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May 24, 2013 was a horrible day for me. Horrible in such a way that I lost track of number of bottles of beer I was having. So horrible that I wanted to slap or punch people’s faces except my close friend’s..

11:30 pm, I got home. I went straight to bed but wasn’t able to sleep.

1:30 am of May 25, 2013, I took a shower.

2:30 am, I got out of the house without bidding my parents goodbye; called the driver and had him dropped me off at Victory Liner Cubao. I met some of my co-volunteers, none of whom I knew.

4:00 am, rode the bus.

7:30 am, arrived at Capas, Tarlac. We had our breakfast and a brief orientation.

9:00 am, we rode a jeep.

10:00 am, we arrived at Patling, Tarlac and waited for the two 4 x 4s to arrive. The journey towards Sitio Flora and Sitio Cawayan is a 2 to 3-hour rough-road ride, not to mention passing through 13-15 rivers or streams just to get there.

1:00 pm, we arrived at Sitio Flora. We had our lunch, played with the kids, and finally gave the school supplies we brought with us. (I really like the old nun in the photo. Her smile was just so genuine, tender and infectious.)

2:00 pm, we arrived at Sitio Cawayan. This place is less developed than Sitio Flora; And this is where we spent a night. One family fostered one volunteer.

(This is also the place where I realized I was a fucking joke—getting angry at senseless things and that I should learn how to be more grateful.)

We were welcomed warmly, spent time with our foster family, ate our dinner, taught how to dance their dance infront of a bonfire, and then finally slept at around 1:00 am.

My foster family were very nice and accomodating. They even insisted on letting me use an insulating foam to get through the cold night. I declined thinking there was no airconditionining or fan there.. No electricity, you see. But I woke up at 4:00 am, shivering. Hahaha. Good thing they left me a blanket. What the hell was I thinking? I was on top of a mountain, of course it was going to be unbearably cold.

6:00 am, I cleaned myself up. No, I did not shower nor take a bath.. I just wiped my body with a wet towel.

7:00 am, breakfast.

8:00 am, church. ( My foster father is a pastor. I had to be there for him. Haha.)

9:00 am, game time. We played with the kids, gathered them inside their school, the size of which is just one classroom (No kidding.. Thank you, lousy government..), gave them their school supplies etc.

As you can see, their smiles are priceless.

10:00 am, it rained hard which kind of scared us. If it rained hard all day, the rivers would be higher, the 4 x 4s won’t be ble to pass through, hence we won’t be able to come home.

We prayed hard just as hard as how each raindrop fell.

11:00 am, rain stopped. And yes the 4 x 4s could still pass through. We fixed the room etc. (Plus, I texted my dad to let him know I was fine. No signal with Globe, Smart has little though.)

1:00 pm, we went back to our foster family to bid our goodbyes. They gave me bananas. Hehe.

3:00 pm, we rode the 4 x 4 and started the journey back home.

What have I learned?

Among other things, I see the situation like this— Some highly intelligent aliens are probably taking pity on us, humans because we still drive cars and still get stuck in traffic. As opposed to them who fly their own individual spaceship just to go to work; Or their standard of education are so up there a toddler could build and rebuild a robot; Or that their infrastructures defy gravity (assuming they have that); Or that they ordinarily travel from one constellation to another and not just by country.

I mean, sure we could manage on our own… But it would make one hell of a change if a group of aliens could give us a little help in order to make us at par with their progress. That would definitely be something, right?

By analogy, this is much the same way with us towards indigent people. If we are overflowing, I don’t see the reason why we should not share the excess.

So, to the ‘Movers’, thank you so much. To the future ‘Movers’, we welcome your love with open arms. = )

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***photos were grabbed from Malds Menzon, Jr., Jona Ang and Dave Sinson III.

(Source: mochiemuchness)