Overwhelmed, Overran

After taking a break with David Sedaris' Naked and Holidays on Ice, I'm back to reading non-fiction stuff. I'm now one-fourth into reading The World is Flat by Pulitzer Prize Winner Thomas L. Friedman. The experience so far is overwhelming; much of what I read are new to me not because I was totally unaware of it but more like those information which I deliberately ignore and take comfort at benefitting from without totally understanding. Those bits of information are those which I have categorized along with how exactly does a jumbo jet stay afloat in the air. Yeah, I know bits and pieces why it does, or the general idea why such is possible but it was a choice to just live with it. Afterall, I do not need to know everything about the world, I am not God, and the less I know, the more peace I'll have in my life, that is, peace, brought about by faith.

My peace disturbed, yeah, that's what happened after reading the first parts of The World is Flat. What particularly disturbed me is the knowledge that, as the world veers toward globalization at the collapse of communism, there are also those who resist it due to their religious convictions - the Islamic extremists, who are motivated enough to disrupt with the ultimate purpose to avert the onslaught of globalization of capitalism. To me, it is not a new thought that the world, well at the very least our globalized world, have become so much dependent on the advances in telecommunications such as satellites and the internet. Due to outsourcing of services, many businesses are able to cut costs and be more profitable. On the other hand, many individuals and families gain employment as outsourced service providers. Even offshored productions, such as those in China, are highly dependent on the advances in telecommunications with respect to transporting these goods and delivering them where they are needed. Focusing on the internet, made possible by fiber optic innovations, my question on how it actually works was answered, the answer which had long been staring at my face: Fiber optic networks are fiber optic cables physically laid beneath the earth, along the ocean floor - continent to continent. Of course! I remember when I was in U.P., they had to dig and lay down the fiber optic cables around the campus before the entire campus was connected. Of course! They did the same around the world! It is actually mind boggling but after reading about the telegraph cables connecting Manila and San Francisco and the Oil Pipelines from Alaska down to the other States, it was indeed how we are connected via the internet right now. Realizing this, I was gripped with fear. If there fiber optic cables are physically laid down the ocean floor, they are definitely unguarded unlike the oil pipes in Alaska. Given the drive and the technology in possession of terrorists who detest the current world order foisted on, nay, embraced by the world, it is not entirely far fetched for them to target bringing down satellites, destroying fiber optic cables which would result in the disruption of rendering of services, stoppage of production, all of which could lead to another stock market crash, recession, famine, global chaos. It is dreadful, horrible.

We are so vulnerable. We have made ourselves so vulnerable.

Sigh. I've had enough. I sometimes hate it when my mind is stimulated too much. I thus went back to reading 1421 on China's maritime feats pre-European navigation.

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

"I'm impaired!"

It’s one thing to read a work of fiction about a person with autism (i.e., The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime which was very insightful, in fact), and another to read a person’s musing about his mentally retardation. David Sedaris is actually a very gifted person; he has the ability to produce a writing which is engaging, not only unboring but highly entertaining. I call it cerebral humor. And we are talking about the written work of someone who has been licking the light switches in his school and at his home, who counts his steps from his school to his home, and does ritualistic tasks along the way, such as touching the telephone pole at the 314^th step, at exactly the same spot. I didn’t have to read the rest of his litanies of rituals to know I was reading a true to life account of a real, authentic, clinically obsessive compulsive. The fact that his books are brimming with brilliance makes me wonder how he reached this far, from point A to point be, from being considered a problem child by his math teacher, to a bestselling author.

It brings to mind my classmate in grade school, run by nuns and considerably expensive, who was a frequent target of my teacher’s dust chalk filled blackboard eraser, or her chalks, or just about anything she can lay her hands on. It was only when I became a grown up and a lawyer did I realize I had witnessed child abuse, as defined by law. My classmate happens to be branded a bobo, because unlike most of us, he still couldn’t read. Perhaps my teacher was actually frustrated on herself and her inability to make the boy read, and turned her wrath on him for making her look like a bad teacher (he was reputably one of the better teachers in that school). Reading about dyslexia, aphasia, anomia in college made me recall this classmate and grade school and the realization that my bobo classmate could have been suffering from dyslexia when he was young that why he couldn’t read! While he had to leave our school and finished his education from a public school, I heard that he eventually improved and in fact, belonged to the first section, graduated with honors and even became a Chairman of the Sangguniang Kabataan in his barangay!

