Freedom VS Money

At the moment I can say that I have more freedom than money. With this freedom, I could go to any place that I would like to go, but with less money the idea would be less possible. Perhaps if I had more money, but less freedom, I could still visit the places I wanted to go at the right time. So, I still have to choose which one is really more important and I only have a month or two to make up my mind, should I go for freedom or for money? I think living in a "blackhole" with enough money would make me forget the longing for freedom. They're both important, it's just that I can only choose 1.

Neriz write your comment on this...

Beautiful Plants Around Dushu Lake

A Walk Around Dushu Lake in Suzhou

A small waiting shed near the lake where a Chinese man was playing a traditional Chinese musical instrument which I don't know what they call it. It's like a violin but I could never make a sound when I tried it.
The waiting shed where I stopped by for a few minutes to listen to the man's Chinese music.

The three men walking by Dushu Lake.
Yes they have to put this sign, or else they would see me swimming into lake..hehe
It's already spring but I feel that it's still winter.

Xi'an Jiatong-Liverpool University in Suzhou near Dushu Lake
Nanjing University in Suzhou near Dushu Lake
Xi'an Jiatong-Liverpool University in Suzhou near Dushu Lake

50:50

Sometimes I listen to my instinct and sometimes I don't. I am usually an impulsive person and also change my mind easily. Now, I don't want to say yet because both choices are good and I can only say that I'm torn between two good options, here or there?

My World is Spinning

My favorite food doesn't taste delicious these days. Everything seems to taste like a paper (as if I have eaten a paper). Okay just assuming that a paper tastes terrible. I hate it when my taste buds are going crazy. I love eating but I couldn't eat as much since everything seems to be too unpalatable. I wish I was home. I hate it when I get sick and I'm alone.

5 Most Important Things in Life

This week I decided to find out what are the 5 things that my students consider to be the most important in their lives. I am happy to see some progress in their English communication skills so I thought they would be able to think and write the 5 words correctly. My purpose is for them to think of the things that really matter in their lives and of course for vocabulary development. I would allow them to use their mobile phones if they need to consult a dictionary. I hope they would give some honest answers.

5 most important things coming up at the end of the week.....

1. family (parents, grandparents and siblings) Chinese people are family oriented
2. friends (no wonder they are so friendly)
3. sleeping (hmmm sorry I will not tolerate when you sleep in the class)
4. money (yes I agree with you guys but it's not everything we all need)
5. love (hmm i wonder why more people considered money to be more important than LOVE)

What's in a Name?

I remember when I was in elementary school,I usually felt shy every time I went up on stage to receive my medals or ribbons for academic excellence. When the emcee would call my name, I would start wishing that I had another name. I didn't like my name since I started going to school. I even asked my mother why she chose, "Angelita", as my name. My mother just said that it's my father idea. It's a spanish name which means, "little angel". I'm the 4th child among five siblings and whether you would believe it or not, my mother just fell in love with my father when she was pregnant with me. So my father was delighted and thought that I was his angel, thus naming me his little angel. It's a long story, but to make it short, my parents' marriage was like an "arrange marriage". My mother never loved my father even if they already had 3 kids. Then, I became his favorite, so I grew up to be a papa's girl. I was closer to my father than my mother. I could not remember an instant where my father hit me or even scolded me. I always see him as my knight in shining armor, my friend and my hero. I just wonder why of all the 5 siblings, I am the one who looks different. When I say different, I'm talking about physical aspects. When someone would see us for the first time, they would not think that I am their sister. But it doesn't matter, I may not be blessed with good looks, but I can say that when it comes to intelligence I'm not far behind them. Now, I learned to love my name because this is one of my late father's legacy. Our names all start with letter A, because he believed that A is always first. I'm proud to have a father like him, though he was not a perfect father, I will always love him.

Shopping at Emerald City

Happy Women's Day to all the wonderful women around the world specially to my beloved mom and my great friends....

I went window shopping in Emerald City, a shopping mall near Suzhou Entertainment Park, but ended up buying a winter coat. But it was a good buy since it was on 80% sale. I have observed that here in China, when goods are on sale they don't display the figure like what our malls do at home. In the Philippines, if the product is on 80% sale, then it's shown on tags or on big bold letters. It's different here, for example if the product is on 80% sale, what you will see is number 2 printed in red and bold letter, so that's means you only have to pay 20 out of 100, so basically that's on 80% discount. Perhaps the reason behind this marketing style is that people would be attracted to see smaller figure.

Here are some photos of Emerald City and Suzhou Amusement Park.

