Wanderlust

When Mac found out that I had been to Hong Kong (a fact which I’m sure he knew before but forgot over time), his initial statement was: “I envy your travelful life.” To which I really wanted to reply, “I haven’t even been anywhere! There are so many places I still have to, want to, definitely will visit! Venice, Prague and Nepal – they’re all waiting for me!” But, of course, I didn’t tell him that. He’s never been out of the country so he’ll probably just text a cynical, slightly acidic, “Hahaha, funny” back to me.

And yes, I know there are other more important things than giving Filipinos the opportunity to travel for leisure – things like job opportunities and better public health care and a competent educational system – but is it so wrong to wish that my countrymen experience the one privilege I hold most dear? (Right next to having my education subsidized by the government, of course.) I want Filipinos to travel. I want Filipinos to realize there is more to the world than this country we live in. I mean, the Philippines is undeniably beautiful, but I think all of us (not just Filipinos) need to explore the rest of the planet – to see how people of a different culture live, to observe their ways, and to learn from one’s observations.

I have to disqualify some things though: 1) I do not consider trips to the US as part of “travel”; and, 2) One really has to inhabit that place for a while, none of this one-night in the airport “connecting flight” crap.

Why Number 1? In the case of the average Filipino (and yeah, I guess I’m a bit biased because I’m basing this on myself) the American culture probably isn’t very culture shock-worthy. Just think. We speak English as well as we speak our native language, we watch American sitcoms, read American novels, listen to American music. If there’s one thing that might shock Filipinos who go to America, it might be the efficiency of things, the fluidity of daily operations like shopping for groceries or whatever.

And Number 2? It’s counted because I don’t think any person can develop a clear idea of what a different country is like unless s/he lives in it, among its people, bound by its rules and customs for a certain period of time. Staying in Hong Kong for a total of almost one year, I’ve learned a lot of things about the Cantonese. Like the fact that they don’t let kids in their Horse-Race Betting Office and the fact that they also sell pirated CD’s and the fact that they’re addicted to shark’s fin soup and the fact that their wedding photos are shot in mall rooftop gardens, sometimes with brides wearing sneakers under their wedding gowns, etc. I’ve learned so much, even during the time when I wasn’t allowed to go out of the apartment because of the SARS alert. All I had to do was turn on the TV and watch anime and the home shopping network in Cantonese, and at noon, I’d stick my head out the kitchen window and watch the kids from a nearby school walk by in neat lines, just like characters out of the anime shows I love watching so much. Also, when I wasn’t out exploring the city with my dad (often ending up wondering where the public toilets were, given that my father, at that time, already had a very temperamental bladder) I was inspecting a book-map of Hong Kong, tracing the churches and the schools, and coming up with little stories as I strolled along the roads with my imagination.

I wish Mac had experienced all that. I think it’s pretty useless studying International Studies if you don’t go out there to see all the things you’re learning about in class. If I had money, I would send him to South Korea. Then, maybe, he can get Kim Bum’s autograph, and have a life-long high or something.