kristallnacht
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
i’ll be there for you
these five words i swear to you
when you breathe i wanna be the air for you
i’ll be there for you
i’ll live and i’d die for you
steal the sun from the sky for you
words can’t say what love can do
i’ll be there for you
—i’ll be there for you by bon jovi
in the movie “A Lot Like Love”, this song was sung by ashton kutcher.
a capella.
hehehe...
cool movie.
::: check out ryan mcparlin :::okay, so my hostmom brought me a book. of course, it’s in spanish.
the title is “Seis Millones de veces Uno: el Holocausto”
basically, the book is about the infamous Holocaust (apparently, based from the title of the book)
the book was dark.
very dense... thick with torture and suffering.
im going to share it. you know, basically, before i read the book, i dont know anything about the Holocaust.
i mean, i know that it was an era of terror and everything but thats all.
i remember cedric (the exchange stu from germany)... he has been asked about the Holocaust and hitler for, like, a million times. once he told me that it’s just really hard to explain what happened during that specific part of history. i can understand him. first, he wasnt actually alive during that time. then, history is a one-sided story. the story that he knows is different from the stories that the other nations know. he wasnt able to explain but he said that hitler was just a very intelligent leader and the rest of the people were just really stupid. he said that hitler wanted to create a perfect germany with perfect people living in it.
(as i said many times before, some words that can be found in the dictionary shouldnt really exist.
like that word ‘perfect’)
//part of the dialogue of a nazi with the head of the dept of chemistry Dr. Albert widmann//
- “widmann, can the institute produce poison in large quantities?”
- “for what? to kill people?”
- “no.”
- “to kill animals?”
- “no.”
- “then, for what?”
- “to kill animals who simply look like people, so as to say, those mentally ill who can’t even tell that they are people and would never think that about cure.”
there was an article from a homosexual german (survivor of the holocaust, of course)
he mentioned that after his arrest (well, the nazis dont like homosexuals either) his apartment has been checked. the worse part was everyone in his address books has been arrested, too.
that was just plain overgeneralization.
super.
“Every revolution requires the presence of a ‘lightning rod’ that will attract and channel the hate of the people. With this idea in mind, i checked the events in the history asking myself what racial element in germany could put my idea to work. i should encounter the appropriate victim, one in which the battle would have make sense. i came to the conclusion that a campaign against the jews will be as popular as it will be successful.”
—adolf hitler
(the passage above was from adolf hitler’s book. the title in spanish is “mi lucha” which literally translates to “my fight” but i dont think that it is the real english title. maybe something like “my battle” or whatever... i dunno.
wow. jews as lightning rods.
what the...)
the nazis also obliged the jews, adults and kids alike, to have a discriminatory symbol.
it was the star of david.
every jew wore a star of david on the visible part of their clothes.
specifically on the chest.
in the book, there is a photo of a woman sitting on a bench in a park. the backrest of the bench has a sign that says “for jews only”. it was in austria 1933.
books written by jews had been burned, musical composicions and arts made by jews had been defamed...
even jazz music.
the book said that the music jazz is from the jews.
hitler’s power has been associated with the swastika.
the swastika, this simple image, provoked moments of threat and this reasoning:
“hitler is the force. the real force. the real power. and knowing that everyone is with hitler, i, man of the street, should do the same if i dont want to be crushed.”
—J.M. Domenach
“...the kids of germany, during that time, have been the keys to hitler’s aspiration: to dominate the world. in the schools, the kids have been taught that they are of the superior race and every other race in the world is so inferior. militarism has been promoted. the hitlerian idea has been promoted through books and movies, infiltrating the young lives, filling their heads with twisted ideas and deep hatred...”
euphemism.
it is substituting a word for another to avoid obscenity.
yeah, right, so apparently the nazis were so fond of euphemism.
