Broken Vase

Imagine a vase breaking into several pieces. It would be easier to patch it up if not all of it gets broken into tiny pieces. It would be easier if larger pieces remain intact. It's the same thing with people.Broken people cannot just patch themselves up together with other broken people. At least one has to be whole.Otherwise, it would be difficult -- difficult but at least it's not impossible.

Misjudged

Oh, it's easy to judge. It's easy to say that the person with the well-worn clothes and shoes is a little crazy when he roams the city collecting softdrink cans from trash bins and keeping them in a bag which he carries around. He is just plain crazy.

But, maybe, he's not. It is, after all, possible that he collects them so he can sell them and at the end of the day put food on the table for his family. He roams the street just to live by every single day or to buy medication for his sick family member.

How many times have we misjudged people when we should have been praying for them?

Discover Bohol

History, culture and ecotourism are rolled into one in a province that has yet to be
discovered by many. I never expected I'd have so much fun visiting Bohol as I did
last weekend. I thought I've been there and I've seen the famous Chocolate Hills.
What else could the place offer? It's a good thing, I decided to go on with the trip
with my officemates, anyway. Bohol did have more to offer.

Although Bohol is not as widely promoted as other tourist destinations in the country
or in the world, it holds more beauty than I know. The people, the place and even,
history is amazing and it makes me proud to be a Filipino. It makes me want to feed
my wanderlust more and just travel to other undiscovered places in the Philippines.I
have a gut feeling that more foreigners are aware of the beauty that the country
holds than do Filipinos.

The Panglao tour started as soon as we were settled. I believe it best to avail of
the tours offered because it's the best way to learn about the province. It can be
tiring but, to me, it is a good enough way of relaxation to indulge yourself in the
beauty of the place and just learn new things. It takes your mind off your troubles.
Our first stop was the Nova Shell Museum. This is where you'll find various kinds of
shells in different colors, sizes and shape from different parts of the Philippines.
You'll find here the smallest shell in the world that could cost about a hundred
thousand pesos. They have a collection of shells that can produce gold pearls.
Additionally, you get a chance to learn which shells to avoid because of their
poison. I am impressed at the research done for the museum. At the end of the tour of
the museum, they have a souvenir shop where they sell beautiful products made of
shell and accessories made of real pearl at affordable prices.

At the shell museum souvenir shop

Hinagdanan cave was our next stop. This is where you witness the stalactites as
commonly known among caves. The place gives you some kind of creep. It's like one of
those movies filmed in caves with a pond of deep, cold water in the middle. But
what's more notable about this stop is the clever jokes of the local tour guides who
have been really nice and funny.They say if you feel something cold drop on your
head, it's holy water but if it's warm, it's holy shit (from the birds in the cave).
True enough, I had holy shit on my hair on the way to our next stop.

Dauis church is one of the mostly heavily damaged churches during the earthquake in
2013. The ceiling, fortunately, remained intact with its beautiful painting. Near the
altar is a well which produces fresh water that is safe for drinking. The entire
island utilizes water that has a little bit of salt water in it which explains the
weird taste of tap water when you brush your teeth and the not so glamorous hair even
after you've stepped into the shower. But that doesn't taint the Bohol experience one
bit.

Behind Dauis church where masses are temporarily held.

A short walk just behind the church is a small dock with really calm water and a
really amazing view of the sunset. This is where I realized how much I missed being
in the province, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It was a stunning
sight as if everything is just perfect and you don't have to worry about anything at
all. It exemplified the beauty of a simple life.

Perfect view of the sunset behind Dauis church.

Dinner was at the Bohol Bee Farm where they serve organic food. If you're game for
something different then this is the place to be. They sell ice cream with unusual
flavors: malunggay, durian, dragon fruit, coco rhum and others and they were all
delectable. I thought these should be more available in the market but, then, I
thought it would spoil the excitement of trying something different in Bohol. Dinner
for me was spare ribs with red rice, served with fresh garden salad and the most
refreshing melon shake. Whoever said chocolates are a better gift than flowers
because the latter won't fill your stomach definitely hasn't tried garden salad yet.
When visiting the Bohol Bee Farm, make sure to bring a mosquito repellant if you
don't want them feasting on you.

Organic food trip

Then, it's time to hit the sack. Or not. We still made a quick dip at the pool at
Panglao Regents Park hotel before going to sleep. The hotel has great accommodation.
The front-liners were very nice and polite and the rooms were always clean. However,
their service in their restaurant can be quite slow. It's a good thing the food can,
at the very least, compensate for all the waiting.

Completing the day with a late night dip at the pool.

