Holy Week Marathon

Holy week is something that many people around the country are waiting for just like any other Christian holidays like Christmas and New Year. Commemorating the passion and deed of Christ have been the Philippines annual celebration especially for those who are fully practicing their religion. Holy Week has long been a means for most people to ask for His forgiveness and do penance for their sins by doing sacrifices from the extreme ones such as being nailed on the cross and having processions while they are striking their back with something that have thorns in it (well, I am not really sure with that) down to the superficial ones like fasting and abstinence.
As for me, I partake in this occasion by participating in the church's activities during the week.

Holy Monday
The start of the holy week spelled agony for me and also took me by surprise.
This was the agony, I had an exam in my major subject that is HNF41-Diet Therapy I. It was really hard, I could not explain how I felt after I took the exam knowing that I really studied hard for it. My classmates and I were telling each other that the exam was already our punishment. But I just couldn't get it out of mind so I went to the dormitory and sleep.
That night I have a dinner with my old professor. She invited us for dinner because she us that she will not be teaching anymore at the university so we need to claim our reward for passing Math14. We dine out, exchanged our stories, laughed and wondered how and why. She will be entering the convent on the 10th of April. We were really taken aback although we already had the idea of where she was going. It was just as surprising like knowing someone is going to get married. However, we enjoyed the night our and spent the night like we will never see each other again.

Holy Tuesday
I woke up early, applied for a job online, ate alone and then went home. On the evening of this day, I hang out with my cousins. It was a plain ordinary day.

Holy Wednesday
At 3:00 in the afternoon, we attended the Station of the Cross. It was a long walk and had too many stops. The weather was not that friendly, at all. But I can tell that it is better to have a little sacrifice sometimes.

Maundy Thursday
I attended the mass. Afterwards, I went to my Lola's house just like my usual routine after attending the mass. I found my uncle there and told me that they were going to Mt. Banahaw and will be spending the there. I decided to go with them. Surprisingly, I came across an old classmate in self defense and we spend almost 2 hours of nonstop talking that most people were asking if we really know each other. At around 10:00 pm, we decided to bid each other goodnight.
It was so cold there that I didn't get a good sleep.:/

Good Friday
We got home past 3:00 in the afternoon. There was a Pahalik sa Krus at 3:00 in the church. I  just caught up with it although I was so late.

Black Saturday
We went to Tiaon, Quezon because it was Lola Itay's 103rd Birthday. I attended the mass and there was Salubong. This was fun  for one reason that I could not explain (or maybe I could nut I just don't want to:D)

Easter Sunday
We went to Tiaong to celebrate Lola Itay's 103rd Birthay. The Montierro clan attended it but we were not compete, but still it was a blast.

Solitude for the Country

I am a kind of person who, at times, prefer to spend sometime alone. There is this sense of relief for me whenever I have to do somethings alone. Even a simple walk and eat do matter to me. I don't know why I mostly enjoy doing such things alone when I know for a fact that a lot of people would choose to have a company in everything they do. And in doing so, being a "loner" gives me a chance to see and anayze things around me.
While I was on my way home from school, I decided to stop by in a food chain and eat my lunch there. It is already past 12 in the afternoon and it would take me more or less two hours to get home, so I decided to eat. I look for a place where there are only few people. I ordered my food and then began to eat. While I was in the middle of enjoying my food (and also regretting why I ordered that food and not the other stuffs which look and must have taste even better than what I was eating), there was a family who entered the dining area where I was eating. Judging by the way they look and dress, they must not be well-off. I look at all the three children they were with, they were grimy and looks dirty. But a thought came to me, anyway.
Those people, if in case they were not really blessed with wealth, are admirable. Despite the crisis that this country is going through and nearly all people out there are being engulf and driven crazy because of lack of money, they still try to provide the best of everything for their children. The thought of bringing those children in such kind of fast food and giving them what they want, it would really be a sacrifice.
I may be wrong by the way I judge that family. But I couldn't help myself to keep from smiling because of wonder and amusement. No matter what this country is facing now, everyone of us still know how to face it bravely and with a smile in their faces.
I don't have an idea why I have connected that country's problem with the family I saw later this afternoon. But surely, I understand why on earth I care for that family and for the country I am living.