Frankie, as seen through Maxine’s eyes
Frankie (P365-Day 117)
Project365
Youth Camp
My four nieces, ages 10 to 14, went away to camp this morning. I sponsored two of them, Chiki and Shanti, although I originally only said yes to one. I attended camps throughout my teen years and I know that this is something they can really learn from. I hope it at least broadens their world view. Now, about the sponsorship, what’s in it for me? I asked the three older girls to maintain a journal of their stay and write down their learnings and maybe even feelings for the day’s activities. One entry for each, per day. Now, I doubt they will actually do this, but let’s see. They’ll be back on Friday.
So this camp that the girls are attending is more of a spiritual/religious one. I was at a different kind of camp the previous weekend. It was Asia ACTs’ Youth Camp for Children of Migrant Workers. It’s the first of it’s kind that Asia ACTs, together with ILO and Save the Children-UK, sponsored. The youth that attended camp had parents or significant adults who left home to work abroad. The aim of the camp was to see how these children are faring, what their situation is, and mostly, how they’re coping.
The camp was held at Forest Camp, located in Barangay Puypuy, Bay, Laguna.
The first thing that caught my attention (aside from the trees) as soon as I set foot in Forest Club, were these flowers:
They have a lot of these in different flower combinations, I’ll try to show more later.
It was a fun three-day weekend. I had terrible headaches every morning (was it because I had lots of sleep?), but they eventually went away and I sure wouldn’t let them rob me of that weekend. I had to take a two-day leave from work just so I could join the camp as one of three documentors, I wouldn’t let headaches take it away from me. Besides, I was there to work, not to relax (no matter how beautiful our room was).
The weekend was a bit emotional for some of the children, but it was mostly fun for them. They got to build new friendships, learned about their inherent rights, and also gained a new perspective of their situation. They also got to be a little adventurous with the canopy walk, two-rope bridge, log crossing, and the famous (and stinky) mud crawl! I took pictures of the adventure of course, but I used Frankie because it was outdoors and a good opportunity to take her out. There are some photos on my Kodak, snapped by Ate Reg, I’ll probably put those up. I actually have lots of photos from throughout the weekend but I’m wary of posting them here because, well, just because.
So how does it feel joining a workshop after almost four years in a different world? It’s all the same. Everything’s still goes the way I remember them. Not much has changed. Part of me wishes I could just go back and do it all over again. But there’s the part that doesn’t want the added baggage that sometimes comes along with it. The biggest pull factor is just being with young people and seeing them blossom.
It wasn’t too long ago when I was just like them. Discovering myself, and learning about others. What’s most important though, is seeing them realize that they can do something to change a situation that they don’t like, be it their’s or someone else’s. The best part is when you see one or two or three of them be empowered to take control of their situation. That’s what I miss being a part of.
Anyway, I’m not sure this post turned out the way I had thought it would, but what the heck.
Here are random photos:
Project 365 – Day 98: Brochure
I received this in the mail today, and it inspired this post on credit cards over ay my Blogger blog.
I browsed through it of course, to see what hotels Alfred and I may be interested to check out. I’d love to just grab an overnight bag and drive somewhere with him and enjoy the comfy beds, sheets and pillows, the cold airconditioning, room service and all the good stuff even for just one night. But we don’t have a car and neither on of us has a driver’s license (pathetic, no?). Who knows though, we may just be able to squeeze in a romantic one night getaway this summer…
I’m starting to feel bad about my photoblog. It hardly ever gets updated, I still post my photos here because I want to post my Project 365 photos in order there. I also think though, that one of the underlying reasons why I hardly upload photos there, is that it doesn’t have a real photo gallery functionality, which is what I really want from a photoblog. I’ll find time to restructure the blog… but not after redesigning this one (which is uhm, three months late already).
I have Idol on the background, a guy’s singing Stand by Me. Not bad. I have not followed this season from the start so I don’t really know the contestants and have no favorites. Who are you rooting for?
Spirometry
I spent a few hours of my day at the hospital this morning to undergo a Spirometry test. It was an interesting exam. There’s a pre- and post-exam that I guess measures if taking Ventolin or some kind of asthma medication would make any difference. The technicians had me retry the pre-test several times because I was falling below the normal range. There was significant change after three puffs of Ventolin.
I knew I was going to breathe through something, but I didn’t realize I had to sit in that contraption! It was a glass booth with these tubes and a chair. You had to suck in and breathe out through the tube, with your nose clipped so no air could go through it. It was a bit uncomfortable because you’re in a booth, but yeah you get used to it. I just had to take a photo but I snapped just this one lest the technicians found me weird. Haha.
