Almost a year after the pandemic the town of Odiongan recorded its first case of Covid-19. It was imported, and there was no panic because the positive case was isolated right away, but everything change almost a month ago when a local transmission occurred in the neighboring town, and then spread like a little fire in Odiongan town.

[Photo courtesy of Bong Gabutero de Villena]

There were already 86 cases, one death and lots of recoveries so far, but since the local transmission started government and other private offices were in skeletal work, some work from home as well, but those jobs that requires collecting of money and meeting a lot of clients everyday was halted until further notice while the contract tracing is still on-going.

[Photo courtesy of Jessa Famero Solano/Bulig sa Tabobo-an]

Filipinos are known to be hospitable and known to be resilient, with the current situation of the Philippines a community pantry emerged in Manila, neighboring cities and now even in Odiongan. Every barangay in the town has their own community pantry where anyone is free take food or household items they need and anyone could drop off whatever food/items they could donate.

The community pantry was a powerful idea of Maginhawa Community Pantry with a theme “Give whatever you can, take only what you need”

I have been working as job order in the local government for more than a year already, but I have no worker’s ID.  It wasn’t required at work, and there wasn’t a memo saying we should get one or a memo requiring us to get one.  I have remembered one time, we went to the HR department to ask about it, but we are told the ID template has to be change so we should just wait for the new template. Then, there was a time we are allowed to get an ID after getting our employee number. I went to the photo shop one afternoon, but I wasn’t catered since I think the owner is already feeling lazy turning on the equipment, I was asked to return the next day, but given my busy life in the office running around for errands I never had the chance to return anymore especially the shop is not a walking distance from my work place.

Pandemic came, still no ID. A year after pandemic started, still no ID and then suddenly again a quarantine pass is needed to go to town. Having no ID I have asked my sister to get me a Worker’s pass if she get hers, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to get me a pass, because whoever releasing the passes in our barangay doesn’t believe I don’t have a worker’s ID. If you are government worker, an ID is enough to pass through the check point according the memo from above.

With this, we decided to rush an ID from the photo shop in town where our LGU is tied up. It was closed and currently not receiving clients, but since one of our workmate is their neighbour we just did it the easiest way, we send our details and photos online, as well as our e-signature. Guess, what my disappointment when I received my ID? The details at the back were wrong, my birthdate, parent’s address and phone number and the signature at the back was not mine.  I have told my workmate about it, and he was told that the shop will give me a new one, but when the new one came instead of being happy I feel so stress out even more, because it has the wrong Employee number! Seriously? The minor errors at the back of the new ID is bearable, but having the wrong Employee number stresses me out  tremendously, so I asked my sister if he can message the shop owner if he can print another ID for me and I will just pay for it, since there was a mistake on the new ID I have received.  Call me vain, but I can’t accept the fact that I have a wrong employee number; it was like I stole someone’s identity or license number if we are talking about a professional identification.

Anyway, I was given a Worker’s pass in our barangay before I am able to rant in my Facebook account. No replied yet from the shop owner. He might be busy or cannot be bothered with my problem.

Last Saturday, I woke up early and went to town before day light to help in the bike marathon sponsored by VM in celebration of his 50^th birthday.  It was a 50km bike race with five (5) categories; they were based on age group.

My office mates and I has their own designation in the marathon, I was assigned at the registration of the younger bikers (19 below) together with an older office mate.  We started the registration as soon we’ve done setting-up the tables and canopies. As expected from the pre-registration done a week ago, 19 below has more joiners,  I think we have around 45 young bikers.

Well, the bikers left five (5) minutes apart by category, and when everyone left to race we move our tables to the finished line, and since we still have ample time left before the bikers returned some of us went to the office to have a breakfast (a cup of coffee and pandesal with peanut butter) courtesy of an older office mate. The bikers returned early than expected, I had a trouble recording some of the bikers time in my category, not because they are too many, but because some bikers lost their numbers and it was hard to know who they are. You know what, I have raised this problem at the orientation asking if it is possible the bikers will also have number at their back, but we are told it will not be a problem because the bikers group will be there to help us, they will announced the number of approaching biker so we can hear and your guess is right as mine, it never happened when some bikers number were lost along the way.

