ShangHIGH Trip Day 2: The Conclusion

 I can't believe that it's our last day in this beautiful city :'-(

View from the top

We started our day at eight in the morning since our day will not be that hectic since we only have two more destinations left. After fixing ourselves, we went down to have our breakfast.

The experience became worse! The food was either hard to chew, cold, or totally gone!Although it's our fault to take our "late" breakfast, still the staff should refill the food because there are many guests in the hotel. Agree?

 Besides, the food wasn't that good. Their sausages were hard as rock (no kidding) and they served spring roll with a filling similar to that of buchi's. Their bacon looks raw.I know I'm complaining too much but hello, we paid for the
 food!Or maybe authentic Chinese food is really not for me?Hmmm....

Lastly, I was totally surprised that they stopped serving coffee at 9:30 am!What the heck!

Empty tables and chairs

THE GRAND buffet

Entrance to the resto

Don't get me wrong, I love the place because of its nice interiors and elegant look. The moment we arrived in the hotel,  the revolving door impressed me right away hehe. The lounge area looks classy. The giant painting at the lobby is a beauty. The rooms and bathrooms are also nice.It's just that the food and staff need MAJOR improvements!Anyway, after our breakfast we decided to take photo ops at the hotel since we don't have our souvenir pics yet.

The giant mural at the lobby

Lounge area

One of the beautiful spots in the hotel

Art piece

Lobby of the 5th floor

Room 515

Our room

Mommy at the lobby

FCD shot: Grand Mercure Baolong Hotel, Shanghai

Joyce arrived minutes after we have checked out. After putting our luggage on the vehicle, off we go to the
Shanghai Art Exhibition Center. There's nothing really to see in this place except jade hehe

Inside the Art Exhibition Center

Jade Happy Buddha

FCD shot: Art Exhibition Center

Left the place at around 1 pm to have our lunch in a resto we didn't know haha. Anyway, the food was just right, however there's one dish that's alien to us. It's still yummy though.

FCD shot of the resto

Pork, beef, or chicken? we're clueless

Whoa!chicken head is also included

Going healthy? try this fishy

Our last stop was the Yuyuan Garden. I thought it was just an ordinary garden with different kinds of flowers and maybe a butterfly house too but the trip exceeded my expectations!The place was huge, beautiful, and very relaxing.In addition, it's  a mixture of traditional and modern Shanghai with the presence of the structures that were built 400 years go, toy store, Starbucks, and Dairy Queen. Hehe. Souvenir shops are also everywhere.

A quick information on this garden:


Yuyuan Garden is a famous classical garden located in Anren Jie, Shanghai. The garden was finished in 1577 by a government officer of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) named Pan Yunduan. Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built for Pan's parents as a place for them to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age.

Serene place

Mi familia @ the Yuyuan Garden v.1

Mi familia @ the Yuyuan Garden v.1

At the Dragon Wall

 It was 5:30 pm when we decided to call this whole trip off.Yes, we'll be leaving Shanghai...this city I fell in love with immediately. I wish I could spend more time here. Oh well, maybe some other time. I just hope that we'll be able to book a cheap flight going there again.


We arrived at the airport before 7pm and had our pictures taken with Joyce before we parted ways.She was nice and hopefully, we'll meet her again...oops, problem is, she's moving to Beijing and will start a new career. I just hope that she will offer us a free tour if ever the trip will push through haha!

Ready to go home

Joy and Joyce ;p

Pudong International Airport

Last min. photo op @ the airport

We arrived in Manila at around 4am and was lucky that we got our luggage immediately. Hay, a much needed vacation :)

ShangHIGH Trip Day 1

At past seven, I was awakened by a phonecall and immediately, I know it's my mother at the other line. I guess she didn't sleep well last night since her two children are two rooms away from her, paranoid again haha. Anyway, I jumped from my bed and checked the weather. Outside it was all gloomy and the locals are wearing their thick jackets. Suddenly the thought  of getting exposed on a six degree temperature send shivers since I'm not accustomed to such kind of weather Add to that, my "winter clothes" is not that durable enough to withstand such coldness. Bahala na nga, I said and prepared myself.

