Hello Blogging, I missed you

Why have I been absent for the longest time?

Life had been really busy for the past few months and I think this trend is going to continue for quite a while. Tight daily schedules are getting tighter, responsibilities are getting deeper and heavier, and if I am fortunate enough to have a few minutes gap or break, I try to utilize it to update my different life lists (really I have a lot) ~ more and more I realise that time is really unforgiving, it will never wait for anyone, even for just one second! Hence, writing was pushed to the back seat, until finally (thank goodness) I had the time to pull it out from the pile of stuff that covered it for months!

Lately, most of my students are complaining about being so tired. I suspect it has something to do with the weather, it was reported that March 2015 was the hottest March since record keeping began in 1880. Ugh, I really hate to think that it will get hotter but common sense suggests that it will be the trend as it is just the beginning of summer season, so I have to bring more water every single day to rehydrate! Most importantly I have to recycle and conserve water and be more active in doing recycling.

Busy April

Right after Holy Week my brother and my sister-in-law had a thanksgiving buffet for their coming baby! So here are some pictures from the event.

My big family

Dad, me, mom, Tita Beth and Tito Ding

Mom, kuya, me and dad

Mom, me, dad, kuya and Ashley

As for volunteering ~

I have been spending my Sundays in Helping Land Tondo, Manila to teach kids in Project Pearls' summer program. I have cute kids here and they are very sweet.

Meet my students:

Kids at work

John-John, Dannyboy and Angelica

Lovely

Creating characters with clay

Kids and teachers

I am planning to spend my Sundays with them until the end of May :)

And yes, we were warned that life changes every single moment and nothing is permanent. But sometimes these warnings were just a bunch of words until we stop and really think about the changes we've been going through in our journey in life. Personally, I never know that teaching will really make a big impact in my life. And a very positive impact. I used to think that I will spend my life video editing and writing articles or making digital presentations but now I believe I found another trail that opens to more possibilities of serving and helping people. Must love teaching!

Preparing for (breathing deeply) SpEd. 

Creativity

Got this from here.

So here comes full circle

Stars and dusts
Please help me with time management.

Feeling so dragged down by all my responsibilities.
Need to chill.

Circle. Circle. Ha! Ancient Asian History tomorrow, have to read! Read! Read!

But will read Haruki Murakami first, IQ84, wehehehe ^^

Proactive habits

I remember I posted a picture about Book Day celebration at Instituto Cervantes. Enjoyed that day so much with my best friend Romina and her sister Karen. At first we went to Salcedo Saturday Morning Market, then Instituto Cervantes then Football game.

That was a full day indeed, also that's the day when Manila reached it's highest temperature so far, 35.9 Degree Celsius, whew!

No wonder I reached out for a tall glass of water when I arrived home. We should drink 3 liters of water per day to replenish the water we lose as we do our activities, but since it's been extra hot these days, it will be safe to drink 3L plus another liter to rehydrate, especially when your lifestyle or job
requires you to be under the sun most of the day.

It is also earth friendly if we use water tumblers instead of buying plastic water bottles every day. Aside from being economical we help reduce the average consumption of water bottle around Asia, which is by the way is three liters per head per year though this data is from 2007 (Asian Tribune). Refill your water tumblers with water from coffee shops, food courts or in my case university main library :)

Maybe we can also make better use of our time by waking up early and cooking breakfast and packed lunch for ourselves and our family. This way we can hone our culinary skills and we know that the food we eat is healthier. It is also plus points if we cook meals that are vegetarian or with lesser meat/fish. Use reusable bowls or food containers with cover moreover, spoon and fork that are not
plastics so we can help lessen the consumption of disposable plastics as well.

Let's keep in mind that we are here to cherish our Mother Earthband be good stewards of the resources that we have right now, remember not all of them are renewable. I am making a habit of waking up early to plan my day with lesser consumption and more proactive routine to protect our environment. Don't forget to sort out garbage and join recycling activities in your community this way we can make good use of our time, we interact with our neighbors and we heal the world, one day at a time.

Of friends, washing clothes and vitamin string quartet

Would you have yourself inked by a 90-year-old Kalinga lady?
This question haunts me all night because of my friend Lauren who paid me a visit yesterday. I was all so shocked with the lizard tattoo on her left arm! Lauren, my good friend from old film days, the one who dresses in post modern Gothic-est flair with a flowing feminine long skirt and rainbow colored scarf to complete her unique modern goddess twist that she mastered through the years. Now imagine her with a tattoo. Only Lauren can pull that off, in a graceful way I might say.

The tattoo is more valuable because of this Kalinga lady who inked her. She is a 90 year old lady who used pomelo spine to ink her clients, she is a rare national jewel as she is famous for traditional way of tattooing (Kalinga tribal art) and she alone knows how to do it. There is this worry about not passing the valuable art to younger generation because she has no kids, but good thing she is training some folks around the area. There was also this anecdote about her refusing to ink non-Filipinos before.

Anyways, I am going to hurry up to prepare for lunch. I spent hours washing clothes yesterday and it made me feel very productive. I should start doing this routinely. Getting a high from listening to Here Comes the Sun by Vitamin String Quartet, very lovely.