Tuesday, October 28, 2003
UNITED NATIONS OF BAGUIO
The Damage Report - Year 2 - Sembreak Week 2 of 3
Background Music: "Me Against the Music" by B. Spears and Madonna
NOTE: This is one of three weekly blog entries that summarizes and concludes a week during the Semestral Break.
IT was my second time up in Baguio in my entire life and within this year alone, and like my first time up there, I was with a group of... well, just guys. Not that I'm dissatisfied with being in the City of Pines with "other gentlemen", but I'm the type who'd like to go on vacation with a few girls to spicen things up... especially in the cold weather up there.
Anyways, this trip wasn't just a normal vacation... it was actually the first successful outreach and outing of the DLSU-D International Students Organization or ISO in recent day. The current adviser of the ISO is Sir Sieg, who I just met during 1st Sem Course Card Distribution.
Thursday night - The Departure
I picked up Aldrich at his house and we swinged by Waltermart Dasma to pick up Zubair. I met Zubair for the first time at the Waltermart Dasma parking lot, but I've heard about him since my Freshmen Year when Basil told me that he and the other Kuwaiti-raised guys had a friend in another school. Zubair moved from UST to study here in DLSU-D.
We arrived at the 7-11 in Dasma Bayan around 9 in the evening and waited for Sir Sieg and the rest of the cavalry. I was expecting to meet and greet other Filams from DLSU-D, but according to Sir Sieg's txts, only us and Yousef and the ISO President Jaime (raised in Europe, haven't seen this guy in person yet) would be going.
Turned out that Jaime wasn't allowed to go, according to his mom. The President of the ISO, not going on this trip? I didn't plead to ask further questions, I just went with the flow.
Yousef and Sir Sieg arrived and then we boarded a bus bound for Lawton. And so, our long road trip began. I was sitting next to Yousef while Aldrich and Zubair were sitting opposite sides of us. Sir Sieg was by himself behind Yousef and I.
I got to meet Yousef more, I also met him for the first time during Course Card Distribution. Yousef is a Pakistani, but was raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was schoolmates with Abbie Almasco, Kevin Urquia (although he doesn't know him since Kevin's from a younger batch), and co-Feature Staffer at the Heraldo Filipino Gerelyn Isles (same batch as he was).
From Lawton we took a taxi and it drove us to Cubao where we went to the Victory Liner Bus Station. It was crowded with people headed up north. I suddenly became nostalgic over my trip to Vigan, Ilocus Sur last May. I was with the Heraldo Filipino then and I was with Eric, Maycee, our editors and our then-adviser Ms. Agbing (aww... I miss having her as our adviser).
Sir Sieg went to get us some tickets and he returned with news that all the buses to Baguio were fully booked until the 2:00am bus. And it was only 11:00pm at the time.
Sir Sieg and Yousef went to investigate the Dagupan Bus Station, which was a five-minute walk away. I was with Aldrich and Zubair. I got to know Zubair more while we were waiting for a txt message from Sir.
Speaking of txt message, I bought a Nokia 7650 early Thursday before the trip started in the evening hours. We went all the way to Festival Supermall where I bought it at Co-Green Telecom (like what classmate Katz said) for Php 17,600. It isn't the blue version, but that's ok. After the one year warranty is over, I'll change the housing and make my 7650 look renewed again in the future.
Sir txt'd and we walked down the night time streets of Cubao, where bus stations lined up on both sides of the big road. We arrived at the Dagupan Bus station and found out we could already board the bus. Aldrich, Zubair, Yousef, and I got off the bus after placing our bags down so we could buy some snacks. I took pictures with my 7650 at the places we bought things. I wasn't stupid, I did observe my surroundings before taking out my phone. There was no "yellow light" activity going on and I took my phone out discreetly.
We got on the bus and it departed Cubao at midnight. Same seating arrangement. Aldrich and Zubair to the right while Yousef was at the window to my left. Sir was sitting behind us. Aldrich was listening to the radio with his Nokia 7210 while Zubair was listening to his CD Player. Yousef was just sitting there while I was caught without a CD Player (it wasn't charged and I didn't want to bring the battery-adapter). Instead, I watched a few minutes of Debate on the TV screen in the bus.
It was a night trip so there was nothing to see outside the windows but a few billboards. As we left Metro Manila and entered Bulacan, the billboards decreased and all that was left to notice was how cold the bus was.
