Philippine Cadet on Japanese Soil (Part 2)

The Baka Brothers

In Filipino, "Baka" means "Cow".In Japanese, it means "Stupid".

We were called the "Baka Brothers", my foster brother and I. We entered the National Defense Academy and we stayed in the same room, had the same classes, have the same foster parents, and had the same problem... we cannot understand Japanese. If you look at us, it is impossible for us to be brothers. We are complete opposites... height, color, we lived on opposite parts of the world (he in Romania, and me from the Philippines)hence the difference in cultures, we have different tastes in food, different views in life, and the list goes on. But we are brothers, not only because we have the same foster parents, but because we treat each other like real brothers. We look after each other's back, listen to each other's mourns, and laugh at each other's jokes.

For two years, we belonged to the same company and we were shouted at when we made mistakes, we were laughed at when we told jokes, or just stared at because we were just plain strange. For two years, we kept guard of each other's back as we were wading through our plebehood years, and we still are.

Then the time came when we were separated. He was assigned to another batallion which made it hard for us to keep in touch. But still, he was still there when I needed him, and I tried my best to be there for him when he needed me.

We spend the holidays together with our foster parents, we dived together the seas of Okinawa and Kerama Islands, we scaled the mountains and temples of Nikko, we rode together the Guiness Book of World Record holder of the fastest and the longest roller coaster near Mt. Fuji, fished in a boat on the shores of Chiba, and a lot more. We've done a lot of things together, but the one thing we wanted to do but until now failed to do, is to be drunk together!

Only more than a year to go before we graduate, and will go separate ways. But we will be brothers for life. I remember him sending me an email about how he looks up to me, how I taught him things, and how I made him the cadet he is now. But the thing is, I feel the same for him, and I thank him for being a brother to me.

Long live the Baka Brothers!

Philippine Cadet on Japanese Soil (Part 1)

Courage, Honor, Propriety 

We all here of stories about Philippine cadets being sent to American Academies. In fact, one of those lucky cadets became a president of the Philippines (Hon. FVR). They carry with their names the pride and prestige of PMA, as well as the fame that comes from being one of the few. To those who were left behind, they wonder what kind of life these chosen people live. Some feel envy, some feel pride, and some just are apathetic. To those who were chosen to represent the Philippines, they also wonder what kind of life they left behind, and what will become of them in the future. These are the questions that sometimes come to us, the lucky (or in some ways, unlucky), the proud (or sometimes humiliated), and the chosen. I am a Philippine cadet, now on Japanese soil, striving hard to give our country a good name. I will try to share my experiences here thru this blog to let others know our laugher, our tears, our sweat and blood, our hearts. Our tongues might be of foreign land, their faces a little bit yellow, but our hearts are just the same... doing our best, striving for excellence in the preservation of peace.

Wondering

Have you ever noticed
that the worst way
to miss someone
is when they are
right beside you
and yet you
can never have them?

…when the moment
you can’t feel them
under you fingertips
you miss them?

Have you ever wondered
which hurts the most:
saying something and wishing
you had not, or
saying nothing and wishing
you had?

I guess the most important things
are the hardest ones to say.
They are the things
you get ashamed of
because words diminish them.
Words shrink things
that seemed timeless
when they were in your head-
to no more than living size
when they are brought out…


Have you ever decided
not to become a couple
because you were
so afraid of losing
what you already had
with that person?

Your heart decides
who it likes
and who it doesn’t.
You can’t tell you heart
what to do.
It does it on its own…
when you least suspect it,
or even when
you don’t want it to.

Have you ever wanted
to love someone
with everything you had,
but that other person
was too afraid to let you?
Too many of us stay walled
because we are too afraid
to care too much…
for fear that the other person
does not care as much,
or at all.

Have you ever loved someone
and they had absolutely
no idea whatsoever?
Or fell for your best friend
in the entire world,
and then sat around
and watched him fall
for someone else?

Have you ever denied your
feelings for someone
because your fear of rejection
was too hard to handle?

We tell lies when we are afraid…
afraid of what we don’t know,
afraid of what others will think,
afraid of what will be found out
about us.
But everytime we tell a lie…
the thing we fear grows stronger.

Life is all about risks
and it requires you to jump.
Don’t be a person
who has to look back
and wonder what they would have
achieved if they just weren’t
too afraid to try.
Live your days as if
they were your last…
experience everything.
Laugh and smile and cry and learn…
And dance like nobody’s watchingand love like it’s never gonna hurt.

my first post

BLOG. I don't know anything about blogs. I once heard that a blog is like a daily diary posted on the internet. But it can be read by other people so there goes secrecy of the diary. They also say that it is a good way to keep in touch with your friends... that those friends network thingie is out and blogging is in.

I once thought that blogging is not for me... noting that my english is deteriorating for staying here in Japan for some time. Except for my very close friends, my life is a mystery...even for me. I told myself that there is no way I'm gonna open up to the people around me, especially here in the intenet. But everyone does it... and they seem to enjoy and be contented in it. I told myself, why not give it a shot? Why not try to open up, maybe bit by bit, of myself to people around me. It is hard to share yourself to others if you, yourself doesn't know yourself. Maybe by opening up to others will show the way to discovery of one's self.... hmmmn....

So here am I... stepping into a path unknown to me... to a path I once told myself not to take. What to write, what to write, I do not know.