"kawawang bata"

this is what i get for growing up in the metro THEN having to work at faraway land .

who would've thought that i would be celebrating my 2nd year at work a month from now.
people who were deployed to various provinces, as part of the network i'm in.. have left me behind:/ whoa. so much for survival of the fittest. right?

anyhoo, as a refresher. i'm giving you snippets of the simple life i've been in. and the musings i've had ever since. felt like a little girl, seeing things for the first time. and i mean that in every literal sense of word... again, that's a whoa right there.

shall we begin?


sun, sand, and the sea.

one of my simple joys here at faraway land.
i smile whenever is see blue waters kiss the tip of the shore. in melancholy, felt like (my) worries ebb away with them.

so what if i get tanned, every once in a while? the skin's gonna go back anyway. who would've thought i'd get to such places? ah. the beauty of nature. at its finest :)


fun under the sun

an unplanned adventure. i tagged along for a shoot we did with studio 23. did the coordination and everything. since we were on break, my workmates prodded me to try snorkeling. well, i know how to swim and all. but i have that inch of fear for depths. heck. gave it a try anyway. twas fun! :) haven't done it again... hecticness at work sucks bigtime :/



the simple life

walked around a far-flung village. got "tired". took some rest. oh look, there's a chicken. tried to call it, as if it were a pet dog. funny.

thank God it didn't run after me or something. my workmates thought it was cutesy and funny. ginaya ang concept ko, at nagpa-picture rin. sometimes, i think these people lack the "fun and quirky" perspective on things. kidding y'all.



there's a first to everything

one of my many firsts since i got to work here. we had nothing to do one saturday, so decided to go to the beach at the spur of the moment.

went there to lounge around and "feast". alas, my workmate's "friend" was there, carrying a skimboard so i bravely asked if i could give it a try. had free lessons for more than an hour. twas an exciting take on things, even if it meant my limbs full of blacks-and-blues all over. haha.



overcoming "stage fright"

i remember getting butterflies and/or big beads of sweat everytime i get tasked to speak in front of a big crowd. i know that i'm not much of a people person. i would rather write the things i need to say than actually say it.

who would've thought that God would bring me to a "job" that would entail a lot of public speaking. well, He can be very unpredictable at times. oh well.


i miss doing this :(

i studied child development for four years in college. was grateful that i got a job related to it. and yes, it wasn't teaching preschool kids.

apart from the elite perception that our course entailed, i opted to take the road less traveled, i felt that they needed the same opportunity. in child development, there is no delineation between the rich and the marginalized. every young child deserves a fair start in life...


immersion: the real experience



back in college, i remember taking units in community development. and yes, part of it was an immersion to a rural community. hearing my other friends "experiences", i thought that ours would be just as sucky. turns out the immersion was actually an "excursion" because we visited a coastal community and was treated with prime hospitality.

years after. that zaps us to the present...



our manager thought that it would be good for all of us to do Participatory Rural Appraisal in full force. Hence, the week-long ala survivor type of task. and yes, it was complete with no access to outside technology. no electricity. and scarce water supply. no, we didn't die, silly.

it just made me realize how (some) people could leave with this much. so what made me think that i couldn't? it was a humbling experience. made me more grateful for the things i have. sigh.

and yeah, those photos right there were just "samples" of the firsts i've seen in my entire life. Top: Palawan. a local root crop. People here in the Visayas are fond of tubers. Well, it tastes good. Had a photo op because i didn't realize that the slices i had came from a source that big. whoa diba? Right below it: "kalabasa yan?" i didn't realize that it grows from a vine. silly me. it wasn't my fault that i was grown to just see squash straight from the marketplace. haha. nakakahiya.hence the photo op.

I didn't mean to bombard you with my "experiences"... we're coming down to the last two. I promise! (big grin, right hand on swearing gesture).


life is suh-weet!

it certainly is! another photo op. why? because i wanted to keep a memie of my first sugar cane. haha. twas my first time to try and eat it. yes, it's sweet. duh.

these made me realize how much i missed from childhood, being in "civilization" and all. well, twas never too late. at least i lived both worlds right? SUH-WEET:)


livin la vida "jetsetter"

growing up, we were meagerly traveled. the farthest i've been to was Baguio, frequented Batangas since twas both my parents' province. i thought that going from here and there would be a distant dream.

i had a goal to "circle" the whole country before i could fly away and explore the outside world. that used to be a bleak cloud. looks like tiny hints of sunshine are now creeping in. cool-ness:)

IN CONCLUSION...
life has been an emotional roller coaster for me. and i don't need to give much definition to it. let's just say that there are tons of blissful opportunities from "work", but it also has a handful of setbacks. for one, i am too far from home. and that sometimes (well, often actually) gets to me. i do get "recharged" every time i get home. but that could only last for how long.

i guess things would've been better. if only i could be there in a heartbeat. then back..
too bad "teleportation" isn't realized in this lifetime...

i'm missing a lot for sure. i miss home. terribly miss home.
sigh... heavy sigh.