Why Visit the Philippines?

I won't lie. I miss the Philippines. I miss my home. Being away from it for a long time makes me linger on all the memories, the things I've done and what I will do when I will go back.. I don't want to sound conceited, but of all the places I've been...Philippines is the closest to paradise on Earth.

Philippines is a place where all the hues of color come together, where all the flavors blend in...it simply is a chance you won't dare miss...a visit that won't make a day dull.

Why visit Philippines? With the 7,107 islands, you'll sure have thousands of reasons why, but I will sum them up to 5: BEACHES, NATURE WONDERS, FOOD, PEOPLE AND EXPERIENCE. 

• BEACHES: It's hard not to be amazed with the alignment of great white sand beaches from all the 3 main islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. (The  following are just some of the numerous beaches that you will see in the Philippines)

World's Famous Boracay Beach 

The Tourist Famous Puerto Galera, Mindoro

Sand Bar beach in Palawan

White sand beach of Blue lagoon in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

Uncommercialized beach of Caramoan in Bicol Region

Surfing beach in La Union

Endowed natural beauty of Anawangin, Zamabales

ala-Robinson Crusoe, Cataan beach in Camiguin

The Pearl Farm in Mindanao

• NATURE WONDERS: Philippines is blessed with great natural resources. Not only were these resources there as a source of living but as a wonderful source of amazement in times of stress...Waterfalls, Hills, Volcanoes and mountains.

The Virgin Islands of Coron, palawan

The unfathomable sight of the Chocolate Hills, Bohol

The Enchanting Prowess of Pagsanjan Falls, Laguna

One of Nature Wonders of the World, Puerto Princesa Underground River

The Euphoric Feel of Cave Church in Callao Cave, Cagayan

The Perfect Cone of the Mayon Volcano, Albay

The Surprising Result of a Disastrous Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, Pampanga

The Hardwork of Banaue our Northern Forefathers in Banaue Rice Terraces, Benguet

A nature gift's scenery of Basco, Batanes

A Favorite Hiking spot for locals the highest peak in the Philippines, Mt.Apo, Davao

• FOOD: Philippine Cuisine is a fusion of East and West, it can be best understood this way, as a result of the occupation from the European Spain, American and Japanese. There's no single gathering between Pinoys where there isn't a feast on the table...even the smallest of getting together..there are always food...There are a lot of delicacies but I will leave you salivating for the most common.

Kare-Kare: Cook in Peanut Butter 

Pansit Guisado 

Kakanin: delicacies, cakes made from rice flours or glutinous rice

Adobo: which had been the identity of Filipino cuisine

The prestigious Lechon, (Whole roast pig/boar)

Sinigang na Hipon (soup cook with sour extract from tamarind or anything you can find edible in the garden)

Laing: Taro leaves cook in Coco milk 

Pakbet: Variety of veggies cook in anchovy paste

• The PEOPLE: The Filipinos are happy people. No matter how great tragedies they are to encounter they always see the bright side...We are religious and hardworking..

Religious

United

hardworking

Hospitable

Happy

strong family values

• The EXPERIENCE: When you visit the Philippines, you will never regret it, not only won't you be treated with amazing views and sumptuous meals but you will be taken cared of by lovely people and unbelievable festivities. You can be sure that the experience you will have is a unique and memorable one.

the rides

The year round festivals

The Food Challenge on the streets

and enjoy to the fullest with karaoke and all night disco..

Why VISIT Philippines? Given these and more...WHY NOT?

Valedictory Address for MES

Thank you.

I intended to stop at these two words, not only because I know that I might only bore you if I go on with a painfully long speech, but also because I know in my heart that these are the most important words if not the only words, that need to be said. Thank you.

Mr. _____________________, distinguished teachers, beloved parents, fellow graduates, good afternoon. We have learned many important lessons here in MES that we could carry on for the rest of our lives. Lessons of humility, sportsmanship, courtesy and friendship, it is not at all ironic that I am not enumerating mathematics, science, history amongst the things I learned, because all of us know, these are given.

At this certain age, primary school won’t teach us physics or chemistry nor will it prepare us for a career at all… However, the one thing it prepares us with is to take a step. To take a step towards life, by inspiring us, motivating us, and making us brave and strong.

Today's achievements may fade or even be forgotten. The applause may become a distant memory and our certificates and medals may gather dust on a shelf or in a drawer. But, we will always be remembered for caring enough, for helping someone, for making someone feel special and appreciated and for being the kind of person that others enjoy spending time with.

 It’s hard to imagine that the next time that we will be in a classroom; we are already in highschool, where they say a more serious learning is going to take place. But who says learning is restricted within the bounds of a classroom environment? We now live in a world, where almost everything is possible. Gone were the days of snail mails, and telephones are becoming obsolete. Gone were the days when kids our age play patintero, taguan, and other street games.

We are now in a world of endless possibilities and insurmountable opportunities, and we are to be thrown right at the middle of all of this. But every experiences were only just lessons ready to be learned, lessons that would only make us stronger and prepare us for the person we want to be.

I got scared while I was reading this year’s theme: “Your gift of learning, our tool for nation building”, it’s as if I am to carry the weight of the world on my shoulder, something that I don’t think I can ever do, by the way.  We might have been very bad people in our past life to be cursed with such great responsibility. Fear, that’s what I felt, not until this fear calm down that I felt honored and privileged to be entrusted with such vision. We could have been on the contrary, angels in our past lives, to be bestowed with such opportunity and power to do something greater than ourselves.  I believe that our school nurture as and teach us to be the person we are and help us build our character because we are an indispensable tool to the nation’s future progress.