(this is from the book)
brief dictionary of “innocent expression”
special actions ------------- massive murder
protective custody -------- imprisonment
disinfection ----------------- slaughter by gas
showers ---------------------- gas chambers
special treatment ---------- immediate killing
“...to minimize the resistance of the soldiers to killing babies, kids, old people, women, and incapacitated men, the nazi ideology made the victims symbols of despicable objects. the cadavers have been called ‘dolls, rags, excrement, or garbage’...”
there was an article. it was actually a work memo about detailed specific technical problems AND suggestions to these problems. im not going to translate that and put it here. it was just not supposed to be placed here. whoever wrote the memo used objective language. it was so dispassionate and passive. words like “merchandise” and “pieces” were referring to the corpses...
it was just so shocking. i dont know what to say. it was an engineering problem, basically, but the memo was like they were talking about transporting garbage. not even animals, coz even animals would have been treated better.
“the nazis didnt only wanted to take away the human rights of the jews. they wanted to take away their rights to be humans.”
—raquel hodara
there were photos of women and children lining up to enter a train. on top of the photo was a note.
Nicht mehr einsatzfâhige Frauen u. Kinder.
it literally means “not usable women and children”
you know what that means, dont you?
the jews were classified: men still usable, men not usable, women and children not usable...
those who are still usable are sent to concentration camps. those who arent usable were directly sent to gas chambers.
the worse part was that those who were sent to the gas chambers didnt even know that they wouldnt be able to see the light of the day anymore. yeah, they knew that they will be killed but when they entered the gas chamber, they didnt have any idea.
there was a huge sign in the entrance of the gas chamber that says take off your clothes for the shower.
shower was the euphemism for gas chamber, remember?
“...every one said goodbye to life in his own way. others prayed, others cried. but the mothers lovingly and carefully prepared the food for the train trip, washed the kids, packed the baggages. they didnt forget to bring the toys of the kids, the pillows, the hundred little things. if you will be killed tomorrow with your kids, what are you going to do?...”
“...more than 97 men and 29 women were sent to the concentration camps and the rest, more than 500 people, no one was alive two days after...”
“...in the concentration camps, or better said, prisons, there weren’t any spoons: it might seem like a trivial detail but it wasnt. without spoon, the daily food couldnt be eaten properly. it has to be licked up. just like what the dogs do. the lack of spoons wasnt about the question of being thrifty or saving up. it was for the deliberate intention for humiliation...”
“those who lived it cannot share it, those who didn’t cannot understand; those who were there cannot get out, those who weren’t cannot get in.”
—elie wiesel
“...our hunger wasnt the sensation of someone who missed a meal. our manner of feeling cold exceeds a particular name. we say ‘hunger’, we say ‘exhaustion’, ‘fear’, and ‘pain’, we say ‘winter’, and other things. those are the free words, created and used by free men who live, enjoying and suffering, in their homes. if the Lager had lasted even more, a new language would have been born: the necessity to explain what is to work all day, the temperature below zero, wearing nothing but a shirt, shorts, flimsy jackets, cloth slippers, and in the body, weakness and hunger and a realization that the end is near...”
“...1942. after september of that year, there weren’t any children in Auschwitz (they had been killed in a gas chamber). then, families from polonia arrived, arrested during the insurrection of varsovia: these people have been tattooed, everyone of them, including the newborns. the operation was a bit painful and it didnt last longer than a minute but it was traumatic. the symbolic meaning was clear to everyone: it was an indelible sign, ‘you are never going to get out of here’...”
(the tattoos were a series of numbers. the prisoners didnt have names anymore. they have all been converted to a series of numbers.)
“...i will never forget that night when the cries of a sleeping prisoner woke me up. he was twisting, screaming silently, evidently he was having a terrible nightmare. i’ve always felt pity for the prisoners who suffer from nightmares or delirium. i wanted to wake the poor man. but suddenly, i pulled away my hand that was supposed to shake the poor man’s shoulder, afraid of what i was about to do. in that moment i became intensely aware of the fact that no nightmare, no matter how terrible it is, could be as terrible as the reality of what we are suffering. and i almost brought him back to that reality...”
“...the rooms were dark and dirty. barely 30% of the prisoners/workers have shoes, pants, or shirts. everyone sleeps on the floor. the roofs were broken, the windows didnt have glasses. 75 people sleep in a room that measures 5 x 6 meters. there wasnt any soap, it was difficult to get water. the sick sleep with the healthy ones. the sick people had to work, illnesses didnt matter...”
