Mikaela's Moon

Since April 22 was Earth Day, National Geographic had a great line up of programs that tackle the environmental issues on our planet. One of the programs is Silence of the Bees.

This program really taught me a lot. It has also helped me realize that honeybees are very important to the ecosystem. They are the reason why some plants grow fruit. Without them, the flowers will just wither and die and will not blossom into fruits/vegetables that we eat.

To learn more, please watch this program:

http://ngcasia.com/watch/program_details.aspx?id_program=6230

"Scientists say we may be facing a global catastrophe. In the last six months up to 80% of honeybees in the US have disappeared. Now the nightmare has spread to Europe. Are bees the "canary in the coal mine"," the first signs of a massive ecological collapse? Eye-popping, macroscopic photography will get up close and personal on the crucial role bees play in our ecosystem."

I became a bookworm when I was in Grade 6. I remember buying my first ever Sweet Valley Twins book ("Stretching the Truth"). After reading that, I became a fan and regularly read the other Sweet Valley Twins books. Soon, I was raiding through our school library for other books and I discovered I liked Enid Blyton, Fear Street and Christopher Pike books.

I started doing my own writing when I was in high school. Reading opened me up to a world of fantasy and freedom. Writing has no rules. I can write whatever I want. I started my own diary and I always pretended that my diary was a biography. In my 2nd year high school, my friends and I shared short stories about our own lives and we called ourselves the Sacred Mountain group. I remembered my character's name was Alisha Sharie Stanfield and I was the group leader and a very rich girl. I missed those stories.

I wanted to be a writer. However, my parents told me I won't be able to make a career our of it. I wanted to take up Journalism in Univ. of the Phils., but I ended up taking a computer course in a different college instead. Until now, I've always thought about writing again. Maybe I can start with short stories and have them published somehow.

I've also been a big fan of paintings. I used to love to draw and paint. I had only one goal in mind: to draw and paint the perfect female face. I had tons of drawings of faces. Sometimes I would get teased about them because they never had bodies. The human face is so beautiful. So many contours and angles and emotions. My dad probably threw them away when we went back to the Philippines, along with my paint brushes and paint and stuff.

Art was my favorite subject in high school when I was in Malaysia. I was taught about brushes and watercolor and pastel and shading. In college, I aced my Art Appreciation subject on my first year. We learned how to distinguish paintings and I found another love: classical music. Our professor was a solo pianist, and he introduced us to classical music. Our tests would include listening to several minutes of a piece and we need to write down the title and the composer. I loved those. I loved listening to our recorded test "questions" over and over again in my Walkman so that I could memorize them.

Until now, I'm thinking about taking painting lessons and buying classical music Cd's (if I find one). For now, I'm trying to come up with a good topic for a short story. Painting will cost me so maybe I'll skip that for now. I have not painted anything in 10 years now. I don't know if my hands will still know what to do.

For now, it is back to work for me and time to wake up to reality. Back to QA reports.

I want to go back to Malaysia soon. For those who do not know, I lived in Malaysia from 1991 to 1995 with my family. My dad works there, and my mom and I left Batangas City to a new life in a town called Miri in the Sarawak state.

I remember I was almost 10 years old back then. I was about the start Grade 4 when we left. It was indeed a memorable experience for my mom and I. We left the airport early and arrived in Miri at lunch time. Everything seemed new and strange and scary. The next morning, my parents dropped me off to school, and I was scared shit. It was a Shell school, which means the kids who study there have parents working for Shell or Petronas. The headmaster (or principal) was British. There were two "streams": Dutch and English. So I was sent to the English Year 5 class. Inside, I wanted to cry because I didn't wanna be with those foreigners. I had zero confidence in my English, and I kept thinking how the heck am I gonna talk to these people. My classmates were like United Colors of Benetton: British teacher and a whole lot of mixed classmates ( Australian, American-Filipino, American-Singaporean, British, African-English, Spanish, French). Everyone was really nice to me on my first day, but I didn't feel comfortable. I barely spoke to anyone. All the books, notebooks, dictionaries, paper, etc were there in the classroom. I just had to bring myself and my snack.

I managed to survive the first day. On my second year, Year 6, I was more outspoken. Things got nasty when my Spanish classmate got jealous over the new boy in class. His name was Craig Bennett, and he is English-South African. He was designated to sit next to me, and for some reason, little Miss Popular Spaniard got jealous and decided to spread rumors about me. Yeah, I learned the hard way. At first, I didn't mind, but I later learned that Craig didn't invite me to his birthday party because of HER. That bitch. The good thing about it was that I finally realized who my real friends were. I can never forget my friend Zayna Jaafar. She's from the Middle East, and she is very intelligent. She can speak French fluently! She invited me to have lunch in an exclusive club with her mom and siblings. Her family is really nice, and she was my first Muslim friend. I hate it sometimes when people stereotype Muslims as terrorists, because they are not. It is like stereotyping Filipinos as domestic helpers.

