Yep, it was time to go. Knowing that it may take a long time again for us to come back or pass this way again, we took advantage of the good weather, the goodness of our driver and the presence of our own service car and took some pictures on some of the landmarks of Abra.

Second school in my itinerary for this year’s series of CILC trainings was Abas National High School in Sallapadan, Abra. We started early in the morning of September 18, 2009, and early means 2:00 in the morning. We had a little bit of adventure when we were maybe 45 minutes along the way. We received a call from our PM asking if Manong Lito was with us. Now we didn’t know Manong Lito was supposed to ride with us in the van. We had no choice but to go back especially since Manong Lito will be our guide to the school. Manong Lito is originally from Abra and he isof course familiar with the place and the people.

We wasted about an hour of travel, and then of course there are the usual stops for food and drinks, stretching, and needing to go to the toilet. We also had to drop by Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College (ISPSC) to get our partners for the training. With all of these stops and the short adventure, we were able to arrive at our destination at 11:30.I was thinking it was longer than that though. We were going as if the travel would take forever. Not to mention that the road is not friendly to our butts and backs.

Once I got out of the car, I felt the heat that is characteristic of the lowlands. But the refreshing thing is I could see green all around. Although the heat was bearable, I still felt weak. I wanted to get back in the car and continue enjoying the airconditioning. But our beneficiaries are eagerly awaiting for us with our snacks and lunch. They’ve been anxiously waiting for us. They even thought something has already happened to us along the way.

We gobbled our snacks and immediately set out to set up the materials needed for the training with the help of some of the students and faculty.

Student participants of Abas NHS registering for the training.

The principal was not yet in because she had to attend a meeting with all other principals in the municipality. So, we had to start without her, right after our sumptuous lunch of sinigang, fried bangus, tinapa, string beans shoots – all delicious.

At this time, I only did a surface check on the place i.e. I simply asked if there was a CR and a source of water. I haven’t checked all the facilities yet. I simply accepted the “yes” answers to my basic questions.

We went with the training program. During the course, we learned that all participants are going to sleep in the school since most of them lived very far from the school. Instead of wasting time of travelling to and fro, they all agreed to stay in. This was good news to us, especially since we caem in a little bit later than scheduled.

While we were in the car we actually talked about taking night sessions so that we can advance their lessons and have enough free time in the afternoon of Sunday. Our participants agreed. They were even very excited to learn a lot from the training.

Some of the workshops were done under the shade of trees or inside the other classrooms to provide participants with more room and cooler air.

Now, from the 20 participants only three of them (who were from the faculty) had actual experience in using computers, the rest know nothing except for the appearance of computers. These we also saw from their pre-assessment evaluation.

The training went on smoothly, if I may say so. I took charge of the briefing the participants about the project. It was my first time to do this. I only had to do the hosting for the opening program, presenting the objectives, house rules and grouping the participants into teams, and assisting the participants if they met with any difficulties with the programs. But since there are three schools where the same kind of training is being conducted, we had to take dual or sometimes triple roles. As I have said, I even had to act as a laboratory assistant sometimes.

So it was me, Tolitz and Sir Ed (Eduardson Tacuban, of ISPSC) who took charge until 10:30 in the evening. Even if we ended the first session very late in the evening, the participants retained their excitement and eagerness especially when they had to do a lot of hands-on exercises already

Our only source of water...We had to be thankful though because the other team had nothing like this. Students had to each caryy two pails of water whenever they go to school.

We had to take a bath at the end of the session for we’ve been sweating profusely the whole day. The students were good enough to get me two pails of water from the artisan well (which was the only available water source, aside from the river which is still a few meters away). As I poured the first tabo of water, I immediately took note of the smell of rust in it. But well, better than smelling stinky for how many days. Its coldness refreshed me though. I had another disappointment however, when I was itchy all over after my bath. I had to take another bath, this time with alcohol, to dispel the itchiness. It was a temporary relief. The itchiness went on and off through the night.

My bed...especially made soft by extra beddings prepared by the students.

In the morning of the second day, we all woke up complaining of back aches. And I noticed some small red spots on my skin, which I guess was from whatever gave me the itch the night before. They looked like bite marks from pulgas. But there were no dogs in the area, and the itch came in right after I took my bath. So it must be from the water. I had to take another bath though because it was again hot and I knew it would be a long day. And again, after my bath, I had to douse my skin in alcohol because the same itching occurred.

