She woke just in time to respond to the nagging pressure from her kidneys. Her cellphone was vibrating on her bedside table. Aside from the unbearable desire to pee, this was what woke her up. The caller is not listed on her phonebook and the number has a +49 area code.
She never had a caller with this area code. Could this be her mother? But her mother who works in Hong Kong has a +85 area code. Maybe it's her friend from Norway. That's strange; why would she call at 1 o'clock in the morning? Perhaps, it's her aunt from Singapore? No, that's not her area code for sure. She felt a sense of dread when she thought that it's probably the people from the scholarship she applied for. Are they calling to confirm her acceptance? Her palms started to sweat and her heart skipped a beat, but before she could answer the phone, it stopped calling just like that. She got lost in the silent darkness and for a moment she forgot that she's supposed to go to the restroom. Nah, it's a probably just a prank call or somebody who dialled the wrong number. It was best that I didn't answer it, she thought.
After relieving herself, she went back into a fitful sleep.
The next morning was a holiday, Independence Day to be exact. Lying on bed, savoring the hassle-free morning, and mulling over the activities she planned for the day, her thoughts drifted to the unknown caller. She got up, opened her netbook and checked the +49 code in Skype. Her friend from China popped her a message. She's not in the least interested to have an early morning conversation, but perhaps she could talk to her about the early morning call. So she typed back with an enthusiastic how are you and asked whether she knows what country has a +49 area code. Her friend responded Germany.
That's strange. She doesn't know a single soul in Germany. Hitler maybe and Anne Frank...
Her friend asked her why she didn't answer the call. She replied that a call from an unlisted number early in the morning gave her the creeps. It reminded her of the movies where the caller's just standing with knife ready to strike behind an unsuspecting victim. Her friend said, grow up. Next time he/she calls, answer the phone, ok?
Ok, she replied. So that day, Independence Day, she missed called the unlisted number twice. Once at 9 o'clock in the morning and once at 7 o'clock in the evening. That'll encourage the caller to call back, she thought.
True enough at 3 o'clock in the morning the next day, the same number called and woke her up. The conversation went like this:
Caller: Hello, why did you call me today?
Callee: You called me first.
Caller: Oh, I'm wondering. How much do you charge for your English class?
Callee: I haven't thought about that. You're from Germany, right?
Caller: Yes.
Callee: Where did you get my number?
Caller: From the Internet.
Callee: And what's your name?
Caller: Matthias. M-A-T-T-H-I-A-S
Callee: How old are you?
Caller: I'm 30 years old.
Callee: What are we going to use if we're going to have a class? The phone, the Internet?
Caller: Skype
Callee: Why do you want to learn English?
Caller: Just for communication.
Callee: Actually, it's 3 o'clock in the morning now.
Caller: I'm sorry. I'll call again some time.
Callee: Yes, please do. What time is it there?
Caller: 9 in the evening. I'll call again some time.
Callee: Please call three hours earlier or so. Goodbye.
Caller: Goodbye.
So, the unknown caller turned out to be a 30 year-old German named Matthias who wants to learn English. She was excited with the prospect of teaching someone from Europe that she could no longer sleep. Later that day, she asked her friends how much she would be charging this German for a one hour English class. Her colleagues suggested $10/hour. Europeans are rich anyway. She thought $7.00 is fine, but her friend said stick to $8.00. That night, she anticipated the call.
When the call didn't come, she decided to send him a message about her fee and she thought about the many topics that she'll be sharing with this German. She thought that he must be handsome since his name sounds handsome enough. His voice followed her throughout the day. It wasn't the nicest sound what with his heavy accent, but the memory's enough to make her smile.
She waited and waited for his call, but he didn't call. He never did.
At this point she felt sad. Did he think I was too expensive? She regretted the message she sent. She wanted to send her a message again, this time she'll say her services will be for free. It's just for communication, anyway. Besides he could use a friend, right?
But he never called again. And still with her sense of pride, she never tried to contact him, too.
