Dear Tita P.

Dear Tita P,

Kamusta ka na? Matagal na tayong di nagkita ah, hindi narin kasi pinapapasok kaming mga alumni na napaglipasan na ng panahol sa school mo, pero oks lang, at least natatanaw parin namin kahit papano ang campus mong parang naging city jail lately. Minsan napapaisip nga ako kung kailangan pa naming mag emote ala “Etoo akoooo basing basa sa ulaaann, walang masi singulggaaan..” para lang papasukin kami. Ayos lang din, at least alam namin na sa security purposes napupunta ang tuition fee namin dati.

Uyy... I’ve heard ah, bongga na daw ang school ngayon, may spy cam na daw para mahuli ang mga nagpi-PDA. Ayus yan ah, next time gawin mo nang ala PBB yan. Tapos ung mga nagpi-PDA ang mga housemates. Tapos lagyan mo ng option na Vote to Save at Vote to Evict. Pag naevict ka, syempre PEG na ang PD grade nila. Saya nun!

Kamusta naman pala ang klima dyan? Dito umuulan ulan na. Wag ka masyado maglalalabas ah, baka abutin ka ng ulan at ginawin. Ay mali, hindi ka naman pala giginawin kasi laging bonggacious ang mga suot mo, lalu na pag graduation at President’s day. Grabe kaya ang fashion sense mo! Minsan nga ikinukumpara kita kay Lady Gaga eh, kaso syempre mas tame naman yung suot mo kahit papano. (BTW, napanood mo nab a ung Alejandro music video nya?) Pero grabe ka rin, kasi I can still remember nung President’s day na tila piniprito na kami ng araw, napakasaya mo pa magspeech nun porket na lilim ka at habang binasa mo ng napakarahan ang speech mo. Pero ang pinakamalupit sa lahat ay ang iyong pagiging bilingual pag naspeech ka, ung parang sasabihin mo: “Good afternoon to our dear parents… teachers…. and guests.” Tapos uulitin mo pa ito ng “Magandang hapon sa mga magulang…mga guro…at mga panauhin”. Minsan try mo rin mag Korean translation kasi dumadami na kasi ang lahing ito sa school mo. Over!

Naalala ko pa nung gumradweyt ako ng hayskul. Feel na feel ko yung presensya mo nun habang kasama ko din ang aking mga batchmates kahit recorded lang mula sa isa pang graduasyon ang speech mo samin. Filing nga naming naglalaro kami ng Ouija board eh, parang ispiritu ka lang kasi na nagsasalita nun.hehe 

Nga pala, miss ko na ung iba’t ibang mga Montessori ways. Aminin ko lang nung primary pa kami, minsan naiirita ako dun kasi andame pang steps eh uupo ka lang naman (arte much?), plus badtrip pa kasi napapagalitan pa kami sa Grade 2 teacher ko pag maingay kami tumayo sa upuan, kaya ulit nanaman kami uupo nun kahit kakatayo lang namin, kaya tuloy lagi kami nahuhuli pag snack break eh, lagi pa kami nauubusan ng burger.

Naalala ko pa nung nasa high school naman ako, may project sa TLE na hindi ko talaga makuha ang point. Actually, sikat na sikat ito sa school mo sa pangalang “Scrapbook” na kung saan binibigyan mo rin kami ng istandardized na font, pictures, at content. Di ko talaga magets ang point na kung bakit kailangan parepareho kami ng laman ng scrapbook. Ano kame, factory ng TLE scrapbooks? Grabeeehhh…

Pero infairness, marami talaga akong natutunan sa school mo ah. Keep the good work!

Nagmamahal,

R.

P.S. Lagi kong pinagmamalaki sa mga classmate ko ngayong college ung column mo tuwing Thursday. Syempre bongga nanaman ung picture mo nun with the cap and you ever infectious smile.

1st Sabuaga Festival at Sto.Tomas, Pampanga

The 1st Sabuaga Festival was truly a blast! Kapampangan talent and artistry were once again highlighted during the festivities. Children with colorful costumes sashayed throughout the streets of Sto. Tomas, Pampanga while the festival theme song played. It was a really festive moment for the Thomasians (people from Sto. Tomas, Pampanga). You could almost see everyone jiving with the festive mood as processions and street dancing paraded before their eyes.

