Buhbye to British Museum artefacts...

The Treasures of the World from the British Museum ended a few weeks ago.

I must say that I enjoyed guiding for the exhibit. It was quite a challenge, and it took me some time before I started guiding for the said exhibit. However, I felt I did good as a guide because I was able to do enough research.

The tours were overall fun for me. I enjoyed guiding large groups. I enjoyed having kids in my tour. Kudos to parents who bring their kids to the museum. Start 'em young. I hope that they will one day become museum volunteers, too.

Thanks, NMS, for the collaboration with the British Museum!

From 3 people to 30 people...

Today was another busy day, mostly spent at the gym.

I was still feeling ugh but what to do, the show must go on.

In the morning, I did the usual history gallery. There were only 3 people in the group. I wasn't sure how interested they were so I kind of shortened some parts. I finished the tour in about an hour.

Afterwards, I went to Subway for a quiet lunch before heading back to the museum.

My afternoon shift was the BM exhibit. It was my second time to do it, and I think I did much better this time than the first tour I gave. Still, a bit of a rough start but I eventually got better. Hehe!

Hmm, the main reason I got nervous was because a group of about 30 people gathered when I announced that I was starting a tour. It was a challenge leading the tour because a lot of the artefacts are really small. I think I did give a good one still because of the applause at the end. Hehe!

I was pleasantly surprised (and nervous) to see a familiar face in the crowd. Thanks to this fellow for the photo above.

Looking forward to the next BM tour.

Morning with the Masters...

I wasn't feeling very well today. No, I've been feeling unwell since yesterday noontime.

Since the dry cough is still there, I decided to go see the doctor and get some medicine. It turns out that a lot of people have been feeling the same thing. When I reached the clinic, my queue number was 27. The doctor was attending to patient 10. I thought I'll step out first to get lunch and be back after an hour. When I got back at the clinic, I had to wait another hour before I finally got to see the doctor. Good thing I decided to stay while the other patients chose to head back to their offices and wait for a call/SMS from the clinic.

Anyway, my thoughts of a restful long weekend were shattered when I checked my calendar. It was a good thing because I didn't have one, but three(!!!) museum duties. Today was at the National Gallery. Tomorrow, I have a History Gallery and the BM exhibit.

It was too late to back out because it would be difficult to find a replacement.

After taking my meds this morning, I dragged myself to the museum. I thought that since my tour was really early (1030), there would be few people. To my (pleasant) surprise, the ticketing was crowded at 1020AM! I'm always happy to see a crowded museum. I hope it means that people are interested to see art and culture.

The group I led was from a church in the West. The group was about 30 or so people, mostly women and kids. I was happy to see the kids interested in learning more about the art pieces.

After the leading the group, I decided to stick around to check the Reframing Modernism exhibit and I also wanted to look for the Luna and Hidalgo works at the Southeast Asia gallery.

It was such a good decision. At the Reframing Modernism exhibit, there was a panel dedicated to Anita Magsaysay-Ho. I was soooo excited when I saw it. I kept taking photos.

Meanwhile, the Luna and Hidalgo pieces were in one of the grand rooms in the Southeast Asia gallery together with works of other great Southeast Asian artists. I was so mesmerized by the three pieces. I felt proud to be Filipino. I felt proud to be Southeast Asian.

I must definitely go back again. If Tipz were still here, I'm sure I would've been able to drag him to see the galleries. I have a feeling he would've enjoyed the Kandinsky and Affandi pieces at the Reframing Modernism exhibit.

BM Tour coming up...

These past few days, I've been carrying a printout of my tour notes so that I can read it when I'm in the train.

So far, I already know the things that I want to share about the artefacts that I've selected.

Listening to the audio recording of the walkthrough led by the British Museum curator was also helpful in adding confidence. Haha!

I hope that I remember the things that I want to say on Sunday.

I spent a few hours at the Treasures of the World from the British Museum exhibit.

This coming Saturday, I'm going to do my first tour for the exhibit. I'm a bit nervous but I feel more confident. I feel that I'm prepared to give a tour.

I hope that I remember everything that I want to say.

All day museum day...

Today was all day museum day.

NGS in the morning, NMS in the afternoon.

Tiring, tiring day.

Tiring Saturday...

Today was a tiring, long day.

