Rizal on German Women

1. Fall is a wonderful time in Japan. When leaves turn from green to yellow or red, they
transform mountainsides into blazing landscapes that I have only seen on calendars and
tourist brochures. Trees and flowers are to be found even in central Tokyo, so there
always is an alternative to being indoors or inside a mall. Without a cell phone or
Facebook, all this natural and man-made beauty around would not be enough to ward off
homesickness. Even that viral video of that obnoxious girl using her alleged education
and call-center English on a poor lady guard at an MRT station made me miss home.

Somebody once asked what Rizal would have written in a blog, what photos he would
have posted on FB, what sharp one-liners he would have rolled out on Twitter. If you
read his multivolume correspondence, you will know what his world was like, what he
saw, what he shared with family and friends.

Every schoolchild knows about Rizal and the women of Malolos or Maria Clara, and how
he held them up as a model for Filipino womanhood. What few know is that he advised
his own sisters to be like German women! In a letter to his younger sister Trining on
March 11, 1886, he said:

“Since I left our country [four years ago] I have received only four or five lines written by
your hand, one or two insignificant news about you and nothing more. I don’t know how
you are and I cannot imagine your person. You were very small when I left. Now within
two months you are going to be 18 years and in four years I suppose that you have
grown up and you are becoming a young lady.

“At your age, German women seem to be 20 or 24 years, as much for their faces as for
their ways. The German woman is serious, studious, and diligent, and as their clothes do
not have plenty of color, and generally they have only three or four, they do not pay
much attention to their clothes or to jewels. They dress their hair simply, which is thin,
but beautiful in their childhood. They go everywhere walking so nimbly or faster than
men, carrying their books, their baskets, without minding anyone and only their own
business.

“As I said to Pangoy, they love their homes and they study cooking with as much
diligence as they do music and drawing… If our sister María had been educated in
Germany, she would have been notable, because German women are active and
somewhat masculine. They are not afraid of men. They are more concerned with the
substance than with appearances.

“Until now I have not heard women quarreling, which in Madrid is the daily bread… It is a
pity that in our country the principal adornment of all women almost always consists of
clothes and finery rather than of knowledge. In our provinces, women still preserve a
virtue that compensates for their little instruction—the virtue of industry and tenderness.
In no women in Europe have I found the latter virtue in such a high degree as among the
women there. If these qualities that nature gives to the women there were exalted by
intellectual qualities, as it happens in Europe, the Filipino family has nothing to envy the
European. For this reason, now that you are still young and you have time to learn, it is
necessary that you study by reading, and reading attentively. It is a pity that you allow
yourself to be dominated by laziness when it takes so little effort to shake it off. It is
enough to form only the habit of study and later everything goes by itself… I hope to
receive a letter from you to see whether you are progressing or not. If you can, write me
in Spanish.”

Reference: Ambeth Ocampo (2012),Philippine Daily Inquirer

Money Lessons from Rizal

2. During his travels in Europe, Rizal would often complain that the daily rate of his
hotel or apartment was too high and he would always transfer to a cheaper location
after every few days to save on costs.

When Rizal first arrived in Heidelberg in 1886, he stayed in a pension house. He later
went to look for a cheaper alternative, and he wrote in his diary, "Tomorrow I am going
to change my residence and move to No.12 Ludwigsplatz, near the University. The
room alone with service, light, and heating costs me eight pesos a month or 32 marks.
I shall eat at the restaurant during the day and at night take supper in my room in
German style, that is, a cup of tea, bread, and butter. I believe that in this way I can
live on 25 pesos a month with board and lodging.”

Reference: Henry Ong (2016), Interepreneur

Activity:

1. Write your reflection about the letter of Dr. Jose Rizal that addressed to his sister on
German women. What would be the message of Rizal to the Filipino youth especially
the women in terms of values/qualities that one should possess?

2. What was Rizal’s attitude towards money? How did Rizal manage his limited finances
while he was living overseas? Write at least 5 personal finance lessons that you can
learn from Rizal’s experience?

Note: Write your answer on the following format:

a. Legal size
 b. Font size- 12

c. Font style- Tahoma

d. Sample heading

Republic of the Philippines

CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY
Ponteverda Campus
2x2 I.D. Picture

Requirements for Final Exam in

MS 422 (Rizal: Life, Works and Writings)

Read
1. (Copy themore: http://opinion.inquirer.net/40866/rizal-on-german-food-and-
no. 1 question)
women#ixzz52ip6vApi Full Name / Year&Section
Answer: (Write your answer below)

2. (Copy the no. 2nd question)

Answer: (Write your answer below)

e. Deadline: January 10, 2018

Happy New Year!

ROBYLIN D. BERMIL
Course Facilitator