Nadine Green was my classmate from Year 5, and we became pretty close. She is American-Singaporean. Her dad is from Texas, and her mom is Singaporean-Chinese. She is a very cheeky girl. The boys love her because she was one of the first to have her period in school at that time. Yeah, stupid I know, but back then my schoolmates thought it was cool that she was already having her period and wearing bras. But she was great to me, and it was fun having her around.

Unfortunately, I've lost contact with them after they left school when we were in Year 6. Only 3 of us made it until the end of the year. Most of my classmates went back their respective countries because their daddies' contract with Shell ended already or they need to go back because the school didn't offer high school. It was sad, but I was excited about it because I would be staying in Miri.

I had to learn how to speak in Bahasa Malaysia because I was going to a private Malaysian school. Why? Because I had nowhere else to go. There were no other schools left for me to choose from. The Malaysian public schools would not accept me because I was not a Malaysian citizen.

When I transferred, I was back in Primary 6 because I was only 11 and cannot go to high school yet. Majority of my classmates (and schoolmates) were Malaysian-Chinese. A small majority were Malay. There were a few Filipinos in that school, one of them named Danette who also hails from Batangas. We had a blast speaking in Tagalog LOUDLY in school because nobody would understand, not even the teachers, so nobody could scold us. Haha. We could swear and curse all we wanted. She was a great athlete and very smart. I was proud of her when she became a prefect when she was in Primary 6. Remember in Harry Potter where they had prefects? Sort of like school officers. Anyways, after Primary 6, I went to high school (secondary school they called it) in the same school. There were like 7 or 8 of us in class. I was the only one who was not Chinese in the class.

I stayed in that school until I was in 2nd year high school. I was known as the loud don't-mess-with-me girl. Discrimination was fierce, and I was called many names. I will never forget a girl named Ting Kaka, who was a year younger than I was. I heard her comment to her friend that I was a "Bosnian girl" because I was so skinny during those days. Unfortunately for her, I heard it and I really let her have it. I left the Philippines as a timid shy girl, and when I studied in Malaysia, I had to learn how to stand up for myself. I've had students telling me to "go back where you came from". I retorted that THEY need to go back to China and that their ancestors arrived in Malaysia as slaves. Ah well, history is very helpful.

I remember that I always had the major roles in plays and dances and other stuff in school because I looked Malay, compared to my Chinese schoolmates. So whenever the school had to perform a traditional dance or Malay play, guess who got the role? Yeah they didn't really have a choice, did they? It was also an advantage that most of my schoolmates could not dance and I could.

My proud moment was when I was named Best Speaker during an English debate when I was in second year. The second years were debating against the frouth years. We won, and I was Best Speaker, and that shut up those freaking jerks in school. It made me feel food that my two other team mates in the debate were the two best students in the entire school, and I got the award. Shniy shiny moment indeed.

I had a reunion with my Malaysian high school classmates two years ago, and it was nice. We still keep in touch. I'd love to go back to Miri and see how things have changed. I want to see Bulatan Park again, and watch the afternoon joggers go around the park. I want to drink Ribena juice, mi kering from Krokok market, eat mi goreng from that small resto in Pujut 3, and drive by my old school and see what's left of it. I heard they no longer have the high school there, because there were very few students.

I learned a lot from my stay there. The most important thing for me was that I had the chance to grow up with my dad in my life. My dad has been working overseas since I was a baby, and living in Malaysia has made me realize we had a lot of things in common.

After my second year in high school, my mom, brother and I went back to Batangas City where I graduated from high school.

Hopefully, I can visit Miri again someday soon.

Have a good weekend to everyone!

Selamat pagi!

To the cutest little brother ever,

Happy 7th birthday! I cannot believe that you are so big now. I remember I was already in college when you were born. I was already 20 years old and I thought Mama was joking when she said she was having you.

You have always been the quiet one in the family. You can be really sweet and quiet one minute, and then very mad the next. I am so proud of you dear brother. I almost cried when you climbed up the stage on your graduation day. Everyone loves you in school and you are so popular.

I hope that you will grow up healthy and independent. Right now, you are still a baby to everyone, but I know that someday you will to be more outgoing and adventurous.

Thank you for keeping Mama company and for making her smile with your cute antics. Thank you for loving your older brother Marven despite his shortcomings. I know he sometimes hurts you, but I know when you grow up wou will understand that your brother is special and I hope you will stand up for him when someone else steps on him.

I love you very much dear brother! More happy birthdays to come!

Love,
Your big sister