Waking up the next morning was one experience I've been wanting for some time. When I
stepped out of the hotel room, the morning sunshine on my face was simply
rejuvenating. It's something you would really miss when you live in the city where
all you see are tall buildings outside your window and where noise, pollution and
heat annoys you when you step out into the open. The sun is different in Bohol. It's
something you'll love. Add to that the view of lush hills in the distance and you'll
have the perfect start to your day.

We took the Countryside tour on our second day in Bohol. On our way to our first stop,
we passed by the famous Sandugo statue. History, as written by the Americans, say it
was the first blood compact between Filipinos and the Portuguese. The tour guide,
rebutts this saying there was a blood compact that happened earlier but it wasn't in
Bohol. It was in Cebu between Magellan and the rajah.

The ecotourism consisted of visiting the tarsiers and the butterfly habitat. Our
first stop was the Tarsier Conservation Center. I've seen them before but I'm still
open to the idea of meeting them again. Perhaps, it's because the tour guide has
mentioned some really interesting things about the tarsiers like how the
characteristics of the tarsier can be likened to five animals: owl, monkey, rat, frog
and bat.

Like the owl, the tarsier can turn its head 180 degrees to compensate for their lack
of peripheral vision. A tarsier is a primate which is why it can, sometimes, be
mistakened as a monkey but it's really not a monkey. Its tail is like that of a rat's
although it doesn't use its tail for climbing but merely for balancing. Just like a
frog, the tarsier has long tarsal bones allowing it to jump for long distances, at
least three meters. This is also how the tarsier got its name. Lastly, the tarsier's
ears can turn towards the direction of the noise similar to a bat's ears.

Tarsiers are solidary creatures and are suicidal. When you disrupt them in their
territory, you could stress them out and they would kill themselves. So, keep your
noise low. Tarsiers are already endangered so let's help conserve them.

In the butterfly habitat, you'll see butterflies of different colors and shapes and
in different stages of their life cycle. I was most interested in the butterflies
with deformities (please see pictures below). The local tour guides were just as
witty with their punch lines and the laugh trip never ends until you finish the tour.

The next stop is the chocolate hills. They're not actually chocolates but limestones.
They just turn brown during the dry season making them look like chocolates. It is
said that this part of Bohol was once submerged in water which explains the presence
of limestones. There are more than a thousand of these hills and they are scattered
in different areas. They were once called Carmen hills because they can be found in
the town of Carmen but, eventually, they changed the name since they can also be
found in other nearby areas.

Team H invades Bohol

Loving the breeze

I missed the wind blowing my hair in all directions. I couldn't care less how I
looked. I just enjoyed the cool and carefree breeze. I dwelled in the moment. This is
just how I wished I could spend some time off.

Then, we're on our way to have lunch at the Loboc river. We made a quick stop in the
middle of the man-made forest to take some buwis-buhay photo shots on the highway.
The forest is made of mahogany trees planted by the Boy Scouts many years back to
avoid soil erosion which turned the Loboc river brown.

Lunch at Loboc river was ordinarily Filipino cuisine. I suppose what made the river
cruise special was when we stopped to watch the locals perform a couple of songs for
us and some of our colleagues danced tinikling with them. It's a great way to promote
the culture of the province especially that Loboc is known to be the music capital of
Bohol.This town is where the now world-famous Loboc children's choir originated. And
did you know that to be part of the choir, a child is not judged based on his or her
voice alone but also on the child's academic performance? The group goes abroad for
as long as a month for their performances and the children could miss a lot in class,
hence, the children must be smart enough to cope up with the lessons when they come
back to school. Nice, huh?

River cruise lunch

After lunch, we tried the zipline and cable car. As usual, the view was great. We
stopped by Baclayon church after that, and took some photos. The face of Padre Pio in
one of the pillars withstood the earthquake in 2013. Earlier during the trip, we
passed by a church that was also heavily damaged by the earthquake. They've been
having a hard time putting it back together because the structure was made of
limestone and the adhesive used was egg white -- a million egg whites. Researchers
are still trying to figure out how to put the church back together without ruining
the structure, i.e. without using cement since it would definitely ruin the
structure. Surely, they would not use a million egg whites anymore now, would they?

There was also a church which was being renovated in 2013 when the earthquake hit.
They were done renovating the sides of the church and what was left was to demolish
the front and rebuild it. Then, the earthquake struck. The front of the church
crumbled down on its own. Now, all they have to do is to build the front of the
church. People call it luck. See the Filipino optimism?