(a 5x6m room? the average height of a man is less than 2 meters. let’s say 1.5m... 6 divided by 1.5 is 4.
5 divided by 1.5 is 3.33 bar
so about 12 people can lie down on the floor of that room, without moving a muscle. and that’s just assuming that everyone of them has a 1.5m height. so then how the hell can 75 people sleep on that room? piled up on each other? hey, matter occupies space!)
“...all throughout the winter, the little children were obliged to stand on a line in the exterior gates, bare naked. to be on your bare feet for hours, exposed to cold, waiting for your turn in the gas chamber... the skin of their feet have been stuck to the freezing ground... on feet, crying, some dying of cold... during this lapse, the germans and the people of ukraine came by, hitting and kicking victims. one of those germans was a man named sepp. he was a repugnant and inhumane worm who took pleasure torturing kids. when he abused women and they plead him to cease with his acts because the kids were with them, he would grab the kids on their ankles and smash their heads against the walls...”
(the book ‘The Diary of Ann Frank’ was about the holocaust. a friend lent me this book when i was just 11 and it seemed boring to me that time so i didnt read it. i didnt know...)
“...1942, bendzin. the captain, Franz Polter, of breslau, gathered the jewish chikdren and shouted ‘you want the war!’. a 6-year-old child dared to step forward and say ‘we dont want war. we just want some bread’...”
after that era, documents have been found. one of them was a short poem, probably made by one of the kids in the ghetto of terezin.
“i understand why it is forbidden to bring food to the ghetto:
the nazis want us to suffer from hunger
i understand why it is forbidden to bring clothes:
the nazis want us to be cold
but... why it is forbidden to bring flowers?
that i cant understand
one flower, with thin petals,
full of color and nice smell
can a human being forbid flowers?”
---puedes avergonzarte,
le dije a mi dios
puedes avergonzarte.
con todos tus ángeles malvados
ante pequeños niñitos.
llévate de vuelta tus flores,
están envenenadas.
y tus muñecas
escupen sangre.
así le dije a mi dios,
y los dos llorábamos.---
—hadasa rubín
(this is a poem in the book. now, let’s put that again in english.)
--- you can be ashamed,
i told my god
you can be ashamed.
with all your wicked angels,
before little children.
take back your flowers,
they are poisoned.
and your dolls,
spit blood.
i told this to my god,
and the two of us cried.---
—hadasa rubín
hey, but not all of the germans were murderers during that time.
Hermann Friedrich Grabe, a german engineer, saved jews during the war.
when he was questioned why, he couldnt explain it very well but he said that his mother was the reason.
“...in my childhood, my friends and i were annoying an old jewish woman. my mother asked me why i was doing that. of course, i said it’s because everyone is doing it too. she told me that im not like everyone. i am his son. and that i shouldnt do that again or else i’ll be dealing with her. then she asked me if i want to be in the place of the old jewish woman. of course, i said no. then she told me that if i dont want people to do that to me, then i shouldnt do that to anyone else. the old woman has feelings and a heart, too, just like you and me, she said. this way, i was influenced by my mother. she has always been telling me that i shouldnt judge people by their religion or profession but by how they treat their fellows...”
“it seemed as if the people of germany during the era of nazism knew as much or as little about the slaughter of their jewish citizens as they wanted to know. but not to want to know always means that he already knows enough to know that he doesnt want to know more.”
— J.P. Stern
“…forty years later, my tattoo has been part of my body. i dont boast about it, but im not ashamed of it either. i dont show it off but i dont hide it either. often, young people ask me why i didnt have it erased. this is one of questions that gets on my nerves. why should i have it erased? there werent so many of us in this world. us, who carry such testimony...”6 million.
six million.
6,000,000.
seis millón.
anim na milyon.
that’s the sum of the jewish people who have been slaughtered during that era.
1933 to 1945.
that’s 12 years.
