Field trip 101: Bamboo Organs

First, I would like to talk about our recent field trip in these certain locations:

• Bamboo Organs in Las Piñas 
• Ibong Adarna play in SM southmall
• Philippine Air force museum

It was an early Friday, I was sitting on the bus that the school rented for the high school student's field trip. I was with my busmate buddy, Deborah Jan, was already excited to eat the Pringles she brought. And as she was eating Pringles, I was writing down the questions from the brochure a teacher handed out in my orange notepad - so I can carry it and be able to write freely about the answers in the brochure. And for about how many minutes or maybe hours, we finally arrived at the first stop: the parish of St. Joseph in Las Piñas. I was really excited to see everything especially when I saw the Antillan house that looked somewhat like an old Spanish house and the parish. The parish looked really old but it was really taken care of. When we went in, we saw that the place was mostly made of cement and there were really kind people that greeted us. So we split up in teams and my assigned buddy was Lystra.
We were walking up the stairs and while we were up there we were asking the questions in the brochure to the tour guide. She told us about the history of the bamboo organ and how it was the only bamboo organ in the whole WORLD. It's truly amazing on how the bamboo organs were constructed and even if they repaired it, it's still 100 percent original. The bamboo organs were constructed by Fr. Diego Cera who was inspired to build the organs because Las Piñas was rich in bamboo at that time. The whole place was actually made by the people that lived in Las Piñas. Then the tour guide went down the stairs that led to the keyboard of the whole bamboo organ. She played the bamboo parts of the organ first.
 As said, the bamboo organs are composed of 1,031 pipes; 902 are made of bamboo and 129 are made of metal. The tour guide played the bamboo part and it was so gentle and it gave a very smooth sound, and on the other hand, the metal parts sounded like trumpets and it had a jazzy ring to it. The pajaritos, which I haven't told you about is a part of the organ that had a bird-like sound. Well, the bamboo organ can make different kinds of sound such as: the bird sound, trumpet, oboe, flautado, and tambor. Their is also the Bamboo Organ festivals, which is held every February. They actually have this festival to spread classical music to the Filipinos. Not to mention the bamboo organ is a National Cultural Treasure. We Filipinos should be proud of the bamboo organs.:-)

Creative Dress-up Week

In school, we had this activity where we had to dress up creatively according to the assigned theme on that day. I was really excited for the activity. The following themes for the whole week would be:
Monday: Hip socks
Tuesday: Athlete's day
Wednesday: What I want to be when I grow up
Thursday: Funky Hairdo day
Friday: Pajama day
It was actually a fun way for expressing creativity, I guess... So far my fave would be Pajama day...Imagine going to school in your pjs, now that's something you don't see everyday. Well, I also had fun in thinking of what I should wear, what would look great/unique among the rest and etc.
 In Day 1, I wore knee high socks, stripes with two colors green and blue. I actually bought that outfit the day before I wore it...
Day 2, pretty much I'm not the type of person that likes sports, so I had to borrow my brother's Jordan jersey which was a little bit small for me and so far I dressed up as a basketball player...well, I do like basketball even if I'm not sporty.
Day 3, Today I decided to go as an Artist/animator. I do want to be a Pixar animator and I also want to be a director someday...I just hope and pray that I'll get to learn more about these stuff.
Day 4, I wore a wig that no one would even know it was a wig without even asking. Well, I actually find wearing wigs normal and comfy. It wasn't as itchy as they say it is. And yeah, they really thought I dyed my hair and had a haircut :-)
Day 5, At last! My favorite day of the whole dress-up week, PAJAMA DAY!!! I only wore simple grey pjs and brought my Mirmo de Pon stuff toy. I was really comfortable and I found the atmosphere really calm and sleepy/gloomy that time but a happy type of gloomy.
So far, I really loved this idea of having to have children dress up and think fashionably and imaginatively. I would just like to leave this quotes:
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
Carl Sagan 
Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.
L. Frank Baum 
All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.
Orison Swett Marden 


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_imagination.html

Dove Quotes

Hey MoMotians!
I would like to leave a message to all of you that I got from a certain brand of chocolate:
Be proud to just run the race, no matter the finish. -Joni of Miami Lakes,FL

Running races...hmmm...I'm not the type of person that likes running physically, not all people like running but this quote is not only talking to the runners in races and all, but talking about our run in the race of our lives.