There was instance I have to kneel just to see the number of approaching biker, that’s how hard to get the bikers numbers. Well, don’t ask for my partner because she is doing her own thing. Initially, she told me that she will record or video everything, but in one minute we all saw her becoming a medic, someone’s assistant and a caterer eerrr server, giving snacks to the bikers.

Anyway, the marathon ended well. We had a group picture, and when I returned to the table where left my documents they were nowhere to be found and then I overheard one of my office mate saying all the folders were keep in the container. The inner me is saying to check if my folder was there, but I am too tired to be bothered.

Monday came, and I was asked for my records as there are some bikers wanted to know their travel time, it turns it wasn’t in the container. Yep, it was missing and nowhere to be found. I already asked everyone, but no one is voicing out. It was a good thing, I have the habit of taking pictures of every important files. It was late in the afternoon when I was called by an older office mate, it turns out he has my folder, maybe he accidentally took it.

It was been almost two months since our province was ordered to be in Enhanced Community Quarantine, lots of things had happened. The ECQ was extended for a month after 15 days of being under it, then General Community Quarantine came over for 15 days and on the 16th of May the GCQ will be modified.

On the first week of the Enhanced Community Quarantine everyone was still adjusting, no public transports, some restaurants, offices and other establishments were closed. After a week of ECQ all job orders in our office were asked to report to help in repacking of goods, but unfortunately I didn’t comply because it wasn’t that easy as 123, I have no quarantine pass and either my father because one member in a family is only allowed to go outside to buy food and medicines, my sister has the pass so she can easily buy milk and diapers for my niece as well as other necessities at home, I don’t know how to drive which means I have to walk 9 to 10 kilometres every day (back and forth), and I have a vulnerable mother and a baby niece in our home. There were a lot of PUM’s (Person under Monitoring) and PUI’s (Person under Investigation) at that time so their safety is my number one priority, as we cannot afford to get sick.

A week of ECQ (21th of April) helped came over from the barangay for the affected workers of the pandemic, my carpenter father received a bag of relief goods composed of 2.4 kilos of rice, 2 cans of sardines, 2 packed of instant noodles, 1 small can of corned beef, a packed of coffee, one sachet of bath soap and a laundry soap, within a family of five with four adult, the rice will be good for three meals or one day only, small help but it is better than nothing, and still a blessing to be thankful for.

A week after, my father received a relief good from the local government or from our municipality, inside the bag is about 7.2 kilos of rice, 4 cans of sardines, 2 cans of hot and spicy tuna, one kilo of dried fish with tomatoes.

The next day, my sister was also given a relief good, wait rephrase she went to the temporary barangay hall to collect a relief good, as the barangay is giving relief goods to every family or workers with family that wasn’t able to received yet. The bag has 5 cans of spicy sardines, 3 sachet of brown coffee and about 4.8 kilos of rice.

Then after two weeks, my sister had also her share of relief good from the municipal government which is composed of 7.2 kilos of rice, 4 cans of sardines, 1 can of corned beef and a can of spicy tuna, but hey that’s not all, there was also a kilo of dried fish, tomatoes and one piece of cucumber in a separate bag.

Don’t ask about me, I am not qualified to receive help because I don’t have my own family neither a husband (so mean), I wish they realized I am also human being capable of eating (joke).

Then nothing more, I mean no more relief goods from the local government, but my sister received groceries from their cooperative which I am not able to take pictures, as some of them were already eaten/ cooked before I know it.

When the pandemic and ECQ started, three of us stopped working, luckily we had a continued wages with the order of the national government, my monthly wages cannot raise a family and spending on a baby’s milk and diapers, our budget wasn’t enough, but a little something is better than nothing at all.

We are in provincial rate, but the prices of commodities in our province are much more expensive than the commodities you can buy in Manila.

Anyway would like to say, thank you to our Mayor and to other local officials for the help (relief goods) during the ECQ.

Life is really so ironic, that’s why to enjoy things while they are good and just be strong when things are not good.  Looking back, almost seven years ago I felt being left behind, my friends and classmates were already professionals, some of them were teachers, nurses, engineers and etc., while me was just a wife and a blogger who earned from my own little life.  I am happy, but secretly I want to be like them, I want to have a career, I want to be a professional too.

