people and places& friends and family11 Jan 2006 06:01 pm
Back in grade school (until high school), my school (public schools) through my english teachers always solicit our names to be submitted to some postal friends exchange networks of some sorts where if your name gets to be picked, you’ll be a pen-pal to some other kid your age on the other side of the world (could be from anywhere). It was always an exercise that our english teachers would closely and excitedly supervise for us students to practice our english writing and grammar and of course to learn about other culture through that pen-pal network.
To make the long story short, I’ve always been overly excited but my name never got picked, no foreign mail ever arrived for me, I didn’t get to have an “international pen-pal”.
Until I got to work on rice research…One big thing that I love about my job (aside of course from the scientific learning and exposure blah-blah) is the fact that it has definitely opened the world to me and expanded my “connections” to (at least one) in every continent. Well, maybe except antarctica! He he.
This week my danish connections have been revived. We’ve worked together 6 years ago and bonded on a two-week road-trip to the North of Luzon (Banaue-Ilocos-Nueva Ecija); profiling the microbial biodiversity in varying rice ecosystems present in those provinces.
They were kind enough to sneak out from their planning workshop meeting to have lunch with us today: Not to talk about science, but to talk about what each other (and others who weren’t present) have been up to in the last 6 years.
Except for the additional pounds that that we all have gained, they are the same fun company who enjoys Filipino food and weather so much. I guess we bored the gentleman a bit (he’s a microsensor guy who immensely enjoys playing with mud in the rice paddy under the Philippine sun!) what with 3 girls talking about motherhood and stuff. But he enjoyed the “cheap” Filipino food so much, he was kind enough to pay.
Too bad it was too early to be drinking beer or tanduay rhum with coke.
January 11th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
inggit ako! greetings to them from me!
they must be happy not only with the food and meeting you guys again, but also for being able to escape winter, if just for a short while.
tell them i’ve been to liseleje (kattegat) last year, and i finally understood what danes mean by “warm” seawater!
January 12th, 2006 at 12:35 am
It’s never early to drink haha.
Kiddin’
jo k