6million divided by 12 is 5 hundred thou (people killed every year)
5 hundred thou divided by 12 is 41667 (people killed every month)
41667 divided by 30 is 1389 (people killed every day)
imagine killing 1389 people EVERYDAY.
for twelve years...
and from that 6 million deaths, 1.5 million have been children.
one and a half million children have been killed.
and not exactly killed. they’ve been slaughtered. murdered.
“...the number of deaths was hard to conceive but that is the truth. two telephone guides of the city of buenos aires includes approximately 1.8 million names. 6 million names will occupy 7 complete tomes of these guides...
in the city of buenos aires live around 7 million people. the slaughter of 6 million will be the slaughter of more than 85% of the city’s population.
the biggest hospital for children in buenos aires attends 1,800 kids everyday. in the holocaust, 1.5 million kids were killed. it’s as if someone will systematically slaughter every kid that goes in this said hospital 365 days of the year, for two years and half...”
during the liberation of the prisoners, social worker or whatever (i dont know the translation in english) saw an eight-year-old kid. he shed tears, then he smiled and laughed.
-“how old are you little boy?”
-“what difference does it make? im older than you.”
-“and why is it that you think that you’re older than me?”
-“because you cry and laugh like a kid. me, i stopped laughing. and on top of that, i cant cry. it must be that i’m older than you.”
(it was from an article in the book)
it was said that in the holocaust, there have been 3 people involved:
the victim
the perpetrator
the spectator
blitzkrieg literally means ‘lightning war’.
it is an elaborate tactic by the german army to conquer european countries, based on a surprise attack, massively concentrating its power of fire from the first moment, with great participation of the aviation and the artillery.
the swastika is called ‘Hakenkreuz’ in deutsch (german language).
adolf hitler has been called ‘Fûhrer’ during the nazi regime. it means leader.
‘Shoá’.
a hebrew term that means catastrophe.
refers to the destruction of the jewish communities in europe during the world war II.
however, the universally accepted term is ‘Holocaust’.
the term holocaust, in its origin, means ‘sacrifice made to the gods’...................
the title of this entry is ‘Kristallnacht’.
it means ‘night of broken glasses’.
this is what they call november 9 and 10 year 1938 when the nazis attacked and destroyed sinagogues, houses, and shops of the jews, scattering the streets of germany with broken glasses.
(DISCLAIMER: the quoted passages were from the book “Seis millones de veces Uno: el Holocausto by EliahuToker and Ana Weinstein, republic of argentina.)
“you are not alone
i am here with you
though you’re far away
i am here to stay
you are not alone
i am here with you
though we’re far apart
you’re always in my heart
you are not alone”
i met a lady from spain. she is a volunteer in the same foundation.
fundación leon, that’s the name of the foundation.
she told me that she had once read a book that says that in the philippines we greet each other with a smile and that a smile means a lot in our country.
basically, yeah.
we dont greet with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. i mean, here in argentina, let’s say a friend presented another person to you, the greeting is a kiss on the cheeks.
i mean, before i came here my general notion has been different...that a kiss on the cheek means something more than just a simple greeting.
now, it’s just so normal. i mean, i’ve been here for five months or so and i’ve been used to the culture...
i remember something during the afs camp (it was my second week in argentina).
well, when i met the other exchange students (those who hadnt been here for so long), we were quite doubtful about how we are supposed to greet each other.
we leaned forward to give a kiss on the cheek but before actually giving the kiss, we stopped. then, extended our right hands for a handshake...
my hostsis majo and the hostsisters of the others laughed at us and explained to us that we dont have to do that jerky ‘lean forward-stop-extend hand-shake’ stuff.
said that we have to do it the argentine way.
fine. =D
and the people here are very open...
you meet someone, after three times of going out with that person then you are now already friends!
cedric once said that it was disconcerting at first. but he also said that now he makes friends easier than before...
i remember one conversation about the luck of the male population here in argentina. well, taking into account the fact that the way of greeting here is a kiss on the cheek (and a hug, if you’re already friends), yeah i can say that they really are fortunate... hehehe...
last Friday my austrian friend and i roamed the streets to ask for people for any sort of donation for the home of the aged. it is a volunteer project. it was our first time to do that. at first, we werent quite sure of what to do. we rang the doorbell and waited for someone to talk on the intercom.