After almost an hour, we went down to take our breakfast at the hotel. Half of the people who were taking their breakfast are in their formal suits so I assume they are there on a convention. We chose the table near the window and waited for my brother and father to get their food first.After a few minutes, they went back to our table and we took it as a cue (me and mommy) to get our food. To my surprise, there's a "scarcity of resources" in their buffet lol Anyhow, we just contented ourselves with whatever food that was left. Bawi na lang sa lunch, mommy said as a consolation.

Our tour guide Joyce arrived before 9:30 and so we're good to go for our tour that day. The moment we stepped out of the hotel, it was really really really cold that we all hurriedly boarded the van.

 Gloomy Sunday morning

Quite unhappy with the breakfast hihi

 And so Shanghai Day 1 officially begins. First destination: Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

The TV Tower during daytime

It was love at first sight for me although I was really intimidated with this gigantic structure. Towering at 468 meters, it is considered as the third tallest tv and radio tower in the world and the second tallest in China.  We were then brought to the 75th floor or the revolving tea house and what can  I say? The tower simply offers a breath-taking view of the city. After taking some snapshots that would document the trip, we headed down to the sightseeing platform wherein guests can take more pictures of the scenery or themselves while standing  on glass floor.The scenario made me reminisce the skywalk adventure I had back in Cebu some two years ago. Despite my experience walking on the 40th floor of  Cebu Regency Hotel with only a harness, I was still a chicken to walk on that glass floor because I'm afraid that any moment it will shatter into pieces because  it can no longer hold the many people walking on it. Paranoid much haha. Joyce told us that the true beauty of the tower can be best appreciated during nighttime when the tower changes its colors ---more than a hundred times WHOAAAAA!--- and recommended to take a HuangPu river cruise. Anyway, here's additional info about the tower:

Going up,up,up: waiting for the "ride"

 The tower includes 15 spheres of different sizes at different levels creating an artistic conception of "large and small pearls dropping onto a jade plate". It has become a symbolic piece of architecture and a favorite sight for tourists in Shanghai.There is a revolving teahouse and a sightseeing platform, which can accommodate 1600 people in the largest ball. Here visitor can get a panoramic view of the Bund and Pudong New area.There are 6 elevators within the tower. Five are installed in the three columns and one runs between the height of 250 meters and 341 meters. One of the five elevators is double-decked. Two medium-sized elevators, accommodating 30 persons each and running at a speed of 7 meters per second, cover the distance from the bottom of the tower to the highest sphere in 40 seconds. (http://www.chinahighlights.com/shanghai/attraction/oriental-pearl-tv-tower.htm)

Here are some top view shots:

Shanghai's Wall Street aka The Bund

View from the revolving tea house

People or ants?

Shanghai's TOWERing prides

Going round in circle

Enjoying the view

Giant bottle opener and Empire State Building in Shanghai?

By the way, the building that resembles a giant bottle opener is the Shanghai World Financial Center while the Empire State look-a-like building is the Jin Mao Tower, both one of the tallest buildings in the city. After our eyes feasted on the picturesque view of the city, we all went down to the lower ground floor for the Shangahai History Museum. I didn't thought that the museum's that huge! It took us more or less two hours before we toured the whole place. I am no big fan of museums although I love every bit of information that I get everytime I go to one. By far,I think this is my most enjoyable museum trip ever. EVER. Luckily, we can take pictures inside the museum despite the presence of wax figures there (although wax museums now allow photo-taking inside).

Travel back in time: Shanghai History Museum marker

Morning at the Museum: Cricket playing

Morning at the Museum: Opium House

Morning at the Museum: Turning Chinese

Morning at the Museum:

Morning at the Museum: Parlor scene hehe

Museum tour

Wedding sedan chair

Scale model of The Bund at night

 After getting acquainted with Shanghai's culture, we left TV Tower past 12.

