Tenement in Taguig City

I was at the Tenement Elementary School today and helped a bit in the Feeding Program of the school with some of my students and a colleague.

This is DEPED's central elementary school in Taguig City and it boasts of thirty-six classes per level from k to 6 and is the most populous in the entire city.

So what do we feed the children?

Champorado with Carnation Evap!

And some snaps I did while I was with my eight -graders. Our unit for the second term is Buhay sa Syudad at Buhay sa Baryo. We have been discussing the first part which is Buhay sa Syudad and I asked my students to create a photo where it shows city living. These two are mine:

And tomorrow is a PTC day or Parent-Teacher Conference.

Lenten Season 2012

I made it for the Holy Eucharist celebration last night with my three kids minus wife and 3 month old baby. Ash Wednesday it was yesterday and the Cathedral of Imus was busy hosting the Sunday-like schedule services. With all the never-ending buzz about the world's end, it helps that we hold on to our faith with conviction and sincerity.

Lenten Season is the time of Spiritual Purification

What are we really celebrating during Lent?

Basically, the season of Lent is the time of preparation Easter Sunday. It is the season of penance and prayer before the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic calls on every believer to pray and fast for 40 days. For the age group 18-60, they are to skip one meal a day and avoid meat foods. For 14 years old and above, they are expected to avoid any forms of meat foods during the 40 days of purification. Purification process can take on many forms and practices. This is also known as abstinence and fasting.

There is a difference between abstinence and fasting but it is closely related. Abstinence is the avoidance of meat which has been a spiritual practice since the early beginnings of the church while fasting is the restriction one adheres to on the quantity of the food we eat.

Fasting and Abstinence are two powerful spiritual tools which helps us tame our body to concentrate more on higher, Godly things. Take note, these practices are voluntary and that almost everyone has a thing or two to say about it.

For our cultural note, one superstition I grew up with when it comes to Lenten practices is that we are not suppose to take a bath on Good Friday.  It may be funny to listen to such superstitions but honestly, I think it has a lot to do with the spirituality of Filipinos from long ago.

Remember, we have prayer vigils for almost all occasions and these prevents you from completing your 8-10 hour sleep. To prevent the young ones from getting sick after the prayer vigils, most probably the older generations wanted to prevent them from taking a shower.

So how will you participate in Christ's Passion this Lenten Season?

The Bishops' Bosses

Here is a cute photo taken by A. Buhain, a sixth grader from the school where I teach. She paid us a visit and took some snaps for her after school activity, Story Snaps. I'm posting it raw so most likely you have a thing or two to say about the finishing touches but there is a story in it.

I call this The Bishop's Bosses.

What about you? Can you think of a good title or quote for this photo?

Philippine Independence 2011

Got back from Palawan the other day and I didn't have much time to compile all the videos and photo our group took from our trip. Instead, today I went to the Aguinaldo Shrine with my family and seized the chance to loiter within the compound and inside the Shrine.

We arrived there a little after lunchtime and soon learned that President Noy Aquino was there in the morning. We were kinda surprised when we arrived at the gate closed because the Shrine is always open for visitors but today was a special day so we had to wait for awhile.




Today's celebration is the 113th anniversary of the proclamation of the Philippine Independence in case you want to know.

Some bits of a trivia: the raising of the Philippine Flag took place between four to five in the afternoon, Sunday. And yes, The Aguinaldo's during that time were well-off much like these days so it's no surprise it has always been the people in the higher echelon of society who gets to position to get into position.

Well thank you for the pseudo-independence of the Philippines, need I explain?

There are so many reasons why almost everyone say we as a country is not really free or independent. We are chained to the helplessness caused by corruption in our society and this caused the government administration since the 1960's to borrow money from international organizations.

Anyways, before we went to the Shrine we first celebrated the Holy Eucharist and here's one thing that will always remind people of their spirituality:

I Need a Name

Photo owned by Francis .A Buenaventura. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use, copy, editing, reproduction, publication, duplication and distribution of the digital photos, without the permission of the photographer, is punishable by Law.

 

This photo I took from the Outbound Trip we had needs a title, a caption or just about anything for my easy filing. Please help me by commenting or send me an email. 

Thanks!

 

Contrasts in Black and White

Photo owned by Francis .A Buenaventura. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use, copy, editing, reproduction, publication, duplication and distribution of the digital photos, without the permission of the photographer, is punishable by Law.

Here is one of the many photos I took with the camera I borrowed from my brother. I saw this boy wandering about from cottage to cottage and then would pick stones on the ground. He'll then play with the stones and be lost amidst the beauty and serenity of the place. 

I am relearning to use Google's Picassa photo software and I'm glad they have the software available to everyone!