why don't you walk?

I am not sure how walking clears the mind, but at the end of every hike, my mind, body and breathing are one.

I also walk for other intentions outside of my personal reasons.  Golda for one.  She loves the jog from Frogglerocks to The Little Farm House.  She gets all the reward of getting there from all her young admirers.

Today, I walked for Ana.  Maybe it would help ease her heavy anticipation of a meeting that could only turn well (I hope).

I walk on streets with deserted houses.  These houses are so lonely that they probably like to see a live human form besides the ghosts and spirits that dwell in their rooms.

I walk with friends who need to cry and sort things out in every step,  or listen to  woes about husbands who have gone astray, money that does not come, neighbors who suck, etcetera, etcetera! 

I walk quite often with someone who needs to burn his sugar.  Funny that his name is Sugar.

I walk for health and peace of mind and to figure things out.   Sometimes I stumble upon wisdom while walking or realize that life is really a comedy, not a tragedy.

I untangle knots in my joints, stretch my muscles and wonderfully glow with enhanced circulation.  These are some side effects of walking... the downside - bigger legs and feet maybe but who cares? 

walk daily if you must.

Decoding HEDCen

Some Acronyms

AN                   assignment notebook
AP                    Araling Panlipunan
BO                   Business Office
CD                    Center Director
DTIC                Deputy Teacher-in-Charge
ES                    Environmental Science
E&A                 Evaluation and Assesment
GS                    Grade School
HW                   Homework
HY                    HEDCen Year
HEDCen           Holistic Education and Development Center
IT                      Information Technology
LO                     Level Orientation
MAPE               Music, Arts, PE
NPO                  New Parents' Orientation
PCTC                Parent-Child-Teacher Conference
RCDL               Resource Center for Discovery and Learning (Library)
RICC                 Research, Instruction and Curriculum Coordinator

SAC                  Subject Area Coordinator
SMO                 Subject Matter Outline
SPC                  Special Projects Coordinator
SW                    Seat work
SY                    School Year
TIC                   Teacher-in-Charge
TT                     Trim Test

Acronyms from Preschool:
AN                    Assignment Notebook
M                      Math notebook
Wr                     Writing notebook
PS                     Parent's Signature
WB                   Workbook (put together with a subject Ex. MWB)
(MWB              Math Workbook)

People
Administration:
Center Director  Teacher Emma
School Head       Teacher Ana
RICC                   Coach Juaqui
Finance               Coach Sugar
SPC                     Sir Rudolph
SACs:
English               Sir Rudolph
Fil/AP                 T. Angie
IT                        Sir Nigel
MAPE                Sir Seth
Math                   Sir Joseph
Science               Sir Henry (Bio and ES)
                           Sir Virgo  (Physics and Chem)
TLE                   T. Sarcia
Registrar            Mrs. Tessie Tilos
BO                     Ms. Myra and Ms. Edlyn
Bookstore          Ms. Lillian and Sir JP
RCDL                Ms. Bianca
Canteen             Mrs. Escario or Mrs. E
Clinic                T. Angie
Guidance          T. Emma

Maintenance:
G2,4,5 Areas (Pulot Pukyutan Bldg.)                 Kuya Ariel
G6, Yr2, mini gym, RCDL (Bahay Langgam)   Manong Federico
G1,Yr. 3, Yr. 4, IT Ctr. (Kulas Garden)              Manong JR
Offices, Fac Lounge                                            Manong Paras
Science Lab                                                         Manong Alex

Guards:
Guard Celso
Guard Cinco
Guard Soleto

Another HEDCen story

Our life in school is heavily punctuated with the expected and the unexpected!  As we began the new school year today, I said a prayer for every child on whose face I see the vision of my school realized.  I also said a prayer for all of us who dared take this challenge of forming souls and enabling dreams.

There were faces that I missed for they have moved to a different environment maybe bigger than ours, more populated than where they came from, more lenient and less demanding in terms of making them work to full capacity and giving their best efforts, where friends of their "kind" can be found and which therefore, we cannot afford to give, a new country, a different culture.

Strikingly, I have seen the same phenomena one experiences near the sea, only that it is happening in this little corner of the world where HEDCen or The Little Farm House is.  The waves that lap up the shore are the same waves that would retreat to the sea then back again, bye for now, back again... 

To some of those who left, they come back.  Back to the old folds of this school, this time never wanting to leave again.

So I meet all the new faces this morning coming from different little corners of the world.  But I also have seen those who have rejoined us for a reason that is the least romantic- but bold and wise:  the challenge that they have come to love and appreciate here, they could not find outside.  

This year too marks the season when the grains are heavy and ready for harvest.  I am joined by my daughter on my right and my son on my left!  Not that there is any significance to where I have categorized them as I write.  I am happy to be working with my own children, and to see them take care of this school the way they would a younger sibling.

It is not always ideal as I sometimes find myself with very little patience and sometimes, they being short of the same thing with me.  But we do manage to sort things out.  After all, I am their Center Director in school and Their Majesty at home!  One thing that's never short here is their dedication and willingness to be mentored.  I see them missing their meals or even forgetting to drink and I see them blink with headache or twitch due to fatigue since they started to take on the jobs.  Not that it is a good thing.  But they are really  intense about making a difference! (So now you see that I will probably slug it out with anybody who who would accuse them otherwise!) :)

But on the whole, if I may tell their lolo and lola in heaven, with these two on the lead and joined by the Transformers a.k.a. HEDCen Faculty, there is no way this school is going to stop.  New blood and unfailing dedication are everything a dream such as HEDCen will need.  I thank their mentors, those who taught them, those who challenged them, those who made them bleed a little, some who shocked them, loved them, believed in them- most especially the children who inspired them, hugged them and made them cry a little and those who accompany them in their journey, in our journey together in making better people for better earth!

The HEDCen way is our prayer! 

20 years of NPO

I have been giving an orientation to new parents for the last 20 years.   And strangely, no orientation is ever the same.  I talk about the same school but in different ways.  Except that today, I will be brief.

I want to tell them that on my 40th orientation,  I will be seeing your children seated as parents.  That is 20 years from now.

I will tell them that my welcome gifts are thoughts of my school's vision, mission and ideal student or person.

There is no clear departure from each of these gifts, only that they flow from one to the other.

The Filipino child is what or who I am looking at.  He is the target of the school's vision.  A globally competent member of the world community contributing largely to education, family units, environment and human rights.  20 years from now, people can have more than 10 jobs, and our ideal graduate will be capable of creating their own jobs and that of others.

How is that possible?  By believing in the capacity of every individual or of every child.  That is our mission and or the wind the breathes beneath the wings.

Through the HEDCen's formation and academic programs, we aim to deliver the world the goods- the ideal Hedcen student equipped with life skills, a high adversity quotient, emotionally intelligent, intelligently functional and relevant.



 

, (it says comma)

no words.
have been writing lately
but only in my head

open, shut
packing. unpacking
to be or not to be.

there's only one word.
pause.
to save time, pause.

to save money, pause.
to save your soul, pause.

pause to breathe.