Dacs wag ka masyadong magpicture picture, magmumukha kang turista.

First time foreigner!!! :D

So there I go, taking a nice pic of Nino...

And he returns the favor with this...

O_o


The 22nd Biennial Conference of the Asian Association for Biology Education;
Osaka, Japan; November 21-25.

Home in a bit...in the meantime...

Field bio 2008's almost up. Here now at a net cafe in Olongapo, photocopying last minute handouts Last leg in a while - JEST Camp in the forests of Subic In the meantime, let me leave you with some breathtaking scenes from where we've been.

Mt. Pinatubo - Sir Espinas, Ma'am Lhen, Ma'am Dacs, Sir Jun. Brrrrr.

Tondol Beach, Anda, Pangasinan

P.S. I - and the kids - are loving Tomi my camera big time :P The field bio kids are becoming more rabid camwhores each year! :P

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."

Summer kwento # 2: Hola Zamboanga!

This year, the Biology Teachers Association brought us to Zamboanga City for the annual convention. So last April 6 to 9 was spent in the Philippines' self-proclaimed Little Spain. It was a fun trip with my co-teachers; my third time out of Luzon, my first in Mindanao.



The PSHS Main Campus delegation at La Vista del Mar: (from left to right) Ma'am Dacs, Ma'am Docto, Sir Talaue, Ma'am Alfonso (retired), Sir Espinas, Ma'am Yazon


Also at La Vista del Mar


The workshop Nino and I conducted at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University


There's this street in the city where starling-like birds (the dots on the pic; click to zoom) have been spending the night for the past 5 years or so. We had to see it for ourselves, and it was an amusing sight because there were SO MANY of them resting on around 2-4 blocks of electric wires.


We tried our best to stay out of bird-poop's way. But just when the roof ended when Sir Fred crossed the street, nice warm poop landed on his hair, hahaha!


Scenes from Zamboanga:


Jollice (Zamboanga's Jollibee?)


The inscription at Fort Pilar


View of the sea from Fort Pilar


Shopping at Canelar Barter Trade


Shopping at the Yakan Village Weaving


Where all those pretty cloths are made


Beautiful Zamboanga sky just before boarding the plane home


Stuff I was able to buy during the field trip: cloth from the Yakan Village Weaving, a malong from Canelar Barter Trade, and the vinta, which was actually the souvenir from our luau-themed fellowship night

More pics here.

Summer kwento # 1: Sabangan

Though I'm not busy, suddenly I'm tamad to blog (yeah, like you know). Tuloy, ngayon lang ako magkukuwento tungkol sa aking summer gimiks (sus, parang andami).

Work ended March 31, and by April 3 my family and I were on our way to the beach in Sabangan Resort, Batangas.



It was something like a 2-3 hour drive from our house in Paranaque, and I slept for 90% of the trip (gising lang ako nung nagbreakfast kami sa McDo Caltex sa SLEX hehehe).



The place was nice - new, clean, malapit lang sa beach ang cottages, no corkage (ansarap ng food na dala namin!).



Basically, we just hung out and relaxed.



And ate. A lot (pamily ko pa).



My niece and sis even found a live jellyfish on the beach.



On the way home, my sis's boyfriend's car ran over a short log on the highway and busted his tire AND the mags :( So we pulled over for him to change the tire, while I picked fruit from the aratilis tree just beside the car, hehehe. Sarap!

Ebe was also at the resort with his high school buddies. Halos sabay lang kami dumating sa Sabangan. Humabol lang siya kasi Sugarfree had a Pampanga gig the previous day (Saturday). Saklap lang kasi alis rin lang pala friends niya Sunday. So mas matagal pa binyahe niya to Batangas kaysa yung stay niya sa resort. But then again, nothing beats being with high school friends :)

Toxic na 'to

Oh wow, things are getting hectic (and here I am blogging). Can't wait 'til Christmas vacation.

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My crushes in the news:

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash
Matthew McConaughey as People Mag's Sexiest Man Alive (2005)

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Ansaya nung Tagaytay weekend ko with my coursemates sa Ateneo! Got to spend last weekend with the MEMsters (Masters in Environmental Management) at Cellar Mansions in Tagaytay. Got to meet folks from earlier batches, and got to spend time with the Batch 4 peeps (my batch). Isang gabing puro kain, kanta, at kwento. At mumu. Hehe, sabi nila. Pero wala naman akong nakita ;)


With MEMfolks naman sa Viewsite (ulit!), Tagaytay.

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As I said, it's gonna be hectic from now on. Every Saturday hereon will be spent at Ateneo for my masters classes (9am-4pm). Kaya yung mga make-up classes sa Pisay na Sabado ay Long Test nalang para sa mga students ko, hehehe :D And maybe for the next 3 Sundays (SANA!), I'll still be in Pisay to watch my batchmates try to finally get that Championship title for the Pisay Alumni Basketball League *cross fingers*

Next week alone is HELL WEEK. Four whole days training for the GLOBE Program (so I won't get to meet my students), and then 6-9pm classes at the Ateneo. Ayuz.

And we've only got 2 weeks left to finish the coverage for the 3rd quarter. Sabi nga nung mga bata info overload na raw sila. Hehehe.

Will be attending the PSBMB convention to be held at the Ateneo on Dec 1-2. At pag natapos na ang classes sa Pisay, I'm pretty sure may mga requirements to submit sa Masters. Plus that workshop I'll be conducting for BIOTA sa UP mga 2nd week December.

Winner.

