Lit and summer likes.

I remember in high school how I hated Literature. For four years we read Shakespeare's works plus those of Carl Sandburg, Keats, Shelley, Browning, and other American and English writers and poets. We disliked Literature because we couldn't understand them, and perhaps because the teachers were un-interesting.

To a teen, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, Silas Marner, Portia and Annabel Lee were distant personas and we were busy liking John, Paul, George and Ringo or the fab four (The Beatles) as they were called then.

Portia and Shylock in William Shakespeare's  Merchant of Venice

Other times we were busy planning for afternoon soirees and eagerly waiting for the appearance of our high school crushes during lunch break and dismissal.

High school algebra was boring because of the teacher but English was interesting and so was Spanish.

The Monkees, like the Beatles, also ruled the airwaves and the Ed Sullivan show was the top ranking US variety show.

Locally, the Sampaguita stars who ruled the late sixties and the seventies' big screen were the Batang Bakasyonistas, Batang Artista and Batang Iskwater - the likes of Rosemarie Sonora, Gina Pareno, Blanca Gomez and Loretta Marquez and the guys, Pepito Rodriguez, Bert Leroy Jr., Dindo Fernando and Edgar Salcedo.

RJ Jacinto and the Moonstrucks were Manila's top bands, and house parties were the craze with neighbourhood bands providing the music. Bye Bye, Jerk and Mash Potatoes were the dances much like today's gangnam fame. 

Boogie woogie was passe, clean cut was out, and bell bottoms, printed shirts, clogs and long hair were the fads.

Formal attire of the mid-70s.  Princess Anne and Capt. Mark Philips' engagement announcement in 1973

At school and at parties, boys took to one side and girls at the other side. Boys went to the girl's house some weekend evenings if he were interested in a girl, and brought gifts, too.

Phone pals and song hits were the buzz words, and local TV dance shows had titles like Dance O' Rama and Night Owl.

Manila's streets were relatively safer as gangs or "tambays," hang out at neighbourhood convenience or sari sari stores, and only victimized girls through their hoots or whistles or pranks.

Street drugs were unknown and local liquor were San Miguel Beer, Tanduay Rhum,  Ginebra San Miguel and the liquor cum tonic called Sioktong.

Sioktong came in bottles and can be bought by glass. (Note: you bring your own glass and the grocer or sari sari store owner poured the Siok Tong)

 

Gabriel "Flash" Elorde was the masses' sports hero and Mang Paeng (Rafael Yabut), and Damian Soto were the radio super newscasters and commentators.

The young Gabriel "Flash" Elorde, world's junior lightweight champion for seven years

Gabi ng Lagim, Lagalag, and Tia Dely were the radio drama and suspense hits, and Botica sa Baryo was Sunday evening's comic relief.

On TV, the Three Stooges and Superman were the the young people's favorites.

Local chocolates had names like Nectar and Nestor, and buns and bread were called pan de buntal, pan de limon, and kababayan.

Mid-morning and mid-afternoon reading materials were Tagalog comic books like Hiwaga Klasiks, Pilipino Komiks, Espesyal and the Liwayway Magazine. They were the Lit of neighbourhood kids.

The Bargain Bins.

Whenever I visit my sister in Ohio, I'd pass at the huge Premium Outlet in Grove City in Pennsylvania, if I'm driving along I-79, and in Steubenville itself, I'd always shop at K-Mart, and the Gabriel Brothers in the neighbouring city of Weirton, West Virginia.

A lot of times, I'd drive from Toronto to Buffalo on a whim,  a one and a half hour drive, to shop at another huge Premium outlet on I-98 at Military Road or at the Niagara Falls' Canada side- Outlet stores.

In Toronto, I'd drive to the neighbouring city of Vaughan for its Factory Outlet stores or to Mississauga for another mall with outlet stores where you can buy factory priced Adidas or New Balance sneakers, Levis jeans, Calvin Klein's, and other branded goods.

The big Premium Outlet stores are a bargain shopper's haven, with brand name stores like Bose for sound systems, and for shoes and clothing, there's Nike, Coach, American Eagle, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Gap and many other brands.

At Gabriel Brothers, it's best to shop at end of season days, and at K-Mart, it's everyday sale prices.

Then there are the franchised Dollar Stores; my favorite is the Dollar Tree, where you can buy a can of Hormel Vienna Sausage for 39 cents, and sometimes, 3 for a dollar.  Ziploc sandwich bags, a roll of aluminum foil and hardware items such as paint roller brush and gloves all cost a dollar each. A big can of Folgers or Maxwell ground coffee costs about $7.

In Manila, there are no Premium outlets nor Dollar stores. The closest things to a Dollar Store are the DIY and Japanese Home Stores where the cheapest items cost about 66 or 88 pesos.