The day started very early because of the museum volunteer training. It was a good experience though. I still remember the time when I did my own 5-minute and 10-minute presentations. I also did a presentation on writing the tour paper. By the time the training ended, I was just drained. Lol! Even my friends Gen and Lionel noticed that I was super sian during the debrief after the training session.

I think it could also be because of the weather. It's been extremely hot these past few days. From under the scorching heat of the sun, I will go into an air-conditioned room. As a result, my body is going crazy. Lol.

After the museum training, I joined a few of my fellow volunteers to go to Chinatown Heritage Centre. One of our fellow volunteers also guides at the said heritage centre. Situated smack in the middle of very busy Pagoda Street, the Chinatown Heritage Centre is a wonderful museum/heritage centre that gives a glimpse of how life was like back in colonial Singapore. The setup was very authentic. You can even enter some of the rooms.

By the time the tour ended, we were all hungry and ready to eat. We walked over to a nearby hawker centre and had a simple but yum dinner of local food. Zi char for the win!

Tiring Saturday, but a good one.

Brunch and volunteer work...

Before heading to the museum for volunteer work, I met up with I-van and Mon for brunch.

I-van was in town for a few days because of work. However, he's been busy and only had time to meet up today. He flew back to KL this evening.

We agreed to have brunch at Robert Timms since it was most convenient for everyone.

I didn't mind trying a new brunch place but there weren't really a lot of choices in the area. This was because we agreed to meet up at 1030AM. Hehe!

In any case, Robert Timms is always a good choice as the food is good, the price is reasonable, the place is still in the town centre but not that crowded.

Mon and I-van went shopping while I had to go for my volunteer work.

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the work, but I was exhausted at the end of the day.

Second day of 2016 went well...

Today felt like a Sunday even though it's only Saturday.

The day turned out to be quite fruitful and I'm happy about it.

In the morning, I went to the gym to attend Vinyasa class. The teacher for the class I attended is one of my favorites. Since I have not been practicing, it was a challenge. I could do certain poses but I definitely still have a long way to go. It was a good workout though since I sweat it out. The left knee survived although it doesn't feel as strong as my right leg. For the meantime, I think I will be doing less Pump and more yoga classes, Body Balance. On the side, I'll do the weights. On off days, I'm thinking I can do short, light jogs.

After gym, I passed by the kopitiam for a quick brunch. Then, I headed back home to change my clothes.

The afternoon agenda was a guided tour at the National Gallery. Today was the second time I led a group around the Singapore Gallery. And I must say that I did a lot better today than my maiden tour last week. I felt I was more confident today. I felt I knew the gallery better. I adjusted my tour - I dropped some of the artworks that I talked about previously and I added some of the other art works that are closer to my heart. Of course, what also made the tour more enjoyable and twice as fun was the group itself. I led a group of 20 people - Singaporeans, Americans, Japanese. Several members of the group were responsive to my questions and many were willing to share their thoughts about the painting.

I was smiling on the inside when I saw several heads nodding in agreement, when there were smiles on some of the faces, and of course, when they applauded at the end of the tour. The other proof I have that the tour went well was that I took almost an hour and a half to finish the tour. Last week, I completed the tour in under an hour. Today, it was much better. I should however learn to stick to the 60 minute or so tour time since another group will need the headsets that we used. Oh, there was also one guy who walked up to me after the tour and told me that he had also previously attended my guided tour at the National Museum. I really appreciated the kind words he and a number of other guests gave.

Anyway, I was happy with how the tour went today. Round 2 of tours tomorrow. ;)

I left the gallery and walked to nearby Funan where I grabbed a late lunch at Subway. Thinking that it was part of the $5 meal, I ordered the Italian BMT. Ugh! It turned out that it wasn't and I paid more than what I wanted. Haha!

The last stop was the National Library. It wasn't as crowded and I easily found a study space. Spent a few hours at the library before packing up my stuff and heading back home.

Now, I'm just taking a break and then I'll study again for an hour before calling it a day... a long day.

More interviewing today...

What a tiring day. Lol.

Because the soapbox tours at NGS were canceled, I just decided to go to Mass at St. Bernadette before heading to the National Museum.

Today is the second day that we're interviewing applicants to the docent training progamme.