it was really difficult.
it’s as if in every 100 houses, only one of them will give donations.
we spent two and half hours ringing doorbells and asking for donations but only one gave us something.
it was an old man.
he gave a pair of shoes, a jacket, a ladies’ dress, and a bag.
so generous, right?
well, we were discriminating houses, at first.
we only rang the doorbells of the nice, big houses... but then, when we were finally fed up, we approached any door with a doorbell.
well, the day wasnt wasted. a generous old man gave us something...
may he be blessed...
then, we were walking, and there were a few men sitting on the curb. then, as we passed by, one of them said ‘arigatou’...
in a loud, clear voice.
we turned around the corner, and then sebastian (austria) laughed.
he said, ‘i told you, you’re a japanese. you’ve just got the wrong passport.’
i told him that im not a japanese. and i dont look like a japanese.
he turned quiet for a moment.
then he said, ‘ive already gone to many countries, remember that?’
(yeah... that 15-year-old austrian friend of mine has already visited like 75% of the world. and that includes japan.)
he said, ‘well, the truth is that you do look like someone from japan.’
then, maybe to soften the blow, he continued, ‘but you also look like someone from china. that’s ok, right, since you really have chinese blood.’
fine, fine...
but still...
i really should have counted how many people have told me that im from japan, or china, or korea....
i want to learn the japanese language. yeah. but i dont want to be a japanese.
well, my hostmom told me that for most of the people here, the continent Asia means japan, china, and korea.
nothing more.
wow... geez.
i mean, this is the same story that an afs volunteer told me. he told me that the students from thailand were always told that they’re from china...
two months ago, i was with my friends from thailand. then suddenly, two women came to us and started to speak in mandarin or cantonese or pinyin or whatever it was (but i know that it’s chinese language). so we told them, in spanish, that we are not chinese.
goodness gracious...
i have korean neighbors here. one time, they had a big garage sale so my hostmom, majo, and i went to check out some furnitures (we bought a wooden side table, a metal trapezoid table, and a massive mirror for our bedroom)
ok, then the korean woman saw me and said, ‘whose daughter is this? looks like she’s my daughter.’
my hostmom laughed and explained that im an exchange stu from the philippines and im not korean.
btw, why is it that people kept on telling me that i have an accent. i mean, the cab drivers, storekeepers, icecream vendors, department store salespeople, and whoever else just kept on asking me ‘where are you from’.
then i tell them and then, out of curiosity, i ask ‘how did you know that im not from here’.
then they always tell me, ‘because of your accent. and your appearance.’
fine, my appearance is not of a Latino. i know that and i certainly accept that.
but i dont have any accent. really.
i remember majo’s friends asking me to speak in english.
i dont have any problem speaking in english but i need someone else to speak to.
i mean, isnt it just so weird speaking in english by yourself and the people listening to you are looking so entertained and fascinated even though they cant understand what you’re talking about??
well, my hostsis can understand me when i talk slowly, but the others cant.
the thing is here in argentina, it’s like only 7% of the population can speak english. i mean, REALLY speak english.
i felt like a fool.
‘it’s like she’s pulled out from the tv’, they said...
oh gosh. and they also asked me to speak in my mother tongue.
yeah, that’s right. they asked me to speak in filipino.
basically, i just said whatever came into my head.
in my school, i remember that our classmates once asked cedric and me to talk in english.
that was way better. at least i was talking to someone.
march is approaching.
that means one thing: classes are approaching!!!!
i dont want to go to school yet... i mean, it’s not that school is hard. school here is actually as easy as you can imagine. but school means waking up at 6 in the morning. well, back in the philippines i actually wake up at 5.30 for school but then in mandsci the start of classes is at 7AM.
here, it’s 7.30. actually, 8AM coz we have to sing the anthem (they have to sing, not me) then some everyday welcome speech from the directress...
then classes end at around 12 to 1PM...
super halfday!
i mean, in mandsci, halfday means dismissal at 3PM...
hah!
and we dont actually do anything in my school.
the dear famous pelegrinni.
complete with everything— tv program, zoological reserve park, gyms, buses. except for real education. (im bad, i know)
well, before i entered the school last year, everyone kept on telling me that pelegrinni is one of the best schools...
wow, if that’s one of the best schools, i dont want to know what the worst schools are like. (im so bad, i know it)
it’s not as if pellegrinni is not nice.
