Dammit I want to go to school!

After an unusually dry month of June and July the rainy season is now officially back to normal, ending fears of a drought - and an unwanted free day from school for me. Last night I discovered first hand how Katipunan turns into an inch-high fast moving torrent of water during heavy rains. Today I got the Philippine version of being snowed in - I'm flooded in. After classes are suspended for only Elementary and High School students I find myself unable to go to my class because outside my house the water is already knee deep.They said in other parts of the village it was already waist high, and there was no trikes to be found, so if I still wade through the flood I'll have to walk my way out. And this is what it looks like at our neighbors -

Dammit I want to go to school. I don't want to miss my PE class, today is intense workout day. Or theo, where I already cut once. I might miss something important (though technically I miss out on stuff since I find myself half-asleep most of the class). Well, it's the weathers fault. Here is a rainy day pic to lighten the dreary mood


PS: Just in: No classes tomorrow. And I was excited for my French dialogue I wasn't prepared for too...Zzz... I'm getting bored out of my mind! I've already memorized Iglesias' "The Ping Pong Song" because of the number of times I listened to it today.

Part of the Chain

This post has been delayed because of school work, and to delay further would just be ironic.

I went to the Gawad Kalinga Bayanihan Build last July 31, the Ateneo St. Ignatius day holiday. My involvement in GK has been a long time plan ever since last year, but I've never really gone for it because of academics and general lack of will power. Much to my happiness this time I've finally managed to go. A day of manual labor always appealed to me.

It turned out not exactly like how i imagined it to be. We went there, 100-something Ateneans and commenced our "build" where basically all I -or most of us for that matter- did was be part of a human chain passing along half-filled buckets of sand. We had a pretty long break where I ate lunch twice thanks to the very gracious hospitality of a local family who took our team in. An hour or so later we resumed our work then ended before the rains came with a Mass with Fr. Nebres.

I was a little disappointed, having just passed sand all day when I was expecting more hard work. But as the whole GK experience was concerned, I was pretty content. I made alot of new friends and finally got to experience what it was like to work as a volunteer.

on Wednesday I attended their Villages and Programs Orientation talk, and this is what I really wanna share. First, much to my amazement I found that the most of GK Ateneo's Village Coordinators are sophomores. Their already responsible for some of villages under GK Ateneo. When I saw that, I was amazed at the commitment and passion they must have that I said, "Damn, I want some of that", because for them to be VCs at this point they must have worked hard and trained when they were still freshmen. Arwin is also one, and I'm not surprised since I already saw how much he committed to GK last year.

Next was their programs. Much to my happiness and excitement they had their own Environment program, which if you know me by now then you'd know this is my passion. Being the pseudo-unofficial ESS representative to GK I found something I can help with that's my expertise. I realized integrating my ESS life and GK life won't be that hard at all and I saw this as a good challenge for me to do.

And then there was their last speaker, who's name keeps eluding me but who's speech doesn't cease to blow my mind. He was the most inspiring speaker i've ever heard - and that's saying a lot already coming from me. I don't get swayed by propaganda or get riled up from speeches from politicians, and not even Aragorn's speech in the RotK thrilled me much. But his speech was hair-raising in it's passion that it actually gave me a headache repressing the passion and fire I'm already experiencing right there in my seat. It's as if the Blue Babble drum line was playing a rallying beat in my head. He made our sand bucket relay operation that was terribly inefficient in my opinion sound so patriotic. One of my favorites was "You became the light and hope of the people that day, because you showed them that 150 Ateneans choose to help them build their houses during their holiday instead of just sleep all day."

The Bayanihan Build and the talk changed my opinion of GK. The 3 things I mentioned above showed me the passion and the commitment of their volunteers that when I see that, I become excited myself and become filled with the same empowering passion. Now I'll really become active in GK. Expect me to become unavailable in the near future because of attending builds and start expecting posts concerning my experiences in helping to build the nation.

You never know what you might learn on the road

You can never know where you might find something that puts things in perspective; You might find it while watching a movie, or even while underwater. I found one in a conversation with a grumpy sarcastic jeepney driver. The kind that seems to have a sarcastic comment to everything a passenger says like "Saan po ito? Paki sabi naman po kung saan bababa, drayber po ako 'di manghuhula." You'll never expect it right? You'll just think a driver obnoxious when he bludgeons his way past the mass of people out from the sidewalk of the LRT station, honking his horn like mad and clearing commuters out like a lawnmower through grass just to let his passengers off.