There were fewer interviewees today so it's not as tiring as yesterday. Together with fellow MV Inn Siew, we interviewed 4 individuals - 2 guys and 2 girls. I was more confident to interview people today since I now know more how to conduct the interview. All four interviewees were interesting. It was nice to listen to their reasons for wanting to become a museum volunteer.

Afterwards, the team had a meeting. We finished at half past six.

Good thing I decided to go for the morning Mass. If not, I would have missed Mass today. Yikes!

I thought of going to the library but instead, I just decided to head back and have an early evening.

Oh gosh, tomorrow is the last day of November. On Tuesday, it's the start of the last month of the year. Wow, what a year it has been. Haha!

All day Museum day...

Good morning, Saturday!

Who gets up before 6AM on a Saturday?! Lol!

It's going to be an entire day at the museums today.

In the morning, I have an activity at the National Museum. I'm helping out interview docent programme applicants! Whoa! Two years ago, I was the one being interviewed. Now, I'm the one doing the interviews. Hehe!

In the afternoon, I have volunteer shifts at the newly-opened National Gallery. Today will be my debut as a museum guide for the fantastic gallery. I'm very, very excited to see the space finally completed. I'm also excited to converse about the art works.

This weekend and next weekend, we will be doing soapbox tours (which means I'm stationed at one painting and if there are any visitors, I would engage them in a convo about the painting). I would say that I'm more knowledgeable in Singapore and Malayan art. For the soapbox tours, I chose the work of one Malayan artist - Chuah Thean Teng and one FILIPINO artist - Jose Joya.

Joya's work featured at the National Gallery was a loan from the National Museum of the Philippines. I couldn't be more proud to talk about it and see it in Singapore!

So, yeah, it'll be an all day museum day today!

Wednesday night at the museum...

Wednesday night was spent at the museum. It was the Appreciation and Awards Night for museum volunteers, and I thought I'd go to this once since I've never attended it.

Having guided for more than two years now, I think I can already attend the event. Hehe!

It was also an opportunity to see my museum volunteer friends and a chance to debut the Forever shirt I bought in Tokyo. Hahahaha! :P Now that I've been working from home, I usually get dressed in a casual shirt and berms. So, any chance to dress in something nicer needs to be grabbed. Hehe!

The night was enjoyable. Nice entertainment, yum food, inspiring fellow volunteers. Some volunteers who were awarded have been guiding at the museums for 15 years!!! Amazing! It's hard for me to say how long I will be guiding at the museums, mainly because my life in Singapore is tied to my work pass. Oh well, let's not go into that.

I had a lovely Wednesday night.

Busy August 1...

Can't believe it's already August! Time is flying by so fast!

The first day of the month turned out to be a very long one. I hope it's not a sign of how the rest of the month will be. Haha!

I left the house around 730 to attend the last lecture for the National Gallery Docent Training. I have to admit I am amazed that we have reached the final lecture. The first lecture was some time in late January. Now, here we are several months later equipped with information and (hopefully) ready to guide when the museum opens this November. I just need to write two papers and pass my assessment tour. After that, I'll be officially a docent of NGS. Yay!

We had a whole day lecture today. During lunch, my team mates and I headed to the nearby Din Tai Fung. I'm going to miss seeing these lovely ladies every Saturday morning. Hehe! I hope we do stay in touch even after we start guiding.

From Bras Basah, I took the bus to River Valley to attend the sunset Mass at St. Bernadette. I figured I might as well attend Mass today since Sunday will also be packed with activities.

After Mass, I headed back to Orchard and spent a good hour at the library at 313 Somerset to work more on my tour paper.

When the announcement came on that the library was closing in five minutes, I packed my stuff and just headed to the MRT station for the journey home.

Tired and exhausted now. I'll just rest a bit before hitting the shower and zzz...

A "Don't you forget this" moment at the museum...

I like this scene from Dead Poets Society, one of my favourite movies of all time.

This afternoon, I had my own "Don't you forget this" moment. Nope, no mentor said it to me. I said it to myself... right after I gave a 330PM guided tour.

The guided tour this afternoon has got to be one of my best and one of my most memorable tours.

To be honest, I wasn't feeling very well. I knew something was up with my throat because my voice sounds different today. In addition to that, I was a bit short on breath when I was doing Pump. I think some bug is going around again because our Pump instructor was not his usual self.

