Moving Forward

I’ve decided to learn more about the public education system in the Philippines. In the next few months, I’ll be using this blog as a notebook of sorts to record what I learn about the whole system.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m currently in an internship with Citizen Schools MA helping out with their MA Civic Engagement team. Being in the office has made education a daily topic and it’s interesting to see and learn how America is trying to solve her problems with public education.

Things I hope to learn during this period:

1. How is the Department of Education structured?
2. Who makes which decisions?
3. How are programs funded?
4. Which private companies are interested in funding programs?
5. How many high performing NGOs are addressing this problem?
6. What are our policies on education reform? Is it going anywhere

I’ll concentrate on these 6 first.

Get excited. I know I am.

Fathers’ Day

No one is perfect. If you’re not on good terms with your father, please make up right now.

My dad has done so much for me. I was stupid for always focusing on the bad things. Thank you, dad.

Happy fathers’ day!

The Tyranny of Average

Average is such a nice place to hang around in. No one calls you out for being crazy. Resentment is almost non-existent. People only compare themselves based on material possessions. Oh, I loved it there once.

Get a cool car, a big house, and the nicest watches. That’s what people from the land named Average aspire for. They work their butts off day to day to buy things and to live a good life. Naturally, their children do the same. This cycle goes on and on until someone along the way gets exposed to the remarkable.

All I know is that I have been exposed to the remarkable. My life has changed ever since.

I won’t lie. Material things are interesting to own. However, they are not my first cause. They only give me temporal happiness. They are just a bonus from working to be remarkable. Yes, you can be crazy and earn money. I failed statistics but I know that money and instability are not mutually exclusive.

Instability simply means the openness to change, to adapt new ideas and to realize that I could be wrong. Where I’m from, it’s alright to nurse mild insanity. It keeps you on your toes.

Don’t be fooled by life cycles. The real world is governed by randomness.

I can never know what’s coming. Now, that’s exciting.

Where?

In the middle of the Yucatan jungle on the way to Chichen Itza, I found …

Why are you everywhere Coca-cola?

Routine

It’s really hard to start new habits. Every time I try, I end up failing half way. I just hope I can ingrain activities I admire into my daily routine. For example, at the start of last school year, I convinced myself that I would pick up painting again. After finishing one piece 2/3rds of the way, I lost time to do it and stopped. I also really wanted to start exploring Philadelphia’s food scene. However, that stopped as I didn’t prioritize spending to make that a possibility.

I hope there was a simple way to convince yourself to do things you consider good and beneficial. Why is wasting time such an easy thing to do? If it would take 100x more effort to spend an hour on the internet doing nothing, then maybe I’d be able to concentrate on reading or painting.

A list of habits I wish to pick up over the summer:

1. Read books and finish them in a given amount of time
2. Draw and/or sketch. I can paint when I have my stuff out of storage
3. Keep track of all my expenses wisely by making a budget and sticking to it.
4. Spend time nourishing my faith in the morning and at night
5. Exercising regularly- jogging, lifting, etc…
6. Keeping a scheduler/calendar

(While I was writing this post, I’ve killed four mosquitoes and a huge insect tapped my shoulder and buzzed around my ear before deciding to die for ten seconds and start flying again. wthwthwth. Also, while watching a movie with my team at Cancun I killed an unidentified insect which freaked one of us out by using the sink’s stopper to smash its head. )

The all-inclusive life

Over the weekend, our team went to an all-inclusive resort in the hotel zone. It was basically a cruise on land. We have unlimited food and drinks and a few activities lined up for free. (Most were pool games with adults who seemed tipsy too early in the day.)

While we were there, we didn’t have a care in the world because everything we ate was paid for. We had a good room, bathroom and 3 buffet meals daily. Moreover, the Caribbean Sea was just a few steps away from our room. Okay, we did care about some things. Namely, which restaurant we’d be eating at, what we would be eating and if we’d put on sunblock.

If that what life’s like after one has made his millions? Would you want to waste away in all-inclusive resorts around the world. I had an awesome experience but I wonder if people do this constantly. I know some people would work extremely hard to escape to resorts after they’ve made money but is that all life offers them?

What about goals dreams and ambition?

Over the weekend, my goal was to eat at all the restaurants and have a good time doing nothing. I’m glad I don’t live here.

But I’d definitely want to go back every now and then…

I’m glad I don’t have this room.

Today, we woke up to rain in this tropical paradise. We’re not near any beaches so our work environment’s closer to a tropical rainforest than a beach. While it was raining heavily outside our rooms, we had our little storm as my roommate and I were getting raindrops on our head. It got so bad that my roommate transfered to a different bed (We have 3 beds for 2 people) because the leaks dripped directly on his forehead. Apart from that, this room’s door is jammed. We always go in using the windows.

Because of the leaking room, the cleaning staff told us she was going to clean another room for us to occupy. (They just finished hosting a retreat last weekend so the rooms were still being cleaned one by one) Unfortunately, this new room’s restroom lights are not working. Also, we don’t have water in this new room. So my roommate and I have to shower 10 rooms away.

The wonders of living in a tropical paradise will continue to amaze me.

In other news, we’re going to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun this weekend. Our new friend, David, the coordinator of the retreat center, got us an awesome rate of 50/night when Expedia would quote 253/night. Today, we also met the owner who brought a bunch of hotel chain managers/owners to the foundation.

No more jammed doors, leaking roofs and dry water pipes, even if its just for two days!