Life after Graduation

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Batch of Bachelors in Secondary Education

Parting time is a poignant scene which we usually observe during graduation day especially in high school and college. Those were the days that you’d keep holding on close to your classmates or best friend as if those were your last days to be with one another. However, at such times, my mind gets preoccupied with another important thing. I keep on asking myself, “What’s life after graduation like?” Will I pass the board examination for teachers? Will I be employed? What if I didn’t employed, where would I fall? I have a very low self-esteem that time and so confused which I think is normal for a person like me who has just taken the education course for the sake of having a professional career. I finished Bachelor in Secondary Education and have my Post Masters Degree in the same field, and yet I realized that teaching just wasn’t for me. I don’t want to get stuck up within the four corners of my classroom. I want a more challenging role. Those questions now are history. Ultimately, I decided to take the route to government service through a Local Government Unit. For the past 15 years, as I see my career path, I can now tell myself, “Not bad!” I have now a very challenging career. I just need to learn how to balance my work and personal life. Pictures posted above are taken recently during our first college batch reunion. Some of my classmates are now certified Public High School Teachers and pursuing a higher degree related to their fields. They are quite successful in their chosen careers and personal life as well. Some of them also take detours like me. Sometimes life is really mysterious and we may never know what lies ahead of us.

A Dream Rest House

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I was wondering how a small piece of real property could be developed into a cozy, yet privately set-up rest house. I am a frustrated architect, by the way, so I really love to design plans in mind and build them according to how I want them to look like. It is very in-demand nowadays for a family gathering or a get-together to rent a resort or rest house and celebrate the occasion with loved ones in the place. They prefer to celebrate it privately without sacrificing convenience and amenities, where you will feel relaxed and refreshed, and can accommodate positive changes in your personal life. Maybe a big-enough swimming pool or lanai with heaps of ornamental and flowering plants will do work wonders. Adding to it is the lightning effect on the place that will give a more relaxing ambiance at night. I want to make the ambiance so irresistible, a place that will look like haven. Something with interplay of what is natural and yet modern. I need to squeeze my budget to make this dream materialize. This will be of great help for me especially in my line of work now. This will surely reduce my stress. There is a fact that say’s, “If you want your dream to happen, put them on paper”. So what I do now is write it online. It seemed a bit silly to some people but at this moment of despair I figured writing something down might just be the first step to realize this dream.

New Born, New Hope and a New Beginning

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Our New Bundle of Joy

My family considers this year as a not-so-pleasant year for us, as we have lost a loved one. However, as I started to count our family’s adversities for this year, I have found that there are so much more blessings to be thankful for. My younger sister who happens to be a dentist holds a house blessing for this year. It’s a huge house that everybody would be envious of. While my brother, a PNP Officer who is out of service as of this writing for some personal reason, managed to work on two kinds of businesses. Not that big, but at least he was able to augment their daily expenses while he is still contemplating whether to go back to government service or not. My eldest sister also holds a blessing for the same year for her two-storey house. What makes us more thankful is when she gave birth to her third child without any complications despite her present health condition. In God’s mercy, the caesarian operation turns out to be just usual. For the record, my sister suffered early symptoms of pre-eclampsia-  a medical condition in which hypertension arises in pregnancy (pregnancy-induced hypertension) in association with significant amounts of protein in the urine. On her fifth month of pregnancy she was diagnosed as having diabetes mellitus and sufferee from the onset of asthma. So hers was considered a high-risk pregnancy. I was very thankful to those medical personnel who in one way or another helped us feel calm and assured during the conduct of my sister’s operation.

Keeping my fingers crossed, I hope and pray that all results pertaining to our new-born baby’s medical check-ups and laboratories will turn out to be normal. Now I know there is so much more to be thankful for, as this will lead to a new hope and a new beginning. God is really good.

Pope John Paul II “The Last Encounter”

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In front of St. Peter's Basilica Square

Breath-taking view on top of the St. Peter's Basilica

Seating at Rome's Trevi Fountain

In front of the basilica with my cousin and the Swiss guard.

Michelangelo's work of art in the ceiling.

At the St. Peter's Tomb

In one of the most difficult times of my life and when escaping was the only way out, my family stood as my shock absorber. I was lucky indeed to have a very supportive family that was then based abroad and who gave me chances to contemplate and think on how I should I handle my personal life. My relatives believed that divine intervention would be of great help to me to finally think of the best decision regarding my personal dilemma at that time. I traveled abroad way back 2004 and went thru different and significant churches in Rome, Italy for some soul-searching and spiritual counseling. One of the churches I visited was the St. Peter’s Basilica. It was considered a major basilica in Vatican City, an enclave of Rome. According to my research, “St. Peter's Basilica stands on the traditional site where Peter - the apostle who is considered the first pope - was crucified and buried. St. Peter's tomb is under the main altar and many other popes are buried in the basilica as well. Originally founded by Constantine in 324, St. Peter's Basilica was rebuilt in the 16th century by Renaissance masters including Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini.” I also witnessed with my own two eyes the wonderful art works of Michaelangelo.

The closer we'll ever see..priceless!

It was indeed a great pleasure for me to experience this breath-taking overview on top of the St. Peter’s Basilica. What more intensifying goose bump experience was when I first saw Pope John Paul II during his usual blessing ceremony held every Wednesday at the St. Peter’s Square. The Pope gives blessing to the public audience every Wednesday. Tickets should be requested ahead of time from the Vatican. We were just lucky to have some family friends whom a diocesan priest studying from the Commission on Pontificio Collegio Filippino (ECPCF) who help us on securing an entrance ticket. The PCF is the home in Rome of Filipino diocesan priests who have been sent abroad by their bishops to pursue higher ecclesiastical studies. Pope John Paul II looked weak, but then he kept waving his hand to bless the people around him who came from the other parts of the world to see him and seek his blessings.

Photos taken inside the coliseum, it was the largest amphitheater of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest works of Roman Architecture and engineering. It is the largest amphitheater in the world. 

The waiting is over. Recently, Pope John Paul II was beatified. No words can best describe the novel works and sacrifices of our beloved Pope John Paul II for Christianity. He is a step closer to becoming a saint. I felt so much blessed as I was given a chance to have an encounter with him, even though not that close a range. But at least before he finally left and went to the heavenly realm, we crossed paths and I was able to say goodbye.