I have been immersed into the western world for almost five years now..and just today while I was talking with a co-worker we talked about the kind of life they have in Europe and the kind of life I had back home.
How lucky they are for having free education up until University and they can choose any courses they want. It seems they've got everything that most people in my country dreamed for. Then she asked me how life is in my country...oh well, I said, college education is not for everyone, it is a luxurious privilege that only some can afford, and if ever there are scholarships we need to outsmart hundreds of thousands of others who wanted just the same, that's why maybe in our country, we regard education as a gift, a very precious one.
And she goes, like...'oh, that's very interesting, cause here, we tend to disregard it'. Socialist Europe tend to disregard it, cause everything is taken cared of by their government, health care, welfare...and yes, their countries are the happiest place to live. But as I continue on talking with my colleagues, boring them (or so i thought) with my life back home...I'm beginning to think...life in Europe is not at all as happy as we know..
I began my story...
Back home, when I was a kid, I learned to swim not because my parents enrolled me in swimming classes but because I live close to the beach and swimming came naturally. I learned to grow a garden not for the fun of it, but for the benefit of having to eat something for food, I learned to give food to fowls (chicken) not just to see them gather around but to have to care for them for livelihood. I read books, cause we don't have TVs back then, I learned to cook on the fire I made out of sticks and stones. I learned to iron my clothes with a pan.
I know how to make popcorn through the wasted palay (the one that the farmers had separated from those that they will refine for selling), to curl hair from the twigs of plants, to sell balot or ice cream on the streets, to cook and care for the younger siblings, to clean the house, to go fishing with a fishing net, to climb mountains, to ride the buffalo and just being with the nature.
Back home, we learned to play sports, tennis, volleyball, basketball, not because we are part of the clubs or parents enrolled us but because it's part of the privilege of being in the school, that's why you'll know that when you are part of a sport team, you're probably something special cause the team is composed of the chosen few.
We learned to play games as kids, even without legos, or barbie dolls or PSPs and Xbox...we played on the streets or on the shore just about anything, against each other or a team.
It's not exactly as fun that time as it is now, thinking about it, because before all I can think about is playing. I was a kid. I need to make food cause it's my turn to make food, but then it's so hard hearing all those other kids, having fun, playing hide and seek. And up to now, I can't understand the rationale on while we need to sleep in middle of the day.
Childhood. Back then was fun. I don't know now. But I definitely enjoyed mine.
While I looked dreamy, talking about these things, my co-worker, was left awestruck. She was like 'you probably did more on your childhood, than I could ever do in a lifetime'
Yes. I did. Maybe. But then there's the regression. But whatever, I am always grateful, that I have made so many memories of the past, worth remembering and i think it really made a big impact on my life.
While I was writing this...it made me think..where have those street games gone?
I was hoping to make another blog on that next time, i think this is sort of long now.
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