Authentic Shanghai silk

It is said that silk was first discovered by the Chinese. "For more than two thousand years the Chinese kept the secret of silk altogether to themselves. It was the most zealously guarded secret in history" (credits here). The quality of Chinese silk can be considered, if not the best, one of the best in the world. So for our next destination: Tian Hou Silk Company. Again, I enjoyed staying there even for a long time because : 1. I've been wondering looooong ago how a single thread or a fabric can be made and 2. the guide was an eye-candy ♥ ♥ ♥ After that, we took our hearty lunch at the nearby Tian Hou Tea House. 

It was already almost two in the afternoon when we stepped out from the said tea house and OMG it was freakin' cold! No change in temperature yet huh?We were really freezing and hurriedly went to the van.

We then headed to the Jade Buddha Temple. By the way, Joyce told us that April 3-5 is declared a holiday in Shanghai since they are celebrating the Tomb Sweeping Day, the counterpart of the All Souls' Day celebration. She explained that during these days, the locals go back to their hometowns and pay homage to their departed loves ones by sweeping their tombs, thus the name of the celebration. Anyway, when we got inside the temple, many people are indeed, praying and holding their rituals. I also saw some group of monks but wasn't able to take pictures of them as a sign of respect. Mind you, these monks have porcelain-like skin and have rosy cheeks too haha! I did a research on the temple:

Giving their respects to the dead

 In 1882, an old temple was built to keep two jade Buddha statues which had been brought from Burma by a monk named Huigen. The temple was destroyed during the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately the jade Buddha statues were saved and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928.The two precious jade Buddhist statues are not only rare cultural relics but also porcelain artworks. Both the Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha are carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid. The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters high and encrusted by the agate and the emerald, portraying the Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment. The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the 'lucky repose'. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni when he left this world. In the temple there is also another Recumbent Buddha which is four meters long and was brought from Singapore by the tenth abbot of the temple in 1989. Furthermore there are many other ancient paintings and Buddhist scriptures distributed in the different halls of the temple.

We were able to see both the sitting and reclining buddha. Between the two,  the sitting buddha is more beautiful. Pictures were not allowed this time, well it's understandable. Aside from the sitting and reclining buddhas, the temple also houses the happy buddha. The happy buddha is popular among us Filipinos: the smiling buddha that has I think 12 children around him. According to Joyce, the said buddha is considered as a lucky buddha also.  

Buddha  bless us :one of the buddhas in the temple

Replica of the reclining buddha

Next in our list was the Nanjing Road or Shanghai's shopping haven. Measuring 3.4 mile long, you can find designer clothing shops such as Zara, Mont Blanc and Tiffany, fastfoods chains like Yoshinoya, KFC, and Mc Donald's, and shopping malls where local products are sold.  Before leaving us, Joyce reminded us that local products are la lot cheaper than designer clothes---of course, that's a give-away tip hehe.We ended up buying thick jackets  since it's the most practical thing to buy that time. Nanjing Road is far from the  "shopping mecca" in Hongkong and Bangkok. While I can compare HK and BKK bazaars to our very own 168 mall and divi, Nanjing Road is similar to that of Greenhills and Market! Market! Anyway,we didn't explore the whole road since it's cold (how many times did I mention cold in this entry alone?haha) and besides Joyce's not with us so we decided to just sit on one of the benches to rest. As agreed upon, Joyce met us at 5:30 for the grand finale.

Lovers in Nanjing Road

In the middle of Nanjing Road

Shops

Shops...

For the last leg of our tour that day, we availed of the Huang Pu River Cruise which is a must for visitors. Huang Pu is said to be Shanghai's mother river and separates East Shanghai and West Shanghai. Anyway, It was almost dusk time when we arrived at the port and managed to get good seats since there's only few people inside the ship. After five minutes, guests started flocking in. We decided to stay on the covered area of the ship since it's too windy outside. Few more minutes and the ship started sailing. The cruise lasted for 45 minutes, I think following this route: Ships depart from the Bund (Zhongshan Road), sail to Huangpu Bridge in the south, turn and head north towards Wusongkou, and return to the Bund.

