Cool Notebook

Day 42 of 100 Happy Days

Somebody gave me a cool notebook with a quote today. It was very me. The notebook AND the quote. Haha. I love well-thought of (AND RANDOM!) gifts. :)

On the cover is a quote from Joseph Joubert, "Writing is closer to thinking than speaking." People who know me well, know that I NEED to write in order to think. If I speak right away, I end up losing my thoughts. Haha. The notebook pages are cream, not white, which I really like in notebooks. White pages are too stark for me.

Bullet Journal. CHECK!!!

Day 41 of 100 Happy Days

At the start of this year, I decided to try out the bullet journal note-taking system. It has been very helpful with work productivity. When I plot out what the following work-day looks like before I go to sleep at night, I find that I am able to accomplish more and am less overwhelmed.

I just got back from a week-long vacation leave from work and I had to jump right back in to work mode because of back-to-back field work that involves a group of students from Manila. Bullet journal has been a great way to make sure I don't miss anything as I prepare for these trips to the field!

Back to Work!

Day 40 of 100 Happy Days

It's a holiday in the Philippines today. We are commemorating the bravery of tens and thousands of Filipino and American soldiers who marched 128 km (80 mi) during the Japanese occupation of the country in 1942.

It was a semi "work" day for us. It was a day of catch up and story sharing and eating Cebu lechon together. :)

Tiara and Turbulence

Day 39 of 100 Happy Days

Today was spent in airports and airplanes. My Cebu-Davao flight got re-routed to Cebu-Manila-Davao. I am not a fan of flying alone, especially during bad weather. It was just my lucky day that there was a typhoon east of Davao. Sigh.

But the AirAsia Zest pilot was amazing. Read about the context of my fear of turbulence and how Capt Ronaldo Sevilla made my flight a happy one even with the typhoon. :)

Puso

Day 38 of 100 Happy Days

They say that you haven't been to Cebu if you haven't eaten at Larsian. I will simply say, you haven't been to Cebu if you haven't eaten "barbecue ug puso" wherever street corner that you fancy. Tonight, we ate barbecue and puso to our hearts' content!

Making puso is both an art and a science, very cultural. I personally think it's one of the greatest inventions of the brown man. :)

Hooray for Introverts! Cheers!

Day 37 of 100 Happy Days

You know that you're growing up when you get to sit at the adults' table.

And when your Aunties and their friends (and significant others) become your sort of friends as well. Haha.

One of the most enjoyable nights I have had recently. :) Great food, good conversations, fun people.

What REALLY made me happy today though was the discovery that my nephew was an introvert. :) We attended a children's party and he found the party music to be too loud. Haha. All the kids were dancing at the center and he didn't want to join them. He stayed with his mother on the side and danced away. He wasn't shy. He just really liked his space. ;)

I'm excited to see other introverted behaviors he will exhibit in the coming days.

Dauin Marine Sanctuary

Day 36 of 100 Happy Days

I have gone diving a few times. Marine life has always been fascinating to me (although I prefer the mountains to the water because of vanity with the hair and skin LOL) but I cannot afford to get SCUBA certified. Haha. So snorkeling is the next best thing.

We were supposed to cross over to Apo Island but the aunties didn't want to so we settled on the Negros island side of the marine sanctuary instead. I have gone snorkeling in Apo Island a few years back and I was blown away by the things I saw. It was amazing! We were told that what you see in Apo Island would be the same species in Dauin. It did not disappoint. If only we had an underwater camera. :)

Apo Island in the distance

History and Dumaguete

Day 35 of 100 Happy Days

Everybody's sentiments. Yes, we love Dumaguete

Today, we visited the Silliman University Anthropology Museum. Museum. 'Nuff said. :) I am a happy girl.

We walked around Silliman University after the museum visit. Silliman for me is like a great "what might have been." If I didn't qualify at UP, I would have gone to Silliman for university studies. And every time I am in Dumaguete I always wonder what my life would have become if I had.

Silliman Hall behind me, where the museum is housed.

