Soul Highway

Sillimanian, bay!

I've always been proud of my alma mater and I have good memories of my four-year stay there. Although everyone complains of the skyrocketing tuition fees, most people also grudgingly concede that you get your money's worth with the quality of education the university offers. So here's to dear old Silliman for making it to the list of top 20 schools in the Philippines once again. This good news appeared on the bulletin board of my Friendster account:

TOP 20 SCHOOLS IN THE PHILIPPINES
This statistics is a result of the study conducted by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), based on the average passing in the BOARD EXAMINATIONS OF ALL COURSES of all universities and colleges in the Philippines. This study is concluded every 10 years. Eleven schools come from Luzon, two from the Visayas and seven from Mindanao.

1. University of the Philippines (Diliman Campus/Luzon)
2. University of the Philippines (Los Banos Campus/Luzon)
3. University of the Philippines (ManilaCampus/Luzon)
4. Silliman University (Dumaguete City/Visayas)
5. Ateneo deDavao University (Davao/Mindanao)
6. Ateneo de Manila University (Manila/Luzon)
7. University of Sto. Tomas (Manila/Luzon)
8. Mindanao State University (Iligan Institute of Tech/Mindanao)
9. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (Manila/Luzon)
10. Saint Louis University (Baguio City/Luzon)
11. University of San Carlos (Cebu City/Visayas)
12. Xavier University (Cagayan de Oro/Mindanao)
13. Mindanao State University (Main/Mindanao)
14. Urios College (Butuan City/Mindanao)
15. Polytechnic University of the Philippines (Manila/Luzon)
16. De La Salle University (Manila/Luzon)
17. Mapua Institute of Technology (Manila/Luzon)
18. Adamson University (Manila/Luzon)
19. Central Mindanao University (Bukidnon/Mindanao)
20. University of Southern Philippines (Davao/Mindanao)

Search for the perfect shower curtain

The mother-in-law’s visit was also perfectly timed. I needed help picking out bathroom accents, a task which men generally bail out of. I can’t blame the husband – us women tend to get crazy when shopping and men simply don’t have the kind of patience required to drag them from one store to another. I wanted something serene and Asian-inspired and so the husband’s mom and I set out in search for the perfect shower curtain as early as 10 a.m. At one point, we tried to convince the husband to join us but he promptly said no. Boy, was I glad he didn’t jump in the truck! We came home shortly before 11 p.m., having driven to at least four different malls and checked out countless stores. I suppose I should also mention that we got lost on our way back to the apartment. (But that part was expected. Haha!) What we were looking for was a bamboo-themed shower curtain. We found the accessories at the first Linens-N-Things store that we went to, but not the curtain. The saleslady referred us to an outlet in Springfield, Virginia, 15-20 minutes drive away, only to find out the store had closed a year ago. By 5 p.m., my patience was already waning, my mood bordering on irritability, and it didn’t matter anymore if I’d gone home with a shower curtain with coconut trees and swinging monkeys design on it. “Never settle for anything less,” my mother-in-law interjected. So we pressed on, finally finding a Linens store near Tyson’s around 9 p.m., but only after circling the area twice. We found the curtain, all right. It was the only one left! Although we chose the loooong way home by accident (that’s my version of the story and I’m sticking with it), we were very pleased with our purchase. Of course, I was thanking my mother-in-law to high heavens for boosting my patience and standing by me to the end of the search.

Life questions

Have you ever been asked a question that makes you stop, literally, and think about your life and the direction it’s taken? A question so simple yet, surprisingly, you haven’t thought of it yourself? A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law came out here on a business trip and spent a couple of nights with us. It’s always wonderful to have her around; I’ve only met a few people who exude the same kind of warmth and affection. Since I got married, preparing the husband and stepson’s clothes to wear the following day has become part of my evening routine. (My husband claims I lost no time in terminating his long-standing “love affair” with his Korean drycleaner since I set foot in the US.) I was ironing in the room when the husband’s mom walked in and we immediately started chatting about anything and everything. I told her I prefer to do the ironing at night than in the morning when I can’t guarantee I’d be fully awake. Then she asked: “Do you like what you do?” Wow. There is so much gravity in that question. Actually, it opens up to a lot more questions like, “Are you happy with your life?” or “Is this what you want?” I guess they’re what you call reality check questions. Sometimes we get too caught up in the daily grind of living and working that we feel we don’t have the luxury to take a step back and ask ourselves if we’re happy with the state of things. “Yes, I actually love doing this for them,” I replied after a few seconds. There’s something uplifting in affirming the truths in our lives and that’s exactly how I felt the moment I said “Yes.” It’s amazing how people and events can change us. Almost a year ago all that I had to worry about was myself. I was free to come and go as I pleased. Having a family is a whole new ballgame. It takes a re-centering of one’s life to make room for loved ones – husband, wife, kids. Priorities change, sacrifices are made. You learn to be selfless. All of a sudden you’re happy not only because you’re doing something for yourself but because you’re doing something good for others, even if it's on a daily basis. So, do you like what you do?