Who's complaining? Not me ;)

Sana lang maka-gig parin ako, especially sa 19th or 26th, kasi celebration ng 4th anniv ng pinakamamahal kong prod - ADMIT ONE. Or maybe the NU Rock Awards on Dec 2 - pero may klase kinabukasan. Pati rin ba yung MTV HIV/AIDS summit? Kakanta daw dun si MiG Ayesa eh, hehehe. Nah, too many people to deal with - not my type of gig.

Sana naman di ako magkasakit sa lahat ng ito :P

Gusto ko tuloy bumalik ng Tagaytay. Or maybe go to Baguio (I miss Baguio!). Or pwede narin sa beach. Basta getaway, hehehe.

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Almost got to see Constantine kanina sa Greenbelt. Met up with my parents and sis after my rents watched Goblet of Fire (which I haven't seen yet!) then had dinner sa Greenbelt 3. Kaso we were done na by 7:45 (8 darating si Constantine) so umuwi na kami.

Planning to go to ATC nalang tomorrow. Sana di ako tamarin hehe.

The sembreak that was

Ngayon palang ako magbblog about my sembreak :P

Monday
Watched The Legend of Zorro with Andrew. Ang cuuute nung little kid!!!

Tuesday
Bummed at home.

Wednesday
Visited the cemetery with the extended family. Got to visit Lolo, Uncle Dickie, and Wolfmann. Even saw Wolf's parents when we arrived, pero la na sila dun nung pinuntahan ko na mismo yung grave.

The view from Lolo's grave. Wolf's is somewhere just beyond those trees.

Thursday, Friday
Spent some time with the Bio Unit peeps for some planning sessions in Los Baños. Stayed in this medyo old house with some sort of balcony sa second floor. Was up at 3am Friday, couldn't sleep anymore. By 4:30am, tumambay nalang ko sa balcony listening to my CDs.

Ngayon tuloy, the vision in my head everytime I listen to Cynthia Alexander's Comet's Tail CD is that of the dawn sky slowly getting lighter as the day approached. Sayang nga di ko nakita sunrise kasi umulan at around 5:30am hehe. Nevertheless, the view plus Cynthia's music was something so beautiful I don't think I'll forget that ever.

Diyan ako sa ilalim ng arch na yan nagsenti on a Friday morning.

Friday
Left Los Banos with the Bio peeps at around 11:30am, only to return to the South (Tagaytay this time) a few hours after to have a late lunch at Viewsite with my family.

Ang view sa Viewsite, Tagaytay.

Saturday
Attended Andrew's oathtaking as a Licensure Exam for Teachers passer. And since he was Top8, may awarding chuva pa onstage hehe. Nakita pa namin si Manuel Legarda (Wolfgang) before we entered the Cuneta Astrodome! Turns out his sis was also a LET passer.

My guy in the peach polo.

Sunday
Back in Tagaytay to spend time with my family and my sister's family. Tinulugan ko lang sila hehehe.

The view on the way home.

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So now, balik-eskwela na naman. Most of the remaining Saturdays my 2005 are taken, either by Pisay or by Ateneo :(

Sana maka-gig naman ako kahit papaano. Admit One's celebrating its 4th Anniv! Part 1 sa Racks, El Pueblo on Nov19, Part 2 sa saGuijo on Nov26. Party na 'to!

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Some sites to check out:

A Day in the Life of Ms. McDonald
The Miss McDonald project began as a Halloween costume created on October 30, 2004. Pictures of Miss McDonald in various mundane situations were taken, with the idea of posting them in an online journal. The very first post went up on November 6, 2004. Since then, the Miss McDonald LiveJournal has been visited thousands of times by people all over the world.

Jessica Zafra's Twisted
Pumping irony since 1994.

Postsecret
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Batch 2008 goes to Subic

Fun (but tiring!) way to start the long break: Batch 2008's outbound educational trip this year was in Subic, facilitated by Lakbay Kalikasan and SBMA.




Bus One (Adelfa + Camia) folks



At JEST Camp, watching a demo on survival training. Was pleasantly surprised to see that the Lakbay Kalikasan facilitator from Bus Two (Champaca + Dahlia) was Eyds (crouching guy in gray shirt, right side) a orgmate of mine from the UP Zoological Society.

Here's a vidclip on starting fire using bamboo and nothing else: Right click here and "Save Target As". (3.97mb, 1min31sec)

One of the interesting sights at JEST camp: biology in action, c/o two butterflies, hehe.

Before this pic, this bird was busy eating some bread. Eh nahulog nung nagpic kami. After nun, ayaw na raw magpakuha ng pic yung ibon, hehehe. Btw, that's my yellow (d-uh) Twisted Halo shirt. Cool noh? (Plugging) :P



Bus One people



Camia '08



Inside a bunker that the Americans used to store ammo




The faculty fooling around on the mangrove beach while the kids were having fun in the water



Mardan (Pisay 2000), Dacs (Pisay '98), and Ame (Pisay '96) were in Subic just 5 months ago, thanks to Mrs. Jet Chan and her daughter Kat. They sponsored Ilang-Ilang '07's (my advisory's) summer class outing. Mardan, Ame, and I were the lucky teachers who went with the kids.



Menggai (Ma'am Cheng to us '98 folks!), Nino, and Dacs - the Bio 1 teachers (minus Ma'am Docto - she has 3rd year classes so she couldn't go).



Mangrove seedlings amidst the incoming tide. Hehe, feeling artistic shot. Pagbigyan niyo na.

LOTS MORE pics here.