I just arrived from a 3-day trip from Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental.  And NO...that was not a vacation which I badly wanted for the past few weeks...it's still the usual WORK.

My boss and I had a meeting in one of the La Salle schools in Mindanao: Immaculate Conception College-La Salle...now managed by the De La Salle Brothers after the Columban sisters realized that their charism is not education (and they promptly asked the DLS Brothers to take over).  But what was interesting in my visit was that...after so many years of not being keen on seeing a dreaded Algebra teacher, we accidentally met in the hallway near the President's office.  I had second thoughts at first since it has been like eleven years since I last saw her...and she was very slim then.  Now, she has two (2) kids in tow.  Anyway, I met my 2nd year Algebra teacher, Ms. Oringot, now Mrs. Suana.  You probably now have an idea why she was a teacher not one student would forget. :-)  And not because of her name, but because she was one of the good teachers we had...in fact, she's ICC-La Salle's Dean of Arts and Sciences now.

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This was taken from the nearest nipa kiosk.  Ganda ng vantage point...wag masyadong malapit ha baka masira ang digicam mo. :-)  Look at the rainforest sa taas...virgin pa yan.  Tapos, cascading pa yan papunta sa last tier.  BTW, may 2 pang tier sa taas.  I think tapos na ata ung steep stairs na ginawa sa right side ng falls para makapunta sa taas.



This pic is taken from the 1st tier near the parking area.  The 2nd tier's the biggest...kita from this point ang 2 other tiers after the biggest one.  Medyo lumiit ung 1st tier kasi malayo from where my bro stands.  Height ata sa 1st tier is around 12 feet...this is where we jump kasi kaya.  Wala atang nag-attempt mag-jump sa 2nd tier...but balita namin may tangang estudyante atang nahulog...pero buhay naman...nag-nose bleed nga lang.

I had my 2nd facial cleansing session yesterday...and it was an experience.

I purposedly didn't insert an adjective before the word "experience" precisely because I really don't know how to explain what kind of experience it was.  "Happy" would not be an apt word for, at times, it was painful...nor is it "horrible" because my face felt clean afterwards...and, most of all, it was not "expensive" because it was free! (courtesy of my high school classmate...Ivy Pagaduan and her assistant-boyfriend Ronito Calunsod)  It was just one of those experiences which transcends the adjectival boundaries but leaves a mark of timelessnes worth writing in my blog.

Anyway, enough of the philosophizing...But, I never imagined how dirty my face was until I saw the yellowish matter diluted in a creamy white substance, which oozed out from my facial pores as it was sucked clean by the machine Ivy used.  And it was the first time I learned that blackheads aren't actually black as I though it would be...ung tip lang niya ang black tapos ung body niya medyo yellowish na translucent.  But the most painful part was when she poked out the yellowish matter in my pimple near the neck area (pic below) and used this stainless apparatus with a circular hole at the tip to force out the pimple pus.  The rest of the show was uneventful (in other words, not painful): Ivy vacuumed my face and subjected it to her lazer...speaking of lazer, lapit na showing ng Episode III.  Hehehe.

Here are the pics (pardon the resolution, used a cameraphone kasi):

Malapit nang matapos ang buwan ng Abril at once pa lang ako nakalabas ng Maynila for vacation.  Oo, halos every week nasa ibang lugar ako to visit schools or give workshops...pero iba un eh...work kasi ung out-of-town trips lately.  Actually, I just got back from a one-day stay in Roxas City.  Bad trip nga kasi I spent the whole day in La Salle Affiliate College (soon to be College of St. John).  I got to enjoy Roxas only during lunch and dinner where we went to the famous Baybay (or, seaside in Bisaya).  Baybay, by the way, is a kilometer-long of beach restaurants and carenderias offering the most delectable seafoods Capiz can offer.

Baybay sunset
(pic taken from T630, pardon the pixelated resolution)

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One of the hosts asked me: "Dili ba bawal sa imo alimango, pasayan, kinilaw na pasayan?"
Me: (a big) "YES!"
Host: "Sir, makaon ka ba sang talaba?"
Me: (another big) "YES"
Host: "Eh sir, basi ma-allergy ka mo?"
Me: "Allergic kung kulang"

Hehehe.

Anyway, they got me all the sinful food they can offer.  By the way, sinful food, according to Atty. Mark, is anything edible na iiyak at iiyak ka sa sarap.  I think that's the best description for the lunch I had in Baybay.  Speaking of sinful food, I was introduced to the most cholesterolic way in dressing up your kan-on or rice: pour yellowish chicken fat (this, I think, is fat from chicken inasal), sprinkle it with unprocessed salt, top it with vinegar-soaked talaba, and scoop it with your seawater-washed fingers...Uric acid galore!  And so I had to buy purinase after the gluttonic session.

Here's a pic of the talaba I gorged...medyo matagal na kasi akong kumain ng talaba.  I acquired the taste years ago during my freshman years in Bacolod.

"Ay kanamit gid!"

