Having Fun Writing In One's Own Language

The opportunity to write using one's own language  decreases as one finds himself happily embracing a foreign language in the bosom of a foreign land.

I've started living in Port Moresby in 2011 and have not since written much anything with Tagalog except for the numerous simple words that I've typed in chatboxes when communicating with my friends and relatives.

With simpleness, I mean that it's something that anyone who's familiar with it can fairly understand although the composition of the words being used is of a literal "text-mode" form. 

Hypothetical conversation that involves common "text-mode" lexicon:

Kuya Jun: "oist!"

Me: "y kua!"

Kuya Jun: "Heypi bday!"

Me: "tnx. gift q!"

Drawing Sue Ramirez With Faber-Castell Classic Colour Pencil

In Papua New Guinea, an expat may find himself contemplating at some point in time about how his life closely resembles the saga of our solar system wherein the Earth is revolving around our sun in a circumscribed manner in which the strong gravitational pull of the sun keeps the earth from being swept away of its orbit. Let loose a bit and the Earth will find itself taking a path to uncertainty while infinitely sailing through the darkness of the ever expanding universe. Like a planet, depending on how one should put it, the life of an expat might take a spin only within the collective encasement of three familiar entities: the house, the office, and the shops.

A Barbecue Party In Port Moresby

The last few weeks in Port Moresby have been, as what most responsible media would call, intense. There has been a few standoffs between the authorities and students of UPNG. Like any other democratic country, it is a common knowledge that every once in a while, incongruity between the citizen and the government can become temporarily highlighted. As an armchair observer with no specializing degree in political science, I find myself to be fundamentally unfit to comment on such a delicate matter and it is best left to those who really breeze through the complexities of politics. 

However, my views stand still that in general, Papua Guinea is a peace-loving country.

But having preceded this post with such substance, I’m now having a hard time finding the right words to swiftly transition my ideas from the intricacies of governance into the joy of cooking barbecue in a Barbecue Party.  I guess it’s easier to begin with finding out what’s on the menu today? 

Filipino Foods You Can Cook In Papua New Guinea

A very little concern that most Filipinos have in mind when moving from Philippines to another country is food. Some will find it daunting to try foreign foods during the first day of stay while others take it as an exciting feat. 

I, myself, is a fan of eating unfamiliar recipes. It's nice to try them every once in a while. Initially, I was pondering on the thought that If I ever came here, I would have to say goodbye to Filipino foods. That was swiftly proven otherwise after making a few trips to various shops around here. Although what's readily available here were not as much as a neighborhood sari-sari store has, what one needs to have is just a wee bit of resourcefulness to come up with something close to pinoy recipes.

Rain In Port Moresby

Before my journey in Papua New Guinea has even begun, I had already looked its geographical location up on a globe as part of self-mind conditioning approach to leaving home for another country. It is located in an area just below the equator at around half the longitudinal line. 

Google says its exact coordinates are 6.1360° S, 143.9555° E.

If you take a ruler and measure out the distance between Port Moresby and the Equator, and use the same measurement to outline the space between the Equator and the Philippines, you will end up in areas around the Northern Mindanao. As a child, I have lived a couple of years in Cagayan De Oro. At around May to July, that place will receive a lot of rain throughout those times.

Life Goes On At POM

 “And when darkness dawns upon us all, fear not and stand tall, because only in darkness that light may appear bright and noticeable.” Said I.

And while I was composing this, I hastily asked my staff these through the LAN Messenger, “Dispela tupela kakaruk na rais, em hamas?” 

(Translation: This two-piece chicken and rice, how much?)

Faber Castell 48 Classic Colour Pencils + 2B Pencil & Sharpener

When I was three decades younger, I used to fill the backmost pages of my notebooks with sketches of just about anything I could draw.  I usually sketch in school and mostly during classes.  I know it wasn’t a good idea to begin with, but if you had a last name that began in letter "V" you'd end up being asked to sit at the back along with other children whose surnames started with y, u or z. Far from the teachers prying eyes, it was not long until I found myself filling up my notebooks with crayon sketches.

Fast forward to today’s era,  I notice a big leap in the development of art tools. Back then, I was fine with crayons and watercolors and they were an indispensable kiddie art tools. Now, we have oil-based and wax-based color pencils which can really color drawings more vividly and lively.