There was a minor power failure just when we were about to begin with the test, and the technicians weren’t able to get the computer and the machine started up right away. I had to wait awhile but I didn’t mind because one of the techs and I were chatting about his work at another BPO.
I’ll be going back to the hospital tomorrow to claim the results and take it back to the doctor. I still don’t see what all these have to do with my colds?
Caffeine and chocolate was not allowed within eight hours prior to the test, so at work I stopped drinking coffee at around 2am. That was quite an effort because I didn’t get much sleep the previous night. And no chocolate! How was I to keep awake? Haha. So I decided to treat myself to a good lunch after the test. I headed to Delifrance. Even before I stepped through the threshold of the cafe, I knew what I was going to order:
That’s a half Oriental Shrimp Salad. I love shrimp on greens, and the dressing here is very tasty 🙂 I probably shouldn’t have ordered a drink to go with it, but I could not resist this, and to be honest, I didn’t regret ordering:
I usually order a Green Tea Frappuccino at Starbucks, but this one was even better! I probably should have skipped the whip. I deserved the treat though.
76181 this number will have no relevance to anyone but i need to remember this to follow up on something next week… Haha…
Skin test – Negative!
I finally made it to the Medicard clinic at St.Luke’s late afternoon yesterday. Another physician attended to me but it was okay becuase they had my record from last week’s visit. The skin test just showed that I didn’t have whatever they tested me for, I wonder if it was for TB? Parang I heard the Doc ask me if it was the PPT or whatever? I remember hearing something that sounds like PPT (I swear I don’t know what I’m saying here, haha) for testing TB from an episode of House, MD. 🙂 Anyway the important thing is that whatever it is, I don’t have it. The chest X-ray was clear too.
So why do I still have colds? Good thing it’s not as bad as a week ago, but I still have it. So tomorrow, I need to head back to the hospital for a pulmonary test – spirometric test? Has my asthma recurred from my childhood? I hope not. But what do colds have to do with asthma?
Anyway, remember how I was so disappointed about not having a camera with me to the hospital last week? Well I had one with me yesterday, but I forgot all about it! Haha. By the time I remembered, I was walking away from the hospital and I just didn’t see a good shot anymore.
While I was waiting for my turn at the Medicard clinic, I overheard a couple arguing with the nurses/attendants. The gist of it is that Medicard was no longer approving a set of treatments that the wife needed. I’m not sure if it was because the policy didn’t cover it or because the card was good for only until noon of yesterday. Anyway, they were there when I arrived, and they weren’t done when I finished. I hope it turned out well for everyone, otherwise they need to review medical insurance quotes to find one that would better suit their need.
One thing that I truly appreciate about working at NCO is that not only am I covered with an excellent plan with a solid HMO, but I get to give one for my mom for free. Seriously, my mom’s been enrolled as my dependent for the past three years and we didn’t have to pay for anything. It’s a big help. I know some employees who have families who also love this company benefit, because with us, you could enrol upto three dependents. In other companies, like Alfred’s current one, he will have to pay for his dependents’ card if he has any. His parents are beyond the covered age for dependents though so he didn’t really get to enjoy that benefit while he was with NCO.
On other work-related news… They announced this morning that they were opening another apprenticeship post for the Operations Manager position. There are currently three team managers who have been elevated to that position, but we apparently need one more. I do not have any intention to be an OM, but when it was announced at the GA this morning, I must admit that it got me to thinking. Though I’m not aspiring to be an actual OM, it may be a good experience to go through the apprenticeship. It might just give me a glimpse of what is their to aspire for after all. If I really don’t see myself as thriving in that position, I can always just not move up after the apprenticeship is over. I’ll do my best to perform of course, but if I don’t see my happiness in that path, I could refuse the promotion if it is given to me (though I seriously doubt it would be, haha).
We were given a few hours to think about it, and then let our OMs know. I left the office without talking to them about it though. I don’t want to go into anything half-baked.
It was Esban’s 7th birthday yesterday, and also her big sister Dalnes’ gradeschool graduation, so there was a big gathering here at dinnertime. I have very few photos from last night, but I’d share them tomorrow probably. I’m feeling sleepy already, and I’ve decided to listen to my body for a change. 🙂
I’d like to leave you with one photo though:
Photo was taken on Monday, as Zune and I were at the backseat of my brother’s car en route to the vet. I didn’t want to hold him on my lap (as I usually do on car rides) because he still has poo particles on his hind side and I didn’t want them going on to kuya’s seats either. So he had to get used to sitting on the floor. He didn’t seem to mind though but you could see he was ready to jump out of the car when the door finally opened. He was thrilled to jump back in too when we found out the vet was out on a house call.
I remember a similar photo of our previous dog iPod. That feisty dude, on the other hand, would still bark at whatever he sees through the window. So unlike my sweet little Zune here.