The Flower Scattering Festival

Sabuaga Festival got its name from a play between two kapampangan words, sabuag which means to scatter and sampaga which means flowers; hence, the name Sabuaga festival or the Flower Scattering Festival. The festival got its roots from the religious tradition of the people during Easter Sunday which they call “Salubong” where estabats scatter flower as part of the ceremony. This festival happens every Easter Sunday. Truly, religion and tradition go hand in hand with the festival.

Quoting from the Vice Mayor Ronquillo(not her exact words), “Sana ali mu sampaga ing isabuag tamu, pati narin, sabuag lugud at pangadi kareng aliwang lugar”- I hope we do not only scatter flowers but also love and prayers as well.

A Move for Tourism

Mayor Joselito Naguit shared in several reports from Sun Star that the festival, aside from its religious aspect, aims to improve the tourism sector in the area. Sto. Tomas, Pampanga is well known to be a exporter of world class coffins and pottery, thus increasing tourism in this area would greatly benefit the business of the townspeople.

Sto. Tomas, Pampanga is small town located near San Fernando and San Simon, Pampanga. Its former name was Sto. Tomas de Baliwag or simply, Baliwag which originated from the Spanish direct translation which means, “tardy” as the people from this province usually arrive late during mass at the time of the Spanish colonialists.

Festivity Proper

The events that composed the festival were a “Salubong”, Inter-barangay Street dancing and cultural presentation.

The “Salubong” is a form of ceremony depicting the first meeting of Jesus and Mama Mary after Christ’s resurrection. Sculpted figurines depicting saints were paraded from opposite directions with the head of Mary covered by a veil. After the procession, Mama Mary and Jesus meet at a certain point (most commonly at the church) and a ceremony where an angel descends to remove the veil of Mary.

I think the Salubong is very prominent here in the Philippines during Easter Sunday, but the difference with the Sabuaga festival is that artworks similar to the ones you see at Disney Channel’s Art Attack are laid on the streets which will be passed through by the Mary during the procession before the Salubong itself.

Here's the video, notice the street artworks! 

An Inter-barangay street dancing was also organized, participated by the seven barangays of Sto. Tomas namely: San Bartolome, San Vicente, San Matias, Poblacion, Sto. Nino, Moras de la Paz, and Sto. Rosario Pau. Each barangay showcased their main product such as San Vicente for coffins, Poblacion’s aquatic products, San Bartolome’s poultry supply, Moras de la Paz’ textile industry, San Matias’ Jeepney making businesses and so on.

Here's the video from Youtube.com:

I really enjoyed this street dancing parade in the afternoon. I even said to myself, “Kaya pala ng mga taga-Pampanga and ginagawa sa ibang probinsya.” To think, the participants were only children in their elementary and high school years.(Parang gusto ko na rin sumali next year!Haha) The parade was really a sight to see. Really a feast for the eyes.

After the street dancing, a cultural presentation competition was started which was again participated by the street dance participants. Again, colorful props and costumes were very prominent among the participants. Pampanga Governor Among Ed Panlilio also graced the event during the announcing of the winners. Barangay Sto. Nino managed to get the Best in Costume and Headress award, while Barangay San Matias got the Best Street Dancers and Best in Choreography citation.

Barangay Poblacion bagged the best cultural presentation followed by Brgy.Sto. Nino and San Matias, 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the end, Barangay Santo Nino managed to get the overall championship forthe 1st Sabuaga Festival

Truly, Sabuaga Festival and Sto. Tomas,Pampanga is really worth paying a visit.


Picture courtesy of www.santotomaspampanga.com

Divisoria Experience + Food review

This is actually a late post.

Last Saturday, we planned to go to Divisoria. I was quite pessimistic with the idea since the news did another sensational report which was quite overrated. Bagyo na nga lang nakikita ko sa TV ngayon eh. But still, it pushed through. We left home by 9am. Mom met with a business contact first to discuss a deal. They met at McDonalds Dau. The place was very nice. far from any McDonald outlet I've seen before since the fast food chain now sported a modern design with its trademark color red and yellow now a shade darker. In addition to that, it also had its own McCafe, a coffee shop similar to Starbucks but on a lower scale, both in price and menu. I ordered large cup of Capuccino. It looked like this (photo above). It looked delicious right? But I kinda regretted buying a big cup since I didn't apprieciate the taste very well. Maybe because it's bitter. I even added 4 sachets of white sugar, 2 sachets of Equal, 1 sachet of brown sugar and 4 sachets of creamer but to no avail, it still tasted the same.Sorry kay Ate waitress at kinulit kulit ko sya para sa mga yan.hehe In the end, I just finished the cup up and just ate a lot of that carrot-wallnut cupcake instead. Oh, we also ordered a Rocky Road bar and a slice of Brazo de Mercedes, nothing special about the taste. Yes, I am a person with a hard to please palate.

