not carne norte

when i think of cdo now, i remember sitting at my laptop at 1am and squeezing out thoughts for my paper that i would be presenting the next day. i think of walking around the city looking for breakfast at 6am, and the short 3-minute walk to xavier university from where i was staying. i remember eating every couple of hours during our conference, and i can still taste the iced coffee i had at one of the cozy coffee shops before my return flight to manila. i am still a bit disappointed at the low turnout during my presentation, and i am still very sore at that presentor who shouldn't have been there at all--fifteen minutes of my life i wasted listening to that person. my professor admits he made a mistake by forgetting that that person had been blacklisted already due to his consistent blah during conferences.

anyway, i had a good time in cagayan de oro. i wanted to take in the city as much as i can given the span of time i was there, to feel the rhythm, to be part of the city. i think i was pretty successful on my last day there. hahaha. good thing i had classmates to go out with during my last night in cdo. and we went river rafting!

do excuse the lack of words to describe my experience. i'd been writing nonstop the whole week, and i was able to relax only last saturday. hehe. i guess i'd like to take a break from writing for a while. :) for the meantime, here are some photos from my cdo trip.

high five after the rapids

okay we conquered that one

and i was still smiling at the camera

cute :)

my, what a big boat you have! (acel & i)

after emerging from macahambus cave

i walked in first and i had to fire my flash so that i could see where to walk. i think i blinded them with this. hahaha.

waway saway and his group during the welcome dinner

they were amazing

miming! :)

ongoing call for help

From the UST Office for Community Development.

[The original photo was taken in Lambakin, Marilao, one of our partner communities that was severely affected by the flood, during a relief operation. Edited with Picasa.]

yellow team

it was the green team's turn for milk.

on climate change and everyday's little things

Hello, I'm back from a dialogue-forum on climate change.

While I've been slowly turning into an ecowarrior (little steps, baby steps), I'm not much of a stay-on-one-subject blogger so I won't write the details or 'what I learned' or 'what happened' here. I'd rather (literally) talk about the subject. Mahabang usapan eh, tinatamad lang talaga akong mag-type. Hehehe. There you go. So what the heck am I doing here? Just a few thoughts from my end as a school-based development worker: I have to get moving beyond our Styro-free Campaign. I want to do more, but with the amount of (other) work I have to do, it's going to be very difficult. As much as I would like to focus on our advocacy, I can't do everything on my own. I need the support of the office, of the whole university. Someone has to do my other work. Hahaha. Fat chance. Oh well.

What I really want to say, really, is that I learned a lot and I feel good about learning a lot about issues about the environment. The learning part is, I think, what I can share with others for now--after all, one of the 'perks' of working in my office is getting to suggest what the next training for our partners will be. Climate change is (really) here, and we need to adapt. So what can we do? [As a little step, we--our office--could conduct awareness campaigns and such.] Do we care about healing the world, about making it a better place for all, not just the entire human 'race' but including all living things (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather)? Do we care about the next generations' right to life? Then we have to make others understand, for it is only when one understands that one loves, and it is through loving that one protects. Kaya nga I'm very fortunate to have someone who understands me, and I understand him, and we understand each other. Hehehe. Naks. :)

Hunnyway, here are some photos of my the event and of some little things I found interesting. :)

The group photo. I am very easily found.

Workshop, placing metacards.

And I was "volunteered" to report. I gave a very concise paperpoint presentation.

I must have looked like such a geek.

Another workshop output. Applying the tape that way was my idea.

And here I am working on that output. I like pasting stuff.

Okay, now for some interesting little things!

Of course I got the bed by the window.

I liked our curtains.

Charlie was my roommate's bedmate. I was so envious. I should have brought Mr. Kite along!

Makati na raw 'yung nasa malayo.

Filinvest property.

So that's why they call it 'soul-searching'. :))

:)

Line up.

Probably the most dangerous kiddie pool I've ever seen.

I miss taking photos.

testing, testing

upon ige's suggestion (i asked him: if i had a real, hands-on art thing, what medium would i use? or something like that), i tried my hand at using a brush pen. it feels nice, but controlling the grip and learning how to properly apply pressure is pretty tricky. light strokes, heavy strokes, smooth lines, thin lines--all vary depending on how skilled your hand is. and my hand isn't really trained in the art department.

it made my scrawls look like fancy calligraphy though.

how i feel right now: terribly missing the other thursday kid.