Holy Week 2008

Mom went home to Aklan for the Easter Triduum so it was just me, Dad, Pat and Anne spending it here in Manila.

Maundy Thursday=-
We went to Duty Free to buy chocolates (talk about abstinence!), my moisturizer and some groceries. We went home and waited until after dinner to visit 7 churches around Manila for Visita Iglesia. We first went to our parish at St. Martin de Porres, then St. Michael in Fort Bonifacio, San Antonio in Forbes, San Agustin Church, Manila Cathedral, St. Vincent de Paul in Adamson and Magallanes Church.

We decided to skip our yearly Starbucks visit after the last church as we decided to go on a roadtrip the next day.


Good Friday=-
Dad suggested that we go to Subic for lunch and then go home. Yes, he wanted to burn gas and rubber that day. ^_^ We used SCTEX that just recently opened. SCTEX means Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway. It was a 60B peso project that came from ODA. In fairness, it's a very well-made structure that made the destination to those mentioned places a lot faster.

Uncle Nonoy's gang (aka family) was also there and we decided to meet up for a bit. They went to Subic earlier and they were having dessert by the time we were waiting for lunch at Yellow Cab. We drove around for a bit before going to Angeles City to check out Pat's flying school. He went down and stayed there around 15 minutes to 'inquire'.


Black Saturday=-
My fellow lectors came over for brunch to practice the 7 readings for that night's Easter Vigil celebration. We were discussing not only our cues, blockings and partners for dialogicals but we were also trying to explain the meaning of Easter Vigil and the message of the gospel. They were also delighted by mom's banana bread and even had some packed home!

That evening, everything flowed smoothly. I was just glad my vision did not fail me as I read from the Book of Ezekiel (the longest reading that mass). During Easter Vigil, the lights were at a very minimum and we relied on the desk lamp on the lectern. I even remembered last year that we only used pen lights to read those font 11 letters.


Easter Sunday=-
I woke up at 4am to join the Salubong Procession. It was very early so I decided to just walk towards the women's rendezvous at Mater Dolorosa. I was sweating and slightly panting as I arrived. Clearly, I wasn't physically fit (anymore) for long, fast-paced walks.

It was my 2nd salubong as I rarely get up early.. except when we have a flight or a road trip.. my first time was with mom and I think I was still in grade school. All I remember was that it was so early, it was so dark and the weather used to be cool at this time.

I attended mass with Aileen, Dino and Rea, my fellow lectors who were roughly in the same age bracket as me. During communion, my stomach was turning itself inside out. I realized my last meal was dinner before Easter Vigil. When it ended, Rea and I walked back to phase 2 and invited her over for breakfast.

