the last week

last week na lng of duties. this is going to be the longest week of our internship lives siguro.... konti na lng and we're finally free. :)

imagine, matatapos na namin ang 365 days of duty. haaaay...

thank you Lord for strength.
thank you Lord for grace.

sa puyat. sa pagod. sa pag-iyak. sa nakakainis na mga karanasan. salamat.
sa masasayang duties. sa masisipag na groupmates. sa mababait na residents. salamat.
sa hindi magagandang experiences. sa mga olats moments. sa mga frightening situations. salamat.
sa adrenaline rush. sa boring times. sa panahon na nakakatulog kami while on duty. salamat.
sa mga stab wounds, gunshot wounds, lacerated wounds, punctured wounds at lahat ng klaseng wounds na natuto kami magtahi. salamat.
sa sakit ng katawan. sa kaba sa dibdib. sa terror na mga consultants. salamat.
sa mga na-deliver na babies na well. salamat.
sa nakaka-intindi na mga housemates and friends. salamat.
sa mga irate folks. irate PGIs. irate interns. irate patients. irate residents. irate nurses. irate everybody. salamat.
sa mga cool din naman na mga tao, lalo na ang mga cardiotechs. salamat.
salamat, Lord. salamat sa buong taon.

salamat at buhay pa ako. at wala pa akong Hepa B. at wala din akong TB na active.
:)

salamat po. salamat.

at the Social Hygiene Clinic....

...i sat down and almost wept. My heart felt for them. But i was silent.

"Are you betrothed?"
"No, only loved."
"And do you pay for love?"
"No, but i owe it everything."

I am now reading Calvin Miller's The Singer, The Song and The Finale. And we are now rotating at the City Health Office here in Iloilo. And kanina, we were posted at the Social Hygiene Clinic where we get to meet and examine these special women whom God also loves. First time ko to be within reach of one. It was a different experience.

I was reminded by those lines above when i entered the clinic. There were so many of them, these Friendship Sellers. And i had these urge to hug them and tell them that someone loves them for real. To teach them the Song of the Troubadour. To share to them the infinite love of the EarthMaker to whom i also owe everything. But i couldn't. I was silent. Lord, forgive me. I just smiled at them, tried to be kind and friendly, and did my best to smear fast and without causing pain. Hoping that at least by my doing so, i may share God's love somehow...

As a doctor, how can i share to them my faith? Share to them the hope that there is life and love that is pure and real and free? Jesus took only a few minutes with the woman at the well... Bakit ako nawalan ng sasabihin? A few minutes... I know the One who can free them from these dances that the World Hater has taught them. But i failed to sing to them the Song...

Father, do not forget them. Please bring people who can sing to them your Song so that they can be set free from their chains and have life in you.

mt. napulak (third dose)

That's us, the nine crazy junior interns at the top of Mt. Napulak's "Nipple". Mt. Napulak is shaped like a breast daw kase and there's this big rock at the peak (parang Ayer's Rock sa Australia pero a lot smaller...) na mukhang nipple nung mountain pag sa malayo. There's a steel cross at the top of this rock (pero di na namin kinunan ng picture). The view here is wonderful, sobra. You can see until the coast at kita din ang Guimaras and Negros. Then the other side of the mountain is Antique na daw.

Bumaba na kami from the nipple before sunset. Kase it would have been dangerous to go back down without lights. So we watched the sunset dun sa baba ng nipple na lng.

Night time at the peak was cold. Really cold. Ang kasama namin na asthmatic was wheezing before morning. Hahaha. Tsktsk. The winds were strong and cold. Super. Part ng kabaliwan namin ay wala kaming dalang mga sleeping bags. The winds sounded like waves crashing on the beach pag may bagyo. Of us 11 (including the guide), si Manong Morot (the guide) and Jun (the guest) and Jewel (na friend of the mountaineer, haha!) lang ang may dala ng sleeping bags. I had two sweatshirts and 3 beddings. Hiniram ni Roch ung isa kong sweater kase di sya nkadala. Grabe. Super ginaw. I kept waking every 2 hours, wishing for morning. It was one of the longest nights in my life. Di ko na ma-feel halos ung paa ko sa lamig. Haha. But we survived until morning naman.

