More Than Just Noodles

It's been a while since I've blogged on this thing. Call it life and work(both of which have totally kept me occupied), tonight's dinner reminded me of a special Filipino tradition I wanted to share with everyone here.

Today is my Lola's (grandma) birthday and to celebrate, my mom made a dish that's one of the important traditions in the Philippines: pancit.

Pancit is the noodle dish, which can be related to the "lo mein"(but not) of the Philippines. It's something I've grown to love and eat tons of, since it's made quite often, especially during birthdays. Filipino mothers often make pancit as a good-luck charm to their children or family members. Having this dish symbolizes well-wishes and good health for the person, especially on their birthday. Most importantly, it's what brings families to the table and is a staple at every Filipino party I've either celebrated or been to.

The dish is quite easy to make. Using simple lots of veggies, noodles and chicken, it's my kind of comfort food. Although I can admit to getting sick of eating pancit sometimes, I've come to appreciate the significance of it tonight. It made me think of the times in the future, where it'll be my turn to play mom and serve this up to my kids. Not only will I be feeding their hunger, but will always be my way of celebrating and sharing my culture, something that will be with them forever. :)

Why I Want to be a Teacher

Not too long ago, I added one of my past mentors as a friend on Facebook. Recently, he had quit his job at my old high school to pursue another job elsewhere. He is no longer teaching, but began his teaching career seven years ago, when he had just graduated college.

It wasn't until I watched a good-bye speech a student of his took that made me realize the impact he had made on the classes he had taught from 2002-2009. As I watched the video, almost at the point of tears, it made me wonder about the life lessons I've been taught by teachers along the way.

I can't completely give him the credit of my decision to give up journalism and go with teaching; in fact, it's probably because in my educational career as a student, I have encountered so many great teachers along the way. Each one of them has found their way to shape my life in ways they can't possibly imagine.

One showed me that I could actually write. Another deepened my love for Spanish language and culture. One held my hand through a broken heart, while rejoiced when I had found someone who mended it. She took me out to dinner and promised I would have everything and more, so long as I don't lose myself in the process. He listened to me, when no one else would. All have made me who I am today.

So if you're asking the question of what made me choose to teach? I want to give back, in my own, special way. I want to do everything my teachers had done for me, whether it be big or small. Although I haven't quite reached the greatness that these people have, I know that deep in my heart, it's possible.

My mentor once told me, "If I could change the life of one student, I would be happy for the rest of my life, because I know I did my job."

Well he did and so did they----tenfold.

First Post!

I'll begin with this: I'm no stranger to blogs.

I've been blogging for about a good five years, starting with my teenage rants at LiveJournal, eventually easing into a blog I wrote about studying abroad. I've also had a blog here in the past, which I eventually deleted, since it became what I didn't want it to: a place for soley ranting, something that most blogs are used for and that I'm totally against.

So I've decided to do something radical, yet not so radical at the same time; write about my life, unedited, unscripted and basically whatever comes to mind in my world of randomness. Part of the reason I wanted to start a blog again was because I was inspired to write about things that are going on in my life right now or what happened in the past. It's in this way that this blog will come together as a possible mini-book of memories. And who knows? I might actually use this stuff and eventually write a memoir of my own someday.

Note that the blog title is TBA. It's just because I'm terrible at titles haha. If any of you guys have any suggestions, please feel free to share. :)

Thanks for reading! I'll update this thing as much as I can.