Recently Starstruck

I was going to the Ayala Museum, and I had to ride an air-con bus. In which I had to deal with it because I don't like air-con buses. The smell of the air disturbs me. And in the Philippines, if there's a big bus, people who sell peanuts go in it saying, "O mani, mani, bago pa." (Translation: "Oh, peanuts, peanuts, while it's fresh"). Once those people come in to sell, the smell of peanuts mixes in the air and making it even worse.

In a few minutes, we (my parents and I) went down to our stop and walked all the way to the museum. But when we went down, I had to stop walking and breath the fresh, clean air. I had a little history with air-con buses. I get dizzy all the time, depending on the bus' smell.

Now we started walking again, and finally reached the destination. As we walked, I saw the one and only, Jessica Zafra. So I went in the museum and paid my ticket fee. Since I was a student, I got a discount. From ₱350, I paid ₱250. I'm happy that I'm still a student.

I took my seat alone. (At this time, my parents walked around Ayala. That's why I'm alone) As I got my notebook and pen ready, I overhear people beside me talking about glasses. They're complete strangers, a young woman, and an old lady. They were talking about the grade of glasses. I wanted to talk to them, but that's none of my business.

After overhearing the two women's conversation, Jessica Zafra went up and said: "Hello, thank you for coming today, let's just wait for a few minutes for the other people to come in because of the strong rain."

Waited we did, and now started. Jessica introduced herself, and gave us an introduction of what the lecture was about. It was the "Filipino Campaign for World Domination: 2014 Update."

She told us that the Filipinos representing us are NOT the business men/women. It is the "yaya" that represents us. (A.K.A the household helper/babysitter)
But of course, some Filipinos represent us in other kinds of work, but it is, usually, the yaya. Why? Because of the few jobs we have in the Philippines.
Note: Another translation for "yaya" is "maid."

Another thing that Jessica talked about is:
"That the Filipinos follow the rules in other countries than their own county." It may be because that Filipinos in their own country are used to the rules and how things go. While in other countries, they are not sure how to behave and want to show a good Filipino image.

"If you actually follow the rules, you feel like an idiot," -Jessica Zafra.
In that sentence, Jessica tells us an example: "Pretend that you're going home, and it's raining so hard and the traffic is just so wild. Since you follow the rules, you walk under the taxi stand to wait and no taxi arrives. But there's also another person in a mad rush to get home. Since he's impatient, what he does is to walk out and waits for a taxi. Eventually, he did get one and arrives home hours before you get home."

After the talk, there were two questions that I wrote down:
Q: "What motivates you to write?"
A: "I limit my Internet time, and I have no television. And 'No reading, no writing.' because you do not no the wrong and rights if you don't read."

Q: "What will the world look like after dominance?"
A: "Good question. A good looking world"

All questions were answered, and there's book signing.
I went in line for her to sign my book and she said
"This is for who?"
"For Anton."
"Here you go." She gave the book back to me.
"May we have a picture?"
"Go ahead."
"Kuya, pwede pa picture kaming dalawa?" I asked the person behind me.
(Translation: Excuse me, could you take a picture of us?)

When I left, I took a peek at what she wrote. She wrote: "For Anton, hang onto this copy. It is out of print." I just smiled. She wrote that because of the copy. The copy I gave her to sign was from 1994 and I wasn't even born yet. (I was born 2000) My sister passed in on to me. I saw her signature, I just realised that she signed her name backwards. That's clever.

I have a short letter for you, Jessica.
"Dear Ms. Zafra.
     You should be in a Ted Talk.
                     From Anton."

More said by Jessica Zafra:
"Sitting in traffic for three hours is hateful and ugly."
"Spaniards can work as maids in the Philippines for us to get revenge on the colonization."
"If you want to work abroad, you have to take an English test. As if English isn't one of our main languages."
"A Lea Salonga image is what we want other countries to see. Not Charice Pempengco."
"People in the Philippines will record themselves and post in on YouTube and hope to be noticed by Oprah or Ellen."

It was a pleasure meeting you, Jessica Zafra.
Visit her blog at www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com

That's all for this post.
Go check out my main blog, AntonReyes