I bet you'll never guess that a someone like that will be a college graduate, with a degree in mechanical engineering from Adamson University no less. Or think that he regrets spending for an education like that when it will only be used to maintain his jeepney and ply it for the last 7 years because it was impossible to find a proper job. I'm thinking you won't imagine that he is heartbroken after his wife left him recently, saying he never thought that it would hurt that badly, that now he understands what kind of pain and desperation drives people to commit suicide. Now he is burdened to take care of his 4 young children, expressing his feelings through his snide comments to his passengers. I could see the expressions on the other people's faces. Some of irritation, others of amusement. But they could never have heard the whispered story of the driver I heard.

See that... a mechanical engineering graduate, who has been plying his jeepney for the last 7 years, who cries over the loss of his wife and now earns a meager living to support his children. If that doesn't put things in perspective, I don't know what will.

Madlum!!!

July 15th, Sitio Madlum Bulacan. ESS Ecotour. A day of spelunking, trekking, swimming and bonding. That day was just incredibly amazing. We had so much personal accomplishments that the Php350 we paid was more than worth it. We managed to climb and descend to places we never thought we could, squeezed through rock that shouldn't have been able to accommodate us, and jump from heights we haven't jumped off from. There is so much that happened that if I put it into writing it will be very very long. So I'll just try photo blogging. Photos taken from multiple sources. Visit ateneoess.multiply.com for more pics.




Crossed the river - Go Xie





Went Spelunking | ------->





Trekked ---------------------------------->








Yeah, we jumped from that :D








And just enjoyed swimming in the river


The most unforgettable experience for me there was in the river. Only a few people know what really happened, but there was a point there I got scared because it was deep. Ok, I have to admit, I was acting all tough on that trip; generally helping people and taking minimal help while in the caves and even helping friends from rock to rock while we were forging upstream.

Now looking back, I'm second guessing why I jumped in and let myself be carried by the current down the river. Did I do it because I was acting all tough? I know how to swim - kinda. I can get from point A to B, but if I don't get to B yet and I stop cuz I'm tired, then I'm screwed. I can't thread for my life. Much more to swim to save someone else's life. Anyway, I tried grabbing a rock and I don't really recall if I slipped or not.

We were floating down the river - it was in the middle part of the river and it was kinda deep - and I became worried cuz I can't touch the riverbed and I'm starting to tire. Good thing I managed to swim to the far side of the river (after swallowing alot of water), grab a rock and all four of us - 3 freshies and me were floating down - pulled ourselves out of the water and started laughing our lungs off. Well, that was a personal accomplishment for me right there. I survived the Madlum River! Haha. That river experience was just profound I tell you. But seriously, next sem I should take swimming lessons. Haha. Jumping off that cable 2 stories above the river was freakin awesome too.

The Universe is trying to tell me something...

Don't tell me you guys are superstitious. It seems only a couple - if there were any at all who read the previous post below titled "this ain't for the superstitious." And I thought that post would be fun. Anyway, that's not my concern now

~~~

I had like the best sleep yesterday in a long while. I felt so relaxed that I forgot I had school when I woke up and immediately fell asleep again. I was even having a good dream, which I don't remember much now, but I do remember I was trying to speak French then. Maybe it's because I had fun practicing my barok French with my friend the night before. If Anna is reading this, maybe she'll understand. She can read past internet text and get the hidden meaning of what I say, you know...

~~~

I'm getting this vibe that the universe doesn't want me to go to the ESS Madlum ecotour. First my NSTP orientation pulls me away from sign-ups during ESS Orsem. Then Nica said only those who signed-up and those who will attend the Wednesday (today) briefing can join the tour. Fine, I was a little pissed because of the unfairness, but I accepted it. They said I'll just wait for someone to back out then I can take his place, which someone did. Then I remember that DevSoc GA was scheduled the same time as the briefing. I really want to become involved in DevSoc this year, but I decided to just miss this one time for the briefing. Then last night they said there will be a guidance test for sophomores at the same time as the ESS and DevSoc meetings. It really seems that the Universe doesn't want me to go to Madlum. By the way, did I mention that since I'm the ESS' Gawad Kalinga point-person/liaison I should be active in GK activities as well, and that they'll be having a build this weekend, the same day as the ecotour? <_<

PS: Now that I'm typing this I just remembered we also have to pay for the tour together and after looking in my wallet, just realized that I don't have enough cash with me anyway. Great.