Mabuhay Germany

Starting tomorrow (Oct. 12) until Sunday (Oct. 14), the Philippines will celebrate its friendship with Germany with “Mabuhay Germany,” the fifth in the annual series sponsored by the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (GPCCI). This year’s events, focusing on the theme “Step Forward + Have Fun,” will be held at Bonifacio Global City.

Tomorrow evening, there will be the usual VIP opening ceremony with diplomats, business executives, and government officials present. Frankie & Friends will present an opera for the benefit of the guests.

On Saturday will be the Third GPCCI Table Soccer Cup, a symposium entitled “Step Forward! Learn German! Land a Job!” organized by the Goethe Institut, and a “Groovy Doovy German Party Night” featuring the Authority Band and German-Filipino DJ Badkiss.

Sunday will have a Catholic Mass, a German brunch with live music entertainment, a Broadway show, a “Move to the German Groove” song and dance contest, and the movie “Kokowaah.”

Children are especially targeted by this year’s events. They will have many things to do in the Hansel and Gretel Haus.

Adults can look forward to German food, such as grilled sausages with potato salad, cabbage and Schnitzel with Bavarian beer, and typical German desserts. I hope that they will prepare German bread which, to me, is the best bread in the world.

Several entities and firms are cooperating in Mabuhay Germany, such as the German Embassy Manila, the German European School Manila, BAG Electronics, Cats Motors, Mercedes Benz, Doehle Ship Management Philippines, Deutsche Gesellschaftfuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Greenpowerphils, Hansa Meyer-ATS Projects, Hapag-Lloyd Philippines, Continental, MAN Automotive Concessionaires Corp., SSI Schaefer, STEAG State Power, TüV Rheinland Philippines, Ayala Land Sales, BASF Philippines, Club Paradise Resort, Lufthansa German Airlines, Lufthansa Technik Philippines, MATEC Maschinen Technik, Robert Bosch, Schenker Philippines, Triple I Consulting, Wursty Wursty, Giger’s, Brumms Wein, Santis Delicatessen, and Dusit Thani Hotel.

For more information, you may contact Nadine Fund, Charlotte Bandelow, Jeanette Morales, or Elisa Forlales of GPCCI ([email protected]). Chairing the Mabuhay Germany Committee is Roland Odenthal.

I am part of the Goethe Institut symposium on Saturday, together with Christof Wegner, Jun Ishikawa, and Klaus Nuhrich. I will talk about “Why Filipinos Should Learn German.”

The last time I gave a speech in German was during the graduation of a Goethe University exchange student in The Manila Times College. Obviously using his diplomatic skills, the charming Falk Schleicher, language consultant of the Goethe Institut, graciously praised my German, which I did not have to tell him was clumsily crafted using Google Translate.

I have been to Germany several times, to give lectures, to attend meetings, or simply to see what the world’s strongest economy looks like.

On one of those trips, I met up with Sonia Ner, now dearly departed, who was then battling terminal cancer. When I asked her why she was travelling when she was supposed to be resting in bed, she said, “What will I spend my money on? I will spend all my money now enjoying trips with my family.”

In fact, she had invited her entire family (including those living outside the Philippines) to join her in a tour of Europe. On our way back to our hotels from the usual tourist spots in Berlin, she suddenly asked the driver to stop in front of the Jewish Museum.

“Let’s go inside,” she said. “It’s an architectural marvel.”

True enough, when you go inside the museum, you will feel a little bit like the Jewish people must have felt during Hitler’s time. It is a depressing museum, but Sonia Ner was happy to have seen it. May she rest in peace.

On Saturday, I will talk about how, as an undergraduate physics major, I had to learn German to read the journal articles of Albert Einstein (it was not the language that was difficult!). As a literary critic, I relied a lot on Jose Rizal’s essay in German on Tagalog poetics. As a college president, I had to speak enough German to set up our student exchange program in Frankfurt.

Of course, I will also talk about the need for Filipino nurses in German hospitals, the possibility of young Filipinos working and studying as au pairs in Germany, and the need for German-speaking Customer Service Representatives in German call centers in Metro Manila.

I will, however, not mention Mark Twain’s tongue-in-cheek essay on German. In “The Awful German Language,” he writes, “A person who has not studied German can form no idea of what a perplexing language it is.”

Instead, I will mention that the George Dewey Medical College in Subic, which I also head, will start offering German to its nursing students in June.

CONDOLENCES: Speaking of deaths, in town last week was the Philippine ambassador to Germany Maria Cleofe Natividad, unfortunately not for happy official events but to attend the funeral of her mother Guillerma Rayos-Natividad. Because she was a guerrilla during the Japanese occupation, the mother was given military honors before she was buried last Saturday.

BIG PEOPLE IN SMALL JOBS: Special mention has to be made of Flight Attendant Joan Ratunil of Philippine Airlines. Seeing passengers photographing themselves on mobile phones before take-off, she volunteered to take their pictures, then told them to turn off their phones. Kudos for her thoughtfulness and alertness.