Bohol Trip 2007

it was april of 2007 when me and my colleagues at brokenshire college went to bohol for a much-awaited summer escapade!. we are so happy that eventually this plan has pushed through!

1st day:

first stop at loboc river. this was where cesar montano shot "panaghoy sa suba". in here, ferryboats/ floating restaurants serve a feast (eat all you can!) while you are seranaded with acoustics music of the locals. at the same time, you will be refreshed by the panoramic scenery of loboc river down to the waterfalls at the end of the river course. it was a different experience for me to eat in a floating restaurant. cool! the food was okay. :)

as we were waiting for our boat, we visited a nearby church. it was in front of the loboc river. i forgot the patron of the church but it is also known as the loboc church. it is an old church built during the spanish era. i was really amazed with painting at the ceiling dated ~1800's. it feels like you were in another country. on its adjacent, it has a museum where old statues, painting and religious artifatcs were housed. these treasures have spoken how rich was the spanish influence in our culture.

next stop, we visited a tarsier center and have seen a handful of tarsiers on a tree. they were so cute and so small. we have seen a flying lemur too ( in bisaya "kagwang").

then, we went to conquer the chocolate hills. you have to passed through a two-kilometer stretch of densely planted mahogany trees located in the border of loboc and bilar towns also known as simply the "bohol's man made forest". as we reached the place, we needed to climb up the long steps to the observatory deck of bohol chocolate hills. it was like a stairway to heaven. it was really tiring but the view was worth all the hard work.

last stop of the day, the baclayon church. the church interior was majestic and one should never fail to pay homage to this national historical treasure and as a place of worship. it is considered as one of the oldest churches in the philippines which was built of coral stones.

2nd day:

we woke up early in the morning for a dolphin watching adventure. we need to be at panglaon before sunrise. as expected we were there on time and catched the beautiful sunrise at panglao! we ready our gear on and patiently waited for the dolphins to appear. we thought we won't see them at all. after an hour of waiting, i have seen their tails! hehehe.

next stop, we were heading to balicasag island marine sanctuary for an island tour, snorkling, swimming, watch tower viewing and a big lunch! :) scuba diving must be great there! but i was not into scuba diving at that time. i surely missed it.tsk!

then, we head back to panglao. the pristine water and white sand beach of bohol will never let you down. it was truly beautiful!

on that night, most of our collegues went backed to cebu while me, kim and ayhen stayed another night to vist ayhen's relatives. we went back to loboc church and museum for a night visit. it was another evening of rediscovery of the past. :) too bad, there was a partially done bridge erected on loboc river. hopefully the people of loboc will not let this project be completed. otherwise, the loboc church will be brought down.

3rd day:

we heard an early mass at baclayon church. i guess it was palm sunday. after the mass we stopped at the blood compact monument for a picture taking and then we sailed back to cebu.

it was a great bohol experience! 3 days and 2 nights were not enough to explore bohol! ^_^

Blogging??? Start with these

i know, i know... creating a blog is quite difficult in terms of content. questions such as: what will i write? unsa ni sa english? is my grammar correct? what appropriate words should i use to express my thoughts clearly and accurately? etc. definitely, these questions would pop out as you write. just give it a try. start with topics of your interest. that will help a lot! =)

yesterday, i went to my friend's house. luckily, she shared some cool topics to jump start your blog. a big big thanks to sony sevilla! i owe you one. she is also a newbie in blogging. (parehas nako!) Here is the list:

1. My Childhood Dream
2. My Hobbies
3. Your most favorite book ever
4. What I do when feel very sad or depressed
5. The Best Vacation I Ever Had
6. My Taste in Music
7. Television Character I Adore
8. The Craziest Thing I Have Ever Done
9. The One Person I Love the Most
10. If I could live another life, I want to be....
11. The Most Funniest Prank Played on Me
12. The Five Things I Want to Have Alone in the Beach for a Month
13. My Idea of Fun
14. I Can Trade This Part of My Life for Php100M
15. Talent (s) I Never Thought I had

so, what do you think? compose a short essay (maximum of 200 words) about any one of the topics that caught your interest.