We are indeed, the hope of our motherland, as our great hero Dr. Jose Rizal quoted. He knew that we are all liberal minds, who have great thirst for learning and immense concern for our nation. He might have foreseen, that this day would come, a day when great distractions will lead us away from this responsibility. This day came, when we have been comforted with computers and play stations that made us forget our books and street games, this day when all we can see are the possibilities and opportunities presented to us by the glittering monitors of TVs and computers rather than the opportunities of visiting a friend, going to the beach or reading a book. Is this the day that learning is limited by the things presented to us by the computer generated environment we’re living in? I say this is the day, that we will stay strong, and stay focus to our future ahead.

From now on we will be taking our talents and beliefs with us wherever we go, if we have learned anything it is that we have to be adaptable, ready to take chances and go different routes. These days we have to be ready to update our knowledge, add to our skills and be ready to cope with change, this is the challenge before us and it is one that we will all meet in our different ways. Some of us will want to stay at home; others might go to other places. Whatever we do or wherever we go we won’t forget today. Hopefully in years to come we will meet up with our friends again at our re-union.

Finally, I would like to wish my fellow graduates, fellow graduates now that has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? I would like to wish them health and happiness in the future and the satisfaction of knowing that whatever they do they will do it well. 

Congratulations to us….we did it!

UCph ain't worth it..

So what if it's a top 100 universities in the world?

I am at my 2nd sem at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) already this semester, and a week ago the Spring Sem 2012 already started and yet my grades from the Fall semester wasn't out yet? 

It pisses me off, terribly. Aside from paying a ridiculously high tuition fee of 9000 euro a year (around 54k dollars I guess) with my master's degree, that wasn't at all worth it, in my opinion. As there's only around 2 and a half lecture time every week which isn't even at all that interactive and sometimes even cut short or some other week with no class. I don't know what's happening because of the poor student guidance with too much bureaucratic divides..pretty much I'm like in a limbo...

I am not even sure why I'm writing about this. I just want to have an outlet of my outrage..

Maybe it's just my Faculty, or maybe it's just me. I don't know, but having been enrolled to a semester and start it already without being able to know the last sem's grade is pretty much outrageous.

I knew my previous University wasn't at all perfect, but atleast my professors are so inspiring that they have this ability to make you want to read and look forward to every session. And it won't take long to know your grades nor to hear any new information or for your inquiries to be answered.

So what does UCph have to offer in the Humanities anyway? It's still for me to find out..in atleast a year and a half more (hopefully)

Reflection v.1.2

If I knew back then how fun it was to have had my kind of childhood experiences... I would have took the time everyday to have made every second counts.

I have been immersed into the western world for almost five years now..and just today while I was talking with a co-worker we talked about the kind of life they have in Europe and the kind of life I had back home. 

How lucky they are for having free education up until University and they can choose any courses they want. It seems they've got everything that most people in my country dreamed for. Then she asked me how life is in my country...oh well, I said, college education is not for everyone, it is a luxurious privilege that only some can afford, and if ever there are scholarships we need to outsmart hundreds of thousands of others who wanted just the same, that's why maybe in our country, we regard education as a gift, a very precious one. 

And she goes, like...'oh, that's very interesting, cause here, we tend to disregard it'. Socialist Europe tend to disregard it, cause everything is taken cared of by their government, health care, welfare...and yes, their countries are the happiest place to live. But as I continue on talking with my colleagues, boring them (or so i thought) with my life back home...I'm beginning to think...life in Europe is not at all as happy as we know..

I began my story...

Back home, when I was a kid, I learned to swim not because my parents enrolled me in swimming classes but because I live close to the beach and swimming came naturally. I learned to grow a garden not for the fun of it, but for the benefit of having to eat something for food, I learned to give food to fowls (chicken) not just to see them gather around but to have to care for them for livelihood. I read books, cause we don't have TVs back then, I learned to cook on the fire I made out of sticks and stones. I learned to iron my clothes with a pan. 

I know how to make popcorn through the wasted palay (the one that the farmers had separated from those that they will refine for selling), to curl hair from the twigs of plants, to sell balot or ice cream on the streets, to cook and care for the younger siblings, to clean the house, to go fishing with a fishing net, to climb mountains, to ride the buffalo and just being with the nature. 

Back home, we learned to play sports, tennis, volleyball, basketball, not because we are part of the clubs or parents enrolled us but because it's part of the privilege of being in the school, that's why you'll know that when you are part of a sport team, you're probably something special cause the team is composed of the chosen few. 

We learned to play games as kids, even without legos, or barbie dolls or PSPs and Xbox...we played on the streets or on the shore just about anything, against each other or a team. 

It's not exactly as fun that time as it is now, thinking about it, because before all I can think about is playing. I was a kid. I need to make food cause it's my turn to make food, but then it's so hard hearing all those other kids, having fun, playing hide and seek. And up to now, I can't understand the rationale on while we need to sleep in middle of the day.

Childhood. Back then was fun. I don't know now. But I definitely enjoyed mine.

While I looked dreamy, talking about these things, my co-worker, was left awestruck. She was like 'you probably did more on your childhood, than I could ever do in a lifetime' 

Yes. I did. Maybe. But then there's the regression. But whatever, I am always grateful, that I have made so many memories of the past, worth remembering and i think it really made a big impact on my life. 

While I was writing this...it made me think..where have those street games gone? 

I was hoping to make another blog on that next time, i think this is sort of long now.