Breakfast was good. As always, in events like these, the meals are a treat for us. Most especially if they were those that we don’t usually eat in the highlands. I being a lowlander, enjoyed the greens in our meals. We always have pakbet or dinengdeng or boiled leaves in bagoong and tomatoes. And I tell you it was a treat! 

Manong Paul came in on the second day, which was scheduled for lessons in writer. The participants were able to produce letters and mini posters using the skills that they have learned. They were again clamoring for overtime sessions, so we ended up to 10:00 in the evening. Two of our students, despite being tired too, prepared our beds in the laboratory. Sleep, again, was welcomed easily.

Third day! As I woke up this morning, the first thought that came to mind was “Last day!We’re going home in the afternoon.”

We proceeded as usual. Breakfast, morning sessions (prayer, recap, and warm-up exercises), and a little bit of chit chat here and there. At 9am, we received a call from Ma’am Flor that Dr. Rogelio Colting, BSU President, and his party are already in Abra and they will be visiting our school first.

Participants eagerly present their outputs.

Students and teachers alike struggle to familiarize themselves with basic computer operations and applications.

Upon learning this, Ma’am Norma, the Principal, panicked a little because they were not prepared. We were all thinking that Dr. Colting will be coming in later in the day. But it would seem that they set out earlier. She rushed out to tell the cook to prepare a little more glamorous merienda. Glamorous became suman and chicken which were utterly delicious, especially the chicken.

It was a good thing that our participants decided to wear their iSchools shirt and so when we had our pictorials with Dr. Colting, they were all in violet.

We finished earlier than the day before. We said our goodbyes right after lunch. We had to drop by in Pangtod to get the other team (who were in-charge of a training for Pangtod National High School). They were lucky enough that one of the teacher-participants offered his house for them to stay. Good for them since the house is not that far from the school, unlike in our case.

We had to wait for the other team who went to Mudeng though. So we stayed in Jollibee, Bangued, to have snacks while waiting and of course to take advantage of the airconditioning.

It was already 4:00 when we all set out for Baguio City. Along the way, despite our tiredness, we found a lot of things to talk about and laugh at. It was not the people that we were laughing at but the situations we had been through. We shared stories about our participants, about the food we ate, about our beds, etc. We even found Ma’am Flor’s long lost twin! (This is rather a long story but those who have been in our car can relate to this and had a good laugh at it. Thanks Sir Ed and Sir Charlie!)We arrived in Baguio at 11:00.

It wasn’t bed and rest for me though, because I had to prepare right away for my trip with my students to Vigan City. Upon entering the house, I unpacked my stuff, boiled water for my bath and then took a bath. I so dearly wanted to sleep but I was afraid that I might not be able to get up at 3:00 in the morning for our trip. So I whiled away the time by watching a movie, but sleep won. When I felt that I was about to sleep though, I texted Yeng to wake me up when he gets back. He got back at almost 1:00 in the morning, but he let me sleep and woke me up at past 2:00 am.

At 3:00 in the morning, still very sleepy , with aching back and the start of a migraine, I picked up my bag and with Yeng, went out of the house to wait for our service vehicle for the trip. But, well, this is another story.

2^nd Cut
September 25-26

The days went by so fast and then it was time for us to go back to Abra. This time, we had to go back to BSU again because we left Julie Ann. You might say it was dejavu . Same thing happened during the first cut but at least this time we haven’t gone far when Julie Ann texted us that she’s there waiting for our ride.

Sinanglao, a delicacy in the Ilocos region, consisting of chopped beef boiled in their special blend of soup.

We first went to Mudeng to drop off Julie Ann, Frevy, Cesar and Sir Charlie. This meant crossing the river via a makeshift barge (let’s say Abra’s version of a roro). The river was big but calm. We had to wait in line since there were already a lot of vehicles needing to cross the river. The Abra was a 10-minute ride away from the river. Right after the team got down from the car we went back. This time though we had to wait longer because there were more vehicles waiting in line to cross. We were entertained by Girl Scouts from Abas High School, on a truck, on their way to a one-day scouting conference. After 40 minutes of waiting, we were finally on the barge and then off to our respective schools.

The queue for the barge was so long we had to wait.

On the barge...

We had a little difficulty along the road to Abas. It rained the night before and so the ground is wet. Some parts of the road were muddy and hard to pass by. We hit some of those parts. Manong Roy our driver worked hard to pass by those parts.

The school was a cheery sight. Despite the gloominess that hangs in the rain that forecasts rain later in the day, all participants were already there tinkering with the computers, finishing up some work. And so on the training went. 