Going back to the tour, I started with just a little over ten people - Singaporeans, Hong Kongers, British, Australians, one Korean, one Japanese, one Brazilian.

By the time we reached the end of the tour, the group had already swelled to close to thirty people. Along the way, people joined the tour, some people also left the tour.

At the start of the tour, I also told my guests that the whole activity would be at least an hour. Well, guess what?! It took me close to two hours! I think I spoke too much at certain sections. Also, today I covered some sections which I rarely cover. I was thankful I did that because the president of the Museum Volunteers group followed the tour when I was already at the last part.

Usually, I would gauge how the tour went based on the applause and the feedback. Today, I got a tremendous applause and a lot of the guests shook my hand and thanked me for the tour. The Korean guy asked for a photo with me. Hehe! And then, the president of our volunteer group approached me with two of the guests and the latter told me how they enjoyed the tour. Among my guests also was an elderly couple from Australia. As I was exiting the gallery, the wife walked up to me to thank me. She also said that she has a grandson who's also named Angelo and that she hopes her grandson will grow up to be just as lovely. The best thing she said was that her husband told her that he enjoyed the tour very much. The pair has been traveling around Europe and Asia for the past three months. The husband has a hearing problem and he told his wife that he did not have any problem with my tour and that he enjoyed it.

Hearing all these feedback, my heart was just swelling with joy. It was a good reminder why I love museums, why I love volunteering, and why I must always, always keep on studying and preparing well for my guided tours.

Thank you, Lordy, for today.

This weekend: trainings, Pink Dot, wedding, and birthday party...

It's going to be another packed weekend. Haha!

Saturday morning will start with a three-hour lecture on Southeast Asian art. This is still part of the docent training for the National Gallery. I'm getting more excited, especially after seeing a number of works by Filipino artists included in the lecture. Yay! I can't wait to visit the National Gallery again and see all the fantastic pieces from artists around the region hanging on the walls of the galleries.

For now, I have o be content with seeing the pieces on my lecture notes. Haha!

In the afternoon, I have to go to Raffles Place to attend a makeup class for the Japanese class that I missed last week. Because I had an activity with my groupmates in the National Gallery docent training, I had to skip Lesson 17 of my Japanese class. It was okay though because I really enjoyed the time with my fellow docent trainees. Hehe!

The Japanese classes continue to be challenging. It becomes more challenging as each lessons progresses. Haha! I have not yet even started studying kanji. At some point, I need to start delaying kanji and start studying. So help me God!

The last agenda for Saturday is Pink Dot at Hong Lim Park. My views on the event have changed through the years, since the first time I attended it. Anyway, I'm still going to support the event tomorrow. I will be meeting up with some friends and together, we will all show our support for Singapore's call for freedom to love. :)

For Sunday, I have two gatherings to attend. Around lunchtime, I will attend a wedding reception in the Bugis area near the Malay Heritage Centre. It's my first time to attend a wedding in Singapore and I'm really, really looking forward to it. In the afternoon, I will be going to the birthday gathering of Mrs. B. I dunno yet where the venue is, but I promised her that I will be there.

My main dilemma is the outfit. Lol. For the wedding reception, I'm planning something semi-formal. The birthday gathering, on the other hand, is a BBQ pool party. Hehe! Maybe I should just wear my swim shorts under the wedding reception clothes and I'll just take off everything when I reach the birthday party venue. Haha! Kidding.

So yeah, it's going to be a busy, busy weekend. I need to find time to squeeze in a workout. Pump class tomorrow morning is definitely out. Same goes for the Pump class on Sunday morning. Haha!

Anyway, let's see how.

Tired, really tired, lol...

What a looong Saturday it was! How I am still able to operate at this hour, I have no idea. Hehe!

Just a quick recap of the day, and then I'm going to hit the sack.

After closing the issue (finally!) at 1AM, I turned off the lights and jumped into bed. The problem was it took me some time before I finally got to sleep. I'm not sure if it was because of the coffee I drank or because my mind was still awake. Even with my sound machine that played chirping birds, crickets and evening rain (seriously!), I only fell asleep after 15 minutes. I was hoping I would get at least 6 hours of sleep. Well, no surprise, I was up at 6.

