The Year The World Was Supposed To End

For all the blessings that God has bestowed upon me,

For all the love and care 

my family, co-teachers, and friends have showered me,

For all the encouragement and dance & life lessons 

the Philippine dance community has shared to me,

 And, for the freedom and faith that I have found in me,

I am truly grateful and contented.

Thank you all super much.

2012 has taught me well enough and has made me a better person.

I may have shed a thousand tears,

cut myself to the quick a gazillion times,

or wasted my effort on irrelevant things,

I can head-up high say that GOOD and HAPPY things happened
more than the bad ones.
I have grown and learned so much

from all those things.
Since the end of the world did not happen at 2012,
I am going to make 2013 count and
waste not a single chance of bliss and love.
After all, we only live once.

2013, I am more than excited and ready for you! 

Surf and Music Festival 2012: La Union

Surfing has been one of the sports I would love to immerse myself in to. Conquering my hydrophobia and swimming in the deep are the things I never thought I could and would do. But, I did, so to hell with fears.

This year, surfing changed me and my beliefs. It was not anyone's influence nor piece of advice of a friend, for that matter. Growth is not a medicine that you force people to gulp in. It just simply happens naturally. 

The moment I have heard of this festival, I know I will not let this pass by. And so, I went with my co-teacher Bianca and her friend Jill.

Little Surfmaid has been our home for the first 2 nights in La Union. It was a bit far from the event place and the commercial areas. Their rooms are comfortable and cozy enough. Food and beverage are a bit pricey. They serve big though. For our last hurrah in this wonderful surfspot, we stayed at The Circle Hostel. We tried the hammocks for the first time and boy, they have perfectly cuddled us to sleep. This one is bigger and more spacious than the one in Zambales. Sadly though, I was not able to paint on the walls.

I may have missed Up Dharma Down's live performance and yet, I have witnessed pure passion and love for poi. I'm a proud co-teacher to have seen my partner dance with fire!

New experiences and unforgettable moments yet again.
My heart is glad up to now.

To top this 4-day get-away all off, I rode the waves nonchalantly. 

"It's the one thing I crave the most but it's also the main thing I run away from."

Only this time, I did not run away nor did I hinder myself from doing what I want.

This replenished what was once there. It was worthwhile.

Stoked. 

1 Corinthians 13

These photos made tears roll down my eyes in lieu of making me smile. Being with these people 5 times a week convinces me more that I have made one of the BEST decisions in my life- to become a teacher. The process might be tough and rough and yet, I feel no regret at all.

I was in the verge of giving up teaching early last year, but something inside made me feel hopeful to continue and go on. If there is one thing I have learned from my previous work, it is how to learn how to wait. And, THIS was it.

This is what I have been waiting and looking for- my SECOND home.

Creative Play Corner and the people behind this loving home have shown me what love really is. They have taught me how to be PATIENT, CONSIDERATE, and SELFLESS. Without their undefying love and warm hugs, I would not know that love is NOT just shared by two, but with EVERYONE.

Almost 2 years as a teacher, I know I have done really good and of course, learning will never stop there. I know I still have a long way to go.

I may feel exhausted after a 3-hour class; yet, completeness and satisfaction dominate. These babies have made me feel elated, brain-drain, or grumpy, BUT the greatest feeling of them all is that I feel great love each and every day. What is more greater than seeing your students improve and develop? Hearing their first sentences, getting random sweet nothings, and seeing them write their names for the first time are more than enough.

And, nothing or no one can compare to that; to them, for that matter.

Happy Teacher's Day to all the teachers out there, most especially to my CPC Family!

Faith

All the pain will be worth it.

How can you measure something that is beyond numbers or words? Faith and trust are such overwhelming and strong words. Just one incident, everything would crumble into pieces. It would take you another week, month, or year to rebuild it and you know in your heart that things will never be the same AGAIN.

This is my second tattoo.

"Tiwala" in Alibata (ancient Filipino alphabet)

FAITH in God and TRUST to other people are the things that I have been working on now. These two were smashed into pieces. Thanks to my adventure in Zambales. I found these in me once again. :)


And so... here are my photos during and after getting the tattoo.

Pray For the Philippines

Another monsoon has hit the country and it breaks my heart that it is barely a typhoon and yet, it has caused so many deaths and tragedies to the Filipinos. The first hit of it have tremendously shaken everyone- Manila Bay had become the second Payatas. 40 or more rubbish trucks accumulated the left overs of the monsoon. We have floods everywhere, missing people from different areas, and lack of food & shelter in most cities. This truly saddens me and just the thought of the young ones, pets, and elders who are lost and hungry, I feel like crying. This monsoon is too obnoxious of its intensity already. Finally, it stopped after 4 straight days of non-stop rain and strong wind.

