aksisibol

Naglalakad ako kaninang umaga papunta sa opisina ng nakita ko ulit siya. Siya yun! Siya nga! Siya nga!

Halos mag-iisang taon na rin ng huli kong makita ang taong yun. Isa sa mga insidente na nakakamangha sa sistemang Olandes. Busog na busog kami noon mula sa isang hapunan sa aming professor. Ako at aking kaklase. Naghihintay kami ng tren papuntang Leiden. Galing kami sa isang maliit na estasyon ng tren at kailangang maglipat ulit ng panibagong tren sa may Harlem. Mahirap kung hindi ka marunong ng Olandes, para kang tangang palinga-linga sa palibot. Tiningnan namin ang mga listahan ng pasada at umupo sa platform na kung saan dadaan ang tren pabalik Leiden.

Biglang sumulpot ang isang Olandes na may kapansanan sa pagtingin. Di ako tiyak kung bulag nga talaga. Basta may baston siya at winawagayway left and right papunta sa kinaroonan namin. Patumpik-tumpik pero matuwid ang lakad na parang may sinusundan. Doon ko napansin ang mga special na bricks sa sahig ng train station. Kakaiba ang pagkalatag ng mga bricks na ito at parang may mga senyales kung saan papunta sa kanan ba at sa kaliwa. Parang braille system pero nasa sa daanan. Doon ako namulat sa purpose ng mga bricks na ito: for accessibility. At doon ko rin napansin ang network ng mga bricks na ito sa loob ng estasyon ng tren. Accessibility is really a thing in this country.

Yang light-colored crooked bricks ang sinundan ni Bully.

Noong malapit na si Bully (tawagin na lang natin siyang si Bully) sa amin, bigla siyang lumiko at lumakad patungo sa riles. Hala baka mahulog si Bully! Pero alam din niyang huminto sa may brick na may mga circles na design. Sabi ko sa sarili ko. Baka braille siguro ng "stop". So dumating na ang tren. Sumakay na kami ng kaklase ko sa tren pati rin si Bully. Nang dumating na kami sa Leiden, bumaba rin si Bully. Curious, sinundan namin pababa ng hagdanan si Bully. Naga-wade si Bully ng kanyang baston. Left and Right. Left ang Right. Habang sinusundan namin, tinitingnan din namin ang mga braille bricks at nagaguess kung ano ang meaning ng mga ito. Mabilis na ngayon ang lakad ni Bully na parang may hinahabol. Alam din nya ang pedestrian lane, mga intersections. Sabi ko, "ang galing ni Bully!" Ang galing talaga ng accessibility system ng mga Olandes!

Tama-tama at patungo rin pala banda sa may Breestraat si Bully na malapit sa apartment ko. So sinundan ko pa rin. Anyway, doon naman din ang punta ko. Nagmamadali akong naglakad kasi medyo malayo na si Bully at out of curiosity na rin. Bigla ba namang tumawid sa daan at pumunta sa sinehan. Pati sinehan, aksisibol din? 

Indiwar's verses

If you cannot contain your fame, you become infamous

I find Spanish beautiful, I find French classy, I find Latin authoritative, I find Filipino... well, I cannot find it.

For the meek and oppressed, a sip of power is intoxicating

Self-righteousness ostracizes you from the populace who thinks you are wrong.

Pakinggan ang hinaing ng mga walang boses. Bagaman at tahimik ang tipo nila, isinasakatuparan nila ang adhikain sa tahimik na paraan. Bubulaga na lang ito na kagaya ng kulog ngunit di mo namalayan na ang ngipin ng kidlat ay nakabaon na sa nalapnos mong katauhan.

ONE AT A TIME if you have time. ALL AT ONCE if you have no time. If you are fed up, you have ALL THE TIME

The oppressed can be the worst oppressors. Your best friend can be your worst enemy

Earning a degree is about dreaming. Therefore, we should not be adamant on students closing their eyes during classes.

Behind every man's success is a woman who collects the paycheck

Don't bark at the wrong tree. Mind you it is fake!

It is best to jump over the hurdle than to go through it

The higher the hurdle, the higher you soar

Mahirap ang buhay kaya hindi madali. Madali sana kung di mahirap

You can never start now if you worry too much of what lies ahead. Much more if you view your future by the lens of the past

It is difficult to face your problem if the problem is your mirror

The greatness of a teacher is not measured by his own credentials but by the credentials of his students.

Kahit saranggola kailangang ikalug-kalog para umakyat. Maligayang paglipad ngunit huwag mong bitawan ang lubid kundi ikaw ay mapariwara.

democracy + capitalism = oligarchy; democracy + communism = technocrazy

In the end a student should be better than his mentor.

When a teacher refuses to learn, his students fail

They are not pulling you down. They just want to go with you as you soar high. Kaso nga lang, marami sila

If somebody's putting you down, it means you are heavy. Ikaw ang bigatin!!!

It is hard when your backup is in trouble first than your main drive. What's the use of your back up drive then?

When will our techno-arrogance end?... When will farmers learn and appreciate our intentions?... Is there an end to the clashes of minds and intentions? 

Those who have not exercised their right of suffrage have the right to suffer

Once, a group of people from the North came to our lands. They spoke of love and compassion of God as revealed on a book they called Holy Bible. We were so amazed of their stories and joined them in prayer. When we opened our eyes, WE HAVE THEIR BIBLES and THEY HAVE OUR LANDS

emjoying life as a father... feed em... dress em up... take shower with em... spank em to sleep

The birds with the classical blue, yellow, and red streaks are flying; While others are hitting the paved grounds with might; Whispering deafening levels of decibels; Displaying the conquest of mankind over the jetstream

Isang pagpupugay sa magsasaka at mamalakayang Pilipino;
Sa inyong mga kamay, lumalago ang lupa;
Sa lambat mo'y taglay ang yamang dagat;
O kay sarap namnamin ang pagkain na iyong alay;
Sa kabila ng tanikala ng kahirapan,
Sa kapal ng iyong mga palad kami'y yung binubuhay
Salamat po, salamat 

love your work even if love does not work for you

Findings solutions sometimes lead to more problems

CR diplomacy

Once we had this conversation with fellow filipinos here in NL. Then, a dutch interrupted and said. "somehow I understand what you were saying". It is because of the english words in between. "Si" sabi din ng isang spaniard because of the "kumusta, kubyertos, tinidor y kutsara". The glory of Filipino language. 

There is one thing they do not understand and that is CR. By saying that I have the hard time looking for it here. They called it here WC for water closet. Hahay. kahit sa US tawag bathroom. But anyways, heto na ako nakita ko na ang CR, I mean WC, but my biggest problem was which closet shall I take? Heren or Dames. It took me 30 minutes to figure it out by waiting who comes in and who comes out. If I followed my instinct and paalig-alig mentality I would have end up inside the ladies "Dames" room. Paano medyo macho ang dating ng Dam and "Heren" seems feminine with "Her" at the start. ha ha. Well, if ever I got caught in a compromising situation, I just pretend to be one of the Dames. Anyways, Netherlands is the gay capital of the world he he.

Since I am an engineer. I found one design of a urinal bowl interesting. Well, actually it is not that picture above but I cannot show the other one. Just simply imagine when you raise your head up after you pee and saw in front of you a one-way mirror. And the other side were ladies washing hands in front of you. Obviously, they did not know that while they were fixing up their faces, they were literally looking at us, I mean "us". That was a good trick for less water consumption but I have to hurry home to finish my own liquid nitrogen cycling.


Actually, we were in restaurants when all of these incidents happened. That's the answer to your mental nagging of what's the relevance of my lead paragraph.