I have recently realized that I've been living in a dream for the past eight months. Draco and Hermione will never be together. I repeat, never, unless somebody somehow manages to kidnap JK and make her change her mind.

Now that my addiction is finally winding down, I have thought about exactly why I got to liking the pair in the first place. (I can't even remember.) Maybe the computer caused me to lose my taste. Ever since it got hit by a virus, I have been seeing less and less of Draco and Hermione. Even the best site I know hasn't updated in ages.

Scratch that last. I just visited Dracohermione.org and it says there's a Draco figure for sale in June. Hahahaha. Bahala na yung mga adik dun.

On some other topic than my boring addiction, I have finally gotten a new haircut. I like it. It's shorter and easier to manage, and it's definitely less frizzier than the one I used to have before. To all girls who haven't had their hair cut in a long time, I advise you to go and get it done. It's a nice change.

Speaking of changes, we're confirmed for Canada. We're moving in June 2007, so I won't be spending my junior year in high school here. As of now I'm excited, but I know the closer we get to actually leaving the less I'll want to leave.

At least I've still got five months (including a whole summer) to enjoy life here in the Philippines, unlike Jerome, who was informed they were leaving only a month before departure. Again, like a haircut, this might be the change I'm looking for.

Who knows? Maybe it'll be easier to manage, too.

Ang tamad ko talaga. :))

Not in relation to above quote:
We have the Sto. Nino celebrations in school every year, and it is always accompanied by a fair. Last year and this, I bought a quail. The old one was named Coke (in honor of my ex-crush) and this one was appropriately named Panget. Haha joke lang. Panget is the cutest quail I've ever seen. :)

But Panget died today. And it was quite sad, you know, because before I went to school this morning he was still alive. The trouble with him was, he had a broken leg.

Every night I would pray that nothing would happen to him, but the quail was one frisky little thing, kept running around and slipping, chirping loudly as he went. Ayan tuloy, nabalian.

We're having cold weather now since it's January, and I feared he would get cold. Yesterday I bundled him up in an old cloth, and last night when I looked it had sixteen pieces of, er, crap on it. But Panget was still cute. :)

I also noticed that lately he was getting quite fat. No wonder, since I was always putting food in his box. He was a plump little quail who was always eating. And boy was he noisy.

You have to forgive me for the over-adjectivizing (haha) because I'm missing my pugo right now. If a quail has been living with you for the past week and three days, you would surely miss all the things he did. That is how I feel right now. To think that I'd taken him out this morning, and now to find him dead...

BELATED POST! Outreach for A.Y. 2006-2007

December 6, 2006, Wednesday

Things you can ask the inmates:
-Name
-Province
-Marital Status
-Dependents (No. of Children)
-Occupation
-How did jail change your life?
-How do you feel about our visit? Your impression of us?
-How is life in the prison?
-Hardships/trials in the prison
-Message about freedom
-Experience with God
Rules:
-No jewelry
-No gadgets (cellphones to be left at the Prefect of Students)
-And most important...silence

// //

Last year our class planted mahogany trees.

This year we had reason to get excited: we were going to New Bilibid Prison. We were supposed to go last week, on November 30, but a typhoon was on the way. This typhoon later caused thousands of deaths in the Bicol region, and a mudslide in Albay.

Anyway, I arrived in school the usual time. We had our first three classes in pants and PE shirt, and they just had to give us homework (they never let us off!) After that, we went down to the Students' Lounge for the orientation, where we were told the rules and what to ask the inmates. Then we had a very long lunch. Section 46 and another 4th year section were first to be called on the buses. There were only two.

It was an ordinary, although longer, lunch period--we played games, chattered about as usual, and played pranks on each other (our class is really noisy). Then Section 11 was called, so we got to be the last.

At around 1 PM, we finally got to ride the bus. We grabbed our donations (in my case, three to help) and ran mostly yelling to the two ManVar buses waiting outside Gate 6. We got hyper; we were excited!

Sir Manuel was on our bus. It was hilarious! I sat with Christian, Roselyn was on the other side. My busmate Roberto was on the aisle seat. Half of Section 17 was with us (Boo was there) and half was in the other bus with Section 28.

Around Madrigal, the people in the green van in front of us started laughing. It was funny, so we laughed at them too. The bus got to Daang Hari, and after a while arrived at the prison.

