Two moms and their kids...

Today was a gruelling day. Haha!

It is only 9:30PM, but I intend to turn in right after finishing this quick blog post.

Former work colleague, fellow Pahinungod and good friend Joi was in town with her Mom. Naturally, I had to meet up with her and the other Pahinungod based in Singapore, Jeaners.

The day started very early for me and Mom. We all agreed to have dinner before Jeaners left her home for a 9AM class. That meant having to wake up at 530 in the morning so that Mom and I could reach Jeaners' place by 7 or so.

Thankfully, both Mom and I are morning persons. There was no difficulty for either of us to wake up damn early. Haha! Also, I rarely see Joi (and Jeaners) so I was more than happy to wake up really early for both of them. It also helped that Jeaners and hubby Jim prepped breakkie for us. That was an added motivation to make the early morning trip. Haha!

From Jeaners' place, Joi, her mom Tita Tet, my mom and I started our somewhat short city tour. From Orchard, we headed to Raffles Place and walked around. It's Tita Tet's first time in Singapore so a photo shot with the Merlion was mandatory. I was expecting the Merlion Park to be crowded. Surprise, surprise. There were very few people when we reached the park. In fact, there was no need to fight for space so that there is no photobomber appearing in each of our photos. Haha!

My guess is because people from the Fullerton side of the road don't know how to get to the Merlion Park. The main road was boarded up because of the F1 Grand Prix. Unless you knew about the underpass connecting the Fullerton to the other side, I have no idea where people had to pass. Haha!

After we got our photos, we headed back to Plaza Singapura for a quick lunch. Joi and Tita Tet had a 1PM appointment. We just agreed to meet again at 3PM.

Mom and I took the train to City Hall and walked around Raffles City. Then, we headed out and walked to Raffles Hotel and the National Library before walking back to Plaza Singapura. I'm so glad Mom is still fit to walk. We were moving at a pace slower than an iceberg but that was completely fine. Haha!

While waiting for Joi and Tita Tet, Mom and I went to Papparich for some local dessert. It didn't take long before the other mom and child duo appeared. We only had time to finish our snacks before parting ways. Joi and her mom were to go for more shopping. Mom and I were headed to church.

I gave Joi and Tita Tet a hug and a beso before going our separate ways. It was really good seeing her.

Mom and I then took the bus to Clementi. I figured we should just go to the Church of the Holy Cross for the 5PM Mass. That way we could reach home earlier.

We finished dinner at home by 7 plus. I did some laundry and some fixing of things for tomorrow. And now, here I am writing this messy post and almost ready to zzz...

Loooong but happy day.

F1 weekend with friends from Pinas...

I didn't get to experience any of the recently concluded F1 fever. Hehe!

That's because both my home and my workplace are far away from the city (which became a race track for a couple of days), from the roaring engines of the race cars, from the excitement of F1 race fans coming from different parts of the world.

We'll see. Maybe next year. =)

But one good thing I had thanks to the F1 event was that several friends from the Philippines were in town and I got to catch up with them - Manny, Joi, Reg. Franco was also in town but we didn't get to meet up because he was only here for a day.

Sunday night was spent clubbing with the club-going friends. I missed tugsing I have to say. Haha! Last time was in HCM, and that was just whoa! So Sunday, no very early Monday morning, was ultra fun dancing to the awesome beats of DJ George Leong.

Monday night, on the other hand, was spent with Joi, her husband-to-be, and Manny. It's a good thing Manny missed his flight. Hehe! At least, we got to finally hang out.

We all met up at Vivo City, had dinner at Food Republic (which had nice interiors) then drinks at some Irish pub facing the harbor.

It was definitely a good F1 weekend. Hehe!

V-Day with people who love what I also love...

VDay was spent with individuals who taught me everything I know about volunteerism now.

Early this year, friend Marian sent an invite via Facebook to Pahinungod volunteers for a get-together at Dr. Menchit Padilla's house. I didn't reply to the message because I knew how erratic my schedule could be sometimes, but I followed the thread of the message. Several Pahinungods replied saying they were going to attend the get-together. That made the simple event something to look forward to since most of the people who said they were attending are people I haven't seen for a long time.

Fast forward to yesterday, the day of the get-together. I met up with Marian at Robinson's Galleria. I got her text that we would all meet up first at Galleria before heading to Dr. Padilla's house. Kamusta naman?! 11AM. It was just me and her. 1130AM. It still was just me and her. Hahaha! Many of those who said yes backed out. While the others already decided to go straight to Dr. Padilla's house.

A little waiting at Dr. Padilla's wonderful home and the cast was complete. I wasn't surprised with the attendees. They were the usual suspects. Hehe! Except for Andy who I haven't seen for a long time, everyone present were people I just saw at Marian's birthday. Hehe! It's always fun to see the group though because a good story exchange always happens. (and because when I’m with Pahinungod people, I am always reminded of how I love volunteering, and how I fell in love with volunteering years ago.)