IT IS NICE.
i told you, it’s complete with everything.
hey, where the hell have you heard of a school with its own zoo??
not to mention it’s own tv program...
the only problem with pellegrini is that if you want to learn, REALLY LEARN, dont study in this school.
my hostmom told me that, before i entered pellegrini. so i asked her, ‘why is it majo (my hostsis) studies there?’
she told me that it’s because majo is not really an academic student. she’s more of a sports person. and pellegrini definitely values sports.
well, my hostmom told me that i would have done better in flor’s school (my 21yrold hostsis)
maybe. but i dont think i want that.
when i go back home, im going to go back to my real life.
it’s nice to spend a year without thinking of grades and studies and math and science and school...
right?
definitely.
btw, im still confused about the spelling of my school.
pellegrini or pelegrinni.
it’s either double L or double N...
hehehe... dunno.
im starting to think that this entry is getting longer and longer...
till here.
chau!
XOXO
3:58 AM
Y Y Y
short version
Friday, February 22, 2008
hey.well, im just sort of busy this last few days...first of all, im part of a volunteer foundation. im a volunteer in a hospital.next, im also part of a project with a home for the aged. we're collecting donations. we go door to door asking for any sort of donations.finally, this saturday, there will be a welcome party for the new students. we, the "old students" are the ones who are supposed to setup the party.i actually have a longer blog entry.12 pages in the microsoft word.but i forgot my USB so maybe some other day i can publish it.so, there are 10 new exchange students here in tucumán now.i already met one.his name is keith. he's from the united states of america. state of michigan.he's 20 years old but he looks like 17 or 18...what's more, he is nice.a good boy, really.doesnt smoke, doesnt drink a lot, doesnt do drugs.he told me that he wanted to go manila and that someday he'll visit me in the philippines.he also told me that someday i should visit him in michigan.cool.hmm.. what else?my entry is in my USB.... so i guess im just going to publish that mega version of my entry maybe on sunday or what...it's a mega version, i swear.so, guess till here.check out ryan mcparlin.XOXO
3:43 AM
Y Y Y
news???
Thursday, February 14, 2008
happy hearts day!!!!!!!!!!!!!okay....so, saan naman nakuha yung balita na babalik na ako this week or next week??grabe...super mega surprising nung news ha... pati ako nasurprise... hehehe...adeeeeek!so, wala akong msabi...hey, yung ibang mga tao dyan, hndi nageemail.... kahit hi or hello man lang...hmmm....and the entry before this, im still dying to punch that someone.what a shame i cant do that right now.im saying it again, never mess up with any of my friends.dont worry, though, after five months you're going to get what you deserve.and, hell, karma really do exists.i dont have anything to say right now.next time, the entry's going to be a bit longer.till herechau!XOXO
5:15 AM
Y Y Y
a message for you
Sunday, February 10, 2008
so.... i recently received some news from propphi anne.
good news and bad news....
i want to punch someone's face right now.
a specific 'someone', in fact.
how dare you...
i couldnt have imagined that you can do something like that.
you are lucky that im not there right now or else you're really going to turn black. literally.
i thought that you were different from the others but i guess i thought wrong....
i dont really care about you and your stupid bitch but you hurt a friend of mine and that's something that i detest.i thought that you really care for her.well, people do really change, right?
go to hell.
right now.
or maybe you couldn't understand that coz your brain's just full of shit???
i swear, when i go back to the philippines, and i see you, im going to put you through a wall.sit tight, keep your ass warm, and stick your fist in your mouth, you brute.remember, never mess up with any of my friends.
1:50 AM
Y Y Y
meetings
It’s been quite some time when i last published an entry here in this blog.
Well, everything’s going fine. As always.
My sister, majo, and i went to aguilares (again and again). But that time, we went there to watch the carnaval.
