A week in the valley

Just came back from a week long trip to Cagayan Valley. Was assigned as Chief Examiner there for the PSHS NCE 1st Screening (entrance exam ng Pisay), w/ my co-teacher Nino as the Chief Examiner for Tuguegarao. Part of our trip was an ocular inspection for possible sites in Isabela for Field Bio 2007.

We stayed in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, where the PSHS Cagayan Valley Campus (PSHS-CVC) is located. Compared to Zamboanga (which I recently visited, also because of my work), Bayombong is a really quiet, low-key, provincial town. Their next-door neighbor, Solano, is busier and exciting.

So basically we visited the Pisay CVC campus to brief the Chief Examiners there. We also visited Ilagan, Isabela, only to find out that our potential field bio site hasn't been taken care of since the previous mayor died. So there goes that leg of Field Bio - I guess we'll just be sticking to the Pangasinan area, and maybe a bit of Southern Luzon.


The Provincial Capitol of Isabela. Shot taken from near the highway. Pasensya na sa dilim, phonecam lang ginamit ko, at tinatamad ako mag-edit hehehe.


Thursday night, Nino and I tried the specialty of the region - Pancit Cabagan. Sarap!

Later, at midnight, Nino left for Tuguegarao in order to get there for the Friday briefing of the proctors there, which left me to my lonesome for the whole day of Friday.

While waiting for the briefing of proctors at St. Mary's University on Friday afternoon, gumala-gala muna ako sa Bayombong. Had a sisig brunch at FTM Food Plaza, then visited the nearby museum and church. And though picture-taking wasn't allowed in the museum, I just HAD to take these shots:


Two-headed piglet


Eight-legged calf (actually 6 legs lang kita dito)

Hehe, of course the museum had other stuff that were more related to Nueva Vizcaya (tools, clothes, etc.), but these were the weirdest of the bunch, thus I share the forbidden pics :D

Saturday was the entrance exam to Pisay, which I had to oversee at St. Mary's University. I wanted to take a good shot of those hopeful parents waiting for their kids to take the exam; alas, phone cam lang ulit gamit ko. So all I have is this shot from the 2nd floor; parents were waiting in the canteen area, on the upper right portion of the pic.


Parang gusto sabihin sa mga scholars ng pisay ngayon, "Ganito yung mga magulang ninyo dati. All their hopes were on you, that you would get that ticket to a free highschool education, to a brighter future. But now that you already have it, you tend to take it for granted by not doing the best that you could with this very special gift."