Music and Life

        High school choir sucked. Biased, didn't have the same opportunities, discouraging. These were my frustrations in my music experience. College came. Because I just love music and singing so much, my high school expetience didn't falter my desire for it. And thus I swore to myself to do everything to enter a University Choir.

        Before even UP Cebu's enrollment started, I was already checking the school website for any university choirs in the campus like the ever famous UP Madrigals, Ambassadors, and so on. Scrolling down, I saw nothing. I was discouraged. It almost made me decide not to enroll in UP Cebu. But the thought of a university not having their choir was just too weird. So I gave it a shot and I would transfer if there wasn't any choir in UP Cebu.

        Parent's orientation came. I was outside the conference hall, waiting for my mom. And suddenly this beautiful voice I heard, singing Ave Maria(not sure) for the program's invocation. From that instant, I know this will be the choir for me.

      Enrolled at the university, I began seeing performances from UP SERENATA, UP Cebu's official choir, one after the other. From the intermission number of “Don't stop believing” at our freshie orientation to “Seasons of Love” for the Club orientation. I was full of excitement. I was impatient. I wanted to audition right away. After they announced the audition, I talked to the first person I met from the choir, kuya Bap, and asked for audition schedules and preparations. I was ready.

      Audition day: I met 2 people from the photocopying store that were members of the choir too. Thus, ate Cielli and ate Muki led me to the music room. It was old. But full of energy, full of history, full of vigor. I got really nervous after they sang a bit. In the audition we were told to sing certain notes played in the piano. I did quite okay. After, we were told to sing our piece. I sang “When you say nothing at all” by Ronan Keating. Then it was off to the interview and the face test. After the whole auditions, we were told to wait for results, most likely 2 weeks.

        2 weeks was pretty long. I was nervous, and excited at the same time. But as the results went out, I was happy I passed! From that moment, I knew my life would change. Drastically.

      Few months after practices and all, it was a challenge to balance academics and practices. A lot of exams, studying, and time was spent on both sides. But it only determined me to do more. So from that, I learned to effectively manage my time.

Singing "Beautiful In My Eyes" by
Joshua Kadison, Serenata goes solo

        As moments passed by, I felt the choir was getting closer. Each one was treated fairly, everyone was family. It was totally different from my high school experience. Rigorous, challenging, but we were together all the way. Performance after another, we performed both solo and group songs. Workshops like serenata goes solo, team buildings, and more. My skills got better. My note distinction got better, singing properly and with poise, and my other music skills improved. I was happy.

        But that wasn't the only thing I got from serenata. I got privilege, respect, and happiness. I learned to balance my school and activities, I got (a huge) confidence boost, my leadership skills improved, and much more.

Performing Filipino Folk songs in the Pasundayag Concert

The bass of the choir

A medley of "Ugoy ng Duyan" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Their surprise party for me the day I left for Japan

     It honed me to be a great student and a performer. Mini Concerts, Christmas performances, school invocations, they were great. I was open to more opportunities. It was also one of the reasons I got to be a foreign exchange student to Japan, with everyone cheering and supporting me all the way (not to mention advices and consultations on paper processing).

      The best memory I have with serenata was on the Jcentre Christmas Melodies contest held last December 18, 2011. It was rigorous. Impromptu decision to join, only 2 weeks of practice. Even my birthday was spent on practicing for the contest. But it was all worth it. We bagged the first place, efforts was given justice. We sang a christmas medley (link below).

        I may had a vague reason of why I joined UP SERENATA, but it has changed my view on singing and music. If given the chance to ask again on why I joined serenata, I would say its because of 3 things: Self, family, and friends.

Thank you serenata for being part of my life. I miss you guys so much. :)

#ReasonWhyIJoinedUPSerenata :)

Link: UP SERENATA Gloria in Excelcis

A Step Forward to Multilingualism

        Im trilingual, technically: English, Tagalog (our national language), and Cebuano (home province dialect. Im glad to be fluent in all these 3 languages, easily switching from one language to another. I talk Cebuano to my friends, English to my professors, and Tagalog to my mom and relatives in the capital city.

