I'M LEAVING FOR CEBU!!!!

I'll be back on Friday....

I'll try to blog from my hotel :)

Will post pictures as well...

Ilocos, when will I ever visit you again? LAST PART :)

So it took me 4 months after my Ilocos trip to finally post the last installment (day 3, August 31). Am so sorry. It's now going to be a bit more difficult for me to come up with the descriptions for each photo because I'd have to try to remember the details! So I'll just be sharing with you a few of my favorite shots..I'm sorry I don't have descriptions...there are more pictures, actually...just chose the few that I really like :) Too bad I forgot to remove the timestamp :|

Sta. Monica Church

Burgos Lighthouse

Bangui Windmills

Patapat Viaduct

Pagudpud

my out-of-town long weekend...bitin!

As you dear readers know, I went to Davao, Malaybalay, and Cagayan de Oro this weekend. For this entry, I'd like to share a few favorites of mine from all the pictures I took this long weekend.

DAVAO

Lunch by the beach. After a very long interview that morning, Ma'am Carmen (the field supervisor), Ma'am Ofel (our contact in Davao) and I had lunch at a Dampa type of restaurant somewhere in Davao...seaside! :) Lovely view while eating, don't you think?

There's something enchanting about this tree...I took this shot while waiting for the interviewers to screen one of the possible respondents (unfortunately, she wasn't qualified for the interview :|). Mind you, this was at a slum type of area. Back to the tree...the branches are all green and bare, with just a few that still had their leaves. This tree brightens up the place a bit.

After my very tiring afternoon doing fieldwork, I went to the Davao Convention Center to check out the Christmas bazaar. There really wasn't anything spectacular about it, except that I was in a bazaar in Davao. Hahaha! I was able to buy something for my family which I thought was worth the excess baggage fee I had to pay at the airport--organic products from Kablon Farms in South Cotabato. I bought tablea, wild honey, and passion fruit-pineapple marmalade (soooo good!) for my lola. And yes, I bought lots of suha for my officemates and friends. And durian candies.

EN ROUTE TO MALAYBALAY
I asked the guy sitting behind me to take my picture on the bus before the bus got full. You see, it was my first time EVER to ride a bus alone. Considering the trip was 5 hours long, it really was a milestone sort of thing for me. I just had to document it. And yeah, I have really bad posture...need to work on that.

Really happy to be on a bus. Haha! I got lucky...buses in the terminal in Davao City left every 30 minutes so when my bus left, I didn't have a seatmate yet :) I was enjoying the view, actually.

Our first stop was the Provincial Sanitation Checkpoint, where we all had to get off the bus and walk on the floor that was doused with water mixed with meds...to avoid foot and mouth disease (the bacteria usually latches on to the body through the feet/shoes).

Wonderful view once I got off the bus :)

Pretty flowers at the checkpoint. I don't even think they were selling these.

Okay, I'll continue this post later because I have other entries I need to work on...as in delayed ones like the last installment of my Ilocos trip, and a new one about my trip yesterday to San Pablo, Laguna. SORRY!!!! I tend to forget about making certain entries or I procrastinate. Haha!

one week vaca

Since it's a holiday on the 6th (Mon) and Holy Week starts on the 9th (Thur), my boss told us to take a leave on the 7th and 8th. Woohoo! A week without work. This is the first time in quite a while that we're spending Holy Week out of town. On a whim, my family and I decided to go to Casa San Pablo in Laguna next week from April 8-10. I've always wanted to go there, and I was actually hoping I'd visit that place with my friends. I guess Casa San Pablo will still be fun with my grandmother and brother, since we'll be the only ones left here in Manila next week. My mom will be back in the boondocks (haha!) of Bukidnon by this weekend, my uncle and aunt are going to Camarines Sur to go wakeboarding, and my other uncle and aunt plus my cousins are going to visit my family in the province. So that just leaves me, my grandmother, and my brother.

I don't think a lot of countries take Holy Week as seriously as the Philippines does.


Yes, we shouldn't forget what Jesus went through...so Holy Week is not just the time for us to pray and reflect, but it also gives us the time to rest and relax--two things I think we need to be able to contemplate...don't you agree?

late late Bukidnon vacation entry

With my recent family tragedy (my grandfather's passing), I haven't been able to update my blog. The past 2 1/2 weeks have been stressful not just for me but also for my family. Three weekends ago I was at Malaybalay City, Bukidnon (south of the Philippines, the Mindanao area) to spend a few days with my family. It was also the last weekend of the Kaamulan Festival. When I got back to Manila, the only places I'd go to were the office and the hospital (my grandfather was confined for a week before he passed away). From a fun weekend to two weeks of stress, sadness, and mourning. Oh well.

To brighten up this entry a bit, here are a couple of collages of some of the pictures I took during my Bukidnon mini-vacation.

The Parade/Street Dancing

Flowers at my family's house in Malaybalay