Saturday, January 4, 2014

I don't use lotion.  I don't know why, but it's probably a combination of laziness and lack of necessity since I'm not black.  Currently I have a bottle in my room that my brother's girlfriend left when she visited on Thanksgiving, and when I tried it I just created such a mess so Ate Neneng had to come and show me how to apply it properly.  She informed me that because I hadn't been using lotion all these years, my skin was "kamotekahoy."

Languages reflect a culture.  For example, I've heard the Navajo have several more words for sunrise because to them even a minute change in the beginning of the day is more vital to them than it is for us.  I've noticed Tagalog has a larger vocabulary involving the senses, probably because they were a stone age culture for so long.  Occasionally Ate Neneng will describe a food's taste, and when I ask mom for a translation, mom will have to pause before using a long string of words for just the one Ate Neneng used.  Later that day I asked mom what that term meant:

Mom: Oh, it means the sensation of potato skin and wood.  Why?  Where did you hear that?
Me: Uh... wow.  I didn't think my skin was that bad.

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