It was just a small gate, you wouldn't realize it led to a prison at all. And to my great surprise, it was right outside Portofino Homes. Anyway our buses were stopped and inspected; Sir Manuel said we had just gone through the employee exit. There were barbed-wire fences at least 20 feet high surrounding the correctional center. There were about two layers and they were, erm, scary-looking.

Finally, we got off the bus at a field opposite the Medium Security Camp (the sign there said that.) The first year and second year were separated and each class was arranged by number. We found out that the people in the green van before ours was a third-year band (there were no juniors in our outreach.) We were given labels. The tags ran out since there were only 150 made, and I was the 151st. Ha, ha.

Then we walked in a line to the inspection center. The guards were women, and they had big voices and crew cuts. They were also very strict. One pushed me and said "Dun ka na" after I passed the semi-inspection. There was another inspection where our pockets were searched; papers were found in mine and the guard was sort of suspicious. "Papel lang yan..." I said. There were maximum-security inmates digging in the room behind us.

Our IDs were taken at the next room. We walked on again, past other inmates, until we got to a covered court where the previous sections were.

The medium-security inmates were on a sing-and-dance program, and when we arrived they were doing a dance number. They did not look like prisoners at all. In fact, if not for the 20-foot barbed wires, it would not look like a prison at all. The inmates were like the ordinary commuters you see everyday along Service Road. That's when I realized that they were also humans. They were people. They may have killed one or two, but that didn't make them any different from us.

After the dance, other inmates performed a medley of songs. They had surprisingly good voices. They sang stuff we all knew: Kung Wala Ka and some other OPM song. It was really touching for me. They knew the same songs we knew. They were in jail, but they were singing songs by Hale (haha corny rhyme). I mean, wow.

I noticed something kind of haunting. There was a man in the middle of the line I noticed right away. His face looked pinched and he had no front teeth. I was a little bit frightened because, excuse the word, it was freaky. But he was singing with all his heart. You could tell by the way he looked up.

They were all looking up. They were all singing with their hearts. I truly believe that because I saw it. And people paid attention to them. Five others, besides the one I noticed, were missing their eyeteeth. I wouldn't call it pathetic, I didn't even think that they probably hadn't brushed in days. Like I said earlier, it was sort of haunting and touching.

That image of the formerly-hardened inmates, lacking a few teeth but singing like they meant it, would stay with me long until the visit was over. I can still see it clearly in my mind's eye.

A few numbers later and after the green-van people had performed, Mario came up front and sang Hallelujah. Kaboses nya si Bamboo... and the people went wild! Then he gave a rose to Anne. Haha. Woohoo.

And after that, the inmates did another number, in which they didn't ask us to applaud. Instead, we were to listen to the message of the song they performed. It was something called Bilangguang Walang Rehas, which in English means Cage Without Bars (it may sound corny like that because it's better and deeper in Tagalog.) I'm sorry to say I got distracted talking to my seatmate, so I have no particular reaction.

As soon as the program was over, we were to have a one-on-one session with an inmate. I was a bit nervous, because these people, after all, had committed crimes. I prayed I would have the strength/courage to talk to a criminal. I also prayed I wouldn't get one missing his front teeth.

Roselyn and I were assigned as a pair, and we got a decent-looking man as our subject. We were seated on Monoblock chairs, with the others scattered around, in the covered court.

Our inmate's name was Feliciano Sagganay (or something like that; I couldn't see his ID). He said he was from Zamboanga, which coincidentally, was Roselyn's province too. So that gave them a lot to talk about (Chavacano, where in Zamboanga they lived, etc.) The interview basically was a life-changing experience for me. We learned that Mang Feliciano was one of the "innocents" in the prison, one of those who were wrongly accused of committing a crime he didn't do. He was convicted of murdering his neighbor, which he said he never did. And you know, I believed him. This man was a father, a husband, a simple farmer who couldn't probably even scrape up enough. Like I said, he was decent-looking. He did look innocent.

And then we asked him some questions. Of course, we had to speak in Tagalog.

