german food and drink

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DSC01062,
originally uploaded by gsanvic.

the last surfing trip a week ago was a food trip as well. we went to this place called wolf’s marina (or something like that) only to find out that:

1. wolf’s no longer around (we don’t know what that means)
2. his son, tim, is the one manning the place
3. it’s a restaurant at the back of the house
4. we were in for a treat since they could “prepare anything you want”

needless to say, we were impressed.

i had a veal and mushroom soup to start the meal, as well as a german beer, erdinger weibbier (according to the bottle that now rests on my shelf). the soup was standard, nothing fancy, but the beer was an experience. it was quite unlike the regular san mig light, but not as bold as a pale pilsen. it wasn’t flavorless, rather it had a certain bite, a subtle spice in the drink.

later on we found out why the german beer, which we thought was a tough nut to crack, seemed weak: it was 8 months expired. what the hell. it was an experience.

for the entree i had weinerli, an herbed and spiced sausage. pretty good, considering the fact that on the table, it was up against the hotdog stand classic: a frankfurter. my sausage won, hands down. on the side there was bread with butter, hot mustard and pickle relish. how i love the interplay of tastes!

after dinner, tim, our gracious host, offered each of us a shot of a dark red liquor. asked what it was, he told us the german name (which had something like 100 letters) and that he didn’t know what it was called in english. he added that the drink was usually taken after a meal, so that was the perfect opportunity to drink it. we accepted.

i learned a lot of things that night, the greatest of which was the german word for ‘cheers!’

PROST! (pronounced with the ‘r’ sounding like a ‘h’)

the unmaking of a filipino

my mind drifts off to those commercials of old:

“manggagawa lang po ako.”
“hindi, manggagawa ka!”

taken from the de-skilling of our young – inq7.net: “what we’re seeing here is the senorita complex. in the philippines, ’senora’ is used as a term of courtesy and deference to a rich woman, and ’senorita’ refers to their daughters. being ’senorita’ means dressing up, strutting around like a model on the catwalk, even learning to modulate one’s voice. which is all fine, except that being a senorita also means a disdain for work, especially work seen as menial.”

it’s always a pleasure to read about critics today. somehow their works inspire me to bring back “the glory days of old” with the challenge of keeping in pace with today. bring back industriousness, but let it reflect an efficient use of technology. bring back school pride, let it pervade every aspect of your being, but leave boastfulness.

today’s news article let me reflect deeply into the situation of both myself and my students. are we a “watered down generation”? i admit, it took a while before i learned how to crack an egg without having bits of the shell in the product. i still don’t know how to cook, in the strictest sense of the word. but then i read for leisure, almost daily. i am adept at using the computer (or so i think). i have a good sense of direction.

maybe it’s not so much being a “watered down generation” in the sense of knowing less, but maybe having less common sense going around.

a friend of mine once said, “common sense is not so common.” it makes sense, doesn’t it? the difficulty with common sense is that personally you think you’re right about something, but when someone else comes into the picture and shares his bit of common sense, then things may go awry.

scenario: john sees that it’s raining outside. he decides to bring an umbrella to school. (common sense lang ‘yan diba?) in another part of town, roy also sees the rain, but he decides to dress ruggedly and pack an extra shirt in anticipation of muddy walkways and splashing from passing cars.

true enough, when both boys go to school, john’s umbrella protects him from the rain but not from splashes from cars. roy, on the other hand, is able to change after he gets splashed. end scenario

i am not advocating a ban on umbrellas. nor am i suggesting that preparation is the highest virtue, but i hope the point is clear: common sense is not so common.

so in typical problem-solving tradition, let us not get stuck in that rut. how do we develop common sense? i have no idea.

any suggestions?

penetrating the subculture

it’s only been a week or so since the waves were both my most bitter enemy and treasured friend.

two weekends ago, eight souls ventured into the unknown. for a tropical archipelago such as the philippines, hitting the beach in order to master the waves is not a common practice. some leave the sport to the americans, japanese, australians, and any other nationality that has traditionally been using this force of nature as a means to further exhibit the versatility of god’s great creation: man.

the surfing movement in this country is not as popular as foreigners think. on the contrary, the sport is approached with apprehension even by filipinos themselves. newbies will often hear such statements as:

“nagpapakamatay ka ba?”
“bakit?! marunong ka ba?”
“sigurado ka walang pating?”

only by going past these “concerns” does one actually get the full experience. it is one thing to dream of waves, and another to face them in all their fury as one tries to get to the lineup.

i confess that i am not an expert, no, far from that. maybe just a notch above newbie. but i am learning. and i am hooked.

the leash has taken hold of me. and me it shall have.