The first stop-over was in Tarlac (it's a major stop over for many, if not all bus liners between Manila and northern Luzon). I got out of the bus simply to defrost. I was freezing in the bus. The bathroom was dirty. Zubair didn't get off the bus. Aldrich and I got some Hot Coffee and found out we were the only ones the whole bus was waiting for. We rushed back onto the bus and sat down as quickly as we could.
It was funny as how the bus would speed across the empty streets of Tarlac and inside the dim lighting of the bus, Aldrich and I sat erect trying to avoid any coffee spillage. We wearn't exactly holding Starbucks in our hands. Our disposable cups didn't have lids, so we were struggling to balance the hot liquid.
I tried to go to sleep, but the air conditioning in the bus was just so cold it hurt my ears and face the most... since the rest of my body was covered already. I was already wearing the new Bench jacket I bought at Glorietta on Monday.
I thought there wouldn't be any further stops, but we stopped two more times. One in Pangasinan, I believe. The place had clean restrooms. And finally another stop in La Union before ascending the mountains into Baguio.
I had moments where I fell asleep... but then I could still hear the motors of the bus as it climbed higher altitudes. Then, around 4 or 5 o'clock on Friday morning, I could see the city lights of Baguio during the many curves and turns on the mountainside. The sky was dark blue already, and I saw the crescent of the moon overlooking one of the silouettes of the mountains in the distance. It was definantly a welcoming sight for sore eyes.
We arrived in Baguio and we got off at the bus station. Immedietly I began shaking and freezing due to the cold weather. We made our way into one of the canteens near the whole bus station. We all ordered some hot Chicken Mami soup to warm our stomachs and our bodies.
Friday morning - The U.N. Summit
After eating we walked all the way to this church overlooking much of the city. It was a sight! And, it was early morning. The cool air was still there while the sun was behind our backs, not on top of us. Our time to meet with St. Louis University - Baguio City was at 8 o'clock, but it was still 6 o'clock in the morning. Sir Sieg explained to me about the purpose of the whole trip and he also explained to me everything about the ISO. We had a few pictures taken and then we made our walk towards SLU. From our arrival at the bus station up to SLU, we didn't ride a single vehicle. Sir Sieg, during a conversation, mentioned that he loves traveling and the adventure kind of lifestyle. That's something in me that I've always wanted to develop. Maybe I'll ride with him on his other travels... of course, next time, with some girls to add some fun.
We entered SLU, a place I've wanted to see the moment I heard I was going to it. SLU's publication is "White & Blue" which was a contender against "Heraldo Filipino" during the 63rd CEGP Convention in Teppeng Cove, Ilocus Sur last May. "White & Blue" was competitive because all it's broadsheet pages are in color... unless, it was the issue they submitted to the CEGP that was all in color. HF won "Best Broadsheet of the Year" and our literary folio "Palad" won "Best Literary/Art Folio of the Year". We received two of the three major awards.
The campus was on the side of a hill in the middle of the city and it was overlooking this mountain that looked like it was built by a stack of houses. A tremendous sight in my opinion. The school was very welcoming. We proceeded to meet Ms. Viola Garcia, the SLU Registrar and head of the FSA or Foreign Students Association (the SLU version of the DLSU-D ISO).
She was very hospitable and kind. She always had this smile on her face as she introduced us to other foreign students at the university. She toured us around a little and then dropped us at this one conference room which looked like a Presidential meeting room... with the long and wide wooden table in the middle.
One by one foreign students came in. I was in culture shock for some odd reason. First, this guy from Nepal (who looks european) enters. He's already an alumni of SLU. Next, this tall guy from India comes in and greets us. His english is American slang. Following him was a group of Korean guys including the FSA President- Joshua. Three Indonesian guys entered and it completed, what I had called "The summit". I was slightly laughing due to all the culture shock (I mean, I was expecting to meet Filams too... but everyone in the room came from so many different places).
We had exchange of words and questions about each other, about each other's schools, about happenings and other sorts. It was a unique experience to meet these people. The FSA people are so close to each other. They have basketball games every Saturday night together. These people of different nationalities, studying together in Baguio. Wow.
[to be continued - all pictures to follow]
Up next:
* Friday afternoon - Korean Tour de Baguio
* Friday evening - Billiards and Padi's Point
* Saturday morning - The Dual Hangover
* Saturday afternoon - Apple and Jezire in Baguio
* Saturday evening - Pizza and Colt 45
* Sunday morning - Baguio Public Market
* Sunday afternoon - Descending the mountains
* Sunday evening - Chowking Cravings
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