Things To Do In Iligan City

Oh hey you! Welcome to my happy place. And welcome to my backlogs. :) This Iligan trip happened in May of last year. Recall: We had 3 cities in a four-day getaway. We went to Malaybalay, then Cagayan de Oro, then Iligan.

It was my first time in Iligan City while some of my friends were very familiar with the place because they'd studied in MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology. Thus, there was no asking for directions. We had instant tour guides! 

I only wished to visit the famous Maria Cristina Falls because I had this thing for visiting the places in my grade school history books. :) I did not know there were still other interesting places to visit and things to do in Iligan City. Here's a list:

1. Maria Cristina Falls

My grade school teachers exalted this falls so much I could still remember my enormous desire to see it one day. They said that it was called a twin falls and that it provided electricity for cities in Mindanao. So it must be extraordinarily grand. Unfortunately, it was not in full blast when we came. It wasn't close to being a twin falls either but it was still amazing.

2. Macapagal-Macaraeg Ancestral House

I do not mean to promote any political people here. I am more for historical appreciation. It is so interesting to know a little about where the leaders (or once leaders) of our country come from... especially if it is for free :)

3. MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology

Because I am an MSUan. Because it is one of the top schools of the country. And because it is my friends' alma mater. :) Thank you to the kind guards who allowed us to enter although we were inappropriately dressed. :) Shorts, sandos, and slippers are not allowed on regular school days.

MSU-IIT Computer Center

:)

4. Pusô and Barbecue 

I am surprised that pusô's English translation is "hanging rice". I have never seen it hanging! Others call it "packed rice", which I think is more appropriate. Toe to Toe is highly recommended by my friends who have eaten there maybe more than a hundred times in a year. Multiply that to the number of years of their stay in Iligan. Whoa! I can't help the math application in real life. My students always ask me for that. :)

5. Videoke

What is life without music? I know... so dull huh? But what is life with music? Hmmm... That depends on the singer. Haha! We seldom go out for a night life during trips. This is the first time, I guess. And this is our kind of night life. Hihi. This is something that I am thankful for - friends of good influence. They don't risk my life with alcohol or drugs. They just make me jump off a boat, go against wild waters of a river, fly with the wind with just two-inch strap around my waist, and some other adventures which I know are not so safe but not as life-threatening as drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes. I love my friends! They are so concerned with my life!

6. Kalesa ride

This is the third time I have ridden a kalesa. Yup, it's that special to me. I am counting the number of times. :) The third time still feels like the first plane ride. Sooo exciting! I did not feel the same during my third time on the plane. This is what makes travels special - the little surprises, the unusual chances, the unplanned things.

7. Tinago Falls

This, I must say, is the highlight of my Iligan trip. Amazing is an understatement for Tinago Falls! It is astonishing! Ok, they are synonyms. I am trying to find another word for amazing. Then Google suggested astonishing. Haha! When I see things I do not usually see, that makes me amazed. Falls are usual things in the Philippines and I have seen several already but I am still amazed by Tinago Falls. It is so loud and strong in the most pleasing way.

And oh, lastly, for the pasalubong part:

8. Cheding's Peanuts

Do not leave Iligan City without taking home Cheding's peanuts. It is the best of its kind! 

Hello Summer!!!

I am not really a fan of the sun but I am a total fan of summer! Can you hear the beach calling?!? :) I grabbed some images from the web to put into my summer vision board! Hey SUMMER, here I come!

What are you up to this summer? I am pretty sure you'll hit the beach anytime soon, ey? :) Let's all have fun in the sun, guys. Or fun in the shade will do, too. :)

Summer Is Officially Over

For a person working in the academe, start of classes signals the end of summer. And yes, this day is the end of my summer 2010.

What did I have for summer?

Just as what I've envisioned it to be. I had no major trips. I had no major getaways. I had no major gatherings which I attended to.

1. I had my first summer classes ever and I had so much fun! :) Work was my life this summer.
2. I had generous amount of focus dedicated to my thesis! :) The one thing I've been dying to start for the longest time ever! The audiobook was right. The desire just fires up when you actually have started. Stop planning. Start acting! :)
3. I served the SFC's Christian Life program! :) And I'm so happy with the presence of my two good-old-friends Guimo and Harvey. :)



4. I had generous time spent with family! :) I love being at home. Good food. Good laughs. Good rest. Good conversation. Great people. Great love. :)
5. I had few stuff for myself - an MP4 player which I adored so much. I love listening to audiobooks to avoid idle moments. I listen to few when I'm washing my clothes, on the ride, waiting for a friend, before sleeping, or just anytime that I feel the desire to be filled with wisdom. I also had an external hard disk :) The thing that I've been dying to have for quite some time.
6. I had great time for myself! :) Even in the midst of busy days, I took time to dig in my inner being and it's always worth knowing the intimate part of me. :)


I become a better person everytime! I'm loving me each day!