        Language is the way of understanding between people. Not only does it gives understanding, but it opens networks and opportunities not only between people, but also between nations in fostering peace relations and economic progress.

        As a foreign exchange student in Japan, obviously one way to adapt quickly to the country is by learning its language. Since in the university and the dorm i'm staying, no one speaks my nation's language, and some only speak english, of course I had to be the one to learn their language, not the other way around. At first I thought that language learning was easy, since I can already speak with 3 different languages. But as I start to learn it, I realize that this one's totally different, a whole new kind of language.

        Since i'm already studying in Japan, what better way to learn the language faster than to enroll on the subject itself, so I enrolled Intensive Japanese (J1 and J2) in the beginning of the autumn term. Before the class started officially, we were told to study and master hiragana and katakana (japanese handwritings). From there, I started feeling its difficulty. It was difficult to master their handwriting in just 2 days before class started. But at least I did it, but with a really bad headache. During the first week of my intensive Japanese class, things were really bad. I couldn't catch up with the words, sentence structures, and kanjis. At first I thought it was just the adjustment period (since the dorm I stayed in also had activities every night). But it has been 2 weeks, and I just did not do any better. It really troubled me. On the day of changing your subjects, Matsui Sensei (one of my teachers for the class), talked to me if I had a problem or anything. I was really glad for her to notice on my performance, so I told her everything. She then told me that she would help me in any way she can, even going everyday to her office just and have a one-on-one class to catch up with the rest. I told her how grateful I am (I really am, since in my home university its either help from classmates or study on your own), but the risk was just too high, since I have two scholarships, and I had to pay for both of them if I'd fail any of my subjects. And if I got a bad grade, not only would I suffer the consequences, but my country's reputation as well. So I decided to shift from intensive Japanese to the normal paced Japanese1.

Essay from our Kichijoji Orienteering, a field work

        So from a 4hr40mins Japanese class I shifted to the regular 2hr20mins class. It was the perfect pace for me, and I was doing quite well in my grades. Though I wasn't learning as much as I was in the intensive, but at least I was learning in my own pace, and I really enjoyed it. I did really quite well in the first lesson test. The only problem I was having was in the listening and conversation part. Apparently the teachers were teaching us the formal style of conversation, and I was not able to use it since in casual conversations with Japanese, it was in informal style. And the pace of speaking was really fast, so it was difficult catching up. We didn't learn the casual terms until the last lesson. I did not do well on the second lesson test. I had a cold and all of my senses and memory were not coordinating with me, but I was happy I did not fail.

        As I was preparing for the finals, we were given 2 reading days to study, so I made them really  productive. On the first reading period, I went with my friends to the Pokemon Center. If you'd thought “How is that supposed to be productive???”, think again. It was for my exposure and application for the things I learned in class. Together with my friends, I read signs in Japanese, talked in Japanese, and basically did everything for me to practice my Japanese. Not only was it really fun, but it was really informative. Hitting 2 birds with one stone, I'd like to call it. On the second day of the reading period, I reviewed all the things I learned: from vocabulary, grammar, foreign words, and kanji. Though I did not get any sleep, I was confident and ready.

        On the day of the exam, sitting in the room 5 minutes before the test, with my recently bought Pikachu pen (for lifting my mood while answering), and all the things I learned stacked in my head, I was reminiscing everything that happened and reflecting on the things I've done. I expected the final test to be totally comprehensive and long, but I was surprised that I answered them with ease. Not that I'm bragging or i'm intelligent (which i'm not considering that I shifted from intensive because I couldn't catch up), but what made the finals exam okay was because with every question there was, memories of the class discussions would pop out of my head, together with all the laughter and drowsiness I experienced together with my classmates. After the written exam, I went to the other building for our oral exam which was due 50 minutes. I rushed there and did not stop for lunch since I was first, and I eat very slowly. When the interview started (10 minutes duration), I really enjoyed it. In fact, it didn't look like an exam. I was talking about my life with my sensei and laughing at some funny conversations. It was natural, and I felt infinite. I was really happy. After the interview, before I went out the room, I gave my sensei dried mangoes and keychains of a seashell and wooden slipper (specialties from my home country), and gave her my sincere thanks for all the help. I wanted to take a picture, but there was still an exam going on, so I was not able to do it, but I felt happy anyways.