Suzhou Entertainment Park

Suzhou Amusement Park

Emerald City mall

I think this design looks like Burj Al Arab hotel

This is Burj Al Aral Hotel in Dubai(I just got this photo from the net just to compare the shape)

My Century Tuna in China

I went to one of the supermarkets here in Suzhou, China and it was my first time to go there alone. I didn't know how to tell the bus driver to stop in that supermarket so I called my student and asked him to send me an sms with a Chinese character for the supermarket's name. I then showed the message to the driver that I needed to get off in that place. He nodded showing that he understood me. I felt sorry for not being able to express my thoughts in words. I just can't describe the feeling when I couldn't freely go around on my own due to the fact that I couldn't speak Mandarin. I got off the bus feeling a little sad about this language barrier. I am just glad that most of the time people thought I was a Chinese like them. Then, when I was inside the mall, I couldn't make up my mind about what to buy. Actually, I just went there for the purpose of window shopping. I went to the grocery section and in the corner I saw many flags. I imagined that the products would be imported so I decided to check. I was too happy to see the flag of the Philippines next to the flag of Japan. There are few products imported from the Philippines like tea, coffee, pineapple chunks and my favorite, Century Tuna. I was excited and I then got 2 cans worth of 22 RMB which I know that in the Philippines it's only about 4-5 rmb per can. Well, I think it's just right for any imported goods to have a price of more than 100%. Anyway, even if I don't have a skill in cooking, I bought some vegetables to mix with my century tuna. I had cabbage, bell pepper, onions and broccoli. For me, cooking is like a word that was not included in the dictionary. I never learned to cook but I am interested to do some experiments, although my kitchen doesn't look like a science laboratory. It's fun to experiment, cut and slice then mix and match haha it's like getting dressed. The result was not really excellent, but it tasted and smelled like home! I love century tuna.

2 cans of century tuna.

my experiment called, "mix and match"

waiting for the rice

and here's the result...hmmm delicious! ang sarap talaga!

I am Scared and Worried

I have been trying to stay positive in spite of the fact that the world is sick. We are facing different problems. I am always concern with global problems and how the environment is changing. In China, Jiangsu province was one of the provinces that was affected by drought and my colleagues said that this year's temperature is really abnormal. It worries me when I think about what will happen to the world when the Earth's temperature will continue to increase. I don't want to imagine the North pole's glacier melting and covering the earth with water. I have read from the National Geographic that some islands in Maldives are in the process of extinction. Scientists found out that the increase of the water level is faster than what they have expected. Many local people in Maldives are concerned since they are going to lose their livelihoods and their homes which they had for more than 50 years. Yes, climate change is happening now and it takes people's jobs and homes in some parts of the world. This situation scares me, but what worries me more is the current financial problem that the world is facing. I am worried about this economic recession that already left millions of people jobless. Every day I received a news from China Daily talking about companies who went bankrupt, people losing their jobs and divorce rate in the UK alone is going up.

What alarmed me today is that I received a news from China Daily saying that every minute, five people around the world lose their jobs. This is just for the first quarter of 2009 and it could increase in the next quarter. I feel sorry for all the people who lost their jobs and most of all I feel sorry for my two good colleagues. A job is an important possession that would make us feel confident. If given the chance to choose, I'd rather resign than being terminated by the management. I haven't tried getting fired but I believe that it's too painful. I have tried firing few employees before and I really felt bad. The first time I did it, I had to go out of the company and cried. I felt bad because I fired few people, but I'm sure that the feeling would be worse if I was the one who was fired. I could see sadness in those people's eyes and few of them cried. Even if a person doesn't like his job, his ego would be hurt if he gets fired. I felt bad because it was the company's decision yet I had to deliver the news. When I tried to fight for them and asked my boss to reconsider, he just said, "We are not a charitable institution." That time I wish that I was a company owner so I didn't have to personally fire people.