Sometimes, early in the morning and when she'll have that nagging pressure from her kidneys, she would check her cellphone to see that maybe there would be a message from him or maybe a missed call. But no messages nor calls from him. There's only the silence of the night and that urged to pee. She feels utterly alone.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Thoughts on Retirement
What I like about being in the College of Education is that we really give time to celebrate and honor our retirees. The dean and the VIPs under her would set aside a day (they would usually coincide it with the COE general faculty meeting) to treat the people who have spent most of their lives in service (30-40 years of being in the university)
Today, we gave tribute to Prof. Lazarito and Dr. Morano. As the older faculty members gave their speeches and praises for the retirees, we the young faculty can't help but think about our own retirement. Even if we still have many years ahead, I can now imagine how my retirement party is going to be like. In my case, I'll still have 30 years to go before I officially retire and perhaps if God is good and if I'll still be healthy, then maybe He'll allow me to give service to the univ for 35 more years. I hope that my friends will still be around to give me a nice and warm speech about how I was as a teacher, as a friend, and as person in general. Maybe that time, I'll be crippled by arthritis and I'll probably be straining my ear to hear what the people are saying. Worse, with how I abuse and overuse my eyes now, I'll probably be half-blind by then!
Even then, I can't help but be amazed with the retirees. They've given so much to the univ and along the way of many years of teaching, they've built friendships stronger than any ties. I like that. I know I've made several friends already and I do hope we'll retire together. When that time comes, I'll be as happy to give speeches on their retirement party.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Semicolon; My Favorite Punctuation
Don't you just love semicolons? It's a cross between the Zen-like meditation of a period and the Lamaze-like breathing of a comma: relaxed, peaceful and therapeutic.
It's a punctuation that asks you to take a longer pause and to calmly separate your thoughts from each other. It reminds us to take our time and choose our words and sentences carefully. It does not allow us to jump from one thought to another the way a comma would tell us to, or to keep on enumerating our thoughts (in jagged breaths) the way a colon would ask us to.
Also, a semi-colon looks sexier than any of the punctuations. Who wants to have the ghastly vampire bite of a colon, the tearful pauses of a comma, the condescending and selfish attitude of an apostrophe, the hyper jumps of the of an exclamation mark, and the drunk and incoherent garble of the ellipsis? The semicolon is even a perfect balance between the Yin and the Yang, if you get my point (thank you, Freud).
If the punctuations were in a classroom, semicolon would be an exceptional student. Why? She (I'd like her to be a strong female) is the ever meticulous writer carefully drafting her compositions and the cautious math whiz slowly solving her equations. She'll be a varsity player of the volleyball team and her eloquence will land her on a spot on the debate team. I bet she'll even be crowned as the Prom Queen what with her glamorous looks and star quality.
Know what I think? I think we should set aside a day in actual homage of this humble punctuation. We'll call it Semicolon Day, of course. It's going to fall somewhere in June because it's the middle of the year and semicolon is one balancing-act punctuation.
On Semicolon Day, people will be required to put on their best suits and dresses, and everyone MUST bring with them their sunny dispositions. Frowning will be a big no-no. People's conversations all throughout the day will be punctuated by semicolons:
"This is one lovely day; thus, I won't allow it to be ruined by the spilled coffee, by the traffic on my way to work, or by my grumpy boss."
"I hope everyone gets a bit of sunshine this Semicolon Day; a smile from me will definitely brighten up their day." (Flashes a smile to a passing stranger)
And everyone will flash their smiles to every person they meet and people will wonder why it can't be Semicolon Day everyday.
So you see, semicolons should be given the attention it rightly deserves. I think it's high time that semicolons come out of the shadows of colon, comma, and period. Semicolons deserve to make a mark, too and what a sexy mark they would leave!
It's a punctuation that asks you to take a longer pause and to calmly separate your thoughts from each other. It reminds us to take our time and choose our words and sentences carefully. It does not allow us to jump from one thought to another the way a comma would tell us to, or to keep on enumerating our thoughts (in jagged breaths) the way a colon would ask us to.