Yesterday afternoon, the topic was mostly about the recent dramarama episodes of PGH. Obviously, I'm not familiar with what's happening at my former workplace but the stories I managed to hear are "good" enough to be made into a TV series. It'll beat any even the best eps of Grey's Anatomy. Hahaha!

Other than the PGH drama, we spent a good time catching up, talking about former Pahinungod volunteers. It was also nice to see Dr. Padilla outside of the office setting. Yesterday, she was more like Nigella Lawson and not Dr. Bailey. We rarely see that.

Dr. Padilla is one of the country's pioneers in genetics. Did you know that there are only seven (!!!) geneticists in the country??? One of them is Dr. Padilla. And she has done so much in that field.

A lot of Pahinungods look up to her and see her as an inspiration. She's just always full of contagious energy and ideas. Working for her is toxic. You don't know toxic until you've worked for CDP. But it's the good kind of toxic. Seriously, I can’t remember any conversation with CDP where I didn’t leave inspired and bursting with enthusiasm.

It was a good get-together on the day of hearts and love. I didn't have a date, but I did have a nice get-together with people I love because we all share the same love for one thing we really love – volunteering.

Saturday with the kids and the Pahinungod gang...

Weekend was quite full.

Saturday, I returned to the place which taught me everything I know about volunteerism today - Ugnayan ng Pahinungod - in my university.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a text message from the program coordinator of the streetkids program asking whether I was free to host the activity. Saying yes to these guys isn't difficult, but because of how erratic my schedule could be sometimes, I just told them to make me a last resort.

The event was a dance interpretation contest of the epic The Maiden of the Buhong Sky. O ha! I didn't even know that epic existed. When I asked what it was, one of the volunteers gave me a thick book entitled Epics and in it were several Philippine epics which probably date back to the time I dunno when. Our culture really is rich, huh.

Going back to the contest, four streetkids institutions were competing - Kaibigan Outreach, Childhope Asia, Tuklasan-ERDA and Bahay Musika. I'm familiar with the first two instis. The last two are new to me. Also present to give intermission numbers were YWCA, Sabana-ERDA and Kanlungan sa Er-Ma.

I've worked with these institutions before, but the closest to my heart is YWCA. I worked with the kids several years ago for a dance competition and we won 1st runner-up. Not bad considering their instructors did not have an idea what they were doing. After that contest, I would celebrate my birthday with the kids and my friends. It sort of became a tradition. Been doing it for four years now. I only missed this year because of Ondoy, Pepeng and the trip abroad.

Anyway, the program went well. One insti presented what looked like a skit of the epic. The next insti did an all-dance presentation. Another insti did a combo of a choral recitation and dance, and the final insti did a skit and dance performance.

In addition to the skillful performances, the costumes were also nice. Each insti had their own colorful props and creative costumes.Who says limited resources can stop these kids from having a full-on performance?

After the first performance, I knew that all the others would be just as good. In fact, the performances were really superb that there was a tie between two instis and the judges had to step out of the venue to have a somewhat lengthy discussion.

While the judges conferred, the other instis entertained the audience with dance numbers. The ones that got the biggest applause were the "Eh Eh Eh" and "Nobody." Naturally. If there's one more thing I've noticed about these kids and the instis, it's how knowledgeable they are of the latest "it" songs. I remember that before it used to be Spaghetting Pababa, and then there was Ocho Ocho. Nyerks, I'm getting old. Haha!

Once the intermission numbers were done, the most awaited moment arrived. Kaibigan Outreach emerged as the champion. What was notable though was that all the kids were extremely happy once their instis were called, unmindful of whether they were the 4th placer or the champion. Kids really are different.

In the evening, I joined the Pahinungod gang for the birthday celebration of Marian. We went to this restau near her house and had a good dinner, followed by karaoke and some beer. Really good pre-gimik gimik. Hehe! I was having a great time with my fellow volunteers, but I had to go ahead and head home to change for Malate. It was a night of celebration. It was the day of Pride March after all. Woohoo!

Tagaytay weekend with Pahinungod gang...

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good.

Friday night was spent hanging out with the usual suspects from the office. We went to our own version of the “Ally McBeal” bar near the office. OT (for Odd Table) along Valero is the other “office” for us and several other colleagues from work. Haha!

What made this nightout quite special was the fact that Tey joined us already. It’s sort of her comeback and I couldn’t be more happier that she was somewhat ready to hang out again with her “boys.” Hahaha!

I was supposed to meet Winston and Errol after OT. That didn’t push through because I was a bit tired already, and they weren’t really up for Malate as well. The night ended pretty late though. I think I got home around 1 or 2AM.

Saturday afternoon. I found myself boarding a bus bound for Tagaytay. It was my first time to take a bus to Tagaytay, and the trip was quite good. I slept through most of it. Having worked for a volunteer organization for the first three years of my career life has made me a pro in sleeping almost anywhere. As soon as I found my seat, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. Hahaha!

I didn’t even notice whether the traffic was horrible considering that it was a long weekend. I left Manila around 3:30PM and I reached Tagaytay by 7PM.

