revitalizing exhaustion

various activities kept me occupied lately. all have been both exhausting yet revitalizing. as usual, i had to enumerate them all. (warning: this is a very long entry)

february 3

ate dothy, mariel & i tried the new spa at rublou mall in greenland. compared to the other spa near our place, this one is cleaner, more private and has a free sauna :) i had a combination of shiatzu & swedish massage.truly revitalizing! the massage also comes with a choice of free foot scrub or ventuza. i chose the latter.when it was being done, i felt like regretting the choice i made, i didn't know that the "sucking" will be done simultaneously at my back, darn!

i felt really relieved after it was done though as if all those back pains were miraculously taken away. looking at my back, i looked like a dalmatian with humongous red spots. i was told that the spots will be gone after one day but mine were totally healed after one week!it was quite a serious case...my spots are way redder than mariel's and ate dothy's and took longer to heal.i'd like to do this on a regular basis, i was told this is good for asthma and cheaper than seretide! hehehe!

february 14

since, i left the restaurant industry two years ago, i've been spending valentine's day as normal single person does. so as not to encounter heavy traffic from ayala to cainta, i left the office at exactly 6:00 PM. luckily, i was successful to reach my place early but decided to go to a salon. i had my nails & toes done and had a haircut. it was again very revitalizing. when i reached home, i started packing my things for my mindanao trip. sfc friends would be coming over the next day so preparing dinner for them would be a priority so packing my stuff needs to be done a day earlier.

february 15

office work was quite hectic and i had to set aside my excitementfor my mindanao trip. morning was filled with reports, event coordination while afternoon was spent buying "tikoy" for staff as chinese new year gift and prizes for the NPI quiz at SM makati. i also bought some ingredients for dinner at home with sfc friends and toiletries...nice timing, hehehe! we requested one officemate to fetch us since mae and i couldn't possibly bring everything...all the 50 tikoys and grocery bags by ourselves! we had coffee in starbucks before going back to office...again, revitalized!

i bid goodbye to officemates and ask them not to miss me so much, hehehe.during my fx-ride home,my thoughts were all about the trip...i was scared, excited, curious.

sfc friends came around past 10 in the evening. i just prepared pasta w/ tuna for our late dinner cum early midnight snack...

february 16- day 1 HOPE Conference
we're off to mindanao.

the day started rockin'...tetchie and i were able to have our picture taken together with the legend of filipino rock.......pepe smith!'twas like a dream come true for me, you see...the "fan" inside me needed to come out so i really asked him if we could have our picture taken together. . . he agreed happily (see his smile in the picture? he kinda laugh when i said, we look like "super twins" with him being in the middle and all....kapuso ka pala ha?)

our sector took a longer route going to lanao. we had an hour flight from manila to zamboanga and an almost 8-hour drive from zamboanga before reaching the conference site in lanao. CFC couple took care of us so we can reach the bus terminal safely. they were so nice, warm and accommodating.

when we reached the conference site, we registered, set up our tents then went to the first session right away. there was of course praise parade, talk & praisefest. after that, we attended the mix party wherein people were divided in such a way that people with common interest are in one party even if it means that you won't go together as a chapter.tetchie and i went together to the techy party. we've met new faces mostly from down south (visayas & mindanao). 'twas fun :)

feb 17 - day 2 HOPE Conference

as usual, the day started with mass & worship. this day was filled with practical & educational workshops. i've attended the following workshops that interest me :

a) Go Negosyo
b) Who Wants Be A Millionare?
c) Photography

i just hope i'll be able to apply the tips i've learned from the workshops. i'll update you on this, let us all be witnesses of my progress, hehehe.after all the workshops, we watched the contests and "shopped" (uhm, uhm, it's a not-so secret term that sisters in our chapter usually use). i was also able to spot (finally!) my officemate, pia after dinner.just to show that we aren't lying about going to mindanao, we took pictures of us together.

