English

I miss speaking in straight English. I probably sound like a broken record already for saying I miss this and I miss that thing that I did when I was still in Singapore but I really want to reflect on how well I am adapting to the change in environment, how well I am replicating or replacing the things I've experienced when I was still there.

Opportunities to speak English at my work in the academic institution are far in between. On normal days, it's just weird to talk to my colleagues in English. I'll just appear more haughty than I already appear to be.

I get to do so only when we have seminars and when I do, I just stand out like a freak because all the others before and after me usually pepper their talks with the vernacular which just endears them more to the crowd. I tried the Tagalog-English route once or twice and it just didn't feel right for me.

My work at the online media company, however, is quite the opposite. My boss usually speaks to me in English and I just usually stutter in response. My multimedia colleagues (the Ateneans), whom I usually hang out with, love speaking English so that's great. My reporter friends (the UP people), however, speak mostly Filipino. Also, although there are no speaking engagements, it helps that most of our content is in English, allowing me to think in English constantly.