Day: December 12, 2015
Dramatic Finger Paintings by Paolo Troilo
Germanic Street Signs: A Mix of Old & New~
I promised you more of the intricate and immensely charming Germanic Street signs one finds while strolling in medieval towns. This one is in Nuremburg Germany.
New Merchants have continued the medieval sign tradition in these remarkable old towns. Bamburg Germany.
Some are clearly newer. Melk Austria.
In Medieval times, many people were illiterate, hence the necessity for the visual imagery of these signs. Krems Austria.
Maintaining the tradition of advertising with these signs gives one the incredible feeling of walking back in time. Regensburg Germany.
This sign is on Albrecht Durer Street in Nuremburg, Durer’s home town.
Some signs are clearly older. Passau Germany.
I am impressed with the care taken by people in these old towns, over generations, to preserve these amazing art forms for us to wander by and admire. Passau Germany.
It is also heartening to see newer signs keeping the art form alive. Passau Germany.
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UKOY, A Serendipitous Find
I must admit: I can sit for hours reading what others might consider absolutely dry, uninspiring material. I’m talking about dictionaries, pages of instructions, those types of things. And that’s OK; every now and then I get rewarded.
Take UKOY, for example. I’ve been searching Malay and Indonesian cookbooks for any hints as to the origin of that delightful fritter made with shredded squash or sweet potatoes and small shrimps.
http://angsarap.net/2012/05/14/ukoy-shrimp-fritters-2
Once I encountered a list of Philippine food words supposedly derived from Chinese, and it included ukoy, but not much additional information aside from the description.
Well, the other day I was looking at an on-line catalog for rare seeds, and I found the answer to my ukoy question. It’s from Central America!
These squat little fruits are amazing! Gorgeously ribbed in the alternating high-low ribbing seen in other Central American squashes, the warted, flattened fruits appear…
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How Did We Get the DALANDAN?
When I was a kid growing up in the Sampaloc district of Manila, we had a neighbor who would come from her vacation in Lobo, Batangas, laden with fruit to give away to friends.
Included in this bounty are loads of dalandan: green-skinned citrus the size of baseballs, with sweet orange flesh and a delicate taste that is slightly different from that of its more famous (and expensive) cousin, the Sunkist orange.
We always ate dalandan out of hand, peeling the skin off and putting each juicy section into our mouths until the whole fruit was gone, which was no time at all. Years later, as a guest in a friend’s fancy pad in the Rockwell area of Ortigas, MetroManila, I was served fresh-squeezed dalandan juice in a frosted glass.
Why didn’t we think of juicing it ages ago? But no matter; dalandan is now juiced for serving…
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Beam Me Back to Bratislava Slovakia~
I want to go back to the Christmas Market to shop and eat. I would buy some of these aromatic dried fruit and spice hangars for myself and my friends. They smell and look divine. I couldn’t buy any because there was no room in my suitcase.
They also have soap and bath salt hangars that would make your bath smell heavenly.
Eating is the principal reason I want to go back to the Christmas Market! The hot off the grill lokse or potato pancakes were ridiculously good.
The piping hot langos, which are garlic fried potato flatbread, were out of this world.
Top it off with a cup of hot, spiced, mulled wine, in a variety of flavors, and you can see why I want to beam back there right now! That was my cup of spiced red wine you are looking at.
They had all sorts of fabulous…
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Though how Progressive a Country is, there will always be Poverty because of Corruption
Though how Progressive a Country is, there will always be
Poverty because of Corruption
By Apolinario Villalobos
Perfection should be ruled out in the reckoning of a progressive country, because there will always be poverty due to corruption somewhere in the system of governance. In other words, the glitter of progress cannot hide poverty. For ultra-progressive countries, the signs may be insignificant as they try to blend with the glamour of urbanity. But in other countries, especially, the third-world, the signs are very prevalent, so that there is always a massive effort to cover them up occasionally, literally, as it is done every time there are special occasions such as visits of foreign dignitaries. This practice is successful in the Philippines.
Practically, poverty is the shadow of progress, and literally, too, as where there are looming high-rise buildings that are pockmarks of progress, not far from them are slums or homeless citizens who huddle together under bridges and nooks. These are misguided citizens who flock to the cities after selling their homestead, that have been farmed for several generations, to deceitful land developers, at a measly price. These are the urban squatters willing to be relocated but found out that the promised “paradise” do not even have a deep well so they go back to their sidewalk “homes”. These are contractual workers who have no job securities as they earn only for five to six months, after which they leave their fate to luck while looking for another job.
How does corruption ever be involved in the sad fate of the exploited? Simply, by the government’s negligence in providing decent relocation sites with job opportunities and basic facilities to those uprooted from their city abodes for more than so many years; by its cuddling of the spurious contractualization perpetrated by greedy employers; by its failure to guide and protect the rights of farmers who sell their rice fields to subdivision developers at measly prices that are not even enough to sustain them for six months; by its failure to provide the citizens with the basic necessities as funds are allowed to be pocketed by corrupt officials; and practically by looking the other way despite the availability of laws against vote buying.
Third- world country leaders should stop using the word “progressive”, but instead they should use “surviving” to describe their respective economy. If a country’s economy cannot sustain, much less, provide a “comfortable life” to majority of its citizens, then it is still “ailing”…hence, expect poverty to be trailing behind, just a few steps away from the pretentious allegations!
