... But I can see us lost in the memory, August slipped away into a moment in time, 'cause it was never mine.. 🎶🎶
— Taylor Swift
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What's up, fellow hivers? It has been quite a long time since my last blog, and I have not written anything for a while. This was due to the never-ending school tasks that I had to deal with. Going home after a long day filled with different lessons to take up and digest was entirely draining the thing out of me. Nonetheless, great moments never ceased to happen.
Anyway, let's get onto the point. Let me ask you this: "How long did August feel for you?" For me, the acquaintance party that we had on the 2nd of August literally felt like it only happened last week, when in fact it has been four weeks. Everything went on that fast, as if it had been timelapsed, lol. I guess I have been so occupied with a lot of things that it made me ignore the passing of time because suddenly, it's the last day of August. That is why I took this moment to share with you a wrap-up of how my August has been. This way, I am able to reconcile back the good and bad times that slipped away from me, and through this, maybe, just maybe, I could feel that August went on slowly with everything that happened.
Firstly, of course, the new battleground, Senior High School.
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Salt air came kicking in, but every day was made sweeter with these people around me. Despite how much haywire our brains went because of quizzes, homework, and activities, we are still surrounded with loud laughs that make things feel lighter at some point. We took advantage of what they always say, "Laughing is a free medicine."
The whole class of STEM-11, still fresh from vacation, lol.
August was made memorable as it holds a valuable celebration for the Filipinos'. To celebrate Filipino, ang wikang mapagpalaya (language of liberation), and to commemorate the fight our heroes laid out for the freedom that we have today. In relation to this, our school organized a lot of activities for the whole month.
A moment to commemorate the freedom that our national heroes earned for the country.
In the first week of August, the opening program was carried out, in which all students gathered as one, wearing their nationalistic costumes, to give importance to our history and culture. Each grade level in the junior high school department was assigned different competitions and tasks for the Buwan ng Wika at Kasaysayan.
On our way to perform our Sabayang Pagbigkas regarding the Cebuano literature.
Photo Captured by Cinelingk Production
We have also conducted the culminating program just this week, in which the winners for the different contests were given recognition. Also, our class performed a Sabayang Pagbigkas regarding the Cebuano literature. This felt special to me as my friend and I were the ones who wrote the piece we performed.
"In this digital age, let's make media literacy a mindset."
— Mrs. Julie Ann Pelayo, a media and information literacy teacher in our school
Photo Credits: Krisdel Madeja
Lastly, still part of our school's program for the National Language Month, journalists from our school were gathered for a seminar regarding media literacy. The resource speaker has created a meaningful and comprehensive discussion that sparked understanding among us, student-journalists, with regards to making media literacy a mindset, especially since we are anchors of different information widespread.
Secondly, the Fiesta Experience!
One thing that we also look forward to during August is the fiesta celebration of my mother's birthplace. We always stay the night before the fiesta at my mother's childhood house to enjoy and celebrate with the family. Their community has always celebrated their fiesta on the next level. For the whole week, there were a lot of entertaining shows carried out every night. Although I did not keep track of all of it because I was busy with school, I was able to free myself on the time for the parish night. I felt blessed to be part of a dance presentation that worships God.
The mass before the procession.
Taking part in the procession, at the same time, enjoying the sight of God's majestic art.
It was Friday when I intentionally came home early (fortunately, we had no more classes during that time) because we planned to attend the procession of the saint to whom the fiesta was celebrated, Santa Filomena.
The crowd enjoying the band performance!
A screenshot of the video I took. Such a splendid moment because the band was also playing the song, "Nothing's gonna stop us now."
That night, my family and I went to enjoy a band performance and a special appearance of Vina Morales, prepared and intended for a prominent name in that barangay. I personally was thrilled by the idea to finally see an actress physically and to be in the same place with one. Gladly, her entrance was caught by my eyes and, of course, the camera. However, I went home to my mother's house before Vina Morales started to perform because I am not really into crowded areas and I felt tired since I was also from school.
First stop! My aunt's house. (I was not able to take photos at my lola's house because I got busy eating, lol.)
On the day of the fiesta celebration, we had breakfast at the house. There was enough food for us, and my aunts' intentionally did not cook that much because everyone in the neighborhood did, and most of them were our relatives, so we made the most out of that, lol. We took lunch at my mother's cousin, and dinner was savored at my grandpa's sister's house; it felt like we were house hopping, haha!
We attended the mass for the fiesta celebration at 4 p.m. and lit candles to offer the celebration to the Almighty God above and to express gratitude for everything he has done.
Lastly, the Linggo ng Kabataan ✨
The mass intended for Thanksgiving.
We were to guess which purok the person behind us belonged to through how our groupmates described them. Laughs filled the open space as we all enjoyed the fun in that guessing game.
Photo Credits: Sangguniang Kabataan ng Barangay Libjo
International Youth Day was also celebrated in August. Of course, our Sangguniang Kabataan officials did not let this grand celebration pass without preparing a special treat for all the youth in our community. The celebration started with a Thanksgiving mass at 1:00 PM in the afternoon. Surely, it was a great move done by the SK officials to enhance youth involvement in the church and to bring us closer to God. It was then followed by a getting-to-know activity in which we were divided into two teams.
The opposing team never planning to leave their base! Haha!
Next was a game called "Bahaw Bahaw." This involves the players of each team roaming in the battleground trying to get into the opposing team's "home" without getting tagged by an opposing player. This game took too long to finish because no one dared to start the chase. Nonetheless, what matters was that we still had so much fun, and when I say fun, it was real fun.
A joyous day to take a break from schoolworks and reconnect with my fellows.
The last game was termed "bato lata," as it means using a slipper to aim at a can placed about meters from the players. I did not take part in it and decided to only watch them. It was still the two teams competing against each other since it was a race to hit the can first. It seemed clearly impossible at first because the can was placed at such a long distance from the players. You could literally see the slippers flying hardly, haha! Eventually, our team won. After those tiring-evoking games, we all enjoyed the snacks the officials prepared for us. At last, we say thank you to them!
That's it, Hivers! That's how August went for me. The passing of time felt really quick, right? I was glad I felt as I was writing this that during those moments, I was physically and mentally present. At the very least, those moments left a big footprint in my memory. For the last time, I could say that Taylor Swift was right; August certainly slipped away into a moment in time, but somehow, it was mine.
Hoping to share more stories with you, and may your September be filled with love and hope.