Well the title is really lame and blatant, sorry for that. I should really be sleeping now but I just really want to blog about the past three weeks. I know I should have blogged sooner, like right after I got home from the four day tour to Ilocos, but work load seemed to have piled up in an instant when I got back. So here I am, writing this late at night, powered by caffeine. This is going to be another lengthy post, so please bear with me since I tend to forget things easily that I just had to write everything down.
Ilocos TourI finally did it! After years of waiting for the right time to go on a vacation in Ilocos it finally happened and who would have thought that I'd be doing it with the entire College of Education?
As you know (if you have read my
previous post) I wasn't really psyched about going to Ilocos when the tour date was finalized and announced because it was sooner than I expected and I was just starting to save for my pocket money. Luckily, my mom was generous enough (as always) to provide me with everything I needed prior the trip. Mac also bought me snacks for the bus and he bought me an iPad too, partly so I wouldn't be bored during the long trip and I guess it's an advance anniversary present :P
Anyway, Ilocos was wonderful! I never thought I'd enjoy it as much as I did. The following were our itineraries for three days:
First Day: Vigan, Pagudpud, Polaris Beach Resort, Bangui Windmills, Patapat Bridge, Burgos Lighthouse, La Elliana Hotel, La Preciosa Restaurant. Second Day: Paoay Church, Malacañang of the North, Bagnos Laoag Sinkung Bell Tower, St. Monica Church, Marcos Mausoleum and Memorabilia, Museo Ilocos Norte, Pidig Chirch, Salcedo Hotel, Third Day:The Miraculous Vigan Church, Plaza Burgos - Burgos Museum, Juan Luna Museum, Hidden Garden, Shrine of Our Lady of Charity
I loved every bit of it, no matter how long the trip was and no matter how tiring it could be to tour and walk around different places all day. It's an experience I wish to do all over again, perhaps in other places too. Here are photos by the way, I'll let them speak for me.
My Kuya's WeddingSo my older brother got married last Saturday, February 9th, I was part of the entourage and it was just simply fun and exciting. I am really happy that he finally decided to settle down and start a family of his own. I honestly admire him for being able to hold it too long to get married, I mean he's already in his mid-thirties and he just got married. Although I think he should have done that years ago, but I guess he wasn't ready then and it left me thinking how does one know that he or she is ready to get married and start a family?
The musing just got worse when I caught the bouquet during the reception...I know it's too early to be talking about weddings, but I guess that's just a wake up call for me, that I should be doing my best to attain my goals and finish project "Mia" first before I think about starting project "wedding". Perhaps one needs to finish certain things first, you know like accomplish career and personal goals before planning for the
big day, and I think that's what I should really do now before I start considering hiring a pre-nup photographer.
Apparently, the divider between student life and reality becomes thinner as graduation day comes closer, making me think about what I really wanted to do first after I graduate. I need to get my plan laid out once and for all, although I know I won't always attain them all, but it's worth a try and it may also just serve as a guide as to what I should accomplish in the following years to come before I finally throw my own bouquet on my wedding night. ;)
Final Teaching DemonstrationIn other news, I have been preparing for my final teaching demonstration. I have been under a lot of mental and a bit of physical stress lately just trying to get my presentation done and sensible, hence the reason why I wasn't able to blog immediately. So far though I am doing great, I have finally pulled my head off stand-by mode and started working on my learning guide and invitation designs.
I finished all three today, the final presentation, my learning guide and my invitation card. I will be having my final lesson dry-run on Monday, hopefully this time I'll be able to discuss my lesson about Les Miserables (the novel) in just 30 minutes so that I'd still have ample time for the group enrichment activities, reporting and closure activities. I tested my first presentation last Monday and I wasn't able to give the group activities within one period because of the long discussion. So I made major adjustments with the help of my cooperating teacher; gosh, I really don't know where I'd be without her, I wish she knows how grateful I am to have her as my cooperating teacher since I'm not really good in expressing my feelings verbally, hence the reason I keep a blog. :))
Anyway, Felice had her demo earlier today and I'm just happy that she finally got over with it and she was able to pull through perfectly. I am really proud of her and I'm extremely grateful that all her hard work had paid off and it paid off well. Mine will be on Tuesday and I'm fervently praying that I'd get similar results.
Contest and Used BooksI won first place in
PixieChronicle.com's giveaway! :D I won a .info domain, a $20 coupon for
romwe.com and three months advertising on Marinella Rose's blogs! AWESOME right? :D Will announce my new domain soon :)
Late last month, I discovered a second hand book bargain shop online and what's better is that it's totally legit and some percentage of the books you buy gets to be donated to charity. It's BetterWorldBooks.com!
I ordered a couple of books that I have been dying to read for ages. I know I could have just settled with the ebooks, but there really are some books that I want to read in print. Although while waiting for my books to arrive today I did finish about five books, all zombie novels and four of which were written by
Jesse Petersen ;)
So yes, that's right. The books I ordered finally came in the mail today and I am so excited in reading them all! But perhaps I won't be able to pick up one of them until after I finish my final teaching demo and after I finish my narrative reports too. So it kind of sucks but it sort of adds to the excitement anyway. :P
By the way, before I end this post I wish to apologize to my blog friends for not being able to visit their sites in the last three weeks, I promise to do it ASAP. Cheers!
