turning a leaf

for the first time, i'm spending my birthday away from home. by the looks of it, masaya naman.

kagabi pa lang, party na. as it turned out, may kasama kami sa workcamp na nagbirthday kahapon. so, 3 of us went to buy 3 cakes (sa dami ba naman namin, kulang ang 1) only to find out na ang isa pala dun ay para sa akin haha.

then, 3 groups presented their cultural performances, kasama kami siyempre. yung 2 kumanta, kami nag-skit, kumanta, sumayaw...san ka pa? then, some of the guys stayed up late for an acoustic session.

what a way to end the day. afterall, namulot lang naman kami ng basura along the riverbanks of the bicol river in the morning at sa naga city dumpsite in the afternoon. and to think kakarating lang namin 5am kahapon. sayang nga raw at di namin naabutan ang pag-eembudo, i.e., pagsalok ng dirt sa canal. wow, how interesting. ang tanong nga daw ng mga tao, wala bang kanal sa maynila at namasahe pa kayo para maglinis? oh well. masaya magworkcamp so here we are.

kahapon was quite an extraordinary day. we gathered around the television sets to watch the Pope's burial. what an amazing sight to behold: throngs of people filling the st. peter's square to pay last respects to the man, undoubtedly one of the most important world figures in recent times. sayang i didn't take the chance to go to vatican last year. i never thought it would have been my only chance of seeing him.

what struck me about the whole ceremony was that i never saw an image of the pontiff anywhere. and the coffin was as simple as it could be. and yet, andaming dignitaries na andun.

i wonder how it would have felt if i were there. will the whole thing move me to tears? (naku, baka matuluyan na ako sa vatican at di na umuwi.) i wouldn't know of course but i certainly look up to the man who, even up to his last breath, was able to draw people closer to God.

the Pope's passing will certainly usher in a new page in the Church's history. coincidentally, while our eyes were all glued to the tv set, a pre-school graduation ceremony was taking place right beneath us, in the function room of the naga youth center. outside, around the swimming pool, there was a wedding reception, too. and i knew of at least five people na nagbibirthday.

coincidence? maybe. pero ang galing ng timing. all four signify an end to something and a dawning of a new one. personal thoughts? i'm looking forward to another good year ahead.

i'm spending the day preparing a newsletter chronicling our activities here. (watch out for the embudo chronicles.) that gives us a respite from the manual work, kaya eto, blogging on the side, in the guise of writing hehe. will start writing pretty soon. so there. wish me a great day, ok?

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salamat sa lahat nang nakaalala. i'm truly blessed to have you all, my friends.