What I realized from our trip

** YFC is international but more importantly God is universal. His love binds all of us in the world together. I heard Mass at Malmo twice. In the City of Malmo, there are only two churches and they don't have hourly Sunday Masses like we do here in the Philippines. Still, hindi pa rin puno yung church. Pero what's truly amazing is that I saw people with different nationalities. There were Filipinos(Filipinos are so everywhere), Norwegians (siyempre), Africans, Chinese, etc. It was just so lovely to see people going together to praise God.

** Planning and patience are important parts of a nation. Singapore is such a perfectly planned country especially when we remember that a lot of their land is reclaimed. when before, people in Denmark have to ride a ferry to get to Sweden, the two countries decided to have a bridge connecting them making things much easier. Now, a lot of Danish live in Sweden but still work in Denmark.

** It doesn't matter how high taxes get as long as the people benefit from them. In Denmark and Sweden, the children have free education and their parents get monthly allowances from the government for each child. They have tax deductions if they invest their money on property and for business.

** They preserve old buildings becuase they value history. And they attract tourists. Their architecture are both stylish and functional.

** They have trees everywhere. Considering they have four seasons, I think it would be harder to mantain plants there than in the Philippines. But we don't have as much trees. Sometimes, I think there are more basketball courts than trees in the streets.

** Tourism should be one of the government's priorities. Singapore has free tours and free shuttles from the airport for the people who have at least 6 hours before their connecting flight to wherever. At least, they get to showcase the beauty of their country and tell people to come back to their country some other time. Our country doesn't even have much quality travel guides when we have so many beautiful sites to show off.

** Lines should be cut short. Abroad, the lines are short and if they are long, they are bearable. In NAIA, the lines at immigration are really long and they don't have clear labels. One Filipina who was with her daughter. The mom had a passport of another country already but the daughter had a Philippine passport. Upon reaching the counter labeled Filipinos/Balikbayans, which obviously described her because she was a Filipino by nationality and a balikbayan, she was asked to line up somewhere else. Haay.

Ayun. The Philippines is such a beautiful country. But we can't just rely on that, we have to continue planning and improving what we have. We can't just take everything on one at a time. We have to plan things as a whole because everything we do, no matter how small, affects our nation and our future. Can't wait to become Chief of Staff. lol.