US: Hello po... San kayo nanggaling bago kayo napunta dito?
FELICIANO: Sa Zamboanga.
ME: May anak po ba kayo?
F: Meron. Isa. Ilang taon na kayo?
ROSELYN: 14 po.
F: Ah, ganun na rin siya.
ME: Sori po kung tinanong ko, pero ilang taon na po kayo dito?
F: Nakulong ako nung 1996... Ilan na ba yun? Apat na taon pa nga lang yung anak ko nung kinulong ako eh.
ME: Sampu... So hindi nyo na po siyang nakitang lumaki?
F: Hindi...
ME: Okey naman po kayo dito?
F: Ayos naman, pero siyempre nahihirapan. Walang bumibisita eh, lahat sila nasa Zamboanga. Tapos yung asawa ko,
may iba nang kasama. Siyempre nasa kulungan ako tapos wala na siyang kasama...
ME: Sa tingin nyo po, patas lang na pinadala kayo dito kahit hindi naman kayo yung gumawa ng krimen? (I was careful
not to say "bilangguan")
F: May natututunan naman ako dito.
R: So ano pong paborito nyong gawin?
F: Mag-aral. Marami nga akong natututunan eh. 4th year na ako.
ME: Ilang taon na kayo?
F: Ano, 38.
ME: May kaibigan naman kayo? (At this point I was running out of things to say. I elbowed Roselyn, and Mang Feliciano
was looking around...)
F: Ano yun? Medyo mahina na kasi pandinig ko eh.
ME: May kaibigan naman po kayo dito?
F: Siyempre meron. May samahan talaga.
ME: Oo siyempre meron. Hahaha...
R: Saan po kayo sa Zamboanga?
F: --said something like Talun-talon--
R: Ah, kami malapit sa airport eh.
F: Malayo kami dun.
ME (after a long pause): Tingin nyo po, bahagi ito ng plano ng Panginoon na ipadala kayo dito? Naniniwala po ba kayo
sa Panginoon?
F: Oo naman. Mahirap lang kami sa Zamboanga eh. Dito naman, nakakapag-aral pa 'ko.
ME: Pinatawad nyo na po ba yung mga naglagay sayo dito? (he was wrongly convicted of murder)
F: (and this answer touched me) Matagal ko na silang pinatawad. Hindi ako galit sa kanila.
ME: Eh yung asawa nyo?
F: Napatawad ko na rin.
ME: Nagbago po ba kayo pagkapasok nyo dito?
F: Nagbago naman.
R: Sa tingin nyo po, may pag-asa pa kayo sa kinabukasan?
F: Meron pa siguro...
ME: May mababalikan pa po ba kayo dun sa Zamboanga?
F: Wala na yung asawa ko pero andun pa yung iba.
R: Eh yung anak nyo po, san nakatira?
F: A, kasama nya yung lola nya.
ME: Ano pong impresyon nyo samin?
F: Ha?
R: Hindi nya ata maintindihan...
ME: Edi Tagalugin mo.
R (after another pause): Ano pong tingin nyo samin?
F: Mabait... para na nga kayong anak, nakwentuhan ko pa. Pag may dumating nga tapos nagpapakwento, ayoko eh. Baka
maiyak pa ako. (at this point or some other we were all tearing up a bit, including Mang Feliciano)
US: Ah.
R: Ano naman pong masasabi nyo samin?
F: "Mag-aral nang mabuti; sundan ninyo ang inyong mga magulang. Siyempre mayroon talagang pagkakataon sa buhay na
magkakamali tayo..." (munches on sandwich, offers us some which we politely decline, and sips on a doy-pack without any straw
which I think was removed for safety purposes.)

At this the bell rung, which was quite a relief because I really was running out of things to say. I said thank you about three times before the last "Thanks po. Goodbye."

You know what, I was so touched by his story that I wanted to give him my rosary bracelet. I bet that would have made an impact on him. Unfortunately, I was too attatched to it and couldn't let it go.

Haha hindi pa yan tapos. Nag camping pa kami dun sa field. Mahaba pa eh. Sorry kung magulo, copy-paste lang yan sa Notepad. And sorry na rin kung belated. :)

Sorry for everything wrong with the layout and my "tamad-ness" and for not posting regularly. It's just that it's really difficult to post when you can't even fix the layout. So maybe later (after I finish the Math project) I'm going to fix this, and, hopefully, post more regularly.