I Passed the Compre!!!!

There are lows in life but they are certainly not always.

I promised ten years ago to never punish myself again by burning the midnight candle and taking another dreadful examination in my life. But I realised this bitter and painful reality that if we want to sharpen our pencil, we must go through the sharpener. Okay.

For the last quarter of the year, I had to maintain a low visibility whether in social media or in real world. I did not tell anyone, especially my colleagues back in my work, that I am taking the Comprehensive Examination. I did not want to entertain the cookie cutter pressure while preparing for the day I thought was my "fall from grace". Besides, I was not sure really and nobody knows how harsh UP could be.

I faithfully did my homework for three months. It was never fun, of course. There were times when my brain got lost in ideas. There were times when I the thought of just quitting was tempting. There were times when I doubted if this journey is still worth pursuing. But at the end of the day, I am thankful because I always found that consolation of a "greater purpose" amidst all struggles and sacrifices.

Today I received the most anticipated result. I am extremely but humbly delighted to share my joy at the moment as months of tears and prayers finally paid off. And what made it extra special is: I got a HIGH PASS rating! As I said, I was honestly okay with "pass" and even "low pass" as long as it would mean continuing the journey. But no "best" is impossible with hardwork coupled with prayers. I just need to remind myself to have faith always.

High Pass!

There are also highs like this moment though certainly not always. But I am firmly resolved that I have reached this stage of the journey fiercely and there are no harder terrains this time that I cannot tackle boldly.

#RoadToDissertation

Living Like A Shadow: An Inward Journey

The Shadow at Manila Bay :)

I have been experimenting myself how to travel differently. This May break, instead of heading outside my comforts, I wanted to have more of an inward journey. At the last minute right after I aced all my school requirements, I decided to go back home in Mindanao, but this time I wanted a more low key vacation. It was not I was hiding for someone or something; I just wanted to take rest from all "mandatory calls" of friendships and works.

Some insightful thoughts at this point:

• It is not always about my journey. The world cannot care less about my own joy, success, worries or frustrations, so I just watch it go on its own course.
• Some best moments are best shared with closest people. Having "unannounced" vacation gave myself a slack to spend more meaningful conversations and moments with my intimate circle.
• While I was assuredly feeling that I am home, I felt more than happy to be just a shadow amidst the busy crowd and the pulse of this city. I window shopped any where I wanted or sipped coffee alone in a corner.

A City Frozen in Time

It is an irony that though I am a self confessed culture junkie myself, I have never been to many cultural places. So, when this summer road trip came, I took the liberty to witness at large the heritage treasures of our country that I have always wanted to visit.

We reached the world famous Spanish colonial town of Vigan on the third day of our road trip to the north. Vigan City was such a welcome twist from the nature adventure we had in Baguio City after five hours of butt burning travel.

Vigan was the seat of politics, religion, culture, economy and education in the north during the Spanish colonial times. As we entered the town, I felt I was transported back to the past with its cobbled stone streets, crumbling pillars side by side, and imposing house architectures. We were toured by a horse drawn carriage and everything just felt nostalgic.

We saw old houses, many of which were converted into hotels, restaurants, botiques and shops. The city government though has taken care of these treasures. According to a resident whom we had a small talk, any house repair by the owner has to secure permit and acquire design from the city. Thanks heavens for this kind of preservation efforts.

And although there are a number of modern Spanish inspired buildings around Vigan notably the fastfood chains like Jollibee, Chowking and McDonalds, there are a good number of authentic Spanish era houses dotting all over the city. The best preserved ones are those that are located in Calle Crisologo, a seemingly time frozen section of the city that tourists should never miss.

Aside from Calle Crisologo, another corner any visitor should never miss is the pueblo, a plan itself so characteristic of Spanish towns of the olden times. It is where the public plaza, the city hall, and the central church could be found. Until this day, this planning can be attested exceptionally conserved in this old city.

Well loved cultural and educational destinations in the city also include museums. The house of Father Jose Burgos, one of the three priest martyrs, and the mansions of famous illustrado families of Syquia and Quirino were converted into museums. It was only unfortunate for us to visit them late in the afternoon and they were closed for public.

We stopped a while at Bantay Church, another well preserved religious structure. At first I thought it was only a reconstruction of an original old church because its facade looked very intact, but viewing its colossal pillars I confirmed it was authentic. Beside the church, the iconic century old bell tower located on top of the hill is a must view.

It was dark when we went back to the downtown. What made Plaza Salcedo buzzing was the multitude of spectators and alike waiting for the spectacular dancing fountain show which I can only describe as world class.

Having toured the entire heritage city, I realized that its real charm is more than its material culture, but the tenacity of its people to safeguard a historical treasure that remains remarkably well preserved amidst the challenge of time.

Strange realization but that was how it felt Vigan for the first time, and I vowed it will not certainly be the last.

I Love Nicole the Mistress, Don't I?

Monica (wife), Adrian (husband) and Nicole (mistress). Photo credits: www.bubblenews.com.

 

 

Nicole Esquivel, the anatagonist played by Maja Salvador in the teleserye entitled The Legal Wife aired on ABSCBN, is gaining more and more haters as the story unfolds her hole and corner relationship with a man named Adrian Devilla played by Jericho Rosales, who is married to the protagonist Monica Santiago played by Angel Locsin.

