Pahiyas 2010

My friends from another department in the office invited me to join them in attending the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon. This is the feastday of San Isidro Labrador celebrated on May 15 in thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest all year round and to simultaneously ask for continuous blessings in the current year. They likewise informed me that I could bring a friend and I invited a grade school classmate at once. I told my mother about it and she said she wished she could join as well. Luckily enough, she could still be accommodated in the transportation.

(A little side story on my mom joining the trip. When I told her that she could join us, she suddenly remembered that she had a prior commitment on that weekend. She was able to get out of it easily. Then she saw the tv ad of a teleserye she religiously followed which was ending on that same weekend. Again, she had second thoughts on joining! In the end, she spent the weekend with me and my friends.)

Going back to the story, we left the office at around 8:00 pm and arrived in Tayabas, Quezon at 11:45. We checked into Nawawalang Paraiso which is surprisingly good for its price.
At breakfast the following morning, our host arrived to take us to Lucban, the center of activities. I was awed by the nice designs made out of fruits, vegetables, and kiping. Kiping is fried crispy ground rice. For me, it is a local cracker.

At around 10:30 am, we went to Kamay ni Hesus, a gigantic statue of Jesus Christ located at the top of a hill 292 steps above street level. It was a good thing that my mom and I wore pants which reached our knees as our friends weren't allowed to climb up since they were wearing shorts. They implement a dress code for the people who want to go up as the place was sacred ground.

When we got down, we went to our host's house to feast on delicious caldereta, laing, and yema cake, among others. Their family lot has the main house, a guest house, technically 2 bahay kubos and scattered with trees such as mangoes, duhat and lukban. The heat was literally draining our energy that time so each of us found our places for siesta.

We woke up to see another tradition, the procession. What was different from this procession though was all who joined are men and we soon found out why. When the men were in front of the houses, the owners threw the displayed suman, mangoes and pineapples. When all of these have been thrown out, the house owners likewise threw bills and coins.

You could just imagine the scene this created! All the men in the parade were eagerly looking up to catch the next thing. Although, what was really striking about it was that a few pickpocketed from the others, all in good humor!

That night, we were invited to another house which also prepared yummy food! We got back to the resort really tired but so glad for the bonding. We went home the day after. Next stop, Subic!

On the road to the 2010 elections

A few days from now, legal-aged Filipinos will line up once again to vote in the national and local elections. I have received e-mails and text messages of who NOT to choose.

I remember the first time I registered to vote. My mother excitedly and proudly escorted me to the school where she teaches. She introduced me to everyone. Yes, I was excited as well but I depended on my mother's list for my choice of candidates.

Six years after that, when I worked in a private institution, I'm embarrassed to say that I skipped voting in one national election. It just wasn't my priority then. This didn't deter me from expressing my opinions. It was all words, no action.

Now that I have been working in a government office, my views on election has drastically changed. I often question the motivation and the manner for compliance to office policies. I adhere to most of them, true, but I now think beyond myself to include fellow government workers and Filipinos, for that matter.

I could be overly dramatic at times but I literally feel for the clients I deal with, and at times, my officemates. I know I am simple-minded in some cases but I feel the need for change is long overdue.

As I go through the credentials of the candidates, their achievements in office, I wonder about the things not mentioned in the pamphlets. Choosing wisely is not hard as I simply pick the man who has the best track record among the lot. However, I dare say that choosing from the heart is harder as we only see glimpses of the man during debates and televised campus tours.

A few days from now, legal-aged Filipinos will line up once again to vote in the national and local elections. May the one vote we entrust to our chosen leaders guide their hearts in serving our beloved Philippines.

Holy Week at Marinduque

I first went to >Marinduque in summer of 1997. This is the place my mom considered home at one point in her life. I came back this Holy Week with 5 of my friends. Here are the highlights of my stay at Marinduque.

Marinduque, the island

The back-to-back brochure of the holy week program shows how small Marinduque is. As proof of its size, all the week's major activities in all the towns are listed per day in the same brochure. It likewise shows the places to stay and sites to see. This place is quite quaint that you could see the entire island in 9 hours even by riding a tricycle, or so we were told. Modern amenities such as wifi and cable tv are accessible but this has not altered the generally laid back and serene place that is Marinduque.

Moriones Festival

I stayed in the island from the afternoon of Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday evening. One of the highlights is the Moriones parade on Good Friday. They depicted the carrying of the cross across Boac town.

On the same night, they had the passion play in the town plaza. The program showed that it should start at 7:00 p.m. We were there promptly but felt that we were in the wrong location as there were no people yet. We decided to eat dinner then. After an hour, we went back to the plaza and saw some people fixing the stage and seated in the amphitheater. The show started at 8:20 p.m.

Putting aside biases, we enjoyed the play. The script was well-written. The actors were believable and spoke clearly. As it started late, it wasn't done yet by 10:00 p.m. We were tired and left without seeing the end.

My lola

The following morning, I called up my mom's aunt to tell her I was in Marinduque. I also told her that I would visit her with my friends later in the afternoon after attending church services. When we arrived at her house, I was surprised to find delicious foods: home-cooked pancit, bibingka, biko, and alimasag. Everything tasted so well I even took our leftover food to our resort.

My aunt learned that I was there and invited me to visit her cottage. I was awed by how beautiful and cozy her place was. I even saw one of her cousins. We went to the beach and took pictures by the bonfire.

Tres Reyes

Going to this island is an experience. This is a group of 3 islands that has white rough pebbles so you better have footwear that you can wet. The boat ride from the town Gasan to the first island took 20 minutes.