Aware that there was no way I can go back to sleep, I just decided to get up and start the day. First stop was Jollibee at Lucky Plaza. I've been craving for tocilog or tapsilog. Jollibee was the only Filipino food place open when I reached LP. I was that early. Haha!

From LP, I took the bus to go to YMCA. The first agenda for the day was a continuation of the museum training. For three hours, I sat through a lecture on Chinese ink and calligraphy, and a bit about the artist named Wu Guanzhong. Tipz should know the man because we visited his exhibit ages ago.

After museum training, I grabbed a quick bite with my fellow docents before heading to the National Museum. I volunteered to help man the Museum Volunteers booth for two hours. There's a call for volunteers for next year. I hung out with fellow docent and good friend Lionel. We managed to get a few signups and I was also interviewed by a Thai student on the Philippine national anthem and flag. By 4PM, I was so sleepy.

I was tempted to go home but I had plans to go to the library. So.... from Dhoby Ghaut, I took the train to Bishan. There were books I meant to borrow and they were located in Bishan. Also, I asked PG Boy to help me borrow the books. I really should consider getting a library card and pay the annual $50 membership fee since I spend so much time at the library, anyway. We'll see.

While waiting for PG Boy, I managed to do some of my extracurricular work. Around 5 plus, Richie messaged to ask for dinner. He initially suggested The Rice Table. I was craving for Indian food. He suggested Sakunthala in Farrer Park. I asked PG Boy if he had plans. After telling me that dinner was with his best friend WC, I just told him to join us instead. Thankfully, WC was okay with it.

From Bishan, we took the train to Serangoon. At Serangoon, we changed to the Purple Line and headed to Farrer Park. I felt like I've been on my feet the entire day and I was just really tired. Lol!

It was a gooooood diner at Sakunthala! I will admit that I ate more than usual. I figured since I'm at a good Indian food place, I might as well eat the food that I want. After dinner, we passed by Mustafa where Richie hoarded several bags of different types of nuts. From Mustafa, PG Boy and WC headed to City Square to catch Mad Max, Richie went his own way to catch a cab, and I made my way to the MRT to head back.

What a tiring but productive day!

Long Saturday...

It's a tiring Saturday.

To make up for a booboo last April, I volunteered to do three guiding shifts for the month of May. Hehe. Usually, volunteers are only asked to give one guided tour per month.

In any case, it was good that I volunteered to do three shifts for May as there seems to be not enough volunteers for the month. I dunno, perhaps people were or are planning to go on hols.

My first shift today was at 1130. Whenever I do this time slot, almost always I would get about just five to six visitors. Maybe it's too early for museum guests, maybe museum guests prefer to have lunch first. So I was pleasantly surprised when I had a group of about 15 people for the 1130 tour! 7 Singaporeans, 2 British, 2 Americans, 4 Indians.

The tour lasted for about an hour and a half. The main reason was I was overlapping with another guided tour. Hehe. At some points, I had to stop and wait for the other group to move forward. At some points, they had to wait for me to move forward.

My first tour ended a little past one. It gave me enough time to have coffee. I walked over to the neighbouring SMU where I got myself a kopi si and just sat down at one of the uni's benches to relax for a bit.

Close to 2PM, I headed back to the museum for my second shift.

The second shift was rather surprising because I started with a small group (for a 2PM time slot). As I expected though, more people would join once we went into the galleries. I wasn't able to get a proper count of the number of people who joined the tour. I do remember that my group included 1 Thai, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Japanese, 2 Americans, and 8 Singaporeans.

This lasted just a little over an hour, which was also good. I think both tours went well because 1.) there was an applause as I gave my closing lines and 2.) some people walked up to me to say thank you for the tour.

The last agenda for the day was anticipated Mass at St. Ignatius. I wasn't feeling very well but I went for the Mass anyway since I want to have a slow Sunday. I enjoyed the Mass! The priest was vgoood! I have to say that the Jesuits really do know how to engage the crowd, just like the Franciscans. Hehe!

Quite a busy Saturday...

Busy Saturday...

Started the day with Pump at Westgate. Headed to the National Museum for volunteer shift. Big group again - 4 Americans, 2 Australians, 2 British, 2 Germans, 1 Austrian, 1 Indian. I think I won't be doing any morning shifts from now on. Hehe!