Working overtime, the participants proudly present their outputs.

Later in the afternoon, Manong Lito, Manong Paul and Manong Roy agreed to go to Pangtod NHS for another kind of session. Earlier in the day, during the ride, the boys were talking about having another kind of session which involves butchering a goat and then some bottles of some kind. You know what I mean. So they went but the rain made the road harder to pass so they decided instead to go to Manong Lito’s house in Dolores for that other session.

Sometime in the night, it rained hard. My thought then was that the river will surely get big and it may not be passable, even with a barge. Second thing that came to mind was that the road will get muddier and harder to pass by. But then again from here, it will all be downhill.

Morning came. The strong rain has stopped. There was just a drizzle. It was a little colder. Colder in the sense that we weren’t profusely sweating just like during the first cut. Ma’am Flor said she will be attending all closing programs and our school will be the first one to hold such. They arrived at about 10AM. The Mayor of Sallapadan arrived before then. And we were very grateful that he was able to come.

Sallapadan Mayor Garde H. Cardenas attends the closing program in Abas NHS.

The host team for the day started the program. It was all organized. The day before, I told them what they should do and what the parts of the program will be. They went at it with gusto and pride and the program went on smoothly. I must say, they were impressed at how we organized things. There was even a dance number by the students. And they had a field day when they watched the 6-minute video presentation I made the day before. They couldn’t believe it was me who did the voiceover. With a little help from Audacity, I modulated and then edited my voice a little bit. And the result was well, let’s just say okay. Later in the day, they said that we had the best closing program for all three schools.

The Mayor gave a short speech, so did Ma’am Flor and Ma’am Norma. When it was Ma’am Norma’s turn, she became a little emotional. She expressed her joy in having their school chosen as a recipient of the program. She said it all still seems to be a dream. She added that she never thought this would happen.

Then it was time to go. The goodbyes were heartwarming, so is the gift of a dust pan made of narra. You won’t find anything like it anywhere!

We stopped by Pangtod NHS. They were already starting their closing program. After the program we had our lunch there. While we were having our lunch, they told us of the stories of possessed students in the school. At first, they said that they were really afraid. They didn’t know what to do. The possessed were screaming and going haywire. Later, they let them free on the ground to do as they pleased. According to them, it was a riot. All possessed were running, screaming, hitting each other right under the heat of the sun. And then “possessions” stopped. Maybe the sun did the trick!

And then off to Mudeng we went. True enough, the river has gone bigger. Still though there were a lot of people lining up to cross. Ma’am Flor decided that she, Cesar and Manang Josie will be going to Mudeng and we (along with the cars) will be waiting on the other side of the river for them. They had to hike up their pants because the barge cannot go to the shallow part of the river. They had to walk a little to get to the barge.

Cesar, Sir Charlie, Ma'am Flor, Manang Josie and the others, with bags and all other things in tow cross the river on the brage.

We waited for more than an hour. We entertained ourselves with chit chats. We were getting bored. We wanted to go to Bangued and wait in Jollibee again. But we had to wait. Donnely was on his phone calling Julz every now and then how things are going in Mudeng. Suddenly I remembered I have some funny stuff in my laptop which just might entertain the guys. So I pulled my laptop out and they had fun watching Moymoy Palaboy and Roadfill, and some funny Japanese stints.

Finally, they were crossing the river. They were waving from the barge. We felt relief that they were fine and we can finally go home.

Another stopover at Jollibee for snacks, a tour to Victoria’s Park to get a view of the whole of Abra, picture taking at the tunnel and then off we went. Homeward bound!

It was another tiring but fulfilling trip.

Each member of the team is not without a bottle of mineral water. I myself who came from the lowlands was not impervious to the heat. My sinuses are already a little big clogged due to the heat during the day and then exposure to air conditioning at night in our lodging house.

Anyway, here are some more pictures of the participants and the BSU team.

A plastic costs P17.00. I have to admit though it was delicious. Never mind where it came from. Never mind the thought that these were reject materials. It was still delicious. As they say anyway – “What you can’t see won’t harm you.”

Oh well, this is just one of those cases that shows the ingenuity of the Pinoys and that value of not letting everything go to waste. We always find use for somebody else’s trash and get money from it. Again, as they say we should reuse, reduce and recyle. I guess that goes for everything even food.