we attended an all sisters' talk on lamentation. 'twas my first time to experience on a big conference that a sister was leading the worship. i think it was just right that men and women were separated for this session. truly though we may have similar lamentations as singles, gravity sometimes differ when gender sets in. so there were those sharings that i could relate to and there were those same stories i've heard from friends. we were again put to 10 mins of reflection...argh, i fell asleep... and heard God's message, "Rest my Child, Rest"...no kidding! at first i couldn't believe i was hearing it...and a lot of people were laughing whenever i share this experience, how could it not really happen, huh? it was so clear and so real... the only male voice i heard from an all women session! the men & women merged for the 3rd talk that was really empowering and ended the night with praisefest. instead of watching the finals of the contests right after the praisefest, we all just went to our tents to sleep. this 2nd day was really tiring as expected..physically exhausting yet spiritually revitalizing!

feb 18 - day 3 HOPE Conference

started with a mass, our 3rd Day in lanao became even more "hopeful" right after our last session. this batch of LXS (League of Extra-ordinary Singles) were introduced. they've shared their convictions being men & women of God. they were very inspiring especially brother meng, his story could be compared to tobit, his whole life is a miracle, despite the hardships he remains faithful.after the praisefest, we just ate lunch and prepared ourselves for the long trip going back to zamboanga. on our trip going back tyo zamboanga, we were with our zamboangeño brothers and sisters and a coouple of kapampangan brothers. CFC couple fetched us from the terminal when we finally reached zamboanga, they've "adopted" us for a night...so sweet.

feb 19- goodbye, mindanao

when we woke up in the morning, we realized how beautiful this CFC couple's place is. surrounding the whole area are mountains, a spacious ground a very beautiful garden. we dind't waste time and took pictures :) buffet breakfast was also served...yummy! here's the whole gang as we bid farewell.

we just checked in our baggages and went to "barter market" to buy some zamboangeño products and can you believe malaysian goodies! it was a very brief shopping but at least i was able to buy pasalubong and some stuff for myself. we went back to the airport and that officially ends my mindanao trip.whew!

check out all HOPE CONFERENCE's pictures here.

feb 25- GK 1MB

hindi ko muna gagamitin ang wikang banyaga (sa mga salitang hindi pangngalan), ipinagmamalaki ko na bilang Pilipino, mahusay talaga akong mag-Tagalog at bahagi lamang ng aking pagka-Pilipino ang pagiging mahusay ko ring mag-Ingles .tulad ng mga ilang nakaraang taon, sa pakikibahagi ng Couples For Christ sa diwa ng Edsa Revolution, pinakita naming muli kung paanong magkaisa ang mga Pilipino para sa isang maganda at marangal na hangarin. habang papunta akong GK site,bumungad sa aking umaga ang pangunahing balita ng Philippine Daily Inquirer ang "Gawad Kalinga"...ito na raw ang bagong diwa ng EDSA, ang panibagong Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo.tulad nga nung nasa awit noong kasagsagan ng EDSA REVOLUTION...eto ay isang mapayapang paraang pagbabago.natuwa ako dahil marami na ang naniniwala sa gawain namin...at sa patuloy kong paglalakad papuntang GK site, nakangiti ako...alam kong maraming Pilipino sa iba't-ibang bahagi ng Pilipinas ang kasabay kong naglalakad upang maki-bahagi sa Gawad Kalinga.

pagdating ko sa GK Selecta Village, tumulong ako sa gawain ng Urban Farming. hindi talaga ako "green thumb" pero sana yung mga kasama ko sa pagtatanim ng halaman, hindi ko katulad para kahit papaano may mabuhay sana sa mga halamang nilagay namin malapit sa Sibol School, nagbungkal din ako ng lupa sa ilalim ng init ng araw...dito sigurado akong walang lupang mamamatay....hahaha!nagkaroon din kami ng "GK empowerment", nagsalo-salo sa pananghalian at umuwing hapo, pagod, maitim at maligaya :)