SHIKIMIKIE

My friend and I was taking pictures of people who were apparently taking pictures of us too. I don't own this photo but I'm glad this exists. You know, I know a person that takes a lot of pictures like, non-stop and he mentioned once that it's kind of not nice to take pictures of people who are prepared to have their picture taken all the time because what would they do? SMILE? Yup! But only for the camera. It's nice to take pictures of moments like this too. CANDID. And now the not so candid photo: LOL.

Even though it's already night time already, and raining at some point, we still wandered and just talk about everything under the sun. Or what? Haha

We were actually told to go back to our rooms at 10 because they will be closing the lights already and because it was raining really really hard, the power source in the city was out originally and that they were running everything with their power generator. And we were like, okay, we still got time. Somehow. 

Then the next day, even though it rained a little bit harder, we can't be stopped. People just can't discourage us, you know! Because I remember someone warned us that we can't pass thru this area because it's dang muddy and all that. But VOILA! That's all! :)

LOL

As promised, here's my RETREAT STORY. I actually had fun. I feel like I'm somehow a little bit better of a person than I used to be. Not because they forced me to or anything like that of course. Oh wells.

So ergo!

The fun starts here of course. OR NOT. I actually had a hard time packing stuff. Thing is I don't have a bag that's big enough for all of the stuff I brought. I didn't bring too much with me to be honest. So yeah. It's not that it was my fault or anything. We were told to bring clothes, some stuff, and all that. Except for food, I actually didn't bring anything so big at all. Like, yeah. But it's alright.

I ended up carrying a BIG SHOULDER bag with me and a back pack.

I actually changed bags at least three times and tried to get back to the previous and got back to the recent bag again. Paranoid much, I know.

And it's not exactly light. But not actually heavy. Just enough. But still! Some people were looking at me like I escaped from some prison or some mental hospital. I don't know. I generally don't like people looking at me. I have my reasons. So yeah.

Oh! Meet my bus seat mate/intern mate, Jamae. Actually, Jamae and I already bargained to sit together! When we were in UST, right before going in the bus, the coordinator told us that we (interns) were already divided into two. Good thing that we were put into the same bus and stuff. So yeah!

We didn't know each other before internship but I can say that we're kind of close now. How odd, eh?

She's just so cute! Kind of childish though. But cute. We also bargained our seat. I mean, the window seat. I got to sit beside the window seat on our way home and stuff. The view was fantastic of course! Only that it rained on our way home.

See, she's just so tiny! So cute! LOL. And say hello to that panda hat! She kind of wears it a lot of times. I'm kind of confused. Like, I don't know.

My name plate that was used to nothing. Oh! You know what? Good thing I didn't gain more weight when I was there because I SWEAR! We ate like every 2 hours or so.

We just want to take picture with the FOG! :D These people are my classmates now by the way.

Night life in Caleruega is actually fun. Nah, no night life. Just nature life and all that stuff.

Hanging bridge and stuff! Too bad it rained hard that weren't able to go the church at the top of the mountain. Oh wells. That's gonna be it, I guess? YUP. :)

Hi! I have been to a 3 days retreat in Caleruega, Batangas. Just a little something something. There are only two Caleruegas in the world. One here in the Philippines and the other one in Spain. The view is just fantastic. Like, so much fresh air going on. No phone signal though. Poor reception on most spots. I kind of felt bad for my mom because I wasn't able to reply to her messages on time and that I wasn't able to answer her call at some point.

We actually had three speakers I believe but I'd be refering them three as "him" or "speaker" or whatever so don't be confused.

There are quite a lot of things that I've learned from this retreat. I think I've said this before but like, to tell you the truth, I'm not really a religious-religious person. I don't think it's a good thing. I don't think it's bad. I don't think it's anything. It's just as simple as that. I don't know.

I  just want to list some of the things I've learned (believe) so to make things easier.

1. We should acquire the traits that we want to have in the future while we still can.

- The speaker actually described our lives into a GELATIN. Liquid, gelatin, and frozen. While we were young, we are actually the liquid. We take the form of any containers. When the liquid stage is done, we now become the gelatin. The gelatin, though already formed, there's still something you can do to somehow change it. The frozen stage is actually ourselves during like, the late stage of our lives. And the frozen stage is irreversible. So the point is! While we are in the liquid or gelatin form, we should invest on the traits that we want to have in the frozen stage.

2. Life does not come with a pause button. It goes on.

- The speaker actually showed quite a lot of evolutionary pictures. Like, people growing up, becoming older and stuff. How their faces changed and all that. He said that even though we want to take back yesterday or slow down our aging process, it just won't happen as we wish.

3. Our failure does not define who we are.

- That's right! We should learn from it and do better next time.

4. We are a product of our choices.

- Just like what one of our speakers said, our life is like a buffet. In a buffet, right? People would choose what they want to eat and stuff so yeah. I kind of agree. Like, I don't believe that someone's born to be exactly what they are now. Life is always about choices. So choose wisely.

5. Our moms will stay with us no matter what.

- I love my mom. I just love her in general! <3

6. Growing old is different as growing up.

7. Jesus is not like an ATM machine.

- I don't know if I already told you this but I really don't like people who go to the Church without knowing why they're there. Some people in the Church don't actually listen to the gospels and all that. What they do there is text, talk to whoever they're with, complain about the heat, see their friends without actually intending to pray and all that. For someone who don't go to the Church that often, I'm a little bit offended by these people. Because when I pray, I pray.

8. We should practice seeing the good things in people.

9. We should know when to listen and when to talk.

10. There are some things that we can only learn by experience.

So yeah. These are just some of the things I've learned. It was quite an experience. Maybe not as enjoyable than my high school recollection though. Maybe because that time, we were with people we know. This was kind of different because we have to choose from the limited slots available from each batch and stuff. But thinking about it, we needed the break given to us. We have to make up for it of course. But I don't mind.