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Immersing Filipino Culture with Kababayan at UCI

Cultural clubs have always been something I have been interested in pursuing. I am Filipino-American but have never felt like I have fully immersed in learning about the Filipino culture. In previous blogs, I have written and given glimpses of becoming involved with Kababyan at UCI. This club is an organization at UCI that emphasizes the academic, cultural, political, social, and community parts of the Pilipinx experience. Kaba has many different programs that I have participated in to explore my interest in Filipino culture.

Kababayan at UCI has a range of programs, workshops, and meetings that focus on the different 5 different pillars (academic, cultural, political, social, and community). Programs that are available to general members include intramurals, academic mentorship programs, alumni panels, social programs (general meetings, k-fams, etc.), and cultural programs. One I have been very involved with is the winter quarter internship program. For 10 weeks, interns get to learn about the behind-the-scenes of Kaba by shadowing 2 board members, learning leadership skills, and building new relationships with the board members. My experience with this internship has been helpful and amazing so far. I have learned so much more about leadership and the tasks of the board members I intern under. Another program that has just begun this quarter is the Philipinx-American Culture Night (PACN). This program runs throughout the winter and spring quarters as it prepares general members to perform cultural dances and other activities towards the middle of the spring quarter. Within PACN, a general member can be in logistical and performance suites. Logistical suites include creating programs, costumes, commercials, and props. Performance suites are the types of cultural dances, skits, and choir. 

  • My mentor from Kababayan’s Academics Mentorship Program and I
  • My K-fam (Snorlax Fam)
  • A picture of the Historian and her interns
  • The Winter Intern class of Winter 2022 (LA Class)
Here are some pictures core memories I’ve made through Kababayan at UCI so far this year!

Being part of Kababyan at UCI has opened doors to many different opportunities. Not only do I get to immerse myself in Filipino culture, but I’m also able to socialize with other students with the same interests as me. I’ve created so many great memories with board members, fellow interns, and other general members. Even before becoming a wintern, I enjoyed attending general meetings each week as each meeting was a topic that I could learn something new. 

If you’re interested in coming out to future meetings, they are every Thursday at 7 pm in the Dr. White room at the Cross Cultural Center. If you’d like to learn more about Kaba, head to their Instagram @kabaatuci. I hope to see you there!

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Figure Skating, Yuzuru Hanyu

By chance, I saw a piece of Yuzuru Hanyu’s figure skating performance on the Internet, but it shocked me in just a few minutes. I was very impressed with that performance. His emotional performance and heartwarming smile, as well as the scene where he bowed his head and kissed the ice surface during the performance, were deeply engraved in my mind.

The first Hanyu’s performance I saw

So I started learning about figure skating. I learned later that it wasn’t even a game, but an earthquake condolence show. The difference between figure skating and running or speed skating is that it is more about competing with yourself and about individual performance. I seriously studied the grading scale of figure skating and watched many competitions. I even feel like I’m taking a class seriously!

In the process of learning, I learned that athletes themselves, regardless of nationality or origin, should be recognized for their own efforts and perseverance, while Yuzuru Hanyu is a very respectable athlete in figure skating. Rather than retiring honorably after winning two consecutive Olympics and Grand Slams, he chose to continue to fight in the international arena. Regardless of the pain and public opinion, he continued to struggle with his dreams and hard work, surpassing himself, surpassing his dreams, and moving forward on the road of surpassing the record of mankind. It is gratifying that he successfully broke through himself at the Beijing Winter Olympics and completed the 4A in the world’s first international competition, which is a brand new milestone in the history of human figure skating.

Congenital asthma, earthquake destroyed his home, be given the cold shoulder at the beginning of success… Only Yuzuru knows all the hardships he has suffered, which finally created a unique unparalleled world champion in the history of figure skating. When I feel down and want to give up, I will think of Yuzuru Hanyu who was once abandoned by the world. With his own strength, he won the affirmation of everyone at the end. From the few audiences at the beginning, to the pooh rain and deafening cheers that fill the rink at the end of each performance, Yuzuru Hanyu proves that anything is possible. His perseverance has given countless people the motivation to continue to work hard, and it has also made me take my life and study more seriously and make efforts more proactively than before.

I hope one day I can participate in a performance by Yuzuru. Although we do not know if he will choose to retire after the Beijing Olympics, I still want to see him showing on the ice with his best performance. 

Training before the Winter Olympics in Beijing

4A successfully dropped the ice for the first time at the All-Japan Championship

Note:

Yuzuru Hanyu is the first man in the history of figure skating to win the Junior Division (JWC, JGPF) and Senior Major Grand Slam (SUPER SLAM). It is also after the ISU Judging System replaced the original 6.0 scoring system in 2004, and before the new scoring rules were adopted on July 1, 2018, during this period, the short program, free skating, and total score of the adult group were All world record holders. Hanyu has broken world records for the short program, free skating, and total score 19 times, and is the first player to be certified by ISU to jump out of the 4Lo (quadruple Loop jump) and 4A (quadruple Axel jump).