Happy New Year to you! (yes you, my reader :P) I hope you had a wonderful 2010. New Year resolutions taped somewhere in the house? Ha. I remember when December 2008 was about to come to it's end, Brandon and I wrote down our goals for 2009. We like to write down goals instead of resolutions although they're pretty much the same. I taped my list on our bedroom wall and Brandon taped his on the side of his computer monitor.
Speaking of goals, I'll try to update this blog more often this year. Maybe at least once a week? So wish me luck. Also, I'll make the following changes to my blog:
-Overall blog look. I'll make it more simple and more clean-looking. If I haven't mentioned it yet, I'm a minimalist. So less is always more for me. Always.
-Blog address. I didn't wanna do this but I'll be using the address of this blog for my photo blog. So I have to think of some new address. And maybe change the blog title too. Suggestions?
What are your goals and planned changes for this year?
...since I stepped on the grounds of LAX. Looking back, I arrived past 8 pm and when I got out of the airport with my husband and his mom, I was freezing. How can I forget the very first food I ate? We stopped by a Taco Bell drive-thru for dinner. It is Brandon's most favorite fast food and he thought that I might love it as well, so he got me 2 burritos. I had 2 bites before I started to feel like throwing up. I don't remember anymore if I threw up or if I was able to hold it.
Food and not homesickness was my biggest problem. I came to the US weighing 100 lbs or maybe a little heavier than that. Two weeks later, I was 95 lbs. For about a month or so, I lived with toasted bread (with butter and sugar on each slice) for breakfast, rice and bacon for lunch, and pizza for dinner. I always prayed for Chinese take-out every night. Americans don't eat breakfast and lunch. By that, I mean they don't make meals in the morning and at noon. They only prepare food for dinner. So growing up in a culture where people eat a complete meal (which means main dish + rice)at least 3x a day, this was strange to me. Thanks to my discovery of Filipino recipe websites on the internet several months later, I was able to eat again my much-craved Filipino dishes.
For 3 years of living in the U.S.A., a completely different country with a completely different culture, I've learned a lot of things such as:
Americans don't know what the word viand is. When you're referring to "ulam", just call it main dish. Lots of them don't know what nape (back of the neck) is either.
Say "fridge" instead of "ref" if you want to be understood.
Even if there's not a bath tub or a shower inside, it is better to say "I need to go to the bathroom" instead of "I need to go to the C.R.".
Americans call different footwear differently from how Filipinos call them.
Flip-flops- are those thong rubber-made footwear that we call slippers in the Philippines (although more and more Filipinos have adapted the term flip-flops).
Slippers- those are the fluffy close-toed ones we wear inside the house, which they only wear here during the cold season.
Sandals- anything wearable on the sand (this makes sense!). Your pair of Islander are not slippers, they're sandals. In Philippines, sandals are those that look more formal, like the high-heeled and strappy ones.
Shoes- In Philippines, what we call shoes are usually those that are black and made of leather or faux leather such as those that we wear to school and church. They also call those shoes here, but what we call sandals are also shoes to them.
Filipinos call it bag (the kind that a woman slings on her shoulder), the Americans call it purse.
During the Spring and Summer seasons, the sun sets at 8 pm or later.
Unlike what Filipinos think, just because you're dark doesn't mean you are attractive to Americans, and likewise, not all fair-skinned girls are unattractive to them.
American use forks to eat, even with rice. They only spoons for soup.
It's not true that American's rarely take a shower. In fact my husband showers more often than I do. He does it twice a day.
Never upstage the bride. Whether you're one of the bridesmaids or just attending the wedding ceremony or reception, you can't look more beautiful than the woman being married. I've actually heard funny stories about some brides purposely planning ugly dresses for the bridesmaids to make sure they won't steal the "spotlight" from her. So keep your dress simple.
People in the US call more than they text.
Americans are generally animal lovers. They treat their pet like a family member.
In the US, they pay much respect to the cops, military, and other members of the US forces. Usually, before a show starts, the host would call any army in the audience to stand up, then ask everyone to give them applause...something that I had never seen in the Philippines.
Americans are generally polite. They don't push around no matter how long the line is. They ask "how are you doing?" whenever they get the chance to. They probably don't always mean it but the point is, at least they make an effort to greet. And they always say thank you.
Americans are book lovers.
They pronounce a the same way that they do e that's why they always misspell than for then, and that's just one of the words always misspelled. Example: Instead of writing I'm better than you, they always write I'm better then you. Americans are not as conscious with spelling as Filipinos are.