"In economics, the term recession describes the reduction of a country's gross domestic product (GDP) for at least two quarters.The usual dictionary definition is "a period of reduced economic activity", a business cycle contraction." wikipedia.
It is said that economic recession started in the late 2000s when the price of property market collapse. I thought that investing in property market is a secure business, but this recession proves me wrong. I remember talking to some British Businessmen about the idea of investing in property market in Dubai. I was able to convince some of them that investing in real estate would guarantee that they could get their capital back in just 6 months. Well, that was part of sales talk. Now, I wonder what happened to our customers who really went to Dubai to see the properties that we were selling near Burj Al Arab hotel, the only 7-star hotel in the world. Now many real estate companies are in jeopardy, and some even went out of business. One of the biggest banks in the USA which outsourced their customer services in the Philippines already declared bankruptcy. I'm worried for my students, if this problem is going to continue for the next 2-3 years, and that would be the perfect time when these young men and women are going to go out into the world and look for jobs. They're going to face a very strong competition. It is true that China is still positive when it comes to GDP, but I have read that companies are terminating employees as what other big companies around the world are doing. Although by definition, China is not in recession because there's no decline in the country's GDP. But considering that there are so many international companies that are based here in China, therefore the companies who are experiencing financial decline will still terminate employees, just like what our school did. So I feel worried for my students that they will be competing with those skilled executives and engineers who were fired. I am afraid that they won't be able to get the job because they don't have the skills needed by companies. I really feel sorry for students who are aware of the present situation but so apathetic to care about it. They think that life is too easy for them and they don't show interest in their study. For now, life could be easier for them since everything is provided by their parents. I always remind them that learning another language would be an advantage since it can be an additional skill. Maybe they don't care about economic recession because most of them belong to well-off families and they're not affected with money problems. But I could not help but worry about the kind of life they'll have after college. I am not an economist who can tell what will happen to the economy 2 years from now, but in my own understanding with our current situation I can say that job hunting for fresh graduates would not be too easy in the next few years.

I compiled some quotes about economic recession from some economists and leaders.

"Australia can reduce the impact, cushion the impact, of the global economic tide but we cannot stop it altogether." Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

"This downturn promises to be the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s,"
said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist

"While we are making progress, the journey ahead will continue to be a difficult one,"
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said.

"UK output is likely to fall by more than 2pc in 2009 with the first signs of recovery early next year as interest rates fall close to zero to stimulate the economy and to counter deflation. But the real worry is unemployment, with the number of jobless set to rise to more than 3 million by the end of 2010, it will certainly be a worrying and depressing year for many UK households".
Stephen Gifford, Grant Thornton's chief economist

“Exports will also slow down. Even though there are already new export markets in Asia, these markets, including China, are also dependent on the US economy, But still, I don’t see these impacts to be significant enough [to cause a recession in the Philippines]," said former Philippines secretary of finance Ernest Leung

MMK Gayuma: Naku Pag-ibig!

This would be my first blog entry in Filipino/tagalog. I watched this television drama in youtube and the I thought I was home. It's nice to hear tagalog drama again, although this is not my first language I learned this in school just like English as my second language. My first language is Visayan which is the language of most people in Central Philippines. Then, when I was 12 years old we moved to southern part of the Philippines which has another language called Chavacano, a creole Spanish language. (The word chabacano—which the name Chavacano is derived from—is Spanish for "poor taste," "vulgar," "common," "of low quality," "tacky," or "coarse"- wikipedia). I learned this language in less than a year which was faster than learning Filipino, which I studied for many years in school.

Malaala Mo Kaya: Gayuma (Kristine Hermosa and Jerico Rosales)

"Kapag pag-ibig ang pumasok sa puso ninuman, hahamakin ang lahat makamit ka lamang." Isang kasabihan na siya ring tumakbong tema sa kwento ng pag-ibig na pinamagatang Gayuma(love potion). Dahil sa lubos na pag-ibig na nararamdaman ni Jonny para ky Aida nagawa nyang gayumahin upang sya ay ibigin. Gayuma! kung ito'y totoo man o hindi, naku! ang pag-ibig ay makapangyarihan sabi ni Dear Charo. (tulong! ako'y nahihirapan, but I love the Philippines)....
Just watch the story and have fun!

Here are the links to this show.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
PArt 5
Part 6

Jinji Lake in Suzhou, China

I love this place, it's really beautiful and well developed as one of the tourist attractions in Suzhou. Entrance is free but there is a charge for the services such as 2-rider bicycles and motorboats. The restaurants nearby are really expensive. Most of these are managed and owned by foreigners. Next time when I'll visit this place, I'll make sure that I'll have my breakfast and will take some snacks.

A view of the lake with apartments at the background and a group of Chinese tourists wearing camouflage(maybe their soldiers or college students) with the PRC flag.

There's something with this stone that caught my attention. I can see a horse or an owl here hehe

A restaurant opposite to where we had our lunch. I love the place,but not the food and the price$

Statues of women playing board game, perhaps Chinese chess???

A bridge going to another lake.

A waiting shade, this reminds me that I'm in China. I like the style of the roof!

A landscape beside the lake.

Motorboats for viewing the entire lake.

I find this cute, the statue is wearing a roller skate with his dog behind him also on a roller skate.

I didn't expect that I would meet my colleague with his daughter on a 2-rider bicycle.