After that, we went to Pulilan, Bulacan for another business meeting. This time, we met at Jollibee Pulilan. We had our lunch there. I ordered the new Jollibee Chicken Barbecue. It was delicious, flavorful, smoky, and appropriate for the Filipino tongue.I liked it by the way, McDonald's  should also have something like this if they want to keep up with the competition. But still, McDo's still McDo, Jollibee is still Jollibee.

One thing I noticed with these two fast food giants is that it seems that their market focus is now the not-so-young population. No longer are they confined to kiddie group unlike during my childhood days.

And now.. We're finally of to...

  Tutuban Mall! This is also part of the mom's business trips but unlike the previous two, we didn't really eat here...at least, not much. We arrived there at around 5pm. It was kinda dark outside. Ang saya pala sa Divisoria pag gabi, may music, mga tao at higit sa lahat, mura ang mga bilihin! I bought two shirts, one pair of eyeglasses, belt, and shorts for about less than a thousand and the quality isn't too bad as well. I'll post my pics here wearing them soon. Nakaktuwa talaga, tapos may tindera pa na buntis tinanong ko, "Ate, ilang months na po ba iyan?" Sabi nya, "Ahh, kabuwanan ko na.". And then, being a student nurse, I somehow told her about the signs of true labor. At talagang nakapaghealth teaching pa ako sa Divisoria.Haha. At least, alam na nya ang difference ng true and false labor. Nakakaaliw din ung tindero sa isang stall kumakanta pa sya at andami sinasabi.

If I remember the lyrics right, it went like this:

"Hali-halika na, humalukay ka sa aming bulwagan

Sa aming bulwagan, murang mura diyan
Kaya halika na, wag nang mahiya"

Tapos may sinabi pa sya, "Oh wag nang mamoblema kay Santino! Wala na si Santino!" May sumagot, "Baka Santi po?". Ahaha. Si manong talaga oh, May Bukas Pa ata ang napanood hindi TV Patrol.hehe.

and then.. We ate again.

This time at Greenwich. We ordered that pizza from the left side. I think it was called Overloaded Roast Beef Pizza. Masarap din sya, kaso sobrang daming oil which spells a lot of calories for me to burn. Ayos lang, nagpapataba naman talaga ako eh. Did I already say that its delicious?

Upon finishing that sumptuous dinner, We went to the mall again. Upon going outside, there was this lesbian-looking person looking at me. Nag smile sya. Nagsmile rin ako. Tapos tinawag nya ung mga kasama nya and said, "Siya na yun! Siya na un!" while looking at me. Then, I realized, hindi pala sila lesbian. Bading pala sila.hehe Now, I learned a lesson na wag smile ng smile kung kani-kanino. Dapat ituro narin ung sa mga bata, "Anak, don't smile to strangers ah."

Then we went home. =)

Clinical Eye - Down's Syndrome

Pagkatapos ng 5-hour duty ko sa USTH, dumeretso ako sa SM para bumili ng contact lenses since expired na sya for 1 week ata. Hindi ko na matandaan. So ayun, nung pagpasok ko may nakita akong batang babae.

Napaisip ako.

Sabi ko sa aking isipan, "May kamuka tong batang to ah...Familliar sya sa akin, parang nakita ko na sya sumwhere di ko lang matandaan kung saan."

So ayun lakad lakad lang ako habang nagiisip..

Tapos..after few minuites, narealize ko na kung bakit muka syang familiar! Kasi naman may Down's Syndrome pala ung bata!haha Napakalutang ko talaga nung araw na dun. Isip pa man din ako ng isip kung saan ko nakita ung batang un. Tinatanong ko pa sa sarili ko kung nagging pasyente ko ba yun o kung anu man. SABAW!