The girl with a bangs at The Bund ;p

 As the ship sailed smoothly, I can't help but be more amazed with Shanghai's beauty at night. The Bund, the skyline, the calm river, it's perfect! Too bad, dinner is only served among locals BOOO haha. After some time, mommy and I decided to go to the deck to have our pictures taken there hehe. We arrived back to the port before 7pm and was shocked of the long queue of passengers waiting outside. Whew!Good thing we're a little bit early. After the cruise, the driver drove us back to the hotel.
It was such a tiring yet memorable day for us.

Night shot of The Bund

Shanghai skyline

 

Shanghai at night

Beauty isn't it?

Family picture is a must!haha

ShangHIGH trip: Prologue

It didn't cross my mind that we will have our out of the country trip this year for the simple reason that we threw money for our house's renovation late last year. Although mommy's throwing "feelers" of going to Beijing from time-to-time, I ignored her because I know she's just teasing me.

While walking in the mall sometime in March to do our usual Sunday mini-grocery, she told me to prepare my "winter clothes" (hahaha as if  I own one!) because we MIGHT go to Beijing on summer. With a big grin on my face, I said okay. It was a great news for me because I always look forward to vacations either with family, friends,or former officemates. 

On March 11, the whole world sympathized with Japan after witnessing the wrath of mother nature. Two days after, my mom told me she cancelled the trip because she's afraid that a disaster might happen. Paranoid much, I told myself. Anyway, I'll make my own trip, I added. And so I decided to tell her that my postponed Mt. Pinatubo trek last February will push through on April 2 instead. To my surprise, she said sige bahala ka, iiwan ka namen. I was puzzled. I found out that she just booked a flight to Shanghai. 

I was even more clueless. 

Why Shanghai? What is there to see in this not so familiar (at least for me) city? I want to see THE Great Wall of China!

Nights prior to our departure, my mom would religiously surf the internet to get an idea of the places that's included in our itinerary. On my part, I didn't bother to research since I'm not that excited to see the place. There's no Disneyland or Ocean Park Adventure and I'm betting my whole life that I would only see temples....lots of it!Borrrrrrring. 

Hassles along the way

Aside from the tsunami scare that almost cancelled our trip again (yes, my mom got me confused from time-to-time regarding since she always changes her mind many times) another hindrance was the visa application. It was our first time to apply for a visa and some of the needed requirements like the SSS contribution and employment certification will take time for me to secure them except for the SSS contribution since according to our HR, I can access it online). But the biggest problem of all was my NBI clearance because of the "hit."  We almost gave up since my application was on the verge of not being approved and we only had seven DAYS left. I already told my mom to push through with the trip even without me because the expenses were no joke! But she told me, kapag maiiwan ka, hindi na tayo tutuloy. Walang maiiwan. I love my mom!:)

Go signal

I am very much thankful that April Fools' Day didn't play a trick on me. Mommy texted me that she already had my passport. And yes, the trip is on!Weeeeeeee :)
 

Airport brouhaha

Our flight was at 8:30 in the evening and we arrived at the airport as early as 5pm for an early check-in. After checking-in our baggage, we decided to have our dinner in Shakey's since we've been craving for some mojos and chicken. 

It was the worst and most terrible experience that we had!

After some "consultations" we called our server to have our orders placed. To our disappointment, they don't serve the family basket of mojos (STRIKE ONE) so we opted for two smaller orders. The server explained that they don't have the fryer as of the moment. Daddy can't contain his disappointment and told the server  that mojos is one of the store's signature food and it is important that the store should be properly equipped. The server was silent. And so we continued to place our orders. Since I want some buffalo wings too, I told mommy to order one. To our surprise, the server said it will take us 45 MINUTES (STRIKE TWO)  and right there and then, I decided to cancel the order. We were already getting impatient of the excuses. Finally, when mommy is about to order the pizza, the server told us they don't serve the thin crust pizza (STRIKE THREE). That's it! We're done with the resto and walked our way out.


