Lost in translation

           The long respite from blogging the goings-on in my life as an OFW has,  hopefully, come to an end as I embark on a new journey… and I mean “journey” in the literal sense as the Training team relocated to its new base- CEBU CITY!

 

            Just when I was getting used to the life in Iloilo, a marching order for the whole team to transfer to Cebu was issued.  A new culture.  A new language.  A new home.  A new set of people to work with.   A whole new world!  I bet it’s easier for a Manileno to adjust in California than in Cebu…or maybe the problem’s just with me. 

 

 Everybody insists I should speak Cebuano.   The thing is, I have never had a penchant for languages.  Any language outside Tagalog or English simply is alien – mind you, not just foreign, but totally alien to me!  As I try to learn my way around Cebu City, I needed to learn the Cebuano version of “bayad” – its “pliti” And I swear, every single time I say “pliti” to pay my fare,  I hear in my head  the song from West Side Story that goes, “I feel so pliti, oh so pliti…”  

 

 When you’re in Cebu and you’re riding a jeepney, I’d advise you to practice puckering up or keep in hand a five peso coin.  Urban Dictionary defines “pucker up” as sticking out your lips in preparation for a kiss.    So why “pucker up” or keep in hand a five peso coin you ask? Well, one can do both or either of these things to signal the driver that you’re getting off:  1)  tap the hand rail three times with the coin or; 2) “pucker up” and make a loud “tsup, tsup” kissy sound.  No “para mama!”

 

            And, for the life of me, I always seem to be interchanging “dili” and “diri” (or is it spelled “dire”?).   So when I was ordering my snacks at a food stall in Shopwise and the cashier asked, “Makaon dire?”  A bubble thought appeared before me as I tried translating what she just said: was it “Dito mo kakainin (as in “for here”)?”   or “Hindi  mo kakainin? (as in “to go”)?   I simply stared right at her and nodded my head in agreement to whatever she just said.   I decided that if she wrapped my food “to go” style, I’d simply unwrap and eat it.

 

            I’ve totally decided to look for another room/apartment even if I have to pay double what I’m paying now.   I’m renting a teeny-weeny tiny room in an apartment that I’m supposed to share with another tenant.   I hate to complain but to say I’m out of my “comfort zone” is an understatement.   Aside from the fact that I share the toilet and bathroom with another tenant and “spiderman”, the only things I can do in my room are: stand, turn and look around, bend over my luggage to get my stuff  and lie down on my bed.   If I make any big moves, I’d bump into things (the bed, the side table, my luggage, etc).  Or maybe it’s just I have too much stuff -  I arrived in Iloilo with a big luggage filled with what I thought I was all I needed.  When I left Iloilo, I brought with me my big luggage, two balikbayan boxes and two smaller boxes… plus of course let’s not forget my foldable ever reliable comfy mattress.  

 

            I’ve been in Cebu City less than a week and so far: 

 

1)      I’m still so disoriented with the public transpo system I had to ask bespren Randy to pick me up and drop me off the apartment everyday.  Maybe in a year’s time I’ll get the hang of it

2)      I’ve been “chanced upon” – in Tagalog “na-chansingan” ako  when this guy rubbed his arm against mine as we were walking along the busy streets of  Fuente area.  I wonder though –  was he really trying to RUB against me? Or was he trying to ROB me of my watch? Hmmm….

3)      I’ve been cursed at….at least I think so.  I really wouldn’t know since whatever they were saying (rather, shouting) were alien to me.  I guess there’s some good in not really understanding an alien language hehe

 

            Hey! All these sound so familiar.  They’re so like Manila! Maybe I’ll feel right at home sooner than expected. 

            But there is one place I am so sure I am always welcome, one where I will never get lost in, one where I always feel at home in -  it's my home in the loving arms of my Father  and that is where I bask in when I feel alone and lost and questioning.   HE places me right where I should be and right now, lost though I may be, in translation and among crowd and in the busy streets of Cebu City, I trust…I believe…I know I am where He wants me to be.