Oh, we know our place. We know almost every corner, every tree and wall, every neighbor and dog in the place we live. We know every move and sound; we even know the smell of mornings and evenings. We know our place so well that we no longer see what all is so special about it, as it has already become something regular, something granted. Only in times when a foreign visitor gets to see our place for the first time that we get reminded of how special and how precious in fact the place - our place - is. It is by what the foreigner shares and recognizes as remarkable that we see things once again and with other eyes.
Saskia, a student from Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium in Neustadt an der Aisch in Bavaria / Germany visited Naga over Christmas under the roof of the Exchange Program on Education, Culture and Teaching Objectives (EPECTO), and it was upon her return back home that she found time to share what so touched her mind, what so warmed her heart when she was still in Naga.
One might now think that it were mainly the tourist destinations that impressed her most, but the intention of her visit was not really on such. Sure, she did visit Iriga, the Mayon Volcano, Lake Buhi with its Sinarapan, but it was the immersion in Bikol life, the Bikol every-day-routine, the Bikol mentality and Bikol ways, that caught her. She was not really a tourist, as her visit was about cultural exchange. Saskia was supervised and guided within EPECTO and under the wing of its Coordinator Sir Rey Hernandez, who arranged her schedule for the visit and by that made space for Saskia to truly enter into the experience of a bit of Bikol life. He created a very people related approach that opened doors to her which would never open just to a tourist. What mattered here was that Saskia was a student visiting Ateneo de Naga University as a student. So she got to experience classes and campus life, she met ordinary students and faculty, she lived not in a hotel but in an apartment, used jeepneys and tricycles, roamed the "Centro" and ate street food, like do other Nagueños. She shared a number of days given permit to being a fellow Bikolana for that time of her visit.
And today she shares to us: "In Iriga, I was deeply struck by the creativity of Filipinos on matters concerning small-scale income generation. One of the most beautiful examples of this is the 'railway traffic' in Iriga. Since the tracks cut through the city and the hinterlands, and since the tracks are mostly sandwiched by rows and columns of houses erected on both sides, some residents have decided to build their own businesses from it. They created makeshift railroad carts with benches on them, and designed them in such a manner that they could be manually pushed on the tracks. Short-distance commuters can avail of this independent transport system as an option. If the railroad cart finds itself in a collision course with another cart, then the cart that carries a lesser load should temporarily evacuate the tracks to give way to the other. Although the entire thing could be regarded as private, unofficial trade, nobody seems to interfere in these affairs."
In Naga I attended "different course sessions in the college. The college there differs from our schools [in Germany]. The lecturers, some being as young as 21 years old [while in Germany they are at least 28 when they start teaching ], hold classes in simple classrooms where the strong drizzles can sometimes whip their way through open windows. The primary medium of instruction is English, and the students are, in my opinion, unusually calm and timid [unlike German students]. There was only one instance in which a student asked a question."
"My ... time in Naga, ... gave me my best memories in the Philippines, since the city showed much heart, which made it intensely pleasant despite the simplicity and the poverty that hovered on the landscape. I fell in love with the tricycles ... . I also fell in love with the traffic, which seemed to give away a gist of the Filipino way of life: everything seems to be based on intuition, and the rules are generally laid out freely."
Yes, we know our place, but most of the time we take for granted what we have, as we have grown to be so used to things being as they are. Let us be grateful that at times there are some other's eyes, some other's perceiving that educate us to once again value what all we have, what all enriches our lives, even if this is already and long a part of our regular daily life. Let us step out of our usual ways of looking at things and - even if only for a while - perceive things as if they were brand new to us and unknown. By this, I believe, we will grow grateful and happy, as in fact there is much to our lives that is a genuine pleasure. Let us live our daily routine in the awareness of such fortune.