Culture of BSU-OU That is Worth Emulating

The culture of BSU OU that is worth emulating when I first step at the office is the friendly people around, they are approachable too. The place is like a home away from home. Whenever, I entered the room in the morning, the ambiance of a newly polished floor and the aroma of a newly brewed coffee makes me feel so, accompanied by an invitation if I like to have a cup of it. It’s worth that once a month meeting at the OU.BSU- OU, is an open university who give chances to those who wants to earn a degree while working from a distant places, that is why they sometimes called it “a distant university.”

During class discussions the professors are friendly too. I have no second thought of asking questions even during the middle of discussions. The staffs are always willing to help in assisting us when it comes to concerns about sending assignments through e-mails.

I can’t help but compare BSU to my alma mater, the students here are simple and they are close to nature as some of them are into farming. The rolling mountains around and the strawberry farm nearby is priceless compared to that of unwinding over a cup of coffee in a first class coffee shop in the city. The sounds of gongs that cross the entire campus created by the students during their practice, brought me to the stage of belongingness.
But I noticed that there are still these students who spit momma around, but NCCA says this is ‘kamalayan”, our ancestors did it.

With these qualities that I admired in this institution, I am sure that I will be successful in finishing my master’s degree. I am sure that my dream of making my thesis about theater arts as a form of behavior formation and cultural appreciation will be realized.

IN MY PROVINCE ABOUT CULTURE OF:

INDIVIDUALISM

In the province, when we talked about culture of individualism with regards to goals and dreams, there is always the issue of” crab mentality”. Am also a victim of it.

I considered myself as an example. When I left my hometown to try my luck in the city, my neighbors have comments that I am too ambitious. Knowing that the income of my parents are below the poverty line, where on earth do I have to get my financial support? …riding in a tricycle, that comment echoed in my ears while those neighbors who attended my departure are slowly faded from my sight.

In the city, I tried to make both ends meet by working part time. During weekends I work as a houseboy by some of my instructors, I became the “ward” ( salary deduction) of Engr. Lourdes Mangila, a chemical instructor of SLU, by bringing her kids to school in the morning and pick them up back home after school in the afternoon. During enrollment, I worked as a student assistant at the accounting office and later at the enrollment of the engineering department under Sir Greg de Guzman. That daily compensation when accumulated will be of great help to pay one month rental in my boarding house. As a student assistant I gained more friends.

As years in the academe had past, I experienced difficulties and trials, my scholarship doesn’t cover my expenses when I experienced ischemic lesion in the thalamus as diagnosed by Dra. Divina Hernandez, my neurologist. I suffered over stress and too much use of my brain, not to mention that I am a double major: BS Electrical Engineering and Geodetic Engineering.

Despite those odds I made it.!Thank God, I made it. If I listened to those negative people around I am sure, they took away my dreams.

COLLECTIVISM

In our community, we join the majority. For example, the clean up drive.

As a collectivist I am not only thinking of myself to be benefited from it, but I consider the whole group or the whole community, and I join the majority without complaining.

In my province we also have what we called the bayanihan. For example in building a house, the whole neighborhood is all willing to share a helping hand even though they were not asked by the owner. This spirit of helping still exists in my home town. The women are in charge of the cooking, while the men are in the construction.
They butcher pig or chicken and they offer the bile to the gods to appease the bad spirit so that the owner of the house will prosper. This ritual are still in practice nowadays and everybody in my community believes that this will bring luck to family who will be living in that house.

During a wedding, more people will gather together to join the celebration. There is a community dance a night before the wedding day and the parents allowed their daughters and sons to join the dance to make the night more cheerful. This is their way of sharing. During the wedding day when the bride and groom were dancing, the visitors are allowed to insert a peso bill in the dress of the bride or the groom but most especially the ninongs and ninangs.

If there is a dead person in the neighborhood, the elders are automatically lent a helping hand. They also advised the members of the family about the different beliefs. T he do’s and don’ts during the wake. I wonder why there is no scientific explanation but everybody are agree, like do not sweep the floor during the wake because there will be next to die in the family. After the burial do not close the door because the dead will come back and if you do close the door , he/she won’t let you go to sleep because the spirit of that dead person will keep on knocking. After the burial we count nine days and an elder in the community will conduct again a ritual, this ritual must be done in the riverbank or in the seashore, Everybody who join the burial must have a cross sign in the forehead done by the chosen elder before taking a dip.

So in relation of culture to be a collectivist in my hometown to name a few, it is by immersing oneself for the success in the community to have a clean surrounding, and helping a neighbor to have a nice house, joining the success of wedding of a neighbor and being a part in comforting a bereaved family.