The Filipino optimism is just one the many things that make us distinct.Among others,
are Filipino customs and the stories behind. For instance, I find the story of the
Ube so amusing. It is said that there was a time when Filipinos were not very
obedient to the Americans during the colonization. So, the Americans burned all the
rice fields in Bohol until there was nothing to eat and the Filipinos would have no
choice but to obey them.Unbeknownst to the colonizers, the ube grows underground and
these were not burned along with the rice fields. The Filipinos survived on Ube
alone. Since then, the Ube became sacred to the Boholanos such that they have to say
'sorry' to the Ube and kiss it when they drop it by accident. They also had a
tradition where naked women gifted with big breasts had to plant Ube on a full moon.

Some of my colleagues remained skeptic, of course, given that they have come to know
a more rational world. But I am still amused by the story. I find it distinctly
Filipino. It's part of the culture. I get that we're all auditors and we have to
maintain professional skepticism but how could you fully enjoy the story and the
culture of Bohol when you're being skeptic?

I watched the sunset from the bus on the way back to the hotel. It's in those little
moments of being idle that I get to appreciate the simplest beauty around me. It's
different when you're idle in the city because you feel the urge to fill the silence
and solidarity with the latest music or any form of distraction. Otherwise, you might
go crazy when all you see are walls.

The third day started early. We went to see the dolphins. It took a while before we
saw a parade of them. It was our first time seeing dolphins so it was exciting. Then,
it was a long pump boat ride towards Balicasag island where we plan to go
snorkelling. I loved the refreshing splash of sea water on my face every now and
then.

Then, it was just me and my thoughts with the humming of the engine in the
background. What happened to my dreams? I remember dreaming about making a career out
of caring for animals and the environment or being a public servant (and I don't mean
politics but being a street lawyer or something like that). I was idealistic once.
Now, I realize I'm just trying to fit into a self-centered world where nobody cares
for anybody in a way that I can't even comprehend anymore. I think I'm going to
uphold the ideals of being an iskolar para sa bayan. I just have to finish my current
employment contract and I'll work on my dreams. Honestly, I don't see my purpose nor
my worth in my current line of work. So, I think I'm going to go find that.

Now, we've reached Balicasag island which was very vibrant just below the surface and
not so far off shore. There were various kinds and sizes of fishes. I've seen the
likes of Nemo and Dory. I've seen fishes the size of a plate. I've seen a bright blue
starfish. It was a great experience swimming with the fishes.

Our next and last stop was the Virgin Island where I was so stunned by the long and
beautiful sand bar. It's like in one of those movies. We had fun under the sun making
funny videos in knee-deep seawater. I can't really say much about the sea tour
because there's not much to talk about. I think you have to come visit Bohol to
appreciate it for yourself.

Bohol is simply stunning. It's got everything in a complete package from food,
culture, beaches, wildlife, beautiful sunrise, nostalgic sunset and simply scenic
views and it's not very crowded yet. Perhaps, many would still prefer the night life
offered by other more popular tourist destinations such as Boracay but I think it's
time we give the quiet and simple life a chance and appreciate more the beauty of
nature. Discover Bohol before everyone else does.

Padayon ang laag

Laag sa Tacloban: Week 1

Lessons from 2013

Catch up

So here's what you missed:
It's a new year! I took the time to look back at my 2013 and I'd say it was quite eventful. Right now, I'd say the highlights of the past year have been my month-long stay in Manila for my OJT last summer and the recent super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which basically changed the life we knew in Tacloban City.

Here are pictures of my 2013; memories and people I'll miss.

These pictures were taken at a bazaar put up as part of the Pintados festival in June 2013.

These are my sisters with whom I've shared Mommy's home for three and a half years.

And these are my YFC brothers and sisters, some of whom are not in the photos but are equally special and some I may not see for a long time (ehem, cross-registrants, balik gad kam).

As for GPP, well, we're carrying on with our lives together, aren't we? This is not yet the time to be sentimental about us, except for Kay who is now in Iloilo (I miss you).

Anyway, it's a new year and I'm happy to say that the trees that have once lost all their leaves to the strong winds brought by Yolanda are gradually becoming greener again and the rest of the city has been continually recovering as well.

Most of us, UP students, have received our first set of relief goods and we'd like to thank all those who sponsored these. These really mean a lot to a college student thriving in a storm-ravaged city where the prices of all basic commodities have gone crazy.

Then, we received school supplies from One JPIA. Many thanks! :D

No storm can stop us from having a great 2014!

Lesson from Oz: The great and powerful

Do what you do best and you will fulfill your purpose.

***

"I may not be the wizard you expected but I might be the wizard you need."

Ho ho ho!