It's not a typical summer that everyone desired to have. But it was a summer I so planned and wanted.

Nothing beats a fulfillment of a desired vision. It's just the way I wanted it to be! :)

And tomorrow will be a start of a new school year! :) I've never been as excited. I always am, actually, everytime. But this time is quite different. I feel so fired up and ready to give the best of everything that I am! :)

"I will work more than I'm paid for!"

A Noble Act of Service

Our highschool batch holds reunion every December. We don't want to miss each other so much so we make it sure to see each other at least once a year. :) And we don't want to be surprised of each other's life's events so we catch up often. :)

Last December, we decided to do a noble act for our alma mater, the General Santos City High School. And via suggestion of our dearly loved adviser, we agreed to join the brigada eskwela this year.

"Brigada Eskwela is a schools maintenance program nationwide that engages all education stakeholders to contribute their time, effort, and resources in ensuring that all public schools are ready in time for school opening. It is a week-long event where communities, parents, alumni, civic groups, local businesses, non-government organizations, and private individuals including teacher and student volunteers devote their time and skills to do repairs and maintenance work in public schools."

We called for pledges and had raised a generous amount. (I love you Einstein pips for having a kind and gratitude-filled heart!)

Harvey, Guimo and I had an ocular survey weeks before the Brigada to coordinate with the school officials for the needed service.



We also met our teachers and had a visit to our classrooms. :) Super fun! :)





Our Science Curriculum Coordinator, Ma'am Almasin emphasized the need for the repainting of ceilings of the 8 sci-curr rooms. And so it was. We were to paint the ceilings!!! :) We canvassed for paints and painting materials and our pledges were good enough to supply the 32 liters of paint. Yey! We got excited! :)

And then the day came! It wasJune 1, 2010. The day when Einstein '02 got back to GSCHS to show gratitude to our teachers and our school. After 8 years, we were back! All the good memories flashed back. We were not only there to visit but more than our presence, we brought something else. Something to share to our beloved school and to the present city highians. 

(The gang with our adviser Sir Gani and Sci-curr coordinator, Ma'am Almasin.)

(My first time to paint. :) I had fun!)

Movie Time: Here Comes The Bride

Summer work was over! Thus we deserved a treat!!! Yey! Ate My, Laiza, and I wanted to laugh out loud that Wednesday afternoon and it was so timely that "Here Comes The Bride" was in the cinema. The trailer was so funny and the reviews were so intriguing. I said, "I want to watch this movie sooooooo bad!" :)

I've been a fan of Filipino comedy movies since "Tanging Ina" of Ai-ai Delas Alas. Filipino movie makers have mastered making people laugh at their hearts' out. I'm hard to please when it comes to comedy. (Maybe because I'm a poor joke-breaker. So I study well how it's delivered. Hehe..) I really have to dig first on jokes. There should be a nice story before the delivery. And of course, it's 99% delivery. :) Sorry. I sometimes over-analyze. :)

But this movie. Come on! It's so hilarious!!!!!!!

The movie was about five persons who swapped souls due to a car crash in the middle of a solar eclipse in a magnetic hill. The soul of Angelica Panganiban (the bride), gets into the principal sponsor played by Eugene Domingo. Eugene’s soul gets into the soul of the ring bearer’s nanny played by Tuesday Vargas. Tuesday’s soul gets into Jaime Fabregas (the rich old patriarch). Jaime’s soul gets into John Lapus (a gay beautician). Ultimately, John’s soul gets into the body of Angelica Panganiban!

I was giggling and laughing with my head back tilted to grasp more air. And my body was often times as if rocking through my chair just to express how delighted I was. :) Hehehe.... Not the typical me. I just usually give a little smile and would secretly giggle and I don't normally rock my chair in laughter.

But ahhuh... It was that funny!!! I overly highly recommend it!!! Go watch the movie and be happy. And fall in-love as well. I fell in-love again with the idea of getting married. Haaaayyyyyyyy.. :)

What a wonderful gift for hardwork! :)

We saw a nice big mirror in the mall. And we couldn't help it. We're such "salaminkera".. :)

Another mirror pic. This one's in the ladies room. :) Faces of happy and beautiful and fabulous women! :)

Love-Filled Day

Today, I feel so loved. I had an amazing class this morning. Aside from the probability and other probability distributions, we shared good laughs and warm smiles. I so love being a teacher :)

And at the fastfood, I ate my happy food - my ohh so delicious Jollibee spaghetti :) It's such a rewarding moment. I got hold of a book and just took my time.

