Sunday, July 8. I was in my aunt’s house upon her request for me to sleep over. She arrived from Belgium where she is now based, a few days ago. During breakfast we engaged into some “how’s your life” thing. She launched into a full blown PR for that small European country, as if she was an agent trying to convince someone to try their product. She emphasized how better life is in Belgium, how there is much less disorder and corruption. She practically bragged about how elections are more peaceful and Garci-free. People in Belgium give way to other motorists so as not to create traffic jams, she said with her nose held high in the air. It was an exhausting talk, and would very much appreciate if it would end before lunch. Trying to put a stop to the “Philippines is a wasteland” campaign, I asked her a question I thought would surely shut her up because it was something she is directly affected.
“Hindi ba mataas ang taxes sa Belgium,” I said smugly. But I regretted asking that stupid and thoughtless question.
The extremely high taxes are justified, she answered. “Unlike here...I would never stay in the country for more than a month,”she said ending the ad, with something akin to disgust in her face.
Like Dr. Kilop said, the feeling of belongingness to a country starts with empirical rewards or benefits. The nationalistic in me would really like to berate my aunt for thinking so negatively about the Philippines and being so pessimistic about the future of the country. But I realized I cannot tell her that there are far more benefits staying in the Philippines than living in another country. Besides, the people there are kind to her.
She told us a story about a Filipino in Brussels who stole tomatoes in the supermarket. Her disappointment was understandable but why are negative things the only ones she remembers about the Filipinos?
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I worked for a call center a few semesters ago, not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. I still remember that I once told myself that I would never set foot in a call center office, but well, I took those words back shamefully. The company’s clients were Australians. New hires need to pass an “accent and diction training” before they are allowed to do the job. Why is this so? I asked my team leader and he said that this was because they needed to sound like Australians. So they have to pretend to be Australians? He said not really, but agents cannot outright say that they are Filipinos. Why, I asked to him again. Because Australians wouldn’t be comfortable talking to non-Australians, he said. The conversation ended there. But the answers generated more questions than answers really. Why would they be uncomfortable? I don’t feel uncomfortable talking to people of other nationality. Do they consider it beneath themselves to talk to a Filipino?
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