Three-hour flight
The trip was a little bit long. I decided to take the window seat since my brother  is not in the mood to argue with me as to who between us will take it. All throughout the trip I prayed hard that the plane won't crash or encounter any mechanical failures (paranoid eh? :p) because it was kinda shaky. I always have this "plane fright" everytime I fly at night. Maybe because when something bad happens (knock on wood), it'll be hard for my body to be recovered haha. Oh well, it's just me.

I slept almost the entire trip and was only disturbed twice: when I became thirsty and when the plane was about to land.

The arrival
Fastforward....

We arrived at the Pudong International Airport 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. In all fairness to Cebu Pac, they managed to arrive ahead of the schedule most of the time. While the plane was taxiing towards the tarmac, I noticed that it was drizzling outside. And to make things worse, the temperature dropped at 6 degrees! Freaking cold!

Indeed, it was!I can feel the cold wind seep through my cotton long sleeved blouse as we walked towards the tube. Right after getting our luggage, we looked for our tour guide and was greeted warmly by Joyce. She was pretty and tall haha. Anyway, she led us to the van that will take us to the hotel.

Oh, and one thing that we learned that night from her, the people of Shanghai are lazy, at least that's what she said when my mom told her that we'll start the tour at 8 am hahaha I really find it cute because she explained that we need to rest very well (she has a point) and that her house is kinda far from the hotel. Travel time from the airport to the hotel was 45 minutes and was shocked that despite the many flyovers they have, we still encountered traffic at past 12. Sounds familiar?Hahah I know!

Anyway, after they dropped us, went to our rooms and called it a day. Whew!

RED LETTER day calls for a RED OUTFIT, BAG, and WHEELS

 

 

Craving satisfaction: pizza, charlie chan, and buffalo wings

Chow time before boarding

Lovers at the departure area ;p

Minutes before boarding

It's 12:34 yet it's drizzling and ...TRAFFIC!

The Corrs -What Can I Do (Clip)

Because of last night's short conversation with a former officemate, this song has been playing in my head the whole day. A couple of times, I made it clear to myself that there should be NO expectations or demands should come from me. Whatever it is that I am doing is labor of love. Oh shit! There I go again. Never mind. Just listen to the song

Por Tres: A tribute

My love-hate-love-hate relationship with my 43 girls is really crazy!No matter how I hate or loathe them (haha!) most of the time, I have to admit that they already earned a special place in my heart. They're makulit, noisy, loud-mouthed individuals, hard-headed, lazy, messy, crazy, and most of all unpredictable but I have to admit that they are sweeeeeet in their own little ways.

I'll never forget the thank you letters I received during our last day, the expensive gifts (bwahaha) last Christmas, the chocolates on ordinary days, flowers and song numbers during PAD celebration, and most of all the everyday complements such as "teacher you look beautiful" or "teacher your skirt's nice" and the hugs that I get in the morning, lunch break, and dismissal time.

Yes, I will miss them all....my first 43 babies. They don't know it since I'm not that vocal of how much I (learned to) love them but really, they are the 43 souls that I will not forget. Most of the time I shouted at them because of their attitude and secretly cursed them (joke) but really, I wish them well in their studies.

Twenty four years

To be honest, I thought I wouldn't reach my 24th birthday because of the 8.9 magnitude quake that hit Japan last friday. Haha!I mean, anything can happen in the next 24 or 36 or even 72 hours after that tragedy. Good thing and thank God that nothing bad happened to the Philippines. But still, my deepest sympathy to all the victims and their families.

My "special" day went well and ordinary. I slept at 2am after trying to finish and recording grades and woke up at past 8 in the morning. Birthday text messages greeted me while the people here in our house also made it a point to irritate me first before greeting me. Sweet right?!?

Finally, I watched Tangled and was surprised that Rapunzel is also celebrating her birthday that day haha. If she's amazed with the flying lanterns during her birthday, the pyromusical competition captured my interest!Hahaha I really told my mom to bring me there for my birthday and despite the heavy traffic that will await us there, she agreed. And my, my,my I was really ecstatic to see Australia and our very own fireworks display!It really made my day :)

And speaking of making my day special, I really want to thank all the people who made an effort to make this day a memorable one.