Had three straight Board of Trustees meetings a while ago...and it was boring...so boring that at the end of the last meeting, I felt lethargic and numb.  But as always, there was another booboo from the new school head:

A memorial to the men who died in Corregidor:

"Sleep my sons your duty done,
For freedom's light has come,
Sleep in the depths of the sea,
Or in your bed of hallowed sod,
Until you hear at dawn
The low, clear reveille of God."

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Eversince I was a child, I've always wanted to visit Corregidor Island.  Stories and movies about World War II almost always made me imagine about tanks and planes and battleships and how they commandeer their respective territories.  Drawings of tanks and guns would be scribbled in any writing material I could grab...including our Disney encyclopedia.

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When we were children "gira-girahan" was always our favorite game.  Two groups of toy-gun-wielding children would take their positions in an attempt to eliminate all the opponents.  Of course, "ratatatat" means we fired our gun...and nobody ever missed...kahit shadow lang ung nakita.  And we would usually end up arguing about who-fired-first.  And there would be spies, too!  Our house in JBC is elevated to about half a meter so you can actually see who's been running the other side.  Spies would be lurking under the house giving information to hiding soldiers behind the bushes and sometimes waiting for a prey for them to ambush.  At the end of the day, a group usually ends up a victor though the price is usually a pot of champorado.

What was originally thought of as a wonderful encounter with the gentle giant, Butanding, turned out to be an encounter with the dark side of Philippine tourism.

We left Pioduran, Albay for Donsol, Sorsogon at around 8am in the morning hoping to get a good look of the famous butanding or whale shark.

Upon reaching a part of Donsol, just near the Pioduran-Donsol border, we spotted a group of pumpboats full of toursits circling the seas.  Siyempre, lumapit kami kasi we're sure nandun ung maraming mga butanding feeding on krill.  At sa malayo pa lang, kitang-kita na namin ung mga matatabang puting turistang tumatalon sa kanilang pumpboat kung nakaturo na yung kanilang spotter sa dagat...I suppose, may nakitang butanding.  So without much further delay, binilisan ng operator ang pumpboat at nakisali naman kami sa saya.  And sure enough, may nakita nga kaming 2 maliliit na butanding.  Ung first one, medyo malabo kasi medyo makulimlim.  Ung pangalawa naman ang medyo ok kasi lumabas na si sun at medyo mas malaki ng konti...kitang-kita ung puting spots niya pati ung round head ng butanding.  Nakaka-enjoy...lahat ng kasama namin nakangiti.  C Mrs. Lorino nga, ung retiring principal ng San Lorenzo Academy, was ecstatic...tagal na raw kasi siya hindi nakakita ng butanding because the last time she saw one was when she was cooking it.  Hehehe.

Then suddenly, nilapitan kami ng isang pumpboat with three persons on board and who introduced themselves as officials from Philippine Tourism Authority.  They said na may bago daw'ng municipality ordinance ang Donsol at kailangan daw na magparegister sa PTA.  Since we don't know na may existing ordinance palang ganun, we opted to leave the place na lang.  They got our names and ayaw pang maniwala ung tagaPTA...nagalit ang gago at nagmura pa.  Since, we don't want anything to do with them na kasi nga mga bully, we left the place.  And after a few meters away, we heard a gunshot from their direction at ung kasama niyang goon was pointing the gun at us!  Tuloy ung isang kasamang teacher namin napasigaw ng: "Ser, may baril! Sama na lang tayo kahit sandali lang!"  I felt my head froze and felt that the gun was pointed at me...kahit hindi ako ung nag-negotiate...feeling ko tuloy that's the end of my life.

I used to think that the four-hour bumpy travel from Davao City to Mangagoy (my hometown) is the longest and the most tiring of all trips.  But my monthly trips to Albay...specifically Pio Duran...is my worst.  It's actually a nightmare for some.  Di nga nakatulog boss ko nung pumunta dun.  Hehehe.

We usually leave Manila at around 10PM so we can be in Albay 9AM the next day.  So, you are expected to sleep the whole trip and work the next day.  And to top it all, I'm doing that once-a-month.  It's not that I'm complaining or what...it's just that even the most fit and the most enduring would say "Teka-teka" with that loooong trip.

But, the usual "silent" complaints running through my head ceases when, at 7:00AM, the tip of the majestic conical volcano looms in the horizon of Albay...beautiful...just beatiful...

It's like this experience: Once, gusto ko nang mag-CR kasi lalabas na! But nasa FX pa ako at ma-traffic...tapos, ung driver nagmumura kasi bigla siyang ki-nut (tagalog conjugation of cut)...tapos, nainis ako kasi katabi ko siya't ung laway's showering on my face...tapos, pinagpapawisan na ako at gusto na talagang lumabas...and finally, nasa babaan na...I ran as fast as I could towards that cramped room of heavenly bliss...and as I discharged it all out, I felt that beatific feeling of ecstatic bliss...just like watching that majestic Mayon...

Anyway, here's a pic I got of Mayon from a plane en route to Manila from Legaspi...I know, bawal magbukas ng cellphone sa plane...but, sayang ang moment eh. hehehe.

There's just something with that mountain which brings awe and wonder to those who see it.  Makes you realize that you're just a tiny speck compared to its majesty.