wander, woman

I aim to write more often about a newly discovered interest. As much as I'd like to call it passion, I feel like I should earn it, if i call it that-- a passion. You see, like most late-30 somethings in the internet, I started getting interested with plants.  Okay, houseplants. Because saying I like plants in general is killing it (the term, not the actual plants), I mean kingdom plantae is a kingdom. I have to tell you, the last time we had plants was when we moved to a new apartment in Manda. (ohhh...I did write about this before) So yes, I was a plant killer in my other Manda life. There are actually many factors that led to this, and one of them involved being so busy with work and homelife (I gave birth to P2 while I was in the end of the semester. but hey-- I still managed to sit in of my classes' finals exam. two weeks post partum). I remember looking for particular plants then-- marigolds, because I read that they are great mosquito repellents. I thought my kids would n...

Ask me to screen capture the last two things I've been working on tonight and I'll show you a screen about how to scan using my relative new printer (1 month old), and this (above). Yes I am not the most conscientious when it comes to catching up on my reading assignments, but I can readily digest a study on zinc (chelated or carbonate?) and its effects on growth among school going children. Ah, motherhood. Nothing else keeps you on your toes.

(this was written in 2015) It was the first day of the new year. my husband and i, together with our then-only child, went to Disneyland in Hong Kong to watch this spectacular show called Paint the Night. A bit odd for a family with a small child perhaps, to be spending New Year in this place of artificial lights and manufactured happiness. But I took pictures, and I did remember how my son’s eyes widened with all these lights—one of his favourite things in the world. In his eyes I saw magic. All that waiting on the sidelines, cold and crowded, dissipated. But we were not alone in experiencing this magic. That night we saw groups of Filipina Domestic Workers with their charges enjoying the show. It was one of those rare moments I saw first hand how these things like care and motherly nurture can indeed be manufactured too.   The taking turns of who goes to the toilet so that the kids are still looked after. That sharing of food, that patient nudge, hugs every now and then, when som...

I have something to ask you.  When did you learn you have it? ...Was it earlier than that time when I had to attend our school parade in Grade 1, and we needed to wear Filipiniana, and you let me go wearing a Barbie dress? ...When I was kinds upset you weren't there in the sidelines, because you were in the hospital (for what?) and you let me bring a small bilao (women tray) with some veggies--I remember that sitaw (stringbeans). ...and I was not in the mood afterwards, you asked me why and I said it's because most of my classmates (just one or two, really) wore really regal clothes, had those period jewelry (it was a maria clara choker), and their bilaos were so full with lush veggies (and I realise now that must have weighed a lot), and that their moms were there, being all supportive and telling them "magpupunta tayo sa SM pagkatapos" (we'll go to SM afterwards). And you laughed. It was a teasing laugh. You always tease me, so I know that laugh. You had to rete...

I am writing about foreign workers. In host countries that is what one calls them, these newcomers/ temporary workers/ immigrants who take in these jobs a local will not want doing, daresay last in doing. These foreign workers, from my side of the conversation are some home countries' exported labour force-- usually driven by economic needs, to feed their family-- and in many ways a sending country's saving grace. Remittances are inflation free, and sending them away makes less people to sustain. This is in many ways an exploitative relationship, but for the very sake of agency let's try to believe that this is a give and take relationship, an agreement among equals.  So when issues regarding the management of 'return' (and by return I mean not just physically coming back, but the whole process involved-- of remittances, of investments, of guarantees, of homecomings) comes up I think there's only one interest that need to be highlighted here, and that is of thes...