We planned to leave the island by 12:00 nn and went there with just finger foods so we would be forced to leave the island by lunch time. However, we were in for a surprise.

One resident of the island went around selling ulang-ulang. It's basically a species of crab cooked in gata. Each of us tried one and it was so delicious.

After a few minutes, we saw a roasted pig without limbs being hauled in. We thought it was food of one of the visitors of the island. I was surprised to see a weighing scale near it. That was when I knew it was for sale. We bought 700 grams and was given another 100 grams for free. It was so tasty!

After that, we were open to surprises. When ice cream on stick was sold, we tried it as well.

The experience

That was one of my best vacations ever. We didn't need to get up very early or rush from place to place as, I repeat, Marinduque is quite quaint, serene and laid-back. I would love to go there every once in a while to unwind.

More bonding moments with friends

Last Thursday, my friends and I watched the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra led by guest conductor Aries Caces with guest violinist Joseph Esmilla. The night started with dinner and ended in bonding over beer at an Irish pub in Makati. Twas a great night!

On Friday night, I thought I'd drop by the chorale practice, join the vocalization, then leave. I was so excited in thinking of things I could do on the one Friday night that I am free from practice. How wrong was I when I was decided to join them for dinner afterwards. Glad I did so as it was another night of good music and loud laughter.

Today, my mom and I visited my sick lola at my aunt's place. Then I met my best friend. We ate to our hearts' content pasta, yoghurt, and coffee. Bonding moments like these never grow old.

Busy, busy, busy

It's just the first quarter of this year but I feel I've done so much already, the foremost being joining the official chorale of the museum. Being a member, I practice with them every Wednesdays and Fridays. We have already performed thrice. I have received a painting and a pencil sketch of me as tokens.

For a while, I was into jogging with friends from the office to the CCP complex and circling the ramp until we go back to the office to change clothes and go home. At one point, we were 9 in all. This was my regular activity every Tuesdays and Thursdays for about a month.

Flashback: I didn't have time to write about joining the chorale competition where we were the champion.

Going back, the members of the chorale had a get-together in January in a really nice Makati condo unit. I had the chance to sing live with the Electromaniacs band as my backup music and Dean Harold Galang of the PWU School of Performing Arts. We sang mostly Beatles and broadway songs. I know it was a once in a lifetime experience.

Last month I attended the SFC international conference in Davao. I can't describe the overwhelming feeling I had then. It was truly great!

I also enjoyed pop and classical culture. I watched Repertory plays at Greenbelt, Duets in January and Romeo & Bernadette last month, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra concerts for 3 consecutive months, a piano concert and the Paramore concert at MOA. My favorite tita treated me with free tickets to watch the Philippine pyromusical competition. It was a great night bonding with family.

In between these activities, I went condo hunting and decided to buy a unit. I believe this is the most adult move I've done so far. Regular payments will start next year. I hope I can afford it.

The few times I stayed home, I watched DVDs of TV series and movies. I still have a few unwatched DVDs and unread novels.

As the summer season is about to start, friends are planning to go out of town. I hope I have the finances and the time to do all of these.

This is my story for now, just busy, busy, busy.

All in my day's work

I usually answer office phone inquiries. When I don’t know the answer, I refer them to the concerned unit by giving the direct line number. When I give the number, the caller usually repeats it after me. One time, after I mentioned the first 3 digits, I heard “beep, beep, beep”. I heard it again after I mentioned the last 4 digits. I tactfully told the caller, “Please dial that number after we put down our phones.”

- 0 -

Before our office releases claims, the INternal reconciliation department double checks premium and loan payments. As this is a tedious task which sometimes takes months due to the volume of requests, clients follow up either in person or over the phone. One time I answered a phone inquiry, the caller asked to be connected to the Eternal reconciliation department.

Ending 2009... Starting 2010

The last week of 2009

I reported for work on Dec 28-29 (Mon-Tues). The plan after office was, I was supposed to meet Sonia on Monday, Sheila and Cata on Tuesday and spend the whole day at Trinoma with Lani on Wednesday.

Sonia had to finish a deadline that Monday so asked to be re-sked on Wednesday. As Lani is a college friend who rarely goes out of the house, I couldn't reschedule. She wanted to go to Trinoma for the first time in her life with me. Sonia and I agreed to see each other at a later date.

The next day, Sheila cancelled at 3:00 pm because she also had a deadline to finish. She also wanted to reschedule the next day, Wednesday. Lani was my first commitment on that day and I wanted to stick to that. Sheila insisted we open a mall at 10:00 am so we don't need to find a later date. That night, I asked my mom to go with me in buying jewelries. She also wanted to buy the following day, Wednesday. I told her I planned to go on a later date as I didn't have that amount of money yet then, and I had several plans that day. My final schedule Dec. 30 was 10:00 am with Sheila and Cata, 2:00 pm with Lani.

New year's eve

I spent the whole day on dvd marathon. That night, I was really tired by 10:30 and promptly slept through all the new year's eve celebrations.

Jan. 3 (Sun)

I spent a ladies' afternoon out with Luisa, my good grade school friend. We went to a salon, had hair spa and pedicure, then went to a mall for facial.

Jan. 5 (Tues)

Our executives initiated a victory-healing party for our group. Let me backtrack for awhile. We joined the Christmas party presentations. There were 4 categories. Our teams were champions in dancing, and the chorale competition (which I joined). We were third place overall because of our score in the broadway musical and the caroling competitions. I'll miss the finance sector people.

Jan. 8 (Fri)

I watched Chipmunks, the Squeakuel with Mac after office.