In the afternoon, I had a well-deserved and overdue footspa and manicure. I also went to Market!Market! to buy medicine for dad and do some window-shopping (it's a great stress reliever, anyway).

~~~

Tomorrow will be another day of work... I can just see my inbox pile up with mail. I decided not to open all of them... save some work for the office diba? hehehe

There's always a reason

Dad was here last Wednesday night and told us that his assignment in Budapest was postponed. It was sad and disappointing but I guess that's what happens. SOME THINGS DON'T WORK OUT THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN. That's life. You just move on with your life. The world doesn't end if you don't get what you want.

Life is full of disappointments.. but I guess that's what makes achieving it all the more sweeter, diba? And of course, for the more spiritually inclined, God has His reasons for not giving us what we want.. maybe because we are destined for other (better and greater!) things. What we want may not be the best for us. And I guess it's best to move on with your life and think of other ways to get it if you really want it so bad. That's what I did!

I guess with dad's reassignment, we are just glad that he's not being laid off from work! Big boss Salim still wants him to be assigned in Europe until at least the internal issues are solved. In the meantime, dad will still be in Jakarta, helping out in operations and some implementation projects.

On the positive side, I'm relieved that I won't have to leave my workload to my partner in the office. He's already loaded with more than enough work and having my "fair" share to dump it on him would kill his social life (what's left of it, I reckon).

Oftentimes, we do not understand why the things that we want in life (sometimes almost within our reach) are not given to us. We cry out in anger and frustration, think about how much work we did to (almost) get what we want only to have it taken away from us. Now, I think it's because there is a much more deeper meaning. We fail to look beyond our own worlds that's why we can not comprehend. Once you're more in tune with your sensitivity, things will fall into place and the reason will be given to us. You'll realize that there's more in store for you. That what you'll really get is more than what you asked for... sometimes!

Virgin Haggler

It was my first time to go to 168 Mall in Divisoria. I rarely go to downtown Manila coz it's too far away from my house and the constant traffic isn't doing a very good job of attracting people like us who just prefer to buy our goods at malls and department stores.

We dropped of Anne at school before braving Taft further to the northwest and wading around jeepneys who have their own loading and unloading zone. It was still early, around 8am so parking wasn't difficult. Mom wanted to buy a specific bag and we ended up buying clothes for me and my cousins and some bags/wallets. In the end, we gave up on our search.. I was getting dizzy from the "tiangge hallucination" effect which means, getting a pounding headache trying to go back to where you were 5 minutes ago. We were still able to buy a bag that's really nice and unique (I've never seen that style before).


I then realized I'm not much of a haggler. The best haggler in the family was the more experienced member, dad. He would command the rates of the goods he would buy from Tutuban and Divisoria. Galing! Basta ako mura na, kakagatin ko na. hehehe.

It was still early, around 1020 but my throat was already scratchy from the dust from all the piles of merchandise being setup. Buena mano kasi kami. =P Mom decided we eat lunch at Savory, which was a very old school restaurant. She said the last time she ate there was when she was in college (go 1970s!~). We went in and it felt like I was back in time. It looked like 1980s at the most with the old school chairs, tables and design. Na-miss ko tuloy yung style ng 70s and 80s.

The chicken was good, especially their gravy. Their pancit canton had the classic Pinoy style of being very saucy and really tasty. It's been a long time since I ate this kind of pancit. The price was very cheap too! We had to-go food good for 1 more person for only around 400 pesos! Sobrang sulit!

It was a story of guilt and redemption

The first time I heard about this book was when my brother had to make a paper on it. I was curious but not so much interested because I wasn't very much familiar with the setting and the genre. Honestly, I didn't know much about the Middle East except that it was Muslim-dominated and had lots of oil. I began to realize that there's more to this region than my very narrow-minded perceptions.

I admit I am now an internet junkie. It's very bad.. very bad. Up until my senior year in high school, I read a lot of books. Now, I barely look at my shelves. Books waiting to be read piled up and were soon forgotten. But the opportunity presented itself when its movie version came out. I felt like I was cheating the book.

Again, it was my brother who told me the movie was good. And he rarely gives good feedback to me. He and his girlfriend watched it one Saturday evening and it was just perfect timing that my best friend wanted to meet up the following day. I begged them to watch the movie and they just stared at me: "What's that?" Unfortunately, this movie wasn't very much publicized. I was very glad we watched it and I think I got teary-eyed around 4 times.

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It was a story of childhood in Afghanistan. Two friends who lived in different worlds who had one thing in common: kites. The point of view came from Amir, the son of a wealthy Afghan and his relationship to his servant's son, Hassan. They were the best of friends but were still along the lines of master-servant relationship.

Hassan was the epitome of a friend. He was loyal, kind, trustworthy and will always be there for you. In my mind, Hassan was the good that everyone took advantaged of. He was the innocent lamb ready to be slaughtered. And yet, he would not think so bad of the people around him.

Amir was not quite like that. He would ridicule and make fun of Hassan's illiteracy; mock their relationship as master-servant. He was not all that bad. He was a lost and confused child in a world of overwhelming influences and pressures.

Despite all these, the two enjoyed each other's company and would find comfort in each other's presence. They would fly kites, cut all the other children's kites and Hassan would run for that fallen trophy for Amir 'a thousand times over'. Amir and Hassan, the Sultans of Kabul.

It was one tragic accident that changed all these. Amir did what he thought was best: he ran away. He turned his back on his best friend just when Hassan needed him the most.

Amir was plagued and haunted with his fallen relationship with Hassan even as he lived and grew up in America. But like all stories, there is a chance for redemption.. there is a way to be good again.

Amir's last challenge was to save Hassan's son, Sohrab (named after a character from Hassan's favorite story, which Amir often reads to him) from Taliban. Amir knew that if he wanted to save face and redeem himself, he had to do this one impossible task. After all, it was for Hassan. It was for the friend he turned his back on.

Of course, the story not only revolved around the boys' seemingly different personalities. The other characters around them were also trapped in their own hubris. It was a story of human imperfection and how they cope with the changing world and cultures. In the end, it was all about the fundamental inclination of man towards the good.. and his struggle to do what is good for others or do what is good only for himself.

Amir taught me a very hard lesson of doing what is good and the importance of friendship. He learned so much from Hassan. Friendships can withstand pain and trials and difficulties. Hassan had done that selflessly and without a trace of hesitation. For a friend, he would run kites and more, a thousand times over!