Went to the library again to work on my Japanese assignment. Final agenda for the day was dinner and hohol at Mr. and Mrs. B's place. It's a good thing I didn't have lunch because the couple served Filipino food that had me going for a second serving of rice. Yikes!

Day started at 8AM. Day ended at 11PM.

Training, museums, gym, Mass, and so on...

Good morning! It's Sunday and I've been up since 6AM. Haha! What's new?

I'm not surprised because I was already in lalaland by 11PM. Yesterday was a very long day. It started at 6AM, too. I had to get up early and be in the city by 830 to attend the training for my new volunteer commitment. The training lasted until 1PM.

After that, I headed to the National Museum to meet up with fellow museum volunteer Lionel and to do a walkthrough of the ongoing exhibit. Hanging out and going around the exhibit took close to two hours.

I left Lionel since he was doing the 2PM tour, and I headed to the gym for a 330 Combat class. Prior to Combat, I was thinking about whether to eat or not. The dilemmas was I couldn't eat a proper lunch because I didn't want to do Combat on a full stomach. Add to that the feeling that it's bad and it might result in appendicitis. Lol. I can't eat a proper lunch after class either because by then, I would have to observe the one-hour fast before Mass. Yeah, one of the Catholic teachings I still follow and believe in.

So, how? Hashtag First World Problems?

In the end, I rushed taking a shower and getting dressed. That left me a good 5 minutes to rush to the 7-11 at the ground level of Cathay to get a pau. It was imperative that I eat because I was already feeling faint towards the end of Combat class. Haha!

The last activity for the day was Mass at St. Anthony's, my favourite church in Singapore along with Church of St. Mary of the Angels and also, St. Bernadette. The priests give very good homilies! The homily is always something relevant to the every day lives of people.

That was Saturday. The reason I went to Mass yesterday was Sunday is also going to be a packed day.

I have a museum guiding duty. I organised a meet up with Kok Kuan, Des and Justin. I need to go to the city to take the first few steps on a new project. Just this morning, I volunteered to take over another museum guiding shift. The assigned museum guide couldn't make it since she was down with throat infection and flu. With all these errands, I'm afraid I may not have enough time for Mass. It's ironic that Mass seems to be the last item in the to-do today list, instead of being the first.

Busy Saturday. Busy Sunday. How to find time for a relationship? Or even a date? Lol! Just kidding.

Docent training with Guggenheim's Director of Education...

While almost everyone I know back in Manila (including my own family) celebrated Mother's Day, I was at faraway Gillman Barracks and attended a whole day docent training for a special exhibit.

No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia is the inaugural exhibit of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative. The exhibit was first presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibit then traveled to Hong Kong before arriving in Singapore.

We had two speakers for the day. In the morning, the curator June Yap talked about all the works on display. She started by giving a backstory on the homeland of each artist. This was followed by talking about the art work. It was quite interesting.

I must say though that the afternoon session was much more enjoyable and inspiring. Guggenheim Museum's Director of Education Sharon Vatsky spent a few hours talking to the group about possible ways to guide for the exhibit. It was such a fantastic session. After a brief talk at the conference room, we moved to the exhibit venue where she conducted a walkthrough for us. It is just amazing how we spent a little over an hour discussing just three works.

Aside from learning about the exhibit, I certainly picked up a lot of other ideas that may be used when guiding for the museum. I was really glad I got to attend the session. If that was how sessions are conducted in contemporary art museums, then I am quite sure more people will be open to understanding and even possibly appreciating contemporary art.

Another interesting thing about the exhibit is that it seems fitting that it is staged in Singapore since most of the artists feature come from this region. Two paintings by Filipino artists Poklong Anading and Norberto Roldan are included in the exhibit. I met Norberto Roldan several years ago at Green Papaya gallery. He sold me 5 collages by Geraldine Javier. I also became a frequent visitor of the gallery and eventually bought a few more pieces by Mariano Ching and Jonathan Olazo. Really glad to see his work here in Singapore.

No Country touches on themes such as ethno-nationalism, national identity in an age of globalisation, to name a few. The 22 works on display include paintings, sculpture, photography, video, and installation. The exhibit will run until July 20 at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Singapore, a national research centre of Nanyang Technological University.