I looove Dumaguete City. It's small and quaint and people are friendly. It's so low-key, the great antithesis to the party islands in the Philippines. It's a university town; the city just vibrates with academic life. It doesn't call attention to itself; it's a city that has to be "discovered."

If I were a city, I'd be Dumaguete. :)

The beauty of Silliman University :)

Remembering Papa Johnny

Day 34 of 100 Happy Days

This morning, we had a memorial service for my grandfather's 10th death anniversary. People shared what they remember most about Papa and his impact in each of our lives.

I will always remember Papa as a great story teller. I always looked forward to going to Dumaguete in the summers or him and Mommy going to Cebu for conferences because I knew Papa would always sit with my brother and I and tell us funny and exciting adventure stories. I can't remember most of them but I remember that he was a very animated story teller. I was transported to a different world every time he started telling his stories!

Another memory of Papa that I will never forget is of him and Mommy having morning walks to Silliman Beach. They would let me and my brother come along. Watching them together, in the wee hours of the morning, always made me feel secure. It also gave me a lot of hope. Just the picture of two people growing old together makes you believe in love that is "till death do us part." Papa and Mommy did that for me. :)

Early morning memorial service at the cemetery with family and close friends

Homecoming

Day 33 of 100 Happy Days

My mother is from Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. This year is my grandfather's 10th death anniversary so the family decided to have a memorial service for him. US-based family went home to the Philippines for this memorial service. My whole family who is Manila-based also went home for this.

It's such a nice thing to be able to have a place to come home to. AND family to come home with.

Crossing over from Cebu island to Negros island on the barge

Fourth Anniversary

Day 32 of 100 Happy Days

Today is my fourth anniversary at work. I can't believe it has been four years already since I moved to Davao to work for this indigenous community and leadership development non-government organization. It feels like it has been a very long time and very short as well.

I am so blessed to have experienced and learned so many things in the past four years that I sometimes wonder how often it happens that a job can combine all your life passions.

Here is an excerpt of an email I sent to The Boss when I accepted the job offer four years ago:

Just so you have an idea of why I (and my accountability partners) think this job is so awesome, I shall share with you my "triad of life passions". The things in my triad did not materialize overnight. I got to realize my passions over a period of years. Looking back at how God led me to where I am now and what I have been doing and what I could be doing, I cannot help but praise Him. I praise God that He is showing me how He can give us the desires of our heart if we delight in Him first.

I am very happy. It's a sober kind of happy. It's not the giddy I-think-I-found-my-dream-job kind of happy. It's the it-feels-great-to-be-able-to-commit-to-something-for-the-long-haul kind of happy. And I am thankful for it.

Highlights from the past four years (clockwise): Bringing an Obo Manobo team over to Northeast India to join the Tribal Christian Gathering; New Zealand Osmosis; living up in Mt Apo for 10 months; and organizing the first Indigenous Theological Symposium in Mindanao

I also felt it very fitting that today, I was back in UP to conduct a training for the fourth batch of our Osmosis participants. :) The university that challenged me to fight for social justice and to give back to my fellowmen through serving the marginalized in the country is where I was on the day I celebrated four years of building pathways for holistic transformational development to take place in indigenous communities. Yes, that was a mouthful. I don't know how else to say it. Haha.

The University of the Philippines Diliman, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. My home for four years of undergraduate studies in the university

Free Dinner

Day 31 of 100 Happy Days

I have finally tried dining at Vikings and got to find out for myself what the hype was all about. Vikings is an eat-all-you can buffet place in the Philippines. They have a Japanese station, Filipino, Italian... There's lots of fish, a carving station, salad, breads, cheeses, and dessert.

The food is good and I am very thankful that someone else paid for the meal. Hehe. But I just realized that eat-all-you can buffets do not really give you the opportunity to enjoy the food. Because there's so many choices, you kind of try a little bit of all that's served (that pique your interest at least). So the experience ends up being overwhelming. I think, to be able to get your money's worth, you should be prepared to stay in the restaurant for at least five hours so that you get to enjoy the variety of choices.

Free (good) food is always good! :)