Fast forward, today I am professional like I wanted to be, but I am not happy. I lost everything I had when I wish to be like them, regrets are late and I can’t turn back the time nor wake up like it was just a dream. Life was really so ironic, me wanting more made me lost everything. Indeed, you can’t really have a cake and eat it too!

Honestly, there are times depression is eating me in, the desire of wanting to reset my life and start from the very start again is bugging me. I wanted to correct the bad choices I make, and to avoid the wrong people I have met in my so called life, but the sad truth resetting my life only means dying because time machines were not actually real.

Odiongan as the center of trade and commerce in the Province of Romblon, had come a long way towards progress and development.

 

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ATM Launching of Tourism Tagline Logo #VibrantOdiongan, YourHeart, YourHome, YourFuture and the presentation of the new official seal. #VisitRomblonIslands #Odiongan #OdionganRomblon #Odiongantourism #odionganph #odiongan❤️

A post shared by Herz (@hyannec) on Oct 10, 2019 at 7:24pm PDT

Today,   Padyak para sa Kalikasan and  the tourism tagline and logo #VibrantOdiongan (Your Heart Your Home Your Future)  was launched and the new seal of the Municipality of Odiongan was also unveiled and presented at Odiongan Park Plaza in the leadership of Mayor Trina with the Sangguniang Bayan Members.

The event was attended by employees from different department and offices, as well as private individuals. As the master of ceremony jokingly says the launching was a grandiose event as Mayor Trina provided snacks for everyone (lol).

Nothing much to write right now, it was been a long time since I dragged myself to write something in my blog and I am currently remembering how to write again. #lmao

Life became so busy these past few months, yep here am I again starting a blog post with this line. I have been procrastinating lately,  a friend had told me that I only write when I am feeling sad, maybe because writing became an outlet for me to release my hidden emotions and stressed.

Well, I have many things to write and I will try to write more soon, but it looks like I can’t write personal experiences and feelings anymore in this blog, as my friends are starting to notice.

I will be back soon!

Life have been so busy for me these past few months in school, especially the month of March, working with outputs, conducting and writing three field study books and preparing for the final exams.  It has been almost a month since our class ended, but I didn’t have time to be back in blogging, I have been procrastinating and been busy with other things at home.

A week ago, was Romblon Baktas Mountaineers second year anniversary and I am more than excited to climb with them again, but finding someone to drive my motorcycle was not easy, my sister can’t drive and my cousins were working, that’s where a hiker friend asked me if I want to climb with them on the same date to Mt. Puting Bato, as I looked through the name of possible hikers I have noticed most of them were my friends, I was told there was an issue with the old group and it was too long to elaborate, so I didn’t ask anymore about it.

Since, the proposed hike was just nearby and my father can drive for me to the jump-off, I decided to hike with them.  It was me who arrived first at the jump-off, my father didn’t left until my hiker friends came. We are only 10 hikers at the jump-off, and five of us were unfamiliar to me.  After a few minutes of prepping and meeting our hiking guide and another hiker friend,  we started walking to the foot of the mountain. It was very easy hike compare to the first time I hike at Mt. Puting Bato whereas I hyperventilate, I passed at the peanut farm without grasping for air, it seems walking through the school campus made me fit to hike.

Our guide told us that there is a new trail to the peak, it is nearer but we have to climb through higher rocky elevation, so we did. Within one hour and fifteen minutes we arrived at the peak, the peak was more friendly and spacious than before, our guide told us that a lot of locals where hiking to the summit and with this, they clean around the peak and constructed some wooden bench up top.

We stayed at the peak, waiting for our two hiker friends who followed. We did a normal hiker will do, enjoy the scenery below and took many pictures as many as we want, RJ as one of the late comer became our instant photographer with his unique photography skills, it was quite very funny because a hiker friend Iphone 7 became the group official camera, whereas most of our pictures, solo and groupies were taken in the said phone, as the outcome of the pictures were good, the colors were so vivid and clear.

We stayed at the peak for three hours and thirty minutes, resting, taking pictures, telling stories, laughing and we also ate our lunch in there. When we think, we already have enough and we stayed quite longer, we started walking down the other side of the mountain, same trail we used in our first hike at Mt. Puting Bato, our hiking trip will not be complete without going to the cave, along the way we passed through a place that looks like a God forsaken land, the trees were cut and the grasses were born to die, kaingin.