Spaghetti is a dinner food, not a dessert. And unlike how Filipinos make spaghetti, they never include ketchup in the recipe.
Never never never use the term "niger" unless you're looking for trouble. Although African-American is the politically correct name, black is also acceptable.
Most Americans don't eat fish that still has it's head on.
Cereal is the most common food for breakfast.
Grandma is pronounced as gran-mah, and grandpa as gran-pah.
Their biscuit is not the same as what Filipinos call biscuit. This is what they call biscuit:
They don't call it washing machine. They just call it washer.
While we Filipinos are content with either steaming; boiling; or frying rice, Americans have more ways of making it.
I don't think Americans can live without paper towels in their homes.
It's definitely not true that all American girls are no longer virgins by the age of 14.
American women are not as wild as they are portrayed on TV...unless they're from bigger cities like New York, and many American parents are not as tolerant of their children as Filipinos think. Many are actually still conservative. In the Philippines, little girls wearing skimpy and sexy dance costumes are allowed even in schools and most parents don't mind because they find it cute. But here in the US, as far as I know and have observed, schools and parents don't allow little children and even young teens to unnecessarily expose skin.
I used to find all black people unattractive (since I was raised in a culture where dark skin is less appreciated). Now I know how to identify which ones are beautiful and good-looking.
Regardless of her marital status, use Ms. + her first name to address a woman politely, such as Ms. Karen, Ms. Jill, Ms. Ann, etc.
White guys don't like big butts for women. Black and Hispanic men do.
Those who grew up in the US don't peel pineapples. They just cut 'em.
You can rarely find a calendar hanging in an American home. So far, I've only been to one house where I saw a calendar hanging on the wall.
Everything here is in jumbo size/portion. I was like "OMG!" when I first saw how big their burgers, drinks, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc. were. The large McDonald's drink in the Philippines is the regular size here. Double the size of the sandwich you get at a fast food there, that's how big their sandwiches are here.
They don't eat their Oreo without milk. :)
These are all I can think of for now. It's 3:46 in the morning and I need to go to bed, haha. I will update the list later. Oh, and if you can add more, please do. :)
I tried this lifestyle a couple years ago and was surprised that I did it successfully...1 month? 1.5 months? 2 months? I don't exactly remember how long I had been eating meat-free. So why am I claiming to have succeeded at vegetarianism if I stopped? Well, in all honestly I did not miss meat, although in the first 2 weeks I did. I stopped because I was horrified looking at the mirror and seeing how skinny I had become. I wore size 00 jeans and XS shirts. I felt really light and looked starved. Well, I was starved! And it was all my fault. I dived in immediately to the decision of being a vegetarian without much preparation. I just woke up one day and decided to stop eating pork, chicken, beef, and even dairies. Weighing under 90 lbs. after several weeks, I was desperate to win my normal weight and healthy physique back that I had to quit vegetarianism. It was kinda sad for me because I felt like I failed and all my efforts went to nothing.
Two days ago while viewing some videos on Youtube, out of the blue, the thought of looking for PETA videos suddenly popped into my head. Really, that was very random. I don't even know why the letters P-E-T-A came to my mind. I hadn't been thinking of going vegetarian again or whatever. So I typed "PETA videos" and different heart-breaking and disturbing footages on animal cruelty displayed.
The video below was an enough wake-up call for me to go back to living meat-free. While watching it, it just broke my heart so much that I came to this realization: "How can someone enjoy something that another creature had to suffer for?" Without a second thought, I made the decision to stop eating meat again. The next day, I planned my meals for the rest of the week. For those who do not know, there are many types of vegetarian diet. I decided to start with being a Pescatarian. A pescatarian is a vegetarian who does not eat all types of meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish. Aside from pescatarian diet, I also consume dairy products. I don't want to rush again into being a vegan (a vegetarian who refuses to eat all types of meat as well as every food product that comes from animals), so I'll do this little by little, takin' short strides at a time.
Warning: The following video is heart-breaking. Watch if you want to know why YOU SHOULD NOT EAT MEAT.
We understand things differently. While your opinion may differ, mine is that animals are supposed to be our friends, not our food. They struggle to live just like we humans do. They breathe, they think, they cry, and they feel pain. So what gives you more right over the animals? If you're saying that they are here for us to eat, humans can survive without eating meat. Humans choose to eat meat to satisfy their tastebuds. You may say that you eat meat but you also love animals and are against animal abuse. My opinion is that, if you love animals, you won't support the idea of killing them for food.
"My body will not be a tomb for other creatures." ---Leonardo Da Vinci ( a vegetarian)