Morning was foggy. And wet. We were IN the clouds. :) Parang benguet yung lamig. Like the time na nag-EchoCamp kami sa Benguet na binagyo kami. Waaaaah... Wet and cold. We went down at about 8am... basa pa yung mga cogon grass at matalim sila. We skidded and slid part of the way down the slope lalo na dun sa mga cogon parts. Scary. Buti na lng mejo may clouds below us kase we couldn't see the drop. Haaay. My knees were buckling before we got to ground zero. It took us 4 hours to get from the peak to the coconuts waiting for us sa town. :)

make-up

Magaling yung make-up artist.....

Yung photographer di masyado.... or di lng tlga ako photogenic... hehe....

Ewan... basta today, nagpapicture na kami for the gradpic... at ayan po ang makeup ko dun. :)

mt. napulak (2nd dose)

4am. Saturday. March 14, 2009. Kami ni Leng, Jun (ang "boy" ni Leng at nag-iisang hindi med sa climbing party) and si Jonas ay sumakay sa jeep papuntang Igbaras, Iloilo dahil ang sabi samin ng mga classmates namin ay 6am daw kami magsisimulang umakyat sa Mt. Napulak. The previous night pa sila andun (Friday).

We got there at about 530am at tulog pa sila. :) 7am pa naman daw kami magsisimula sa aming adventure for the day. So nagluto pa ng mga pagkain na babaunin, nag-ayos ng mga gamit ang kung ano-ano pa. Then sinundo na kami ng mga motorcycles ('habal-habal - 2 passengers + 1 driver sa isang maliit na motor) na magdadala sa amin sa paanan ng Mt. Napulak... sa Brgy. Lib-on.

Sa Brgy. Lib-on namin na-meet si Manong Morot na syang guide namin (and sya ang guide ng halos lahat na umaakyat dun sa Napulak). We started out at about 815am... Nagsimula kaming maglakad sa mga taniman ng peanuts at tobacco. After some time ng paglalakad.... pagod na kami lahat.... at tinanong namin si Manong: 'Malapit na po ba?', at ang sagot ni Manong, 'Kung sa zero to ten.... nasa zero pa lang tayo...' Wahahahaha... panalo..... at pagod na pagod na kami nun... :)

Then nagsimula na ang pa-akyat namin na paglalakad. Pumasok kami ng forest.... at umakyat... at umakyat... at umakyat.... Dumaan kami sa mga lugar na bangin na ang next sa amin... crazy tlga. Oh yeah, did i mention that 2 people in our party were wearing tsinelas??? Hahahaha... kabaliwan tlga. :) Then dumating nanaman kami sa isang point na super ganda ng view.... at tinanong namin si manong kung malapit na ba kami at ang sagot nya, "Malayo pa. Wala pa tayo sa 1/3." At sumagot ako nito: 'Manong, mula ngayon po, ang isasagot mo lang sa amin pag nagtanong kami kung malayo pa ay, "malapit na!"' Hehhee.... at ang bait talaga ni Manong Morot.... dahil for the next 5 hours... everytime we asked him kung malayo pa, ang sagot nya nga sa amin ay "malapit na"". Wahahahahaha. The best tlaga si Manong!

Nakakita nga pala kami ng Rafflesia flower. :) At sabi ni manong, tanda daw un na mataas na kami. Dahil hindi daw tumutubo ang Rafflesia sa mababang mga lugar. Yep, it smells bad. Hehe.

We got to a point where the tree-line ended and the cogon-grass started.... And that was when the major crawling started. Pambihira. Parang may trail lang na level, tapos there was this slope before us. And nagtanong kami kay manong, "jan ba tayo sa taas?" at ang sagot ni manong, "Di pa, mga dalawang ganyan pa." Waaaaaaaah...... It took us about two hours from that point to reach the peak. We were on our hands and feet na talaga paakyat. At malakas ang sikmura ng titingin pababa.... (lahat kami malakas ang sikmura. hehe) We finally got to the top at about 3pm. Haaay salamat.