Buhay sa Korea

I stumbled upon this article and a video of a 16-yr old Pinoy, Gian Dapul, who won the top spot in the English Speaking Union’s International Public Speaking Competition held in London on May 9th. If you would recall, Patricia Evangelista won in the same competition too four years ago with her speech on Filipino Diaspora.

Gian Dapul’s winning speech

the video of Gian delivering his speech

Which is worse? Having a can of cologne spray stucked in your anus or this team of “professional” health workers work on you and be their laughingstock? I stumbled upon this story on PEx. It may seem like a story straight out of a supermarket tabloid, but as they say the proof is in the video.

Surgery spectacle

A 39-year-old homosexual is planning to sue a medical team after he saw in a cellular phone of a friend last Friday a circulated video footage of the operation to extract a perfume canister stuck in his anus during a sexual act.

The man’s identity and face was not shown on the video. However, he was made fun of by the persons he trusted to operate on him. What kind of professionals are they?

Filipino health professionals have been known worldwide for the quality of their work, their dedication to their jobs and their sincerity to the people they serve. There are a few who gives a bad name to these professionals.

I also had experienced something a little negative that happened April of last year when my son and I were vacationing. Long story… but two of the nurses I met were rude.

Being an active member of a Pinoy forum has kept me up to date with what’s happening in the Philippines. Almost a month ago, I came across a blog that I had read about in PEx. The title of the thread is Another EDISON CHEN SEX scandal in the making… The blog has reached monstrous popularity because of the steamy and scandalous posts it contains. It seemed to be like a follow-up to Kitty Go’s When Chic Happens and Chic Hits the Fan, which I really enjoyed reading (in the bathroom!).

According to legal beagles back home, the blog is libelous as it has mentioned real names of real people (and in a very negative manner). And bloggers are claiming freedom of speech. At least they can still post anonymous comments! You can’t do that here or really risk being sued for libel.

Anonymous commenting in Korean sites is next to impossible. Even if you use a nickname to post, you’ll still need a real Korean ID number and a name to register. That’s why if you have a Korean ID, it’s important to protect it (as it is much like the US’ SSN). Ordinary netizens here have been sued by famous Korean actors/actresses for posting rumors or just negative comments.

When I was in the Philippines, I wasn’t surprised to know how popular “glutathione” is. It is used as an anti-oxidant and users claim that it made their skin lighter. It is considered as a food supplement so a doctor’s prescription is not necessary. Most people I know take 500mg to 2,000 mg capsule a day. A month’s supply is almost one thousand pesos or more (about US$50). From what I know it became popular through the Filipinas working in Japan.

On my last visit back home, I saw “glutathione” soaps while some clinics offer glutathione injections. Do all Filipinos want to be white? Nothing wrong with it I guess but I thought our color is really nice. When I came back to Korea I told my sister about it and asked if she’d be interested to take the drug. She has a nice “Filipina” color, i.e. no need for artificial tan. She answered: “What for? I don’t want to be white.” So I guess not all Filipinos want to be white. In my case, I’d benefit more from a Los Angeles rhinoplasty! Hehehe…

Here are some of the videos available on Youtube of the lovely Ms. Janina San Miguel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ovenZba8ZI&NR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-exECtIi9I

“Bb. Pilipinas 2008″ (Binibining Pilipinas or Miss Philippines) made headlines once again when Janina won Bb. Pilipinas-Ms. World 2008. She will be our representative for the Miss World pageant later in the year. She really made a mockery out of herself on the stage but like she said she’s only 17 years old and it’s her “pers pageant” ever. I read that she’s a Broadcast Communication student. Maybe she needs to study harder. She could’ve just used Tagalog instead of insisting to answer in English. Or I should just write in Tagalog, but then I’m not a candidate so I forgive myself Maybe her nerves really got her since she “came from the tough ten”. (She sounded more like she came from drug rehabs to me, but she didn’t.)

At least, Miss South Carolina answered the questioned she was asked. Janina… ? “my family es the most important persons in my life”. Miss World will be held in October, so I guess she still has time to improve. Good luck!

Not really. I was washing dishes after breakfast while my parents-in-law (who were here for the weekend) were watching the 8 o’clock news on KBS TV1. My MIL called me, pointed to the TV and said something about the “Philippine papaya dance”. I saw about two seconds of the clip where a group of workers (in the Philippines) were dancing to the song revived in Edu Manzano’s dance album. I guess the dance craze back home is as popular as the Wonder Girls’ “Tell Me” is in Korea. So has the papaya dance hit Korea? No. It was just featured in the news.

Here’s a sample clip of the dance. Borrowed from sushi16

Edu Manzano dancing to the Papaya song in Game Ka Na Ba?

Edu Manzano is my favorite Philippine TV host.