High school friends. Getting fat is like our thing. You could feel bad about the fact that you are, indeed, gaining weight each passing day and yet, you end up laughing about it because you all are... and you all have to deal with it. If only you could laugh your fats off.

So, yeah, I've been meeting up with my high school friends and I'm loving it. I love how we have become more matured since high school and I love growing up. I'm really happy. I guess that's the key to happiness. You gotta love the process; the process of growing up.

On another matter, I think I got tired of being the shy and quiet girl. I've become more outgoing and more at ease with my friends. For the record, this was the first time I grabbed the mic in a karaoke session with friends. I got tired of just watching people have fun. Although I haven't totally outgrown the lessons I learned of being a good girl (i.e. I don't drink), I've loosened up and now I'm having fun. I hope you're happy too.

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God's Children

I don’t like how Yolanda has turned me into a 'tambay’. In fact, I think I’m one step closer to becoming depressed each day with nothing to look forward to and with an average of three persons to interact with every day. So, I thought I wanted to get my creativity running, you know, make art (although I’m not exactly much of an artist). I just have to do something. But I’m not even that motivated since creating without purpose is just pointless. Then, I thought about God’s creation of the world. Why did He want to create us? How could He be as motivated as He was as proven by the beauty of His work? Then, it occurred to me. It’s the same reason people would want to have kids.

Now, I don’t know all the reasons why people would want to have kids but as for me, I think I want to see someone go through life’s stages.  I want to see my child grow up with equal experiences of joy and sorrow and end up a victor by living a full life. Call me smug but I think I want to be someone my child can turn to when everything seems bleak; to be the source of encouragement given that I have been through everything that the child is going through and tell him/her that everything is going to be just fine. Then again, I’m still young.  I haven’t had any real thoughts on having kids yet. All these reasons I have might change. 

The point is that God wants to be a parent to us. The problem is that, in time, we become His rowdy teenagers and stubborn adult children. We neglect Him because we’re good on our own. We think life is all about getting what you want by making every night a party or making a fortune. But God continues to be a Father to us; waiting for us to come home to Him. He keeps waiting for us to tell Him about how we enjoy the blessings He sends us every day. He always wants us to talk to Him even only in our most convenient time. We simply forget everything He gave us (including sacrificing His begotten son).

To be His children is all God wants from us. He is our good and loving Father who would welcome us with open arms if we just come back to Him with a contrite heart regardless of how much we messed up with our lives.

Yolanda, we're just gonna laugh

After serving lunch in three-to-one ratio to the 157 evacuees...
Volunteer 1: Tara, pangaon na kita
Volunteer 2: Tara. Ano ngean tat kakaonon?

TRANSLATION
Volunteer 1: C'mon let's eat
Volunteer 2: Sure but what do we eat?
Everybody laughs. 

***

Priest: Kun ngadto ngean kamo kumaturog ha kwarto?
Volunteer: Waray na atop dre.
Priest: Nadiri kamo hito? Skyview!

TRANSLATION
Priest: Why don't you sleep in the bedroom?
Volunteer: Father, it doesn't have a roof anymore.
Priest: Don't you like that? Skyview!
Everybody laughs.

***

Puasa la anay an ayam.
(A Dobberman learns to fast by eating bread alone.)

Titikadako la an mata han Chihuahua han kagutom.
(The Chihuahua's eyes seem to grow bigger due to starvation.)

***

They say it's optimism and hope. Perhaps it is, but I can't really explain the Filipino humor. How could you laugh after finding out you're not getting a decent lunch after skipping breakfast? How could you make fun of your roofless bedroom? I guess, the Filipinos' sense of humor is just what it is. We just love to laugh.

You can break everything you want, Yolanda, but you're never gonna break the Filipinos' funny bone.

Living through the Tempest

I never thought of dying that day. I just thought of surviving. And I did.

My friends and I volunteered on Thursday night to help accommodate the residents of the squatters’ area who took shelter at Sto. Nino Parish in expectation of the coming super typhoon called Yolanda (aka Haiyan).  There was but a little drizzle and mild wind that night, how bad could the storm be? So we talked and laughed and made plans of activities for the incoming semester and we slept comfortably in one of the rooms of the convent. We never thought we’d end up being evacuees as well and all those plans will have to wait.

I was awakened on Friday morning by the whistle of the wind outside. She’s here. We went downstairs to prepare breakfast for the evacuees while the wind kept blowing stronger. Then, there was panic. The evacuees started rushing inside the kitchen saying it wasn’t safe to stay where they were. And then, boom went one of the glass doors and the other came next. There’s nothing we could do but pray. So, we offered a rosary despite the rising panic and wails as more evacuees filled the kitchen. I continued praying after the rosary and all I asked of God was that He will make the shelter of the convent enough to protect us. Dark water started to fill the room and there goes our breakfast and all our supplies. For a moment, I was scared I’d drown even though I can swim.