This marks the start of a series of travels to provide computer and internet literacy trainings to the second batch of iSchools recipients. The first cut of the training was held on September 4-6, while the second cut was on September 11-12. This scheme has to be done to allow more time for the participants to absorb what have been learned in the sessions and then they still have some free time to practice and finish the assignments given by the resource speakers. Their outputs were presented on the last day of the training program.

The five-day training provided the teachers of San Luis National High School in Pugo, La Union with basic competencies in operating the computer, various computer applications and the internet.

The team of July Ann Dugat, Chrisando Paza, Mario Diaz and Marife Carpio took charge of CNHS; the team of Lito Ayokkad, Sheryl Fernando, Oliver Tabdi and Ronald Estrada went to SLNHS; while the team of Frevy Teofilo, Cesar Degay, Mandy Ulat and Apler Bansiong were assigned at ANHS.

The five-day training involved sessions in familiarizing participants with computer hardware, file management, the Linux Operating System, and providing basic competencies in using Writer, Impress and Calc. They will also be taught about information security, computer ethics and getting connected to the world wide web (www).

On the final day of the training, the participants carried out a planning workshop to develop a system of support for sustaining the program and to create a school technology plan.

Despite being the eldest in the group, Ma'am Virginia Calletong persevered to learn all the basics to become computer literate during the CILC training at Cuenca National High School in Pugo, La Union.

Just this morning, I was cleaning my files and came across the pictures taken during the camp. Most of them were of the participants engrossed infront of a computer. Some of them were during light and funny moments. Some of them were of the speakers, the coordinators, etc. Browsing through them made me remember of some personalities that made the event more entertaining.

I’m posting here some pictures to help you remember too.

Jilo and Ralph.I was so worried when they texted me that the driver did not take them to the bus station, despite my request. I kept calling them like a mother hen to see if they were okay and to check if they were able to get on the right bus. Good thing that Mags and Mamita was with them with the shuttle bus and they too advised them on what they should do. It was actually their first time to travel alone (I mean just the two of them, that is)

Kantahan, iyakan, tawanan and yakapan blues during the last day.

It was supposed to be a surprise birthday party for Tita Helen. Indedd it was! Especially for Lei who was surprised and horrified when the door suddenly opened and she saw nobody. I can still remember her cry of "Titaaaaaa!"

I guess she was the heartthrob of the group. She made a lot of young hearts go a-thump-thump-thump!

Mamita. There's no need for more words. I'm sure the name speaks for itself. Hehe

Ditto...

There’s more of them. The space here is not enough. So visit the links i posted under Photo Gallery to view more…and remember…!

I’ve been using this camera for quite some time now, but haven’t had the chance to experiment on it. I am not also familiar with the other controls. Although I always bring the manual with me, I couldn’t seem to take the time to read it.That’s why, most of the time I take pictures using the various automatic modes – e.g. portrait, landscape, sports, etc. And then of course, there’s always the full auto mode

Sir Jimmy was the Camp Blog’s resource person on basic photography. During his lecture, he touched on working with the manual settings of the camera – TV, AV, M, etc. So there, I got to understand the camera more.

After his lecture, we sort of pulled Sir Jimmy on one side and asked him some more stuff about photography and cameras.

I was also inspired by his pictures. You can see some of these in his site. A photography enthusiast myself, I try to browse sites that could give more ideas  about what good pictures to take and how to take. And as he was showing his pictures, I told myself to work on the craft.

I loved the dramatic DOF effect. And knowing my camera a little better, I set out to use what I have learned that day.

Here are some pictures of the participants, showing my feeble attempt at setting the DOF.

Ma'am Belen misses her daughters and wishes she was at home.

Fortunately, two masters came our way – Sir Joe Torres and Sir Fort Nicolas, Jr.

During the first few days of Camp Blog our practice was to write an article, turn it in and they will edit it prior to posting to the Camp blog. In the middle of camp, we changed mode. We were given specific topics, and we’re supposed to write feature articles (not just straight news). We were given a few days to gather data for our topic and then we have to submit the articles to Sir Joe’s e-mail and then they will set a day for critiquing.

They actually call “critiquing”,  panlalait. And it was really that, panlalait. Nilait ang aming mga articles.

But it was a good form of panlalait, mind you. We actually welcomed it, especially since we recognize their expertise and we really lack experience in this field.

For myself, even if I have been teaching about writing, I am not that confident when it comes to the actualy nitty gritty of it.

During our few sessions with Sir Joe and Sir Fort, we learned a lot. I have proven that writing cannot be really taught, but it can be learned.

To Sir Joe and Sir Fort…THANK YOU!