My fave is the DIY where you can find good merchandise such as dog collars and chains, garden hose, electricals and computer accessories at cheaper prices, and hard-to-find items such as wrist bandage or bike tire air pump. At these bargain shops, you walk in to browse and walk out with a 1000- peso worth of purchase. 

Other known bargain areas are the Flea Markets of Greenhills, St. Francis Square near the Megamall in Mandaluyong, and one at the Market, Market at the Global City.

At the Greenhills' Tiange or Flea Market, you'd bump into foreigners haggling for Louis Vuitton bags or Nike shoes.

Of course, even before the word "flea market" came into the vocabulary of Manilenos, there were the Divisoria and Baclaran markets, the original bargain capitals of Manila.

The original baratillo, bargain market of Divisoria

Bargain sales used to be called "baratillo," the Spanish word for second hand or cheap goods. That's why Filipinos call those cheapskates as "barat."

Baclaran Market

Remember the Love Bug?

My first car was a Beetle. Colored orange and then another Beetle, colored aqua blue.  Both were reliable and sturdy compacts which were able to traverse flooded Metro Manila streets of yesteryears.

Then came a Ford Brenda. Later an Isuzu and just recently, a Plymouth Voyager mini-van.

Now, I drive a Montero.

Last Sunday, while on a trip to Cavite, its battery got weak and I had to get a series.  Back in Manila, I found out it had a 21-month warranty while it's just on its eighteenth month with the SUV.

Unlike the two previous Beetles, the Montero is a four-wheel drive and still goes berserk when you hit on its gas.

It is a beauty physically, too, that's why perhaps the household members find it irresistible and make its various parts play various roles.

For instance, its hood gets decorated with flower pots, sometimes with small trash cans, too, candy containers, mosquito swatter, etc.

Its metal bumper becomes a clothesline for little rags.

Inside, the dashboard becomes a little altar with small religious statues and icons. The mid-section compartments are cluttered with combs, paper fans and notebooks. And the driver's drink compartment gets loaded with coins.

Alas, the luggage section is fully mine, so I get to put my car tools in it.

The neat freak in me gets its fangs out when I see the add-ons in full view. I simply see red.

My old love bugs were supposed to be user friendly and they were; they didn't care if they had add ons, or less ons.

Manilenos are clean freaks when it comes to their vehicles. Their cars get washed everyday by the help, never mind if the water is expensive or just a drip.

In U.S. and Canada, where there's no household crew, people go to drive- through car wash and presto in five minutes, get a spotlessly clean car. Or wait for the vehicle to get really dirty, especially during winter, before getting the vehicle hosed down.

In Manila where most car wash services are done manually by car wash boys, car owners wait for at least an hour to get their cars out.

So while here in Manila,  I do most of my car wash, outside and inside clean up, and rely on a regular on-call mechanic. 

Because vehicles are a lot cheaper in North America and car financing much easier to obtain, the car buying public gets to choose from a wide variety of car makes and models. And practical car owners often lease or buy used cars.

For instance, a cousin-in law, an engineer for a big car manufacturer, rarely buys a brand new vehicle. He prefers used, top-of-the line cars.

In Manila, people prefer brand new because the old ones get poor maintenance, like batteries that die within two years. 

The SUV is the ruggedly handsome mode of transport for today.  The Love Bug is the manly car women love to cuddle.

Re-cycles.

The other day I stumbled upon the website of the old office I used to work for and found the same old programs I helped design and delivered and managed myself. 

Canada has been accepting newcomers to its doors like no other country in the world. Filipinos, people from India, from mainland China, Eastern Europe and African nations continue to flock to Ontario and its other provinces.

But are they getting employed? Easily or do they still face barriers like the ones which were encountered by newcomers some twenty or fifteen years ago?

When I looked at the interventions being offered at Skills for Change, I began to realize that the old  barriers could still be there. For if not, why are the same programs and services of twenty years ago still being offered today.

Or do service providers lack vision, creativity and problem solving skills to come up with new, and "bulls-eye" employment and integration schemes and programs?

I remember students and clients complaining then that the job search programs that were offered were like degree courses in resume making, job interview skills and researching companies which could have been compressed into shorter courses, and focused more on hard skills or technical courses.

And suddenly I remember reading a few weeks ago how first world economies of today would lag behind countries like Nigeria, Vietnam, India, Brazil, the Philippines and other such emerging economies. And a vision came into mind.

Thirty years or so from this date, Canadians, British, Americans, Italians, and French may be migrating into Asia, Africa and Latin America for employment and better lives.

Would they integrate easily into the new culture and new language?  Would there be the same biases, and barriers?