Anyway, we did some caving and unlike before where I didn’t go inside the cave, I did go down this time using the pole that where already there.  The cave was undeveloped and unprotected, there were bats, birds and stalagmites. It was not that large like the popular cave in Jeju, but spacious enough to accommodate 20 people. We looked around and took pictures, then we decided to go up and continue going down the mountain, whereas everyone felt electrified upon seeing a guava tree, our guide climb the tree for us and he even asked permission to the old man we meet if we can have some buko or young coconuts, so we did along the trail.

When we reached a small hut under the tamarind tree, we rested and waited for the second group and that’s where we got the copies of our photos from a hiker friend’s Iphone 7,  we arrived at the jump off at three o’clock in the afternoon.

It was almost three weeks since my last update on this blog, life have been so busy for me in school. Quizzes, assignments, diagnostic test and then mid-term examination which is supposedly scheduled this week, but with the busy schedule of the faculty it will be move next week.

We didn’t have a class yesterday, our instructor was exhausted from traveling out of town just to be a member of the panel for the pre-service teachers, so I and two of my friends decided to eat out. We’ve been asking each other where to eat, then I remember the newly opened comfort food restaurant/snack bar in Odiongan called Crazy Ground so we went in there to try it, it was a perfect place to hang-out because I am feeling crazy yesterday after a short talk with one of our instructors, my sensitivity and over thinking collides.

Crazy Ground was house at the closed Orient Cuisine restaurant, I thought it was owned by different person, but upon going in, I have found out that Crazy Ground and the closed Orient Cuisine has the same owner. As I remember before Crazy Ground opens, Orient Cuisine was looking for a cook, maybe they didn’t find one so they venture to a new one, well my speculation might be wrong.

Crazy Ground is perfect for students alike or people trying to eat budget food since it wasn’t that costly. We have ordered their Tuna Carbonara ₱85 and Oreo Blast Milk tea ₱70 and Crazy Ground Special ₱65 for one friend. Our milk tea was served within 15 minutes and the carbonara follow after 4 minutes. The milk tea was good but would be nice if it is a little more cooler, the pasta was good as well, it is savory.

Crazy Ground serves different type of snacks according to your liking or taste bud, they have chips, burgers, potatoes, street food platters, milk teas, hot drinks and rice meals.

CRAZY GROUND
M.L. Quezon Street, Brgy. Liwanag, Odiongan, Romblon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrAzyGrouNdSnackBar/
Phone: 567-6310
Opens at 2:30PM

Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post. Above written post was my own personal experience and might be different from yours.

It was before Christmas vacation when we are given a group task in one of our subject in school, to be presented the next year when class resumed.  We all procrastinated, we really didn’t do preparation until the day it has to be presented. The task is we have to create acronyms for the word “Great Teacher” and do a presentation about it. We already have rough draft on what to do we decided to do a talk show, but less than two hours before our class we revised the content of our talk show.

A talk show will not be a talk show without a host, and as expected I was appointed to be the host.  It was my first time doing it, our talk show runs about inviting my elementary teacher whom also celebrating her 80th birthday (play by an older classmate) who made a great impact in my life during my elementary days, and I have also invited some of her former pupils (other group mates) to wish her happy birthday and leave messages, tell stories based on the acronym we made with the word “Great Teacher”.

Our presentation started by someone creating an intro, and when it is my turn I was mental blocked at first, not knowing what to say next. It was an impromptu acting which mean it is unscripted, when I started speaking and moving I lost all my pretensions and I ate not just the floor, but almost the whole time of our class leaving a little time to the next presenter (lol), our teacher even complained that we almost eat up all the memory of his phone and it literally heated up, he recorded a video of every presentation eh. I was told by a group mate to avoid speaking English all the time, because our other group mates were feeling nervous, but I know I can’t do it, if I started speaking Tagalog, I will forgetting my act and what to say.

Anyway, our group presented these acronyms for Great Teacher;  Giving, Reinforcer, Encourager, Advance Thinker, Tenacious, Trustworthy, Engaging, Appreciative, Committed, Humble, Endearing and Respectful.