I try to tell people that there are plenty of poor people in America, that something like forty million kids don’t have health insurance, they either don’t believe me, or say “Well, those people are just poor because they don’t want to work.” If only it were that simple.
One more thing…I discovered a new feature for this site. The robots can automatically send out an email every time I put up a new post. If you’d like to get that email, just send me an email or leave a comment on this post, and I’ll let the robots know.
Posted by dbs at July 9, 2004 02:29 PM