Also, a semi-colon looks sexier than any of the punctuations. Who wants to have the ghastly vampire bite of a colon, the tearful pauses of a comma, the condescending and selfish attitude of an apostrophe, the hyper jumps of the of an exclamation mark, and the drunk and incoherent garble of the ellipsis? The semicolon is even a perfect balance between the Yin and the Yang, if you get my point (thank you, Freud).
If the punctuations were in a classroom, semicolon would be an exceptional student. Why? She (I'd like her to be a strong female) is the ever meticulous writer carefully drafting her compositions and the cautious math whiz slowly solving her equations. She'll be a varsity player of the volleyball team and her eloquence will land her on a spot on the debate team. I bet she'll even be crowned as the Prom Queen what with her glamorous looks and star quality.
Know what I think? I think we should set aside a day in actual homage of this humble punctuation. We'll call it Semicolon Day, of course. It's going to fall somewhere in June because it's the middle of the year and semicolon is one balancing-act punctuation.
On Semicolon Day, people will be required to put on their best suits and dresses, and everyone MUST bring with them their sunny dispositions. Frowning will be a big no-no. People's conversations all throughout the day will be punctuated by semicolons:
"This is one lovely day; thus, I won't allow it to be ruined by the spilled coffee, by the traffic on my way to work, or by my grumpy boss."
"I hope everyone gets a bit of sunshine this Semicolon Day; a smile from me will definitely brighten up their day." (Flashes a smile to a passing stranger)
And everyone will flash their smiles to every person they meet and people will wonder why it can't be Semicolon Day everyday.
So you see, semicolons should be given the attention it rightly deserves. I think it's high time that semicolons come out of the shadows of colon, comma, and period. Semicolons deserve to make a mark, too and what a sexy mark they would leave!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Addict
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Summer Class 2013
I was at first hesitant to accept the subject, Children's Literature load this summer because I wanted to just read and write and sleep for the entire break, but it turned out to be one of the best summer classes I've handled so far. Instead of focusing on Western children's literature, I gave extra attention to Philippine children's literature which I believe was more fun and rewarding, not to mention nationalistic.
These are some of the pictures from the Literary Press Conference that served as their final exam. They gave such an impressive performance. The pictures are scanned from their documentation scrapbook that's why they're quite tiny.
These are some of the pictures from the Literary Press Conference that served as their final exam. They gave such an impressive performance. The pictures are scanned from their documentation scrapbook that's why they're quite tiny.
Literary Press Conference (Philippine literary characters only)
Maria Clara and Si Malakas at Si Maganda
A Surprise Guest! Sir Jan Raymond Cabangal, one of my first STs.
A bevy of characters
Clockwise: Lam-ang, Filemon Mamon, Lola Basyang, Darna, Bathala and Pinya
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Psych Me Up
I started my Ph.D degree last 2010 but I haven't checked any of my grades so far. I just checked them awhile ago and I was so happy that I got a flat 1.0 in my Abnormal Psychology! It gave me an extra boost to finish this degree. After I checked my grades, one of my teachers/colleagues called to inform me that she'll give me a Psychology 101 load this first semester. I'm floating somewhere in the clouds now. I can't wait! I'm going to handle two of my passions - Psychology and Literature this schoolyear 2013. I won't fail my teacher. I'll do my best, oh yes, I will.
Six Degrees of Separation
The American band The Script gave a new take on Frigyes Karinthy's theory of Six Degrees of Separation by categorizing it as a break-up song. Originally, the theory says that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction from any other person in the world so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps (Wikepedia). Ever wonder how you and your new Facebook friend has at least one or more mutual friend? The Six Degrees of Separation explains that.
The Script on the other hand used it as the six steps of getting separated from one's lover after a break-up. This song speaks true of what happens in most break-ups. Just listen to the song in this link: The Script's Six Degrees of Separation. Enjoy!
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