Confidence Building via English Learning

There are many ways to build confidence.  One these ways is to improve your communication skills, specifically English.  More and more, we're living in an era of globalization.  We no longer work or deal with others just locally.  With the advent of technology, like internet, email, videos, and communications improvement, it is vital that we improve our English.

When our English improves, we become more confident because we can deal with others easily and more effectively.  In the Filipino culture, speaking English well could also be a sign of upper social status.  It is the lingua franca of the rich.  When we can speak English well, it gives us a certain kind of status, thus making us more confident. 

For more information about learning English, visit the American Institute for English Proficiency in Makati, Baguio, or Quezon City.

Filipino and American Relationships

It's been a long long time. I used to have over 300 hits a day during my active days of blogging, and that was only when I first started blogging several months ago. I probably have one or two visitors a day now. Consequences, right? What happened to my blogging enthusiasm? It's called work. When work consumes you, you just forget some of the things in life. I intended for this blog to express my thoughts about the Filipino life, so that my head won't explode. It's still a constant battle, but I'm winning most of them.

One of my blog readers, Jesse, asked about writing more Filipino-American relationships. I know that there are great Filipino-American relationships out there. My cousin is married to a white guy. My aunt is married to another one. Great relationships. But then again, my sister's BF needs to go. My other cousin was dumped after eight years. Me, I dated Americans here and there. Columbians too. I never dated a Filipino. Even if I am a Filipino, there was just some cultural differences between me and other Pinays. For some odd reason, I never see eye to eye with them. Instead, I got along well with non-Filipinos. This will take volumes and pages to explain. Better leave it here.

Here in the Philippines, though, I've never seen so much white worship. Yikes! Everywhere I go, I see a Filipino or a Filipina kiss a white man's ass. So insulting. So degrading. So kawawa. I know it's about this colonial mentality this and colonial mentality that. Yes, it's historical. But there is a time when we need to rise up and let it go. It's time to hold our heads up high and know that we are all equals, regardless of color.

When I go to Havana, or any other establishments in Greenbelt, I see the poor Pinoys scrambling to ensure that the white customers are taken care of. Then I see the same poor Pinoys mistreating their "kapwa" pinoys. What a sorry sight.

CAUTION: If you're in customer service, you better treat me right. I will treat you as I want to be treated. That is, customer satisfaction. I am paying for it, and I only demand good to great service. No less. That is the same thing I would give you if you were to come to my business establishment. If I am not treated well, I will inform the manager how lousy the service is, and how I will never come back again, and how I will tell everyone else not to patron the place...unless they change their ways. Pinoys deserve good treatment too. All Pinoys.

I do not bow down to the white man. I respect them for who they are as human beings. But I do not bow down to them. I am a proud Filipino, and I need to be respected not by my color or my creed, but by the very fact that I am a decent human being.