Dako nga Kalipay an Makauli ha Balay! (It’s a Great Joy to be Home!)

Dughan ko limnukso hin kalipay (My heart leaped in gladness)

Han akon makita ak minayuyo nga balay (When i saw my beloved home)

Sugad hin maiha an akon paglinakat  (It’s as if I’ve been away for so long)

Waray tupong an himaya hini nga pagdangat (Nothing compares to the joy of being home, at last)

Urog manaligdig an ak mga luha (Oftentimes, tears stream down my cheeks)

Han ako nakadto pa hirayo nga Pampanga (When I was in faraway Pampanga)

Tungod han kamingaw mga pinalangga (For it’s sad to be away  from the ones I love)

An paghirayo ako naharugda (I can’t bear to leave them again.)

Hi there Camp Blog IB bloggers!

I know you felt the same when you got home from faraway Pampanga.  It’s great to be home, isn’t it?  It’s heaven to sleep in your own bedroom even if it’s not as plush as the ones in our villas.  In our villas!  Used to be our villas, not anymore…

So thinking of how we all felt coming home, I was inspired to write this Waray poem.  The translation may be crude but at least it will help.  I hope you’ll understand it and somehow relate to it…

See you on line guys!

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It’s Tough to be Tough

The Warays have earned a reputation of being tough.   Some of our folks might have built this reputation way back  when they started migrating to Manila and other provinces.  They had to survive in unfamiliar territories and deal with total strangers.  And to succeed they had to  be tough.  I just hope they did not bully the other folks.

The later generations  found themselves in big trouble.  Wherever they went the reputation followed them.  As one  Camp Blog RP mentioned to me, he had a buddy in College who was a Waray.  He said that  he was the “barkada’s” hero  and champion for he was tough.  I said, “It must have been tough for him living up to the reputation of the Warays.”

I have never been tough in a literal sense.  So when I’m in another place and people ask me about how tough I am, it’s simply tough!

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From Tacloban to Pampanga

Ungrounded	just waiting...	Pampanga, here we come...
We're finally here!	Great view!	golf course ba? Of course!
just enjoying the view	pure serenity...	simply beautiful
Come in!	This way to the Veranda...	at the Veranda
time to eat! pwedeng take out...	refreshing to the eyes...	kahit mahirap dito...smile pa rin tayo...

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Camp Blog Updates

This is how we do it.

How’s my Camp  Blog experience so far?

So far, not so good!  I can hardly say “so good!” because it isn’t.  It just gets more challenging everyday.

How am I coping?  I don’t know the answer.   Hmmm… maybe the critics can enlighten me a little, but I really dread facing them.

What do I like best about the Camp Blog?  I guess I like everthing about it… even the “bloody” part.  I’m learning a lot and everyday is a new experience.

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My Favorite WordPress Tools

Honestly, I find all these tools useful and necessary to make a must-read blog. I like to experiment using these tools so I’ll find out what works best for my kind of blog. I also intend to make my own personal blog and another for teaching purposes.

In today’s workshop, I actually enjoyed linking for it leads me to thousands of links and possiblities. Embedding was more of a challenge at times, probably because of the slow internet speed.

In spite of the daunting challenges, I feel so blessed to be here in this Blog Camp for I learned a lot. Now I am more confident to find my way in virtual space.

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Camp Blog 1B Surprises

A mimosa flower portrait

I came, I saw, I was blown away!

I came to Pampanga with some expectations of what the iSchool Camp Blog experience would be like.  I knew beforehand that it would be mostly lectures  and  writing tasks.   However, nothing prepared me for the enormity of it all.

Things come in large scales here.  The Mimosa Leisure Estate  where we are right now is huge, with a full size golf course for your pleasure.   I call it the “sprawling hotel” for instead of suites in a ten-storey building we actually stay in luxurious villas!  Yes, your eyes do not deceive you… its villas, plural of villa.

To top it all, the organizers pamper us with fine dining and all the comforts any group of writers may wish for.  And I’m almost sure you’re  having the impression we’re having a good time here.  In a way maybe we do, but honestly speaking  it’s not the case most of the time.

As they say, there’s always a price to pay.  And the price for being here in this Camp Blog comes in a large scale too.  The tedious lectures and the “bloody” workshops that sometimes seem like forever.  The mind-boggling tasks that transport us  from our seats to the virtual space of the world wide web and beyond.  The complicated terms and procedures we have to master just to “bridge the digital divide”.  They drive us crazy!

At the end of the day, however, when you see the fruit of your labor you tell yourself  “It was worth it!” .   Then you can  sit at dinner, a little bit dazed perhaps,  but ecstatic over what you’ve learned and accomplished.

Hurray to the organizers and RP’s!

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My First Video

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Why Waray Literature?

When Ma’am Bambi asked us to identify a topic or theme to focus on when we do our  blogs  I was torn between  Creative Writing and Waray Literature for I love both.  In the end, however,  she helped me sort out things and I realized that Waray Literature would be the better option.  She pointed out to me that there are actually  a lot of blogs and websites  out there dealing with creative writing but not so many on the latter. 

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My first blog post ever…

Hi everyone in virtual space!

I am so excited to start blogging and share to everyone out there the  different perspectives  from my side of the world.

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Hello world

Hi everyone!  Have fun taking this quiz and find out how Warayish are you?

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