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Showing posts with label mabuhay guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mabuhay guide. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
My First Trial Guiding
I cannot believe it’s almost the end of our training. This week we take our final exams, 1 written practical exam, a bus, a site, and a walking tour exam, and then another knowledge exam next week, then that’s it. That’s 5 weeks baby! 5 WEEKS!
We have spent the first 2 weeks in a classroom, wanting to get out, and spent the last 2 weeks outside, wanting to stay inside. Haha. I have been in Intramuros for 2 consecutive weeks, I know every crack on the street, every street children in the block, where to buy the best banana-Q and know the guards’ faces by heart. I know (almost) every piece of furniture inside Casa Manila, know where you can find toilet facilities in the whole of Intramuros, I’ve gotten to know Rizal a lot better, know each and every statue along Roxas Blvd, and learned more about the Catholic faith having spending so much time in San Agustin church. I say, I have never known more about my country and its history than I ever had in 25 years… and I am damn proud of it.
By being in this program, I feel that I have turned over a new leaf. It has opened my eyes and widened even more my interests. I realized so much more about myself, the discipline I apparently had, enhanced my public speaking skills, and to top it all off, made 22 new friends.
Last Sunday, my friends and I went back to Intramuros (because we haven’t had enough being there just 6 days in a week) we decided to go back and practice. They needed to get some information and I wanted to practice giving somebody a tour. Walking within San Agustin church, I saw a married couple, huddled on the bench and studying the pitiful Xeroxed leaflet from the San Agustin church, obviously trying to figure out where they are and what they’re seeing. I approached them and introduced myself, I said I am a trainee to be a tour guide, under the Dept. of Tourism, and we will be having an exam this coming week, and would appreciate very much if they can give me their time, so I can tour them around the church. Initially, I guess they were hesitant to say yes, and told me that they only have around 10 minutes; but I said the whole tour of the church would take around 30-45 minutes, but in anytime they would like to end the tour, they are more than welcome to.
Finally, Dana and Serni said yes, after selling my free services to them, honestly, it wasn’t that hard. Haha. So I started to give them a tour and they were so happy how I explained everything to them, they were enjoying every minute of it and so was I. I felt more confident, knew how it felt to do “actual” guiding. It is not at all stiff how I imagined it to be, it was just PURE FUN! It was so fulfilling seeing their faces lit up whenever I give them an interesting fact.
They were most impressed with the tromp l’oeil (trick the eye painting) ceiling of San Agustin. We got to see it up close when we went up the choral deck and the view was a magnificent.
After the tour, I asked if they wanted to see another place, called Casa Manila, and they said yes! And so we ended up spending around an hour and a half together (even though at first they said they only had 10 minutes haha)! It was so fun. Serni, who was apparently a Fil-Am, told me they have travelled all around the world and said my tour was world class! Of course I told them about our London blue badge trainer, and how this project was such a great opportunity for me and my colleagues and we all feel so lucky to have been selected to be part of it.
That day felt so good and gave me so much confidence. Even though I went home with a sprained ankle, I was skipping with happiness. I emailed Dana and Serni the next day, to reply to the questions I wasn’t able to answer J Now, we’re facebook friends. It is just so cool, life is just full of surprises!
We have spent the first 2 weeks in a classroom, wanting to get out, and spent the last 2 weeks outside, wanting to stay inside. Haha. I have been in Intramuros for 2 consecutive weeks, I know every crack on the street, every street children in the block, where to buy the best banana-Q and know the guards’ faces by heart. I know (almost) every piece of furniture inside Casa Manila, know where you can find toilet facilities in the whole of Intramuros, I’ve gotten to know Rizal a lot better, know each and every statue along Roxas Blvd, and learned more about the Catholic faith having spending so much time in San Agustin church. I say, I have never known more about my country and its history than I ever had in 25 years… and I am damn proud of it.
By being in this program, I feel that I have turned over a new leaf. It has opened my eyes and widened even more my interests. I realized so much more about myself, the discipline I apparently had, enhanced my public speaking skills, and to top it all off, made 22 new friends.
Last Sunday, my friends and I went back to Intramuros (because we haven’t had enough being there just 6 days in a week) we decided to go back and practice. They needed to get some information and I wanted to practice giving somebody a tour. Walking within San Agustin church, I saw a married couple, huddled on the bench and studying the pitiful Xeroxed leaflet from the San Agustin church, obviously trying to figure out where they are and what they’re seeing. I approached them and introduced myself, I said I am a trainee to be a tour guide, under the Dept. of Tourism, and we will be having an exam this coming week, and would appreciate very much if they can give me their time, so I can tour them around the church. Initially, I guess they were hesitant to say yes, and told me that they only have around 10 minutes; but I said the whole tour of the church would take around 30-45 minutes, but in anytime they would like to end the tour, they are more than welcome to.