Thinking about it, perhaps our schools, our classmates, and even ourselves were judgmental, so I suppose, our parents were. For where would we get the idea to brand a classmate as bobo, tanga or engot if we weren’t brainwashed into making personal imputations, as if these people branded and labeled were the ones to blame why they seem to be quite slower than their other classmates. After all, it was out of ignorance that insanity was previously thought to be due to demonic possession, and homosexuality was considered a mental illness. It is this admirable that David Sedaris, despite his sexual preference, has been able to carve a niche for himself as a writer who happens to be gay rather than a gay writer. He was different, perhaps from the day he was born, and refused to give in to the pressure to conform (of course, he can only do so much). He may not have had what some would call a perfect life, there have been a few snags here and there, but he seems to have been able to live his life the way he wanted, picked up himself where he had slipped or splattered himself, became happy for it, and is now sharing his colorful life through his writing. So if you want a really light reading and do not have any chronic jaw injuries, I recommend getting hold of any of his books. Be prepared to get incredulous stares while you’re guffawing by yourself.

Let's Talk!

For those interested in learning a new language and be certified for it, especially Mandarin, I'm pleased to share with you my recent discovery. It turns out that there is a Chinese government sponsored Mandarin qualifying test similar to Spain's D.E.L.E (Los Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera) administered through Instituto Cervantes in Manila, the French language qualifying exam adminstered by Alliance Francaise, and of course, IELTS for the English language, administered here by the British Council. The test is called Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi or HSK. HSK is administered in China and other approved overseas location. Here in the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University inagurates today the Confucious Center and which hsll be the authorized office to administer the HSK in the Philippines.

In a feature article in PhilStar Magazine's October 1, 2006 issue, it was written that "the government of the People's Republic of China, through the Ministry of Education's Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), has established Confucius Institutes around the world for the promotion of Chinese language and culture." This is similar to Spain's Instituto Cervantes, named after Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervates, which aims to promote Spanish language and culture. The Ateneo Confucious Center offers Basic Chinese in 6 levels, Intermediate Chinese in 6 levels, Business Chinese, and Classical Chinese. Classes are conducted in the Makati Campus on weekdays and the Loyola Campus on Saturdays. Course fees are at a minimum of P3,800 for the Basic levels. Incidentally, other language courses in Instituto and Alliance Francaise also charge a course fee of not more than P3,000.

I have been very interested in enrolling at the Confucius Center since I read about the announcement a few weeks ago. I am particularly interested in Basic Chinese 2 because I have already taken six units of Chinese 10 and 11 in U.P. and attended a Mandarin language course in Languages International. Unfortunately for me, Basic Chinese 2 is only offered in the Makati Campus at 6pm and since I'm off from work at 6pm, I will definitely not be able to make it to class. I guess I will just have to wait till they offer Basic Chinese 2 in Loyola on Saturdays.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am also planning to enroll at Instituto Cervantes. Right now, I'm reviewing on my own so that I will not be levelled as a beginner (and consequently save a few thousand pesos in course fees). Spanish courses in Instituto Cervates are offered in Quezon City, Ortigas, Makati and in Manila and they are structured this way: Levels 1 to 5 for Beginners and Levels 6 to 10 for Intermediate. Diagnostic tests are conducted at their Manila center every Tuesdays and Saturdays at 3pm. I'm hoping that after reviewing my Spanish (which I learned by taking up Spanish 1 in UP and by listening to Menudo and Ricky Martin songs (seriously!), watching a few Spanish movies, and reading Pablo Neruda's poem compilation with English translation side by side), I will qualify to enroll at Level 3 or higher. I eventually plan to take DELE and HSK. Wow! I'll be quite busy the next few months doing this! :) Fun!