A woman and a cute little girl shared the table with me. There was no vacant table anymore. With a welcoming smile, I nodded. The child was so adorable. I asked her how old she was when the woman, whom I thought was her mother, was on the counter. And to my relief, she responded. I thought she was told not to talk to strangers. The woman who was pretty much in her middle 40's was strict-looking. She didn't even smile when I agreed to share the table with her. I figured she didn't want me talking to her daughter. So I wasn't talking the whole time she was around.

But when she went and got something, I again chatted with the child. When the child transferred by my side, and was opening the pockets of my pocketful bag, the woman finally smiled at me, as if apologetic of the actions of the child. Then she mentioned she was not her child but her niece. And talked about Hannah (the name of the child). We talked about what Hannah was up to at present and her soon to be entering elementary years. When they got ahead, I was looking at how she was dearly loving her niece/goddaughter. And to my surprise, she nodded and smiled.

When a friend of mine, Ate Ninfa, who just arrived and sat at the other table saw who I was talking to, she asked me how I've known that doctor. Ohhh.. I didn't even know. She was a dentist as Ate Ninfa informed. It was fun talking to strangers.

After there, I went to my household (it's a term our community uses for prayer meeting) at Tita Bing and Tito Joel's home. I love households. It's a fuel to my week. We had an interesting sharing about self-righteousness vs love. The girl bonding was what I also looked forward to. I learned a lot from other women's stories.

From left: Jaja, Ate Revs, Tita Bing, that's me :), and Ate Cute 

My last event of the night was meeting my girlfriends at Robinson's. Rhea will be working in New Zealand already. Yey! Hurray for my dear nurse friend. She'd been waiting to go out for so long. And though it's a sad fact that we'll be apart for a while, I'm still so happy for her that she'd now be able to fulfill her dreams. I know she'll be the best nurse in New Zealand! God bless you, Ray! :)

This are my HB friends, my lifetime friends. From left: That's Rhea. I call her Raya.
Then that's Rose, Reicel whom I call ChiChi, and Me:)

The Best Summer Afternoon

Just when I thought days would be so hard for me this summer.

It still is amazing to know that life gives fair surprises. :) I had my best summer afternoon so far.I only had the morning classes last friday because of conflicts on schedules. And so Ate My and I decided to treat ourselves with a choco hazelnut ice cream. But it was not available anymore after several minutes of hoping and expecting that we could eat that. She'd been dying to have that for weeks already. We just settled on the ice cream on the scooping station. She had her fave flavor durian. And I had the double dutch. We were somehow satisfied.

Just right beside the ice cream section was the massage section. I waited for her. I wasn't a fan of massages. I was busy with my new MP4 which I just had that same afternoon. I'm also not a techie. I don't know which gadget is better or the latest or the most sought after. I just felt I needed that MP4 for my audio books. I want to maximize my time. I still want to be doing something else during rides, washing my clothes, waiting for a friend, or even strolling, or before sleeping. And I also want to be soothed by nice music before going to sleep. :)

After her massage, I kinda got jealous. She kept on telling me how good it felt and how she was feeling better after. And for the first time ever, I got a back massage. :) And indeed, I felt so much better. As if my back was so light. I felt so light, too. :) I think I wanna have that as my constant reward.

The good life didn't just end there. We had a late afternoon snack at Cafe Spazio on the same mall. She had special spaghetti (Half of the pasta was of a red sauce and the other half was of a white sauce. That's how I figured it out why it was named special spag).



And I had the tuna pasta in cream sauce or the pasta tuna in cream sauce or the pasta in tuna cream sauce. Whatever the real name of that is. :)

And after, we attended a mass. It was just a perfect afternoon.

Summer Classes On

It's April 15 and the summer classes for College Bound Program should have started yesterday. I didn't know. I only knew late this morning. And so, I'll just start tomorrow. I'll have three classes - 9-10:30, 10:30-12, and 1-2:30. I've met with my two classes this afternoon on their tutorial time and gave few instructions for tomorrow.

This will be my first summer classes in MSU and I'm so excited. :) It's as if I'll be teaching for the first time :) It felt good being in the classroom again after less than a month. I don't know. The excitement is just so different this time. Maybe because I'll be teaching a special program.

College Bound Program (CBP) is for those cultural minority students who have not reached the passing score of Systems Admission and Scholarship Examination (SASE). They are given special classes on math, english, and values education. Students who will show satisfactory performance will be given the chance to enroll for 4-year courses the next semester.

I'm so happy to be part of this program. Students with strong determination to gain a bachelor's degree will definitely shine. This is a crucial point of their education. If they pass on this one, they have a brighter future waiting for them. If not, they'll just be I guess back in their provinces and start a new life outside school. Considering that most of these students are underprivileged, I swear to be doing my best to leave a significant impact on their lives and hope to their dreams.

I love being a teacher :)

One Fun Afternoon

I had a very exciting day yesterday. I finished typing parts of my thesis in the morning and it felt good to have done something about it. Next step, read my Abstract Algebra textbook to review the basic concepts needed for proving.

