photo: 3/365 - bamboo!

Wawa dam adventure!

On Eastern Sunday, I joined my neighbor on their trip to Wawa dam in Montalban, Rizal. It was actually an unplanned trip. On the last minute, naisipan kong sumama just out of curiosity on how does wawa dam looks like.

I took a lot of pictures. And here are some of the pictures:

The river along our way. The big & white rocks captured my attention. But the water level is a little bit low compared to what i am expected.

The mountain made of stone (if I am not mistaken adobe daw ang nakukuha dyan). Quarrying is also a common scene in this area. But I was not able to take pictures doon sa may quarry area dahil siksikan kami sa tricycle.

close up shot

This one looks like a cave. But that is in the middle of the mountain.

to wawa dam

At the dam area, a lot of people are enjoying the water. Marami ang naliligo during that day – bata at matatanda. But in my personal opinion, it is not safe to swim in that area. Masyado syang malalim at kulay green na ang water.

Our group just stayed in this place. Actually, baba yan ng wawa dam.

Going down to that place. Matarik at malalaking bato ang dadaanan.

We also crossed the bridge made of bamboo. And take note of the sign ha. Manong is waiting at the end of that bridge para maningil otherwise pababalikin ka talaga nya. Hindi pwede ang pakiusapan dyan kahit na magpipicture ka lang.

Here are the tables for rent. At P150 per table, feeling ko ang mahal nya ha considering that the place is a government property and that wala naman silang permit to operate such business there.

Of course, meron din bihisan but it's not for free.

I also interviewed Manong (the owner of the tables). I’m so glad that he entertained and answered my questions calmly and patiently. He also explained that kailangan lang daw talaga nila ng mapagkakakitaan at binabawi lang din naman nila ang expenses nila sa pagpapagawa ng mga tables and bridge kaya ganun kamahal ang singil nya.

This man is very kind naman and attentive to the needs and safety of the people that are trying to go there. And he maintains the cleanliness of that place.

Since wala akong balak maligo at ang grupo especially the kids ay mukhang nag-eenjoy ng maligo, I asked my sister & Ms E na samahan muna akong mag-ikot to see kung ano pa ang meron sa area na yon. And we discovered this one – a falls.

But going near that place is not easy. You have to cross this bridge and hindi yan kinaya ng powers ko. Promise! Ang lalim kasi ng tubig na yan.

That's it!

photo: 2/365 - sili!

likes & dislikes...

It is my privilege to be part of the two months training sponsored by the PAHRDF. It is a two months training but it was broken down into different sessions. The first 2 days was held in PHINMA Training Center in Tagaytay City last March 11&13. The next 3 days was held in Oasis Hotel in Clark, Pampanga last March 25 & 26 and on April 7. The rest will be held here in Manila, but the venue is yet to be determined.

But instead of discussing more about the topic on that said training, let me just share to you some random things that I like and dislike during the training.

First session: Tagaytay City

Likes:

♥ The weather. While it is too hot in Metro Manila, it made me love the cold weather in Tagaytay. The rain drizzled a little during that day and it added to the coldness of the weather. Ang sarap ng feeling. Parang naka air-conditioned pa din sa labas. Hehehe.

♥ The trainor/consultant. I love the way our trainor/consultant teaches us. They are not boring. They are so passionate on what they are doing. And if I am going to rate them from 1 to 10 then I’ll give them a perfect score.

♥ The new learning’s. I learned and discovered a lot of things during our training.

♥ The venue. I like the place where we stayed. The room accommodation, the conference room, the dining area and other facilities are good. It is just so comfortable to stay there.

♥ The food. They provide us with sumptuous meals. Despite the fact that we were just around 20 persons, the hotel allowed us to take their buffet. Their food is good enough that made me gained more weights. *gosh* sira ang diet ko, promise!

Dislikes:

► The irritant callers. There were people that keep on calling me even if they knew that I was in the training. They’re so makulit. There were times that I was forced to turn off my cellphone but they still found ways to contact me which was through the number of my officemate, then made pakisuyo para lang makausap ako. And that really distracted me.

► The sharing part. On the first day, our trainor instructed us to recall all the significant events in our life by drawing our life line then shared our experiences with the group. I hate that part because it touched the very sensitive part of my past. Those even made me cry especially on the part that I had to tell the story about my family.


Second session: Clark, Pampanga

Likes:

♥ The speaker/trainor. Another speaker was assigned for this session and I also like the way she teaches us. The way she explained the topic assigned to her. The way she trained us and the way she treated us.

♥ The getting to know each other better. As we go along with our training, I got the chance to know more about my officemate. Yong mga dating hi-hello lang sa office eh medyo nag-improve na because we have to work as a team. And I love it kasi mas nakilala ko sila.

♥ The new knowledge acquired. Of course, I always embrace the new knowledge that I learned for every session that we have.

♥ The venue. The venue – the room accommodation, the conference room, the dining area and other facilities are good. It is clean and the hotel employees are so accommodating & friendly.

Dislikes:

► The food. Aww, sad to say I didn’t like their food. The fish are no longer fresh. So medyo nadiet ako dito. We complained and gladly bumawi naman sila on our last meal.

► The weather. It was so hot there. Feeling ko mas mainit pa kaysa sa Manila.