In running races we have to start slow/jog, am I right? And when the right time comes, you're the only one with the energy to run. Yup, in order to win the race, we have to start slow and when we get used to running, we will be running the fastest and we can win the race.

Our lives are just like a race. You have to run in the line straight and you have to run with discipline and patience. We also need energy as well, both physically and mentally, and never forget emotionally/spiritually. We should always set our minds straight on the goal of this race. But may I ask you...What is the goal you're trying to reach in life?

Charles Spurgeon Search

I've been searching about Mr. Charles Spurgeon and he is such a very great preacher. I also saw Moses' video/speech, and kinda...remembered myself. He wasn't much of a speaker but he was still chosen to lead a lot of Hebrews/people. Before, I thought I was somehow not a good speaker and if you ask some of my classmates, they'll tell you I was the most quiet person there. For some reason, I really never thought of having language a talent of mine....Not Ever. But it turned out I was also different from Moses and Spurgeon. I have a talent to speak, but I haven't experienced the same thing Spurgeon experienced of having a Christian family. I don't know if I'm a person who has the talent to lead a lot of people, but I do want to lead someone/maybe even just one to Christ(but I hope I'll lead a lot like Moses did). I want to be a great leader one day, a great preacher, and I want to be whoever God molds me and wants me to be.

Love by Charles H. Spurgeon

The first thing, then, that our love feeds upon, when it is but an infant, is a sense of favours received. Ask a young Christian why he loves Christ, and he will tell you, I love Christ because he has bought me with his blood! Why do you love God the Father? I love God the Father because he gave his Son for me. And why do you love God the Spirit? I love him because he has renewed my heart. That is to say we love God for what he has given to us. Our first love feeds just on the simple food of a grateful recollection of mercies received. And mark, however much we grow in grace this will always constitute a great part of the food of our love.

But when the Christian grows older and has more grace, he loves Christ for another reason. He loves Christ because he feels Christ deserves to be loved. I trust I can say, I have in my heart now a love to God, These men did not merely love Christ because of what he had done for them; but you will find in their sonnets and in their letters—that their motive of love was, that he had communed with them, he had showed them his hands and his side; they had walked with him in the villages; they had lain with him on the beds of spices; they had entered into the mystic circle of communion; and they felt that they loved Christ, because he was all over glorious, and was so divinely fair, that if all nations could behold him, sure they must be constrained to love him too.

http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/0229.htm

Here is a song I would like to share from Casting Crowns...

Our deepest fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." (A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3])

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson


I actually got this from one of my teachers and I really liked the message that is conveyed in it. It is true, we are afraid of our light because we've been living in the dark for so long. Generation to generation, it has always been our mind set and that was the problem. It's nice to know that we are something of worth and that is showed through Jesus Christ. He had made a great change in history and to anyone eventually.
He showed us that we are loved by God himself and we are His children. So if we are His children and we accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, then we should know that we have the  power beyond measure and we are the light of the world.

No matter what

This week I experienced having a hectic schedule...I know I haven't written for about a month and I feel sad that I haven't been updating my life but I guess it's part of being busy and drown in what I do. I haven't forgotten though that I should write on my Blog once in a while. I've also been experiencing some shaky events in my life like when my mom went to the ER but she's fine now and how a lot of days have passed by like my birthday, which happened last month August. I've spent my birthday at home with my family. I really feel as if it has been so fast and I have been having problems with myself too. I happen to forget to pray and read my bible like before...:-( but God hasn't forgotten me, that's such good news for me since while I was drifting away He keeps on showing me what I should do and that I should not get drowned with worldly things - that was quite what happened to me for the past few days. I've been relaxing and studying and idling that I didn't put the most important person in my life first. God never said that these things won't happen to a Christian/believer but He did promise that He will always be there caring for you reminding you. After such experience, I think God was just showing me that no one can survive the world without Him - that I need Him no matter what and that I need to share my testimony to people even if no one really wants to know it.