It was the post-birthday celebration of Pahinungod friend Joi, and a bunch of us Pahinungods headed to her home in Tagaytay to party. It’s always nice to see friends from Pahinungod. They remind me of that thing which I really love, and hope to someday do again. Joi is also a really good friend who I always enjoying hanging out with. I remember when I went to Singapore last year, tambay time with her and another Pahinungod friend Jean was one of the best things that made the trip really memorable and enjoyable.

I was hoping to see my friend Sean who also lived in Tagaytay, but something was wrong with the network in Tagaytay. I kept calling both numbers but I couldn’t get through. Oh well. Sayang.

Anyway, we spent the entire night just talking and drinking and doing karaoke and drinking. Haha! The following morning, we took a short road trip to Sonya’s Garden for some photo op, then to Mushroom Burger for lunch. Afterwards, it was time to head back to Manila.

Surprisingly, the trip back was much faster. It took only about two hours. Quick, huh?

When I got home, I just hit the bed to get some proper sleep because I was planning to head out again that night. Wahaha!

Here comes the new Pahinungod baby...

Saturday turned out to be quite exciting.

I stayed home the entire day because of the rain. That was actually good because I got to rest and recover from the late nights the previous week.

In the afternoon, I was supposed to meet up with a friend from work for Up, and then I remembered that I promised to attend a baby shower for former officemate/Pahinungod friend Karen.

So the movie was canceled, and instead I headed to the house of a friend in Manila where the shower was going to be held.

I'm not sure if baby showers are similar to bridal showers (where only female friends are invited). I was the only guy in the group. Hehehe! But it didn't really matter since you know. Haha!

Games were played. Yum takeout food was served. A bottle of wine was opened. We even watched a horror flick Alone, while waiting for Karen to arrive, and surprisingly I enjoyed it. I'm not a big fan of scary movies since my imagination runs wild after, but I really found Alone interesting perhaps because of the unexpected twist.

Anyway, it was a very small gathering, but the fun and laughter was definitely gigantic.

After the party, Joi and I drove Yang to Eastwood. Vina and Caye went to Weng who was preparing for the bar exams. I thought I would be home early, but I reached my house after Eastwood by 11PM already.

Well, I did get home early. 6AM.

From my home, I rested a bit and then headed to Malate despite the rain.

But that's another blog post.

From all Pahinungods: Thank you, Ma'am Leddy..

The only low of the long weekend was getting the news that Dr. Leddy Cariño passed away Friday morning.

Dr. Cariño is an esteemed professor of UP. But to me and thousands of others, she will always be the "Mother" of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod.

Sometime in the 90s, UP got a lot of criticism. It started with an article published in a daily - "Has UP lost its soul?" The University was being accused that its students were losing a sense of "service to the nation." To prove the article wrong, then UP President Emil Javier, together with Dr. Cariño, the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod was formed. Several faculty/constituents from the other UP campuses who believed in the thrust of the group came forward and helped build the Pahinungod program in the autonomous campuses. Dr. Padilla, Dr. de Villa, Prof. Cuevas, another Dr. de Villa were some of them.

Pahinungod is a Cebuano term and it was the closest to the word "oblation." I was still in high school back then but I knew about Pahinungod because my family did several catering services for their functions.

Pahinungod rekindled the spirit of volunteerism within the University like a forest fire. Hundreds, thousands of Iskos and Iskas got themselves immersed in volunteer work. I'd like to clear something here. I've always believed that (a huge chunk of) UP students have always been dedicated to community work/service. In UP Manila, I've heard of the stories of Dr. Bobby I forget his last name, Dr. Mario de Villa, among others who went to the communities to provide medical service. I'm betting my diploma that the other student organizations/faculties also had similar endeavors.

If I remember correctly though, what Pahinungod provided was several more venues for Iskolars ng Bayan to be a living oblation. It was the first time a University-wide volunteer program was implemented, and for several years (and even until now), UP students are getting bitten by the volunteer bug through Pahinungod.

I was lucky enough to be part of the group after college. It was close to being the best work experience. I loved what I did so much that I didn't even want to call it work. Pahinungod and its leaders like Dr. Cariño have taught me so much about volunteerism and things that I wouldn't have learned within the four walls of the classroom. For that alone, I would always be forever grateful.

Pahinungod volunteers have a private joke. They say that once you become a Pahinungod, some kind of chip is installed in you and when the need for volunteers arise, that chip is activated and you'd know exactly where to go and what to do.

Last Friday, that chip was activated again. After getting the saddening news from Marian, we agreed to meet today. As I have expected, the chips of the other Pahinungod volts were also activated. People I haven't seen for so long were there at the Church of the Risen Lord to pay tribute to Dr. Cariño one last time. People who have been an inspiration to me.

The service was a really beautiful one. There was a some sadness in the air over the loss of a great person, but more than that, one could really feel the celebration of the beautiful life she lived and how she touched the hearts of so many people. Former Pahinungod directors from the different campuses shared touching stories about Ma'am Leddy. Pres. Javier was also there to pay tribute to her. It was really a wonderful gathering.

Thank you, Dr. Cariño for everything. Your memory will live on in every Pahinungod volunteer.