Our prayers have been answered.

I hope, this time, our nation would put into action what we have learned from this calamity. And once again, we, Filipinos, have proved yet again what he have always been conceiving to be, makabayan at mapagkawang-gawa.


Seeing the photographs all over Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo! make me even more proud that I am a Filipino. We NEVER give up. We do NOT lose hope. Best of all, we, Filipinos, HELP each other out no matter what class in the society we are in. Proud to be Pinoy!

So, for my birthday celebration on Saturday, I will volunteer at PAWS (Philippine Animal Welfare Society) and maybe donate something useful for the abandoned animals. This is something new and I'm VERY excited!

Dear Diary

Today was REALLY horrible and crazy.

It started this morning and things got more awful as the day went by.

1. I only have 2 students. My students got sick because of the weather.

2. My tummy was rumbling the whole day and even if I have eaten my lunch/merienda already, it did not get any better.

3. I waited for 2 hours in Glorietta 4 Food Court only to find out that my tutee's classes got suspended this morning and he was just at home the whole day. I should not have waited for that long and he should have informed me. RAAAAAR.

4. And because of that, we started late. I went home late.

5. My 15-minute ride to LRT turned into an hour and a half ride.

6. Instead of riding one public vehicle to go to LRT, I rode two.

7. While waiting for a bus at Ayala Avenue to the Buendia LRT Station, heavy rain started to pour. My umbrella could not handle the rain and the strong wind, it gave up. Guess who got soaked?

8. It felt winter inside the bus. Even though I have not experienced winter season, I know it was unusually cold inside and it made my cough and cold worse.

9. I was able to ride a skip train. I was very happy but not for long. Few minutes later, a woman in her late 20s moved in front of me and boy, her head stinks like crazy. I had to catch my breath once in a while for almost 30 minutes. I almost cried. It was unbelievably awful.

10. The HIGHLIGHT of the night. Of course.

I went down one station ahead since I was so sure it is flooded in the station where I'm supposed to go down. As I walked down the stairs of Abad Santos LRT Station, people stopped and cluttered midway- only to find out that there was a knee-deep flood ahead of us. I was left with no other choice but go through it. While walking, I realized that the flood was getting deeper. It reached my thighs and I was starting to feel floating rubbish on my legs. I wanted to become a 'jumper' right then and there. I was lucky that I was wearing light clothes- sweat shirt, leggings, and my ever so reliable 3 year old Havaianas slippers.

Thank God I arrived home safe & sound and no one took advantage of the situation.

When I reached my house, I quickly took a nice, warm bath.

Thank God for Twister Fries. It shook the stress away.

Karma Cleanse

While browsing through Twitter, I came across a picture from Yoga Plus Philippines and it actually made sense to me that the things listed in the picture are the things I am practicing right now.

Like REALLY now. :)

One thing I have learned from the Yoga class that I have attended...

"Om shanti shanti shanti..."

So here is the list of the Karma Cleanse:

1. Be grateful.

2. Act with LOVE.

3. Check your motives.

4. Watch your attitude.

5. FORGIVE.

Namaste, everyone!

Temporary Insanity

Here is a list of songs that I listen to lately. It, practically, sums up what just have happened to me a couple of months ago.

I know.. I know..
Too sentimental and gloomy.
But hey, these songs helped me drain my eyes out and see the colors of life.
Just give me time.
This playlist will be replaced by an awesome and more blissful one.

We get there when we get there. :)

1. The Scientist - Coldplay
2. Last Chance - Allure
3. Out Of Reach - Gabrielle
4. Anytime - Brian McKnight
5. You Were There - Regine Velasquez
6. Need To Be Next To You - Leigh Nash
7. Foolish Games - Jewel
8. Emotions - Destiny's Child
9. Crave - Marc Dorsey
10. Kisapmata - Rivermaya
11. Halaga - Parokya Ni Edgar
12. Doin' Just Fine - Boys II Men
13. Tadhana - Up Dharma Down
14. Tell Me - Joey Albert
15. How To Deal - Frankie J
16. Far Away - Nickelback
17. Love Song For No One - John Mayer
18. Better -  Tom Baxter
19. Someday - Nina
20. Dying - Five For Fighting

The last song is pretty much my "theme song" right now.
Don't ask me why. The moment I sat in the car of my colleague and that song played over the radio, I know it is the song.

Fully Booked Mega Sale

Fully Booked announced their mega sale last July 2. As expected, book readers swarmed over the sale section and rummaged through the wide selection of books that are on sale.

This is definitely a lucky day for book lovers like me. 

                                     

Books went down from 798Php-1499Php to 50Php-15oPhp. Can things get any better than this?

This is definitely one of those moments where I am screaming for joy while shaking my knees. The moment I stepped a foot in the book store, I felt pure bliss.