Finally, Dana and Serni said yes, after selling my free services to them, honestly, it wasn’t that hard. Haha. So I started to give them a tour and they were so happy how I explained everything to them, they were enjoying every minute of it and so was I. I felt more confident, knew how it felt to do “actual” guiding. It is not at all stiff how I imagined it to be, it was just PURE FUN! It was so fulfilling seeing their faces lit up whenever I give them an interesting fact. They were most impressed with the tromp l’oeil (trick the eye painting) ceiling of San Agustin. We got to see it up close when we went up the choral deck and the view was a magnificent.
After the tour, I asked if they wanted to see another place, called Casa Manila, and they said yes! And so we ended up spending around an hour and a half together (even though at first they said they only had 10 minutes haha)! It was so fun. Serni, who was apparently a Fil-Am, told me they have travelled all around the world and said my tour was world class! Of course I told them about our London blue badge trainer, and how this project was such a great opportunity for me and my colleagues and we all feel so lucky to have been selected to be part of it.
That day felt so good and gave me so much confidence. Even though I went home with a sprained ankle, I was skipping with happiness. I emailed Dana and Serni the next day, to reply to the questions I wasn’t able to answer J Now, we’re facebook friends. It is just so cool, life is just full of surprises!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
A Month with Mabuhay Guides
I am in my fourth week and I didn’t have time to write a blog about last week because we have been so busy! Going earlier to class and coming home later. We, or at least I, are/am at the verge of information overload.
If you would read my previous entries, you’d remember that I said passing the exam for me would be like a cherry on top because I feel lucky enough to have already gotten in this extensive training; but after last week, oh no, things have changed, stakes are higher, and now that I am so much closer, I wanna finish it! They have altered the plan and will only take those who pass the exam to Bohol (instead of all 23 of us)! We also got to meet our London trainer, a very nice lady who is as excited as we are to get the “real” training started. The thing that got me most excited was…
*drum rolls*
Our uniforms will be designed and made by RAJO LAUREL! (yay!!) I was beside myself with excitement when I found out. We will be measured on Monday, March 2 for our uniforms. We will be getting 2 sets, a sports wear set for hiking and such, and also skirt and sport shirt set with blazer.
Yesterday, we were at Boni High Street and had our personality development class there, at this posh French restaurant, Aubergine. The ambiance was beautiful, really classy and obviously expensive.
We each had Difficultly Level 5 five-course meal (haha), and taught us how to use the knives and fork properly. We learned how to tackle a salad (by folding each leaf of lettuce into bite sizes before stabbing it with a fork); eat a whole fish using a fish knife (!) without flipping it over (eat 1st layer first then remove and set aside the bone then devour the lower half of the fish); how to drink soup with a soup bowl that has handles; how to peel a prawn with knife and fork; how to twirl pasta with a fork and a pasta spoon (!), peel the banana, orange and apple with fork and knife! and all along I thought I knew how to eat! Haha. Lia Bernardo, our instructor, also gave us a quick lesson on wine appreciation which means I took 5 half-full glasses of wine, I like!
Today, we start with our London trainer! Have no idea what to expect in the training, I’m a little anxious but a little excited! I hope I absorb everything! J
If you would read my previous entries, you’d remember that I said passing the exam for me would be like a cherry on top because I feel lucky enough to have already gotten in this extensive training; but after last week, oh no, things have changed, stakes are higher, and now that I am so much closer, I wanna finish it! They have altered the plan and will only take those who pass the exam to Bohol (instead of all 23 of us)! We also got to meet our London trainer, a very nice lady who is as excited as we are to get the “real” training started. The thing that got me most excited was…
*drum rolls*
Our uniforms will be designed and made by RAJO LAUREL! (yay!!) I was beside myself with excitement when I found out. We will be measured on Monday, March 2 for our uniforms. We will be getting 2 sets, a sports wear set for hiking and such, and also skirt and sport shirt set with blazer.
Yesterday, we were at Boni High Street and had our personality development class there, at this posh French restaurant, Aubergine. The ambiance was beautiful, really classy and obviously expensive.
We each had Difficultly Level 5 five-course meal (haha), and taught us how to use the knives and fork properly. We learned how to tackle a salad (by folding each leaf of lettuce into bite sizes before stabbing it with a fork); eat a whole fish using a fish knife (!) without flipping it over (eat 1st layer first then remove and set aside the bone then devour the lower half of the fish); how to drink soup with a soup bowl that has handles; how to peel a prawn with knife and fork; how to twirl pasta with a fork and a pasta spoon (!), peel the banana, orange and apple with fork and knife! and all along I thought I knew how to eat! Haha. Lia Bernardo, our instructor, also gave us a quick lesson on wine appreciation which means I took 5 half-full glasses of wine, I like!
