Boob tube, Ilokano, etc.

I never thought I would survive without TV, nor internet, for over a month until I was deployed in Ilocos Sur. I couldn't believe it myself but it's true. I went for an entire month without watching House or CSI.

I realized that I could go for an entire lifetime without TV provided I still get to talk to my family.

TV, just like any material thing in my life, is dispensable. It is the intangible stuff that really matters. I have never appreciated my family or friends' text messages as much as I do now. I remember on my first day in Ilocos Sur, I cried everytime I get a call because I get so overwhelmed with being alone.

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The thing about growing up near the city and in the city is that you grow up thinking that the entire Philippines speak the pambansang wikang Filipino. When I got to Ilocos, boy, was i sorely mistaken.

I don't understand even a word of Ilocano and I soon realized that was a handicap for me. In Ilocos, it is not normal to speak Filipino so when I am not concern, they won't speak Filipino even when I am around.

If you ask how I deal with my patients who don't speak a word of Ilocano but Kankanaey, I say that that deserves an entire blog of its own.

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In relation, once when I got back from hiking to a barangay, one of my staff asked me what we ate for lunch, I answered, sitaw (string beans).

He laughed and asked, "Aluminum or plastic?" Then everybody laughed. I soon realized that sitaw in Ilocano means timba.

You wouldn't want to know what they call sitaw (string beans) in Ilocano. You'd fall off your chair from laughing. Promise.