Fr. Joseph Borreros and his Journey through Life
Fr. Joseph Borreros and his Journey through Life
…from a struggling student assistant
to an Orthodox priest, and educator with Divine guidance
By Apolinario Villalobos
As a youth, he was among the wave of adventurous migrants from Panay Island, particularly, Dao, Capiz who came to Cotabato. He found his place in the Tacurong Pilot School as a Grade Six pupil in 1961. His family lived in the market of the town which that time was just weaned as a barrio of Buluan. He continued his studies at the Magsaysay Memorial Colleges of the same town. In college, he took up a pre-Law course at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City but failed to pursue it when he succumbed to a sickness.
He went back to Tacurong and took up Bachelor of Arts in Notre Dame of Tacurong College. To support his studies, he worked as a janitor and later as Library Assistant in the same school. That was during the directorship of Fr. Robert Sullivan, OMI, a kind Irish priest. After his graduation, he taught at the Notre Dame of Lagao in General Santos, South Cotabato for three years.
In 1973 he got interned at the Marist Novitiate in Tamontaka, Cotabato City, and professed temporarily in 1975 during which he was assigned as a Marist Brother at the Notre Dame of Marbel Boys’ Department (Marbel is now known as Koronadal City). From Marbel, he was sent back to the Notre Dame of Lagao.
In 1976, he left the religious congregation of Marist Brothers, but was taken in by Bishop Reginald Artiss, CP, the bishop of Koronadal, to assist in the establishment of the Christian Formation Center which was located at the back of the cathedral. For two years, he went around the parishes and diocese covered by the authority of Bishop Artiss in training members of the Kriska Alagad, Lay Cooperatos, as well as, in establishing Basic Christian Communities.
As Bishop Artiss perceived his potential as a cleric, he was sent to the Regional Major Seminary of Mindanao in Catalunan Grande, Davao City. Fortunately, due to his extensive and intensive pastoral formation background, he was privileged to skip subjects related to it. After four years of theological studies at the said seminary, he was ordained as a priest on April 1, 1982 by Bishop Guttierez, DD, of Koronadal. His first assignment was the parish of Sta. Cruz , formerly politically under South Cotabato, but today, that of Sarangani Province.
In 1985, he was a “floating” priest, awaiting appointment as Superintendent of Diocesan schools and temporarily established his residency at Our Lady of Parish in Polomolok, South Cotabato with the late Fr. Godofredo Maghanoy. The following year, he was finally designated to the mentioned position which he held for three years.
In 1989, he went on a study leave to take up Masters of Science in Educational Management at the De La Salle University in Manila which he finished in 1991. Two years later, he was about to finish his Doctorate in Religious Education pending the completion of his dissertation under the guidance of Bro. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC, but failed to do so due to an important and life-turning decision….to have a family and develop a Non-Government Organization. Driven by his new-found advocacy in life, he worked as Coordinator of the Community Volunteers’ Program under the Council of People’s Development, a Pastoral NGO of Bishop Labayen for three years in Infanta, Quezon.
From 1995 to 2004, he was with the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) as a Monitoring Officer of the projects in governance. While with the said NGO, he studied Orthodoxy theology on his own, a week after which, he was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew at the Orthodox Cathedral located at Sucat, Paraἧaque, Metro Manila.
He was inspired to bring along his former 61 parishioners in Maricaban, a depressed area in Pasay City when he presented himself and his family to Fr. Philemon Castro, parish priest of the Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Paraἧaque. Like him, he found his former flock to be also journeying spiritually. After several months of catechism, they were accepted to the Orthodox Church. They were further accepted by the former Metropolitan Nikitas Lulias of Hongkong and Southeast Asia. A little later, Fr. Joseph was ordained to the Minor Orders as “Reader”, for which he started to render regular duty at the Cathedral on Sundays which did not affect his NGO-related activities.
He was asked to leave his NGO responsibilities in 2004, in exchange for which he was sent to Greece to serve as a full worker in the Ministry – live with the monks of the Monastery of St. Nicholas of Barson in Tripoli, southern Greece. Afterwards he was sent back to the Philippines to do catechesis in different mission areas, particularly, in Laguna, Sorsogon and Masbate.
In 2006, he was ordained to the Orthodox priesthood and assigned under the Omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople which is presently headed by His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, Successor to the Apostolic Throne of St. Andre, the first-called apostle.
In 2009, he did mission work in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. Until today, he carries the same responsibilities but the area expanded to include SOCSKSARGEN area (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos), as well as, Davao del Sur.
To date, he was able to firmly establish three communities, such as: Holy Resurrection Orthodox Community in Lake Sebu; St. Isidore of Chios Orthodox Community in San Guillermo, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur; and Apostles St. Andrew and James Orthodox Community in Kisulan, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.
Aside from taking care of the Sacramental life of the faithful, his mission work also includes values formation of students. Two particular schools that are benefiting from this are the Marvelous College of Technology, Inc. in Koronadal City, and Pag-asa Wisdom Institute in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat where he also serves as Principal. According to Fr. Joseph, the two institutions are community-centered, privately-owned, mission-oriented and most especially, cater to the less in life but with a strong desire to overcome their socio-economic barriers.
Fr. Joseph and his family live at the Theotokos Orthodox Mission Center in Surallah, and which also serves as the nucleus of his mission works. His life is typically austere as shown by the structure that accommodates his flock during worship days. The same character also defines the rest of the “chapels” throughout the areas that he covers. But since there are other things that his Mission needs, he unabashedly appeals to the “mission-minded souls to help in their capacity, sustain, strengthen, so that it will grow with flourish for the glory of God”.
Fr. Joseph, as an ordained Orthodox priest has been given the name, “Panharios”.
For those who are interested to reach out to Fr. Joseph, his address is at:
Theotokos Orthodox Mission Center
120 Dagohoy St., Zone 5
Surallah, South Cotabato
Philippines
Email: theotokos_mission@haoo.com
Cellphone: 09165433001
penpowersong 