BARANGAY HEIDELBERG

Dear Rizal*,

Thank you for your emails, for sharing interesting, joyful, insightful printed conversation you carry regularly with other overseas Filipinos in the United-states-of-Germany. Now I know why you're not homesick, Rizal. Cyberspace, where Pilipinas is in the heart.

In 1986 I was a German language student (Mittelstuffe II) at the Goethe Institut in Munich and had on several occasions met and interacted with members of the Deutsche-Philippinische-Gesellschaft (DPG). Patriotic fever at that time was at an all-time high following the EDSA People Power Revolution that ended the Marcos dictatorship.

President couple for DPG Munchen were Dr. Alfred Helbig (+) a career official in the ministry of environment and his wife (now widow) Aurea "Gingging" Helbig, pharmacist from Cagayan de Oro, a very artistic person, well-read, well-traveled, trendy. Through them I got to know of the other DPG Chapters in Southern Germany.

How amused and impressed I was to hear them talking to the Germans in German with unmistakable Visayan accent, and in our native tongue to one another. Try saying this with an Ilonggo inflection Rizal "Odette, lassen Sie uns in den nachsten Tagen wiedersuzammen kommen, ha?" and to their supportive husbands, "lass uns doch mal auf Bisaya Deutsch reden!" Love recalling these, like two lines from an old song.

More heartwarming are their reminiscences of the home they remember and therelatives, friends and neighbors they left behind.

I still have contact with some of them, who when they are in Manila make it a point to call, drop by, spend a morning or afternoon with me before proceeding to their hometown and whom I also see, telephone whenever I'm in Germany. I was there for one whole month during the FIFA World Cup 2 years ago. Sayang, we didn't "meet" yet. In every country I visit I have an expat scholar barkada, fellow travelers and seekers, like you and Ramon.

The matches played in Germany's most famous cities were most memorable, a dazzling display of German precision and efficiency, an organizing marvel, a master stroke in promoting, showcasing Germany's social, political, cultural, scientific, economic, eco-touristic mega-achievements, especially Umweltschutzt, thanks to the Greens.

Would you believe I was also in Germany, on my way to Hannover and Hamburg when they bombed the Twin Towers in NY! My instincts told me to drop everything and hurry home. There was panic worldwide. International flights were canceled. Good thing Lufthansa believed I'm doing important work back home, thanks to then Ambassador Toto Zaide, a good friend.

I shocked my hosts when I wanted to watch a Football match in Nuremberg to learn compassion: Warum?!? They asked. Gave 2 reasons. (1)I read somewhere you can't go on hating or fearing or avoiding a place forever for whatever reason. Come to terms with it, learn to look at it with loving detachment. It's a liberating feeling! (2)There's a Filipino restaurant there that serves Halo-halo. I was homesick for Little Quiapo of my student days in U.P Diliman. I got my wish.

Trust the Germans to teach you right thinking, right result, wrong thinking, wrong result, no thinking, no result. Die Gedanken sind frei, a song I learned in Deutsch I.

Let this be my 2 cents worth to add to the collective opinion in the e-mails. If we are to help our country, let's use our most powerful tool, our mind. Charles Haanel, author of "The Master Key System" wrote this: thought impregnanted by love is invincible. Now you see why, like (Dr Jose) Rizal, I love the German poets and philosophers.

Hope I've made up for the delay in my reply to your e-mails and the straight from the heart opinions, suggestions, comments from barangay Heidelberg :D

Alles Gute,
Odette


Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

*This letter is addressed to Rizal Victoria.