ADAMSONIAN

These are some excerpts from Jose Rizal’s letter to his sister Trining during the former’s stay in Heidelberg:

“The German woman is serious, studious, and diligent, and as their clothes do not have plenty of color, and generally they have only three or four, they do not pay much attention to their clothes nor to jewels.´´

“They go everywhere walking so nimbly or faster than men, carrying their books, their baskets, without minding anyone and only their own business. ´´

“…because German women are active and somewhat masculine. They are not afraid of men. They are more concerned with the substance than with appearances. ´´

Let me say that I truly admire a woman who is capable of independence. I might write again my observations in this European country I am in, but let us not tackle about that.. I want to write about women. Women who are called Bitches when they express themselves, when they compete with men, and when they beat men.

I do not think that it is about subduing men or competing with men. I think that it is about self sustenance and liberation to be able to learn, to practice one’s craft, to simply map her own purpose. This might sound like from the Women’s Lib, a reality which we thought already happening. If that is the case, then stop calling me a Bitch.

I might point out the women in my Heimat (fatherland). And the women here where I am staying. It is still customary that a Filipina stays at home, attends to the kids and waits for her husband’s salary, and in between, she will watch noontime shows and telenovelas as her endowed entertainment. Thanks to the so called Women’s Rights, women attend schools and even universities, even being able to pursue Engineering, Law or Medicine. Yet, in between, she will succumb to a man, put on expensive make up and clothes, watch t.v., wait for the man, and daydream. Because, in such education, women are isolated to learn only the theories and praxis of the discipline they choose. Outside the degree and the career, they still need to have those multiple facial creams and they need to stay at home, because she is a wife and a worker (careerwoman). She will still have that fragile emotions and she will still be conscious at what others may say, she will still be conforming and will not have her own disposition over matters.

Where I am staying right now, to which, I might also suggest (but not necessarily impose) to the women in my Heimat, women are considered strong. Rizal has the accurate definition of them which is valid up to now. Women don’t waste time, they, in fact make the most of their time. Women read, a common household bookshelf here is filled with books, no matter if she is the Mechanical Engineer of a metal company or the cashier of a bakery, she collects books of her own interest be it about geography or Ernest Hemingway or marine life. Women indulge themselves into sports, some women even drive to cliffs to cycle, or even climb mountains. During their free time, they study new sports, at 40, they attend arnis lessons or rowing lessons. Women go to museums, opera and cultural festivals, mostly affordable and not expensive during festivals as they are being upholded by the government as well. Women express themselves, they have their opinions and not afraid to be heard out. Women think, they use logic and techniques for convenience, even from cooking, to driving, to mostly anything. They don’ linger long moments in front of the mirror because they want to be punctual. They don’t say, “Pwede na ito´´, they execute things to the best way they can and they expect efficiency also.

Being a woman is not about being a bitch to men, but being a bitch because a woman satisfies herself. And that satisfaction comes from the things we try to discover as humans here on earth who appreciate beauty and art, who use rationality bestowed upon us, who develop ideas and skills for the betterment of our own selves and who have goals to be fulfilled.

Tags: women

bondgirl4ever has blogged 3 posts

Bespitzelungvorwürfe which means suspicion or charging with espionage in German is the word which I encountered while watching the news on t.v. regarding the minister of Bavaria being charged of spying a woman for political purposes. Then I told m. (can be Mann which means man, or Monster which also means monster, he’s both anyway) that how come such a word exists, for a beginner of a foreign language like me, it brings apprehension. Then I became fond of that word, when I started my own routine of espionage too, only to unravel m.’s present and active fondness of women. I used to like the German phrase „Ach, Quatsch“ which means „Nonsense“. I’m fascinated with unimportant radical words like when I saw a writing on a wall saying „Abschiebung“ which means deportation or sending away from a country, or „Ihr Pisser“ which means (sort of) „You’re jerks/a.holes“, on a brick wall beside the river bank for people to see. There are also English vandalisms here like when I saw „Fuck Bush“ on a lonely metal stand among the vast meadow.

I’ve been here in Deutschland for a month now, yet I only know how to tell my basic information and ask for another’s basic information, to construct imperative sentences, to identify every article I see, and to describe in a short sentence what has happened which also depends on the verb if I know it auf Deutsch (in German). I once tried to tell our 80- year old neighbor whom I happened to bump into while I was on my way to a salon, that I’m going to einkaufen (buy things/ shop) instead of going to ave a pedicure because until now I don’t know how to precisely say it. Einkaufen is easier, one learns that word even during German 1, the basic language level.

Although I’ve experienced some Germans` (or Eastern Europeans) desperation when they have to tell me something auf Deutsch, in which cases another person’s English knowledge may it be from a stranger or a colleague came to rescue, I’ve also encountered some unelusive language mishaps, like during my first walk alone around Ulm, a drugged looking nomadic woman approached me bumming two euros (around 120 pesos) from me for food. I understood what she’d said auf Deutsch, but trying to sneak out of the tangle, I said, „I only speak Englisch“. Surprisingly she remarked, „Give me two euros for food.“ I searched for one euro into my pocket and handed it to her. Why, because a young teenager being stabbed in the city of Ulm was in the news just a day before that. And it was my first week in Germany. Some Nazi recollections occured to me like in a Pink Floyd video manner. In Manila, five pesos for a nomad is enough, fifty pesos for a desperate druggy is quite lucrative. And news of violence among people is not really new.

And now while I’m typing, MS Word keeps on underlining every English word for error and sparing the German words as it deems them right. Bespitzelungvorwürfe’s not considered, I think Word finds it complicated too. Oh I’ll try Schiedsgerichtsentscheidung, haha, also underlined. By the way, I freshly encountered that word yesterday, caught my attention again, as I find it a worse one also. But I think it’s an important word too, it means arbitration ruling.

I am currently attenting the Volkshochschule for language lessons, although I’m also looking forward to a Master of European Studies in Bonn (in my dreams). I’ve never been in an international classroom before, my classmates are from the places which I only encounter when watching Miss Universe or Miss World, they’re from Venezuela, Macedonia, Croatia, France, Hungary. We all have to communicate in German because only three of us understand English (a Chinese, a French and me), I think it is more helpful for us to learn the language. But when at home, m. speaks to me in Englisch, I want to be compelled to elocute in Deutsch. Time will come when I will understand a recipe at the back of a Maggi soup, when I will understand the movies on t.v. which are not subtitled but dubbed in German, Desperate Housewives just started showing last month, but in German. The Simpsons (Die Simpsons) is also in German. I’ve seen Forrest Gump in full German, „Lauf, Forres, lauf!“ (run, Forrest, run) I never dared to catch a Woody Allen film last night, you should know why.

I have a long way to go to be able to understand the oh so many pages Germans fill out regarding their annual taxation. I still have a couple of levels to be an independent speaker of the language. This country produced great people and relentless innovations, and was able to withstand wars, by just speaking one language.

The sentence which I regularly utter so far is, „Ich komme von den Philippinen.“ (I come from the Philippines.)

Another phrase:

Ich glaub es hackt (I don’t agree with you)

bondgirl4ever has blogged 3 posts