Let us read the story of Gio, Latif, and the Laksa, an unexpected friendship formed because of International

Competition, it is indeed a great example on how globalization play a big rule in our everyday life.

A Story: Gio, Latif, and the Laksa

When Gio was a second -year international affairs student in a university in Cebu City, he obtained funding to join the
school team participating in an international Model UN competition in Sydney, Australia. At the height of the
competition, Gio made plenty of new friends and became particularly close to Latif from the Malaysian team. The two
first started talking when Latif asked Gio where he was from. Upon discovering that the Gio was from the Philippines,
Latif lit up and declared that he was a big fan of Filipino actors Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa. Gio was pleasantly
surprised to learn that Latif had seen every episode of the ABS-CBN telenovela Pangako sa 'Yo ("The Promise").

The show had aired on Malaysian TV a few years back, and its two stars had developed a modest following. Ashamed that
he did not know as much about Malaysia as Latif knew about the Philippines, Gio asked Latif what his country was like.
Latif, he discovered, was from a Muslim university in Kuala Lumpur. Gio asked him what he liked best about living in
"KL, and Latif immediately mentioned the food. Latif explained that in Kuala Lumpur, one can find Chinese, Indian, and
Malay cuisines.

He told Gio that this assortment of foodways was the result of h ow the British reorganized Malaysian society during the
colonial times. The British did little to change the way of life of the Malays who were the original residents, but brought
in Chinese laborers to work in the rubber plantations and tin mines, and Indians to help manage the bureaucracy and serve
as the initial professional core of a potential middle class. One of the ways that these ethnic groups were identified was
through their foodways.

According to Latif, Malaysia eventually became famous for these cuisines which can be found in the various "hawker
centers" across the nation's cities and towns. These food stands are located in outdoor food parks where locals and tourists
taste the best of Malaysia, from nasi lemak to laksa.

Gio interrupted Latif a nd asked, "What is laksa?" He felt more ashamed at his lack of knowledge. "Ahh...let me show
you what it is and how it is prepared!" replied Latif.

The next day, Latif took Gio to a Malaysian restaurant a few blocks away from the university. Gio was surprised to
discover that Malaysian food was readily available in Sydney. Having noticed this, Latif explained to his Filipino friend
that, over the years, as more and more Malaysian students moved to Sydney to study, Malaysian restaurants followed suit.
Soon after, they were catering not only to these students, but to Australia-born "Sydneysiders" as well, whose culinary
tastes were becoming more and more diverse.

Gio finally had his first taste of laksa-a rice noodle soup in a spicy coconut curry sauce. He found the flavors intense since,
like most Filipinos, he was not used to spicy food. However, in deference to his friend, he persisted and eventually found
himself enjoying the hot dish.

After the meal, Gio and Latif went to a nearby café and ordered "flat whites"-an espresso drink similar to latte, which is
usually served in cafés in Australia and New Zealand. Both knew what flat whites were since there were Australian
inspired cafés in both Kuala Lumpur and Cebu.

Gio finally had his first taste of laksa -a rice noodle soup in a spicy coconut curry sauce. He found the flavors intense
since, like most Filipinos, he was not used to spicy food. However, in deference to his friend, he persisted and eventually
found himself enjoying the hot dish.
 After the meal, Gio and Latif went to a nearby café and ordered "flat whites -an espresso drink similar to latte, which is
since
usually served in cafés in Australia and New Zealand. Both knew what flat whites were there were Australian-
inspired cafés in both Kuala Lumpur and Cebu.

The new friends promised to stay in touch after the competition, and added each other on Facebook and Instagram. Over
the next two years, they exchanged e -mails and posts, congratulated each other for their achievements, and commented
on and liked each other's photos. Latif sent his mother's recipe to Gio and the latter began cooking Malaysian food in his
home. A few years after graduation, Gio moved to Singapore, joining many other overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in
the city-state.

The culture was new to him, but one thing was familiar: the food served in Singapore was, no different from the
Malaysian food he had discovered through Latif. He would later learn from Singaporean colleagues that the island
country was once part of the British colony of Malay and the postwar independent Federation of Malaysia. Singapore,
however, separated from the Federation in August 1965 and became a nation -state. Today, they may be two distinct
countries in this part of the world, Singapore and Malaysia still share the same cuisine. After he settled down in his
apartment, Gio sought out found a favorite laksa stall in Newton Hawker Center. He would spend his weekends there
with friend s eating laksa and other dishes.

One Saturday, while Gio was checking his Facebook feed along the very busy Orchard Road -Singapore's main
commercial road -he noticed that Latif had just posted something 5 minutes earlier. It was a picture from Orchard Road.
Surprised but also excited, Gio sent Latif a private message. Latif replied immediately saying that he too had moved to
Singapore and was, at that moment, standing in front a department store just a few blocks away from where Gio was.
The two friends met up, and after a long hug and quick questions as to what each was up to, they ducked into a café and
renewed their international friendship by ordering a pair of flat whites.

Gio and Latif met in Sydney because they attended both the said competition. Remember that Sydney is one of the
Global City that obtain its prosperity and impact from the global capital that flows through it. Sydney is also the home of
thousands of international immigrants working in the different sectors that also export their products in different countries
and continents all over the world.

• Mail-order brides - Recruited in the internet for foreign men living in industrial countries. After having convinced
for having good and prosperous life once married to a good partner in a first world country, they became sexually
and domestically abused in the foreign land.
• The best scholarly description of globalization is provided by Manfred Steger who described the process as "the
expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness across both world-time and across world-
space.”
 Expansion refers to of the creation of new social networks and the multiplication of existing connections that cut
across traditional political, economic, cultural, and geographic boundaries. These various connections occur at different
levels. Social media….

▪ For example, establish new global connections between people, while international groups of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOS) are networks that connect a more specific group-social workers
and activists from different corners of the globe.

Intensification refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of these networks." Not only are global
connections multiplying, but they are also becoming more closely-knit and expanding their reach.

▪ For example, there has always been a strong financial market connecting London and New York. With
the advent of electronic trading, however, the volume of that trade increases exponentially, since traders
can now trade more at higher speeds.

Globalization and Globalism

Globalization represents the many processes that allow for the expansion and intensification of global connections.
Globalism is a widespread belief among powerful people that the global integration of economic markets is beneficial for
everyone, since it spreads freedom and democracy across the world. It is a common belief forwarded in media and policy
circles.

There are Different kinds of globalization according to anthropologist Arjun Appadurai

According to him, different kinds of globalization occur on multiple and intersecting dimensions of integration that he
calls scapes. They are:

1. Ethnoscape - refers to the global movement of people.

2. Technoscape - refers to the circulation of mechanical goods and software.

3. Tinancescape - denotes the global circulation of money;

4. Ideoscape - is the realm where political ideas move around.

5. Mediascape - the flow of culture.