I dont know, really, it was my first time to see a real carnaval. And i definitely enjoyed it.
The shirt that i wore that night, you know, there’s no way that it can be used again.
It wasn’t a dirty shirt. Actually, it was more like dirt with a shirt.
I mean, almost everything has been dumped on me (like every other person in that carnaval).
Beer, water, paint, that snowy stuff in spray cans, everything...
It was nice to be messy once in a while. Like a little kid. Hehehe...
Then, we drank this beverage known as ‘sangria’. It’s wine with juice or something like that. What’s more, that beverage was inside a melon. Yum!
It was fun.
Really.
But i know that it could have been a hell lot more enjoyable if my friends were also there with me...
Before i went out of the country, i already know that i would be missing this last school year with my batchmates.
i already know all that stuff.
But still, i cant help but imagine what will happen if, let’s say, we have this field trip or something like that and the itinerary is out of the country?
That could have been a lot of fun.
Imagination’s on full gear again....
Anyway, what else?
You guys have to watch out for the yearbook. And you have to read the prologue. I swear.
Btw, im just wondering if there’s any chance that i could get a copy of this batch’s yearbook? I mean, im still part of this batch. Always will be. (drama??)
So, im still well-informed abt mandsci, thanks to propphi anne.
Goodluck with the prom, peepz!
And with the periodical exams, too!
Recite the terms and the formulas while dancing paso doble... that would be cool. (not to mention totally nerdy =D)
So, yesterday, we had a meeting with AFS...
so, ayun. First, sincerity daw muna. Dapat maging sincere ung meeting na un. We were first asked about the qualities of argentines that we like and/or dislike...
cedric said that argentines, most of the time, dont like the truth.
Well, that was what he said at first but then later on it became clear that what he wanted to say was argentines are very diplomatic.
They arent frank people.
And basically, europeans are known to be frank.
Then, they (i mean, the afs officials, volunteers... except the exchange stus) said that ok then we are going to be frank. Just for this meeting.
So, next thing, we were asked, ‘why did you came here?’....
every answer differs...
Max (USA) said that he came here to grow... then he was asked if he was growing... he said ‘i think so’.
Sebastian (belgium) said that he came here ‘to relax a little before entering the university, to escape from his house for some time, and to just f*ck around’... (take note: im quoting what they said)...
cedric (germany) said that, too.
Candice (france) said that she came here to learn spanish and to know the culture of argentina.
((i cant remember what the others had said... basically, it was actually the same thing. Me, i said that we were told that we are here as ‘ambassadors of goodwill’ and i simply want to have an adventure))
then, the president of the chapter in tucumán said, “when you reached buenos aires, you have already escaped from your houses; you have already relaxed a little; you have already f*cked around; you all speak spanish very well now and you already know about the culture of argentina... so your objectives in coming here are already done. Why waste more time here? You can all go home.”
It was basically a “barahan to the max” moment.
Then we were asked about the things that we like and dislike regarding afs.
the belgium guy said that he doesnt like the rules. He said that you have to ask for 5 thousand permissions before you can do something. Well, basically, he’s of age (he’s 19) so i can understand his definite dislike for rules. But then the afs volunteers and the chapter president explained that rules are everywhere.
You go to a university, there are rules.
You go to any country, there are rules.
And an organization wont be an organization if rules dont exist.
Max said that he thinks that afs is a family that he doesnt need. He said, he likes his ‘consejera’, agustina, but that’s it. He doesnt need the meetings, reunions, he doesnt need the organization.
Apparently, the others wont keep quiet. They said that he wouldnt have met agustina if not for the organization. They said that the organization is not composed of a single person only. We have our hostfams and hostschools because the entire organization worked for it.
Then, patrick (USA) said that we were asked to give our opinions... and that’s what we are doing. They dont have to insist that our opinions are wrong. They dont have to change our thoughts coz that’s exactly what it is: thoughts.
So, my turn came. I simply shared to them about the point of view of my hostmom.