Today, we start with our London trainer! Have no idea what to expect in the training, I’m a little anxious but a little excited! I hope I absorb everything! J
Monday, February 16, 2009
A Week of Mabuhay Guides Training
It’s been a week of training as a Mabuhay Guide. So far, it has been nothing but amazing! The things I am learning right now are priceless. I wondered a week ago, how this training would change me after six weeks, but it’s only been a week and I believe I have become more nationalistic somehow. All 24 of us, are learning from THE BEST OF THE BEST; no matter how cliché that phrase sounds, there is just no other way to describe them. I am learning NEW things about a country that I was born in, grew up in, and studied in for the past 25 years.
I feel like I’ve lived in a cave for a long time, but not absolutely like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (that I have been facing a blank wall all these time), but more like I was looking at a painting by the window all these time, and understanding the world only based on the painting, and then I realized the window beside it was actually open, and I can look right through it. Now I am standing in front of this window, peering out of it, realizing, hey, there’s sunlight and it’s brighter than how I thought it would be.
These speakers we have, Mr. Felipe de Leon, Jr., humanitarian; Ms. Ning Encarnacion-Tan, nationalist architect, Dr. Florentino Hornedo, historian and archaeologist; Mr. Ramon Santos, composer, among others are like personified Wikipedia of their own expertise. They are mind-blowing lecturers that have touched each and everyone of us who are intently listening to their lecture. They fill our hearts with desire to become better people for the nation. We have no idea what our cultural identity is, which is exactly the problem why we are so crippled. We do not know what we should be proud of, we forget who we are before the Spaniards came, it is unfortunate that only a chosen few gets to know the truth.
You would also remember me comparing our situation as trainees, to be like America’s Next Top Model or Project Runway… you know what, it’s nothing like those reality TV! We do not serve our own purpose therefore we do not scheme and wish the other fails. We are learning so much that we wish everyone gets in so that we can be ambassadors and propagate what we have learned. I and my classmates are slowly getting to know each other and I think will eventually become good friends.
With this, I propose something to my mates; let us drive this passion to the next level, level as in like multilevel marketing (haha). We are 24 individuals, we are the few fortunate ones who were granted these knowledge, maybe in our little way, we can make a difference. We can each have 2 people we choose to teach our new knowledge to, and then each of them teaches another two, and then so on and so forth. I think we may be in for something big! This could be the cultural revolution that the Philippines need! Or we may also choose to become movers for change in our community, maybe starting in our high schools, talking to the youth and teach them at the early age our Culture. I may be too much of an idealist but I think we have to think big so that we can “poke”, as Ning Tan would put it, the hearts of people.
I feel like I’ve lived in a cave for a long time, but not absolutely like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (that I have been facing a blank wall all these time), but more like I was looking at a painting by the window all these time, and understanding the world only based on the painting, and then I realized the window beside it was actually open, and I can look right through it. Now I am standing in front of this window, peering out of it, realizing, hey, there’s sunlight and it’s brighter than how I thought it would be.
These speakers we have, Mr. Felipe de Leon, Jr., humanitarian; Ms. Ning Encarnacion-Tan, nationalist architect, Dr. Florentino Hornedo, historian and archaeologist; Mr. Ramon Santos, composer, among others are like personified Wikipedia of their own expertise. They are mind-blowing lecturers that have touched each and everyone of us who are intently listening to their lecture. They fill our hearts with desire to become better people for the nation. We have no idea what our cultural identity is, which is exactly the problem why we are so crippled. We do not know what we should be proud of, we forget who we are before the Spaniards came, it is unfortunate that only a chosen few gets to know the truth.
You would also remember me comparing our situation as trainees, to be like America’s Next Top Model or Project Runway… you know what, it’s nothing like those reality TV! We do not serve our own purpose therefore we do not scheme and wish the other fails. We are learning so much that we wish everyone gets in so that we can be ambassadors and propagate what we have learned. I and my classmates are slowly getting to know each other and I think will eventually become good friends.
With this, I propose something to my mates; let us drive this passion to the next level, level as in like multilevel marketing (haha). We are 24 individuals, we are the few fortunate ones who were granted these knowledge, maybe in our little way, we can make a difference. We can each have 2 people we choose to teach our new knowledge to, and then each of them teaches another two, and then so on and so forth. I think we may be in for something big! This could be the cultural revolution that the Philippines need! Or we may also choose to become movers for change in our community, maybe starting in our high schools, talking to the youth and teach them at the early age our Culture. I may be too much of an idealist but I think we have to think big so that we can “poke”, as Ning Tan would put it, the hearts of people.
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