I was frightened when the strong wind broke the glass doors and windows and toppled the trees and electric posts outside and when the water rose to knee-level within seconds and we were forced to run to the second floor of the convent but death never crossed my mind; only survival. A nun kept pushing us to think of ways to make floaters for the children but there wasn’t anything. We weren’t that prepared. We found two prospective exits in case the water reaches the second floor and leaves us no choice but to swim through it. Thankfully, the water stopped rising but the strong wind hasn’t stopped yet. We offered another rosary. This time, many have calmed down. After what seemed to be the longest hours of our lives, the storm has passed.

Survivors from outside started coming in for they have nowhere else to go. One family had to swim through the murky water downtown and another let themselves be carried by the sea from San Jose to the shore of the city. Some of them were wounded while another had a broken arm but each held on to their dear life.

It was lunch time and there wasn’t much we could offer for the 157 evacuees, some of whom haven’t even had breakfast yet. We prepared about a half cup of rice and a half-slice of hard-boiled egg in disposable plates. Three people had to share each of those servings. That’s how little we had at that time. That didn’t matter. What matters is that we lived through the strongest storm.

After lunch, my friends and I went off to check on our friends and families. We agreed to come back to the convent before dark. Thankfully, all our families and friends also lived through Yolanda’s rage but the city is gone. All the pictures and videos you see in the news are true.

On Friday twilight, one of the priests decided to hold a mass despite the current condition of the church. It was dark. The pews have been wrecked and displaced to one side of the church. Raindrops fell through the roofless church. There were only about fifteen people attending the mass and the priest did not even give a homily; just a moment of silence for reflection. To me, it was a solemn celebration of an extension of my life. I thanked God for answering my prayer to make the shelter enough for all of us. I thought about how I could have struggled and died in the storm. Yet, here I was still. Even though my excitement for my last semester got crushed by this devastation, I’m still alive. Graduation can wait, right now I just have to cherish the fact that I lived.

I realized how short life is. I have come to include in my bedtime prayers that God forgive me my trespasses and bless my soul just in case I die in my sleep. I have come to appreciate more the miracle of waking up every morning to see a new day.

The moment I felt safe, I thought about how my other friends were doing. Did we all survive? Did I lose someone? There wasn’t any way to be sure since all communications were down and I can’t really visit all of them with all the debris and cadavers lining the streets. I have come to realize that there may not be enough time to show how much you really care about the people important to you. So, for the moment, I had to value the presence of my friends who were with me and hope that all the others are doing fine as well. Until we got out of Tacloban, my friends and I looked out for each other. Our families were not with us in the ruined city so we only have each other. No one gets left behind.

The feeling of leaving is not all that glorious. It is a mixture of feeling very grateful to be alive, of being hopeful to live comfortably once again and a feeling of guilt in leaving behind all the people who are suffering.

I was there for three days since the super typhoon. I’ve seen a man mourn over the loss of his daughter. I’ve seen familiar faces deal with the loss of everything including their homes. I’ve seen looters in action and I have benefited from the lootings myself. I smelled the stench of death in the streets. Like everybody else, I felt lost too, not knowing what to do or even where to start. A lot of lives have been greatly affected. A large number of people died but to us who were spared, life goes on. We will all have to begin again.  

Super typhoon Haiyan opened my eyes. It used to be easy to hear and neglect the cry for help of my fellowmen at times like this until I experienced it myself and I can’t just ignore it anymore. I used to lament over the huge number of casualties and the money’s worth of damage on the properties. Now, I see the pain that had to be borne by those who lost their family, friends, neighbors and homes, yet, I can’t do anything about it. The once hard life that our poor fellowmen had to endure just got harder.

It used to be easy for my attention to be diverted to anything new that comes through the social media like criticisms of politicians. Now, I just want myself and everyone else to keep our focus on helping rebuild the lives of those who survived because I know what it’s like to lose the life you built in one city for several years. I also realized that the day the storm hit is one of those times when there is really nothing we can do but pray, let God be God, surrender everything to Him and believe everything is going to be fine.

Many would say that despite everything that’s going on, the spirit of Christmas is alive. But I believe it is because of all this generosity, all these people lending a hand to help Filipinos rise again and all this hope of starting over at a time when we are at a complete loss that I can say Christmas is here. To the rest of the world, thank you. With your help, we will rise again. The one good thing Haiyan brought to Earth is the restoration of faith in humanity.