Many of the bashful comments I read and heard, especially for Nicole Esquivel played by Maja Salvador, are mostly based on personal life of the artist playing the role. Unless you are living under the rock, we know in real life how the friendship of Maja Salvador and another actress Kim Chui was broken because of a man in the person of actor Gerald Anderson.

Gerald is the former lover of Kim, who seemed to have been most heart broken in their decision to separate ways. Now, Kim and Maja are two good friends, the latter known to be a confidante of the former during her very painful days. Until one day Gerald and Maja came out as lovers, leaving Kim more hurt than ever and Maja being painted with the "traitor" image.

Now, back to the drama on screen. Why this so much hatred? Some avid viewers hate Nicole not simply because of her wickedness in the story but because of the untangled story of Maja behind the camera. My friends on social networking sites, with smoking ears, write that Maja is the most ideal actress for role of a mistress because she is an experienced one; not an experienced actress but an experienced "mistress".

But I partially digress to that. It is hard to set aside personal feelings and I admit I am no big fan of Maja. But viewing the literature angle, I cannot deny that I love Nicole after all. She is giving justice to the mistress role as evidenced by my rising blood pressure.

What is a masterpiece without villains like Nicole? Civilizations have traitors. Plays have villains. Tales have witches. In a nutshell, if Nicole and other minor villains are not part of the casting, then end of the story! Turn off the idiot box because there is no complication to give denoument at all and there ought to be no story to spin in the first place. 

And are mistresses in real life not like Nicole? She flirts and dates with a man she knows she can never have. She loves to settle for second. She fell in her own trap of love and lies. In short, we know that Nicole is a stock type of character based on reality. And if she hurts, it only shows she effectively connects to real life. Truth just hurts, does not it?

If we get all these purely to our emotions, we will all taste like a bitter gourd. Admit that we just too taken away, which is the true measurement of the effectiveness of the character. Try to take a glimpse at the other side of things - the literature. Separate the the water from oil, so that maybe then we will find something worth appreciating after all.

Things are clearer to me now. I love Nicole because that is how I should expect of her to fit the bill. However, I am still no big fan of Maja in real life by my own personal feelings, which I am sure is understandable.

Happy Birthday, Lola Tina

Today would have been her 76th birthday. 

Lola Tina, my maternal grandmother, left us four years ago, and I must say it was the first profound sorrow I felt in my life. I always spent my summer vacations with her in the province. She, together with my granpa, had a share of taking good care of my childhood life. 

I have a lot of simple but fond memories of her. I always remember her expressions and reactions when would tend our garden under the sweet smelling rosal, when we would feed our chickens in the backyard, when we would pick sweet pomelo that bore many fruits during the season, when we would walk down the poblacion to buy bread.

And though she has this tendency to hit the ceiling when she's in bad mood, my Lola Tina was a hard coated candy outside but a soft marsh mallow inside. She would come into my bed at dawn and hug me with her loving arms when she would hear me cry baby because I miss home. Now I still seem would want to cry, this time, because I miss her.

Yet every time I miss her nowadays, I think she has ways in which she makes her presence felt, comforting and loving. It must be her playing this old song over the radio sometimes. I don't know but it strikes a chord in me and I have this sudden remembrance of her when I happen to hear it.
 
Must be her own way of saying... It's not how long we held each other's hand / What matters is how well we loved each other / It's not how far we traveled on our way / Of what we found to say / It's not the spring you see, but all the shades of green...

It's not how long I held you in my arms / What matters is how sweet the years together / It's not how many summer times we had to give to fall / The early morning smiles we tearfully recall / What matters most is that we loved at all...

It's not how many summer times we had to give to fall / The early morning smiles we tearfully recall / What matters most is that we loved at all... / What matters most is that we loved at all. 

Sometimes I wonder, too, if there is a way she would ever know how I am doing today - if she is also beaming with pride every time I excelled or she misses me too like the way I do to her. I am sure she is happy in the hands of the Grand Seigneur up there and with our other loved ones who have gone before us all here.

Thank you for all the memories, Lola Tina. We love you and we always will. Please do know that you are remembered not only on this special day, but always in our lives.

Hello, Summer Reading Camp!

I am both fortunate and at the same time challenged as this is my first time to be a camp mentor for a literacy program in our school.

The aim of the program is mainly to intervene children who have difficulty in reading. Stressing the importance of reading, we all know that without reading ability, many areas of the academic life of children are hindered.

During our first day of reading camp, we assessed the reading abilities of the children to know the baseline where we will start our reading intervention. Surprisingly we observed that most of the children, even intermediate graders, failed to produce a sound given a specific visual symbol of the letter.

Such problem has roots not only to the usual lack of parental support, but also to how the teachers educate the children.

Sometimes teachers tend to misunderstand the developmental aspect of reading that they keep on teaching how to read a word without visual imagery and part analysis of what really comes out the mouth on the part of the children.

Reading, not parroting.

At other times, because reading is a very complex skill to develop and can be an intricate area to teach, teachers usually fall short of perseverance in developing children to be readers of their own.

Which leads to haphazard learning for the children.

It takes tons of patience but I hope that while taking this endeavor as a new journey for my teaching career, at the end I will most importantly be able to tap the reading abilities of the children to the fullest.