► The unexpected reschedule of activity. We were supposed to have our 3-day training last March 25-27 but some unexpected things happened. After the second day session, 5 among us decided to go back to Manila for some personal reason/s. So the trainor decided to postpone and rescheduled the next session kaya kinailangan pa naming bumalik sa Clark ng April 7 (birthday kaya ng anak ko yon) *sigh*

That’s it! Up next I’ll share to you some pictures during our wawa dam adventure!

photo: 1/365 - gumamela!

sunrise or sunset?

uhmmm...what do you think about these pictures? sunrise or sunset?

i took these pictures last week. medyo pinagpapraktisan ko lang yong aking camera.

anyway, happy monday everyone!

***answer: SUNRISE po! nasa loob ako ng tinted na car kaya ganyan ang effect sa picture.

march 2010: inspirational quotes

I have a personal philosophy in life: kindness begets kindness.
~Drew Johnson~

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
~C. S. Lewis~

If a woman can only succeed by emulating men, I think it is a great loss and not a success.
The aim is not only for a woman to succeed, but to keep her womanhood and let her womanhood influence society.
~Suzanne Brogger~

I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.
~Andrew Carnegie ~

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
~Dalai Lama~

You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
~Jon Kabat-Zinn ~

Weren't both sides of the conflict totally immersed in their own tragedies, each one oblivious to, or even antagonistic toward, the narrative of the other?
~Amos Oz ~

Oneness is very simple: everything is included and allowed to live according to its true nature.
~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee ~

I don't see the human as hopeless. There's a general tendency to presume people just act for short-term profit. But anyone who knows about small-town businesses and how people in a community relate to one another realizes that many of those decisions are not just for profit and that humans do try to organize and solve problems.
~Elinor Ostrom ~

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
~Joseph Chilton Pierce ~

It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.
~Chuang Tzu ~

If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction.
~Martin Kornfeld ~

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~Leo Buscaglia ~

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
~Vincent Van Gogh ~

I was thankful that this man had managed to remind me that my time is not all that precious... It starts with taking just a moment to see one another, and it goes from there.
~Jacqueline Novogratz ~

The greatness of a society and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
~Mahatma Gandhi ~

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. ~Stella Adler ~

Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
~William Ruckelshaus ~

As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need prosperity of kindness and decency.
~Caroline Kennedy ~

We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.
~Kahlil Gibran ~

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
~Charles H. Spurgeon ~

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far place.
~Russian Proverb ~

Doing things for free encourages people to share. It encourages people to be community, to be family. It provides people the chance to be generous with each other.
~Tree ~

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
~Rabindranath Tagore ~

Experiment with this mental model: It is my duty and privilege to be of service. I will do whatever I can to make life easier for all people who cross my path. ~Srikumar Rao ~

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
~A. A. Milne ~

The value given to the testimony of any feeling must depend on our whole philosophy, not our whole philosophy on a feeling.
~C. S. Lewis ~

There's an alternative. There's always a third way, and it's not a combination of the other two ways. It's a different way.
~David Carradine ~

We should not permit tolerance to degenerate into indifference.
~Margaret Chase Smith~

We should not permit tolerance to degenerate into indifference.
~Margaret Chase Smith~

What the teacher is, is more important that what he teaches.
~Karl Menninger~

happy 3rd birthday KA!

Today is your 3rd birthday already. Time flies really so fast! Soon, magiging dalaga ka na anak. I just hope that you’ll stay as sweet as you are. Papa & Mama wish you all the best that life could offer.

This beautiful poem is for you:

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter
By Judith Pleasant

You are a special daughter
who means so much to me.
The day you were born,
there wasn't a lovelier sight to see.
I am glad God gave you to me.
Your love and devotion
has been my reason,
to get through many tough times,
and through many seasons.
As you have grown up,
your beauty shines through,
with a wonderful smile
that shows the real you.
You have a heart that is
made of gold
and I know it will stay that way,
as you grow old.
You make me proud
that you are who you are.
The bond that we have
will keep us close,
and no matter where you are,
you won't seem far.
The closeness we have
will never depart,
cause there is so much love
that connects you to my heart.
I am glad my daughter,
that you are mine,
because having you in my life
makes my sun shine.

Happy 3rd Birthday KA! We love you so much. *mwuah*

the pasalubong: Rowena's blueberry cheese cake & special cassava cake

When the trainors/consultant announced that the first 2 days (out of two months) of our training will be held in Tagaytay, the first thing that came into my mind was to drop by at Rowena’s Cafe. Toni said that rowena’s blueberry cheese tarts are just the right blend of tartness, sweetness and creaminess. And that made me really want to try it.

Gladly, before going back to Manila, the group decided to look for a place where we can buy some pasalubong and we agreed to look for Rowena’s. Hindi naman kami nahirapang hanapin ito.

The store got a lot of delicious snacks. Perang pambili lang ang wala. Hehehe

Anyway, here’s what I got:
At P180 each, sulit! They’re so yummy.

Next time, I’ll try their espasol, ube halaya & other tarts.

pics from the tagaytay trip

The vacation was over and yet feeling ko hindi rin ako nakapagpahinga at ni hindi ko natapos basahin ang aming module. The next training will be on April 7 na. Goodluck na lang sa akin.

Anyway, I’ll share nalang muna some pictures taken in Tagaytay last March 11-12 during our training in PHINMA.

papasok sa venue

with this tree kala ko nasa baguio ako

reception area

our room

group pics

I'll make kwento nalang later marami pang kailangang tapusin eh.

Happy Easter Monday to all!