Museo Pambata Trip

At the entrance with co-teachers.

For Buwan ng Wika, my co-teachers and I decided to prepare for a culminating activity at Museo Pambata where the children can enjoy a tour with their parents. We went to the museum to do an ocular to have an organized trip by the end of the month. Luckily, teachers get in for free if they just present their IDs.

National mode of public transport.

Try as I might, I cannot bring to my mind any childhood memory of going for a trip the "Children's Museum" while I was in school so I think it is safe to say that it was actually my first time to visit Museo Pambata. Though I missed to go through this wonderful place as a kid, I am very appreciative of it now as an adult and as a teacher. As I explored the various exhibits there, I realized the importance of this haven for the younger generations to come.

I Love My Planet Earth! exhibit.

I love how interactive the exhibits are. It is important that children engage all their senses for learning to be truly imbibed. The entire museum comes to life with the various props and backdrops. I can already envision the children having a great time when they get here.

Part of Body Works exhibit.

There was a very spacious room dedicated to knowing about how one's body works: the different systems of the body, the various organs and senses and how they operate within us, and so on. There were stations that also provide hands-on games to engage the children in using their bodies and discovering the facts for themselves. Another area is the Pamilihang Bayan or Marketplace, which was a really amazing studio of various stores and shops where kids can wear costumes and play with the different materials to simulate an actual marketplace scenario. Even I let my imagination run away a little.

At the Pamilihang Bayan (Marketplace) pretending to sell freshly baked bread.

The Gift Shop houses a lot of good buys: mostly educational items and native crafts.

Goofing around: Seems like I'm part of the portrait, which is actually a mirror.

The next few photos are some of my favorites taken from the Paglaki Ko (When I Grow Up) exhibit where the Writer's Corner and Illustrator's Corner can be found. I am a writer but a frustrated illustrator. Anyhow, I have not given up trying to produce some personal works [for my eyes only at this point]. Though that may be the case, the arts will always have a special place in my heart.

Oh, how I love ink drawings!

One of my local favorites.

Colorful art by Ruben de Jesus.

Another interactive wall.

Museo Pambata also has an Old Manila exhibit. I love anything that has to do with the past! I am a bit old-fashioned (quite the understatement) and I appreciate the richness of cultural evolution. I reckon that the 'golden days' always pertain to something that has come to pass.

Old Manila exhibit: standing by a large scale church model.

A peek inside the church's interior.

Spanish Galleon.

Flags and portraits dedicated to our heroes.

I was impressed with this area of the exhibit because of the interesting way the museum staff had elaborated on the national heroes' lives. To know about the bayani (hero), you need not read lengthy biographies or look at posters. Instead, all you need to do is pick up the phone, dial a number and listen to a voice narrate about your chosen hero. How clever!

I wish I could bring home this antique typewriter... even better if it still works!

Chinese lanterns made the ceiling gallant.

Old carriage on display.

Untouchable. More memorabilia from the past.

Tara na!

I really enjoyed our tour of Museo Pambata. By the end of our ocular, I felt so young and vibrant I wanted to run to a mirror and check if I was a seven-year-old again.

I suppose our journey ends here for now. I want to come back to this place again next time but hopefully not as a visitor but as a volunteer. It is always a worthwhile endeavor to share moments with young minds and hearts.

Time to celebrate life!

All ready for a party. :)

It is always exciting to wait for the arrival of a newborn... how much more if you are waiting for three? :)

Today we celebrated a baby shower for three of my co-teachers who are all expecting to have bootees and bottles within reach of a cute and cuddly baby soon! Congratulations!

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."
- Vincent van Gogh

...and I say to myself, "What a wonderful world." :)

Kiddie Party

Adopted from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a bestselling 1989 children's book drawn and written by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Acrchambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert, and published by Aladdin Picture Books.

After more than a month of internet hiatus, I am pleased to share that the kids' Christmas party that my co-teachers and I have been preparing for day and night since the past month was a remarkable success. :)

Though I still have much papers to finish at work, lessons to study for school and other things to take care of before the Christmas break, this day is more than enough to make my smile reach from ear to ear. My heartfelt gratitude to the kids and their families who joined us is celebrating the warmth and wonder that children bring to the world. Congratulations to everyone at ACC who helped make this year's ACC Christmas party very memorable.

It surely is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hand in hand

I teach kids with special needs.

I have been told by countless of people that teaching is more than just a profession - it is a vocation; a calling. After more than a year of putting myself in the shoes of a teacher, indeed, I cannot argue with the fact that it is a laying down of one's life for the gaining of it by another. Now, I personally define teaching as a mission, a sacred one.

I'm writing this entry to support People First: Empowering People with Disabilities in Bloggers Unite to let the world know about children with special needs.

There have been many successful programs to provide better services for people with disabilities, particularly those with special needs. I am happy to say that being a therapist in an early intervention setting has truly made me appreciate the positive life-altering changes that 'tried-and-tested' programs have brought about to the children under our care.

However, the downside is that not all countries have those programs available to their people. More specifically, there isn't much government support being given for people with disabilities. There aren't very many laws or acts that truly empower them and their families. For example, here in the Philippines, it is quite expensive to enroll for high quality intervention programs. Although families can be really creative and resourceful, accessibility is still a major issue. The general public isn't made aware of the appropriate ways and means of [or trustworthy people and institutions to consult for] diagnosing, assessing, and helping their relatives or friends with special needs. Moreover, placement of these children in schools is also one of the concerns among many, many others.