Picture of J1 class with Hirata sensei (lower row 2nd from left)

        This is just one of my unforgettable and special memories of my stay in Japan. Thanks to all my classmates for sharing the laughters and headaches while learning the basics for the language, to Hirata sensei, Fujimoto sensei, and Taro sensei (J1 teachers) for all the learnings, to my dormmates in 2^nd Men's dormitory for strictly letting me talk in Japanese and helping to learn it quicker, to my UNBRAND friends for the companion in the trip to the Pokemon Center, and to Matsui Sensei who helped me make the right decision and gave me encouragement. Specially, thank you to the Lord for being with me thought everything.

        I'm now on my first step to learning the Japanese language. Next term, I will be taking J2. I'm really excited and challenged about it, so I'm gonna give it my all so that by the end of this program, I would be multilingual, and I hope I could use it to help my country progress through foreign relations. :)

Nihon by Month 2

        2 months 7 days 2 hours 40 minutes (to be exact). This is the duration that I have been staying in Japan so far as I am typing this blog post. In this first 2 months of my foreign exchange program, a lot has already happened to me physically, mentally, and spiritually. With that change, new memories have been made, good and bad experiences.

      I can now say that I have now adapted to Japan's environment and culture. Staying in a foreign country, everything was totally new for me. From food, transportation, and places to events, cultures and traditions. It was a struggle. First off was the environment. I never expected for the temperature to be so cold (for me)! And since I didn't bring much thick clothes, I suffered from intense cold and got a flu. In terms of food, I've gotten fatter! :D This is really an achievement in my part, since back in the Philippines, no matter how much I eat, I was still as skinny as ever. But now, my cheeks are not hollow, and bones near my neck are now covered by fats. I also got healthier. Since food is so expensive here in Japan (basically everything is expensive), I have to limit my food to only the things I should eat. So snacks and chips have been removed in my to buy and to eat list. And since transportation is also expensive here, I learned to walk or bike from one place or another even though they are a bit far. Though I really should get a haircut by now, since my hair will be covering my sight soon.

      Aside from my physical statute, I also changed mentally. My study habits have changed since learning nihongo is really difficult. My memory improved in directions. Since I also do shopping on my own and I also budget my money because of scarce resources, my future expectations, planning and predictions have improved. I have learned to be independent since here in Japan, you do your own business, and people wont mind.

      Being in a foreign land also enlightened me both as a Filipino, and as a Christian. Being in a country where Christianity is not a major religion, I promised myself to strengthen my relationship with God and not falter. I know that he will still be with me in all my challenges and victories. I also started to reflect about my love and service for my nation (will be on another blog since this is already too long).

Me adapting to japanese food :)

      But in these 2 months, I now miss everything: my family, my friends, my school, and my nation. I know that it's quite corny, but I guess this is what everyone feels when one starts living in a new place alone. I miss singing and laughing with my UP Serenata Family, my Bass-tards friends, my block B-Ga friends, Nichibunken co-otakus, fellow Junior Jaycees, and many more. I miss my nation, the food, the heat, the noise, the festivals and traditions. Most of all, I miss my family and my mom, who would spoil me with what I need but discipline me to not to ask people for everything I want. Now I have to do everything myself.

      2 months is still a short time to express everything, as I still have 8 months to go before I can really go home. I still have to walk a long road, meet more people, learn more things, and survive more. As they say, its still a long way to go. :)