-my family of course especially my mom. haha I never thought that they prepared a little surprise for me during our dinner. Well, she asked the resto's staff to sing me a happy birthday song (complete with tanborine lol) and I was touched and ashamed both at the same time haha

- you you you!haha although you didn't greet me at exactly past 12 like you did last year, I am touched and kilig especially when you greeted me on my wall harhar. Too bad, I still need to see your effort in making my day special just like what I did during your special day!there's always a post-birthday celebration (good thing you cannot read this one haha!);

-my former officemates and classmates....thank you for still  (I'd like to assume they really did haha)remembering my special day (well, thank you FB for such birthday alerts);

-and lastly to my friends especially to Clara who made an effort to call me (although I didn't answer her call, sorry). To Shelly for a sweet collage pic of ours and of course, to my ever beloved pancakes Dez for dedicating an entry just for me. sweet sweet!thanks girls I really really love you mwah >.<

So, that's how I spent my birthday. Simple yet memorable. I'll try to post some pics in the following days.For now, just my sincerest gratitude to all those who made their presence felt not only during my birthday but when I need them.

Happy birthday to meeeeee ;p (photo credit here)

Signs of the times?

I'm really clueless as to what is happening today until mommy called a while ago.I just woke up and about to start my agenda for the day when she told me to watch the news. I asked why and she said that an 8.9 magnitude quake just hit Japan.

Catastrophe like this is just heart-breaking to watch. Never mind the infrastructures walloped by big waves. Never mind the cost of the damage to the properties. But people's lives that were taken away because of this unfortunate incident is the most depressing effect of this tragedy. 

The Philippines is included in the list of the countries that were given a tsunami warning and people living in 19 provinces that are at high risk or near the coast line areas are instructed to evacuate as early as now. Said tsunami is expected to hit these provinces between 5 and 7 pm and as of the moment, the beautiful island of Batanes expects tsunami to hit them anytime soon.


With all these unfortunate series of events that's happening right and left---strong earthquakes and tsunami to name a few--- the question of is the world coming to an end resurfaces once more. The Mayans predicted that 2012 would mark the end of the world.

I suddenly remembered a docu shown at Nat Geo last year regarding the 2012 myth. Although the arguments made sense, I'd like to believe that life on earth will continue beyond 2012. I simply believe. I have faith in God that He will not destroy the earth anytime soon. Maybe not in this lifetime.

Instead of speculating that the world is about to end, I think people should pray instead for the safety of everybody.Because during these times, I believe that God is our only hope and strength.May God protect and keep us safe.

PS: Let's pray for everybody's safety and most especially for the people of Japan to get past this tragic event in their lives.

De-stressing thyself

Maybe it's the "vacation mode" atmosphere that's why I'm so very lazy the past few days even if I keep on reiterating that I'm one "busy" yuppie. As early as Sunday, I already told myself that I should accomplish this, finish that, and submit this one on time so that in the end I wouldn't cram that much. I've been a little bit successful but still I'm frustrated since I know that time is slowly running out and I need to work doubly hard if I want an early hassle-free vacation this summer.

Argh!This life's too stress-FULL to handle and I don't know if I can still manage it. I always find myself glued on the internet doing petty things that should have spent doing important works like rechecking of papers and answering books but I'm too tired to do all of these things as of the moment..or maybe, I'm just too lazy haha!Anyhow, I'm keeping my hopes up that everything will turn out fine especially in this crucial month. and that I would be cleared from all liabilities.I hope that my stubborn 43 anaks would all accomplish the forms that I told them to pass. I really hope they took my words very seriously because I need to implement that strict policy or I will suffer in the end...that's the last thing on my mind. I long suffered from this class physically and emotionally. So, let's just see if they will still be hard-headed spoiled brats. Makikita nila sino ang tunay na batas. Bwahahaha

And up until now, I'm still wondering why am I so lucky for landing this stressful job?Compared with my two other "batchmates" I felt that I was punished the most!My co-teachers already warned me of the toxic life of floating teacher. I thought they're just scaring me or something but then they are telling the truth. But I'll reserve my stories some other time. Right now, I am just de-stressing myself.