The day before, Ate My and Laiza (my colleagues/close friends) planned to play badminton and so I decided to go with them. I didn't wanna play. I just wanted to watch and bring that book with me so I'll have a new environment and a different aura. :) I had a healthy lunch - rice, fish stew, and a very delicious ripe mango. And so the afternoon came.

Sir Nathan, one of our colleagues, too and a bowling coach in school also decided to spend the afternoon with us. And guess what, the plan changed. Since he doesn't play badminton, he suggested to go bowling. And the two girls were so game! Uhmmm... Did they actually say bowling? The last time I bowled was uhmmmm...3 years ago? But without a second thought, bowling indeed. After all, I would not be playing. I would just be watching.

Bowling came right after Sir Nathan treated us on Cafe Amoree. They have delicious choco and coffee drinks and frappes. I just drink the ones with strange names. :) I wanna try every frappe. Yesterday I ordered Iced Dutch Choco.. Uhmm.. I forgot the exact name. But I'm sure it has Dutch.



Anyway, when we were there, people seemed to have so much fun. I'm sure I had fun too 3 years ago. Then I returned my Abstract Algebra in my bag and told myself, I was going to have fun. And so I did. I was not a good player. But Sir Nathan said, not bad for a beginner. :) I wanna play more the next time because I wanna master the art of throwing that ball and take all those pins down. I found myself so eager to just throw and throw the ball and make those standing pins disappear from my eyes. :) I super enjoyed bowling.

We ate dinner after at Chicken Ati-atihan. I had delicious hot shrimp sinigang and chicken Ati-atihan. I guess it was just the same with chicken inasal - the grilled marinated chicken.



After, I had my haircut and hotoil. It was so refreshing. I love it when I have something new. I wasn't so satisfied with the service, though. But I took in consideration the emotional state of that attendant because prior to my haircut, I heard his aunt texted informing him that his father was admitted in the hospital.

Anyways, the last part of my day was the service meeting of Singles for Christ. I was so late that I had a grand entrance and everyone was teasing me about going to that parlor and have my hair done on an unusual time in the evening. (I had it at 8pm and was done past 9). When I arrived, they were about to end. But I knew my presence wasn't much of an importance on that meeting. And I had Ate My to take notes of my tasks.

My yesterday has been one of the best days ever! :)

To my Father be all the glory! (Thank You my King for making Your princess beautiful and free!)

What's Up For Summer?

People are going completely absorbed by summer. In the television especially. Every TV show is themed summer. People are planning vacations, finding new hobbies, learning new sport, and enjoying the luxury of rest. Some would buy tons of dvd's and lock up in their room and watch movies all day. Some would sleep all day and eat non-stop. It's kinda a weight-gain program. The newly grads are looking for a job.

I love summers! :) It's one special time of the year that I get to do the above mentioned. I had vacations on my past summers. I enrolled in a cooking school. I once was crazy over finding a job. I tried that all day movie watching and all day sleeping and eating. Uhmm... Maybe except for that learning a sport. I'm trying to scan my memory but I guess I haven't really taken an effort to learn one. I'm not sporty. I only know of skipping rope. (I'm quite good at it. :))And maybe a bit of belly dancing and taebo inside my room. Yup. My room here in BQ is big enough for me to skip and hop and jump and do taebo. :)

But this summer would be different for me. No grand vacations. No enrollment on a hobby class. Less sleeping. I'll be, first and foremost, continuing my Master's thesis. It's pending for a year and a half already. This is the time that I'll be grounding myself to refocus again. (May God bless me on this one. I need the strength to stick on it, the determination to work so hard, the passion so I can continue with a big heart for it, and the wisdom to easily understand everything.)

Secondly, it'll be my first summer job ever! :) I refuse to accept work on summers before because of the climate here. The heat is really unbearable. But this time, I think I can manage. So what's with the heat. I have my umbrella. I'll be applying so much of my sunblock and drink lots and lots of water. I'm already excited! :) Classes start next week. MSU on a summer here I come! :)

Thirdly, I'll be learning the computer algebra system which I'll be teaching the next semester. When it was opened up to me, I got my blood running to my face. My cells became so alive! :) Finally, there's something new. I'll be over preparing for algebra, trigonometry, geometry, even basic math. I'll be teaching how to use computer software on math. Oh, Lord! You truly answers prayers. And visions do come into reality. Now, who says teaching life is boring? I super love this job! :)

Fourthly, I'll be serving the Christian Life Program of Singles for Christ every Sunday. Now, this one will break the monotony in my hectic weekdays. The community is like my sanctuary. It gives me joy being with my brothers and sisters. And this summer, we'll have new members. The Gensan chapter is getting bigger. More singles will be living the fullness of life. :)

When this summer means less fun for me, it'll be more academically nurturing and spiritually comforting.