go, grab you laptop and start blogging!

have a great day!=)

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blog - (a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies) "postings on a blog are usually in chronological order" ( http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=blog)

Free yourself in expressing your thoughts and opinions as long as it is not derogatory. ^^

TGIF!

friday is my breather day! thank god, the week has ended. therefore, i can get a lot of sleep. hmmm, but it was a bit crazy for me yesterday. =)

first, i missed my ce 2 class with section 2c. this has been for three straight weeks already. =\ i did plan to have a make up class as suggested by my immediate supervisor. however, i found out that students of this section have different class schedules due to some course advances they have enrolled during summer. in short, lisud sila mahagilap! whew. because of the recent college activities, i was really concerned with this section. i hope they have learned something from me even if we missed a number of class sessions. i guess, there is no justice for them if all i could say is "sige lang, bright man na sila na mga studyante". besides, i do not believe in mediocrity. even if ce 2 is a minor subject, everybody needs to study, improve their computing skills and excel in all aspects of our class endeavor.

yesterday's main event: i accompanied my students riza loryn montayre and glecille anne moreno, brokenshire college representatives for 2009 ite olympiad - quiz bowl contest sponsored by cdite region xi and philnits at um matina campus. it was finally concluded yesterday. unfortunately, the team did not bag any place but have done their job very well. i was proud of them for they have tried and given their best. outcome of the event - jmc 1st place, up-min 2nd place and dnsc 3rd place. congratulations to everyone!

in the afternoon, a number of students stayed at um matina for the annual students' it congress while we attended psite xi monthly seminar workshop at addu.
what a great week to end! TGIF!

by the way, happy birthday mama! =) we love you so much!

have a great day!=)

Scuba Diving @ Talicud Island 2008

scuba diving, have u tried it?

i guess it was one of the best things that we have done last year. together with my friends (kimmy, mj, kid ,sir joel and his girlfriend dimple) we have explored the underwater nature of talicud island last june 2008.

the weather was partly cloudy and was rain early in the morning. nagbaha pud ato on some parts of davao! we thought we could not push through with the adventure but thanks to the people at carabao dive center who assured us that the weather was fine for diving! =) dli bya ko kabalo maglangoy, unsa on na lang!!!

kim and i have done a little research about scuba diving. the pros and cons and some do's and dont's just to calm our nerves. before we jumped off the boat, there was a talk about what to do and expect under the water. these were some of the things i learned (actually, mao na lang ni ako maremember! hehehe):

• you don't need to be a swimmer to dive. the scuba instructor will guide you all the way. you float because of the apparatus that is attached to you. =) thank god!
• there are some hand signals that you need to memorize (since you can not talk underwater) such as when you think you are in trouble, when you are ok, going up and down. note: thumbs up sign is going up instead of OK! =)

on the average, you will be in the water for about thirty minutes. i found it bitin! kulang pa jud! the time we spent was not enough for me. it was really fun to touch slimy soft corals, as well as the hard ones. there are so many colorful fishes that i have seen there. tiny fish..small fish..medium fish..big fish? wala y shark didto at that time. hehehe. it was a breath taking experience for me. hmmm, lingaw jud.

uhmmm, one more thing. i missed nemo down there. sayang!

have a great day!

Ang faculty and staff day dri sa brok! =)

everybody has gathered for this annual event to celebrate faculty and staff day. i guess, it is an old tradition here in brokenshire college to celebrate FS day on or before valentine's day. double celebration jud! advance happy valentine's day to everyone! (actually triple celebration, advance happy birthday melody!)

i can say that it was the most memorable FS day ever! (i have worked here since 2006.) i will not highlight the not so good things that have happened but the thoughtfulness that my students have shown to me (us) through gift giving, warm greetings and big smiles. that made my day!

one more thing, i have not played around that much since college. instead of a formal celebration for FS day, students organization leaders have lined up many traditional games! lingaw kau!..abi na ko lisud maglakaw sa bao. ok lng, nakahuman ra pud ko. =)

have a great day! =)