I cant recall when was it. the subject just came up. She told me that she doesnt think that what the ‘consejeros’ are doing is sufficient. well, she said that my consejero simply phones her asking ‘how are you doing? is kim doing fine? how’s everything?’ or something like that... then she will reply ‘yes, everything’s fine. no prob. everything’s ok.’ or something like that...
she said that what if everything’s not okay? what if the hostdad is a serial killer that has never been caught yet? what if the hostmom is a schizophrenic psycho with a loose bolt? (pardon me for the redundancy)...
my hostmom’s point is this: regular phonecalls aren’t sufficient to ensure that everything’s going fine.
she said that if the consejeros would just give regular home visits to the stus, then chat with the hostfam and the stu for some time, then they could actually KNOW what’s going on inside that house...
i agree with my hostmom. and the others actually agree, too. cool.
then, i cant actually remember everything that everyone has said or done but after around two and half hours, we found out that the idea of ‘frankness just for today’s meeting’ has really been taken seriously.
the chapter president, alejandro, had spoken to us. he said that some of the exchange stus arent ready to come here, just paid and then off they go... he rhetorically asked us, ‘after your exchange years here, what could you bring back home? if anyone will ask you back in your countries about what you have done during your exchange year, what would you say? would you have anything to say?’
then he explained that before we came here in argentina, we signed up documents and one of those documents says that we are suppsoed to study here. well, the thing is that most of the exchange stus arent here to study or anything like that. technically, almost all of the exchange stus dont need grades from argentina so basically, almost all of the exchange stus dont do anything at school. well, alejandro explained that we dont have to obtain 10 in our reports or exams or something like that (the grades here is from 1 to 10). he said that he just wants us to put some effort in participating in class.
participating, he emphasized, not sleeping.
he elaborated on our answers to the question ‘why did you came here?’... he said that if we came here to learn the language and know the culture, then that objective has already been done. and then what? if that is our objective then we now have nothing to do. we can fly back home right now.
he also said that some of the stus dont exert any effort into integrating with their hostfams. some treat their hostfams like hotels...
for-eating-and-sleeping-only.
he said, ‘there are families that dont want to have any exchange stus anymore because they’ve had bad experiences with taking in exchange stus. the relatives and friends of those families dont want to either because they already have bad impressions. tucumán has lots of exchange students because there are families willing to host. if you keep on making bad impressions, sooner or later we wont have anymore families that will be willing to host anyone. im not telling you to be saints because you arent. im not telling you to change your attitudes. im just asking you to think of your actions first. if you cant do it for the organization or for yourselves, do it for the next batch of exchange students.’
(of course, he said all of that in spanish. i cant really remember everything. his so-called speech has been long.)
he also said that if it was him, he wouldnt pay 8000 dollars just to f*ck around on some other country. he said, “there are many other people who really want to be exchange students but they couldnt bcoz of economical issues. you people are lucky to have the chance. and what are you doing now wasting your time here? i know that after this meeting, you kids are going to go back to your old ways. nothing’s going to change, that is for sure. you’re going to say ‘im tired with all of alejandro’s stupidities’. no problem. but i want you to think. i want someone to ask you ‘why arent you f+cking around with your hostfam now?’ and you’re going to say ‘oh, a moron told me not to do that anymore.’. think, guys, think very well.’
cedric kept on telling me that im a saint, that im too much of a good girl and everything like that but i am no saint. im not a goody two-shoes. a far cry from it... (but he also said that it’s better to be called saint than to be called slut)
i know i’m no saint. but i also know that im not here to f+ck around.
and i also know that even though im not actually ‘that good girl’, im going to have something other than spanish to bring back with me.
next topic!
i made an article. i cant remember what it was for but it was anne who asked me for the article so i made it.
i want to post it here but i cant and i wont.
------ curiosity is an incurable, uncontrollable disease... and im actually infected with the malignant version of it. -------
btw, the movie ‘The Kingdom’ directed by peter berg totally rocks!!!
and the movie ‘The Shooter’ (dunno who directed it)....
is there a movie DieHard 5 now???
anyway, new fantasies:::: to become a hacker and to be able to shoot at a distance of 2km.....
not-so-random question::: how do you apply for CIA???
stuff::: check out ashton kutcher and chase crawford.XOXO
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