Nevertheless, I do not like dwelling on what's negative unless I use it as a stepping stone for bringing about something positive [such as increasing awareness as to the reality of the situation]. To give credit where it is due, I applaud the efforts of countless of groups and organizations who have fought the battle of giving quality to life that children with special needs are living. There is always some sort of heroism each and every day, which should not be forgotten although there is so much more to be done...

On a different note, to tell you the truth, I have learned enormously from these kids - probably more than they could have ever learned from me. Their simplicity and quiet spirits are exemplary. Their total dependence at an early age emphasizes the way we must be in relationship with our Heavenly Father. In as much as I, a teacher, am trying to save them from this world - it is they who are saving me from the pitfalls of too much worrying and too much trying to take things into my own hands.

Lord, I lift up to you all these amazing children with special needs and people with disabilities. Through them, who are considered weak, You have shown us what it truly takes to be strong... strongly dependent on You alone.

Much love

It feels so amazingly wonderful to be loved.

I can give you a million reasons why I love kids.

This is just one of them. :)

Hello and Goodbye

"Be kind,

for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Plato

Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)

There have been some chapters in my life when I've said goodbye to people just as quickly as I've said hello. While the paths have crossed so quickly, there's no guarantee that farewells would come easily.

Several times I have asked the question, "Where's the good in goodbye?", because goodbyes are usually associated with uncertainty, separation, hurt, and sorrow.

More often than not I find myself saying "See you tomorrow", "Until then", or "'Til next time" when the moment of parting ways has come because it somehow lessens the impact of something's coming-to-an-end. It is a sort-of denial of the moment of truth when each one must go his or her own way.

Celine Dion's song "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)" is about a mother leaving her child, perhaps even pertaining to the mother's passing away, which is one of the hardest goodbyes of all. Listening to it always brings tears to my eyes.

Goodbye's the saddest word I'll ever hear
Goodbye's the last time I will hold you near
Someday you'll say that word and I will cry
It'll break my heart to hear you say goodbye

'Till we meet again...
Until then...
Goodbye

Still, where is the good in goodbye?

Today is one of those days when I ask the question once, twice, three times because I had had to say goodbye to this precious little boy who has seemingly taught me more than I have taught him. It was difficult to see him go and accept the fact that that moment might be last time we will ever see each other, especially when I know I could have done something more to help him.

Out of the blanket of sadness, a friend's voice popped in my head. He shared to me an initially trivial information about 'goodbye' and just to make sure I remember it right, I searched the world wide web for it:

good-bye XVI. Early forms God be wy you, God buy'ye, God b'uy, Godbuy, contr. of phr. God be with you or ye, with later substitution of good for God, after good day (XIII), good night (XIV).

T. F. HOAD. "good-bye." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-goodbye.html

That's right. Goodbye is derived from God be with you. When I first heard it, I was almost skeptical but it totally blew me away.

So where is the good in goodbye?

It is in believing that God is with those kindred souls whose lives have been touched by that meeting of theirs even though they eventually have to part.

Now that I understand this more clearly, I have to keep it in mind and eventually in my heart, no matter how much it hurts sometimes.

God be with you.

Autism. Awareness. Action.

I love children. They have so much enthusiasm for life. To look at the world through a child's eyes is a wonderful experience. I cannot begin to explain the peace I feel in my spirit upon gazing into the depths of a child's innocent eyes or the warmth I feel in my heart upon clasping a child's little hand in mine. 

I couldn't agree more with Walt Streightiff when he said, "There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million." Indeed! If there is one thing I've learned from a child, it's this: To consider every moment of my life a miracle of God. I can share to you a hundred other quotes about children, by children and for children and still fall short of words to explain the joy children bring.

I grew up in a large family with three siblings and many cousins. When I was only six or seven years old, I've had amazing opportunities to watch over my younger sister. When I was ten, I became Ate (older sister) to a baby brother.

Looking at family photo albums and seeing how my siblings, my cousins and I grew up together brings back fond memories; it is simply amazing. I can't believe how fast time has gone by at this point in my life. Four of 'the original eight' will be finishing their studies by next year, God-willing. On the other hand, one of my cousins will be starting a training program he applied to on the same day I will be having my first day at work this mid-April. Another cousin, Coco, has been working for a couple of years now. On a brighter note, his sister, Patsy, just graduated from college today. 

For many of us, life seems to go on as naturally as a river finding its way into the sea.

While thousands celebrate the beginning of another chapter in their lives this month with graduation ceremonies and commencement exercises here and there, I wish to put the spotlight on another very important event as well.

World Autism Awareness Day

On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139, tabled by the State of Qatar, which declares April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in perpetuity. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Consort of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, supported the campaign for a World Autism Awareness Day through the current 62nd UN General Assembly Session, garnering consensus support from all United Nations Member States.

This UN resolution is one of only three official disease-specific United Nations Days and will bring the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The World Autism Awareness Day resolution encourages all Member States to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout society and to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention. It further expresses deep concern at the prevalence and high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world and the consequent developmental challenges.

World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.

About World Autism Awareness Day. (2009). Autism Speaks, Inc. Retrieved April 2, 2009 from http://www.worldautismawarenessday.org/site/c.egLMI2ODKpF/b.3917077/k.186A/About_World_Autism_Awareness_Day.htm

As a BS Psychology graduate, I want to do my part in empowering individuals with autism. While the course of the river may be rough for all of us, we have to be aware that many people have to go through a waterfall drop before they start the challenging journey down the riverbanks and into the ocean. Nevertheless, we can do something about it - to make the jump less intimidating and most definitely worthwhile.

I share Forest E. Witcraft's sentiment: "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."