And speaking of de-stressing,  I just thought of posting my all-time favorite song Bliss by Alice Peacock ft. John Mayer (or is it the other way around?haha I don't care, I still LOVE LOVE LOVE the song). I don't know what it is with this song but everytime I hear it, there's this magic that I ended up feeling refreshed, relaxed, and peaceful. It's my official stress-buster song! Lol.

It's such a disappointment, though, that I can't find a good video .Anyway, here it is,minus John Mayer on it.

Sanity, please don't leave me.Not at this point.

Almost there

UPOU: check check CHEEEEEEEEECK!

I can't contain how happy, accomplished, and proud I am of myself today because I was able to finish the tasks for my schooling. Yeahboi! After almost four months of attending DLE, I can say that I am a survivor in my own right haha. The first few weeks were easy until the readings get harder and activities become frequent. I had a hard time coping because I can't understand what I am reading. It came to a point that I really want to give up and just drop all my subjects. I just want to stop right there and then. But if I decided to do it, I will only disappoint and more importantly, waste my mother's money. Despite my being hopeless and discouraged (especially when I was asked to make three revisions of an activity!) during those disappointing times, I still composed and motivated myself. I need to finish this one. I am the type of person who will finish what I have started. I will reach the finish line, no matter what. I need to hold on and be patient....patience...patience, even if I'm already running out of it.

And  hardwork, determination, and patience did pay-off. The semester's done. All the requirements were submitted. The tests were done! I'm now a free student lol

Okay, one down, two more to go. UBD, you're next! Grades, wait for me.

Slowly, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel hurrah!Just one more week...one more grueling week and I'll have my semi-life back: stress and worry-free, no pressure, no readings on the four-pronged approach or Schemata theory, no concepts about electric, geothermal, and thermal power plants, and most of all no makukulit kids to deal with! 

Just one more grueling week and hello Chuck, Tangled, and some books that I'm planning to stock up this summer. Well I only have three books in mind and any suggestions for good reads will be very much appreciated. Oh, and I'm planning also to download good movies. To be honest, I haven't seen Eat, Pray, and Love, Black Swan, and Social Network. IKR, I'm such a loser when it comes to movies, so yeah that would be noted in my to-do list this summer. A must this summer!

One more week.One more week. One more week.! I'm almost there. I'm hanging on :)

Mission (un)Accomplished!

Disappointment is bad.

My ultimate goal for the day is to finish my final exam in one more subject but from the looks of it, it's either I  will do it tomorrow or cram on Monday night....and the submission is on Tuesday already!To set the record straight, it's not me being lazy at all. In fact, I am determined and motivated to finish this one last task for my schooling because that means I can focus more on accomplishing the requirements that I need to pass on time in school like recording and encoding grades, checking of test papers, reading IP reports that I haven't checked yet, organizing files of my advisory class, and finishing UBDs which I am 100% clueless of! Oh, Lord, I lift everything to You now. 

So what's the problem why my final exam is still on hold? My professor and her vague instructions! 

I'm really having a hard time with her subject...and the distance learning education as well. Self-studying is fine with me but if the concepts are too hard to understand, the teacher should at least make an effort to check from time to time if we fully understand everything in the modules. It's not enough that we answer the posted questions on the discussion board weekly. We need someone to process all these inputs and that's what I miss about the traditional classroom setup wherein teacher-student interaction is real time.If you don' t understand the lesson all you have to do is to ask your teacher to explain the concepts again and the teacher willingly explains everything to you---from start to finish. In our setup, it would take us months before our professors or tutors would give us a feedback on something that we assumed we comprehended. Worst, they give us activities regarding these lessons! How could you execute something if you don't understand its basic foundations?It's really hard right? Or maybe it's just hard for someone who is not A-smart like me haha!

 I just wish that she will reply to my email tonight so that I can start working on this one. I want NEED to finish it TONIGHT because there are many things that I need to accomplish this week so that the bulk of work during the third week will not be too heavy.

Good luck to me!