"...Wing is written on your feet
Your achilles' heel
Is the tendency to dream
But you've know that from the beginning
You didn't have to go so far
You didn't have to go..."
Your achilles' heel
Is the tendency to dream
But you've know that from the beginning
You didn't have to go so far
You didn't have to go..."
So goes the lyrics from the song "All
the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be A Star)" from a band called REM and
it's been playing on my ipod since my arrival here a week ago. I am here
for 4 months on a fellowship program with a fancy title. The US
government is paying for my being here and yes thank you to the good
American people.
I am here to experience and gain a first
world perspective on community development. So I thought I'd compare
and contrast my small world in a small island town in the southernmost
frontier of the Philippines to the vast planes and follies of the State
of Nevada, Unites States of America.
No, I am not gonna be a star but yes my
achilles' heel is my tendency to dream. Did I have to go this far? That
is a million dollar question. But right now, let me tell you about Reno.
Reno is packaging itself as "the biggest
little city in the world". I am not sure what it truly means but I am
guessing it wants to feel big (compared to its neighbor Las Vegas) in
spite of its being just a small city (again in contrast to its neighbor
Las Vegas).
Somehow I see myself like Reno. I dream
and think big but I am just a small town girl from a small town island
so small that my host said to me once, "I am looking at the map of the
Philippines, where is your island?"
Sometimes I keep forgetting I am already
in America. I switch off anything that uses energy when I am not around
that the apartment building's handyman kept telling me to leave the AC
on so it won't be stuffy when I return to my apartment. A friend in
England now thinks I am obsessing about toilet rolls because I keep
bitching about how much trees must be cut to have different papers for
different human body parts, not to mention their kitchen use. My friends
back at home are already making fun of me for wanting a water scoop to
use in the toilet and forgetting what it is called in English (a
"dipper"!).
Where I come from, water is more
valuable than gold. In fact, what we use for laundry we reuse it to
flush the toilet. We save rain water to drink. We save rain water to
wash, bathe and everything else water is needed for. Ironic isn't it? We
are surrounded by water but it's not potable. Think "Water World" the
movie. That's where I come from.
In Reno, I have a bath tub. I get to
choose hot or cold water in a push of a button. I still haven't had a
bath that I didn't feel guilty about a luxurious bath because I know my
83 year old mother at home has to carry a bucket of water to the
bathroom just so she could wash herself everyday. It is not because
people are poor where I come from (although I am not saying we are rich)
but it's just is. That's just the state of our little world.
In the grand scale of things I think I am lucky to experience different worlds at the same time.
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