Summer Sportfest

That was fun!

Our KICC teacher Sir Joni invited us to join the Intra-Parish Sportsfest that was held in De Lasalle Greenhills. Other choirs and youth members joined too.

Me and other choir members met at the Edsa Shrine Church and instead of taking the car we walked so we can exercise already.

Before we played some sports, we have a mass with Father Aldrin. After the mass, our host named Ate Twinsy, explained how this sportfest came to be and what we will expect that day. After she explained everything, we have our national anthem and then we went out to watch the runners pass around the torch. After they run around then they lighted a bowl of coal or wood. It was like in the Olympics J. Then sportsfest officially began.

First, we played the novelty-game “Patintero”. This was how we played it. The yellow team was the “blocking” team who needs to block horizontally and vertically any opposing team member from crossing to and from their base. The blue team, that was us, is the “running” team. If one of our team member gets caught, then we lose our turn. The blue team becomes the blocker and the yellow will be the runner. Unfortunately, we lost that game.

Our next game was Dodge ball and this was how we played it. The “throwing” team will have 5 members on each opposite sides and the “dodging” team was composed of 10 members in the middle. Our blue team was the throwing team and we threw the ball against the members of the green team until all of them were out. Each time a member of the dodging team catches the ball, the team can add one more player. The team with the most number of members in the middle after a given time won. Again, it was not us.

Our next game was chess and this time all teams are allowed. This was also an elimination game contest.

There were other games like basketball and volleyball but these were mostly for the young adults.

So far our EDSA team lost a lot of games but even though, we still have a lot of fun. We even get to eat lunch in the big school canteen.

After the sportfest ended, one by one, the people left with smiles on their faces.

Awesome Holiday

We started our school vacation on Dec. 16 at the start of Simbang Gabi.

On Dec 17 we went to the Lego competition to try my luck to win another Speed Lego competition but I lost to another kid. Better luck next time for me but it’s a good thing that others have chance to win.

On the next day, I went to the Awesome Kids Christmas party. We ate there and have some activities and even met new friends. I joined the AK choir that sang during the mass for the Feast. After that I got to meet Bro. Bo Sanchez’s friend and Feast builder Brother Arun. We have photo together.

After we went to the church, we went to the Jollibee to join the youth party. In this party we sang to the Lord and prayed. It’s like the youth party is a place to worship God, but of course we also have activities such as shooting the marble in the small cup and another is bringing the small chocolate candy in the cup using straw and the prizes are a couple of sweets. These activities reminded me of the show called “Minute to Win” cause these are activities are challenging also.

After the youth party we bring our mother to the WFMA party while my father, brother and I watched the latest Star Wars movie – Rogue One, that was just released on Dec 15. The movie was kinda cool and sad but I don’t wanna spoil the movie so you’ll have to see for yourself. It’s a surprise.

I recently joined the Bosconian Voice Chorale (BVC) and we had a mini concert at the Vista Mall where we sang many Christmas and other love songs. we sang for one hour and its kinda cool too cause at the end we have free food The BVC is a group of teenagers that sing in the Don Bosco church every Sunday mass.

On December 24, we went to Malolos to visit my grandfather’s house to hold and join the Christmas party arranged by our Maia Outreach Programs. There were so many young and less-fortunate children. There were fun games such as “drinking soda” race, “passing around this item” and tongue twister words. There were also two performances. First was a song number “See You Again” by myself with my father and my cousins. Second was a magic show. And then we have a raffle where the grand prize was a rice cooker. Of course the little kids ate and I helped by passing the food to them. After the party, we went back to my grandfather’s house to celebrate our own Christmas party.

At the rest of the Christmas season, we visited our relatives and have a party too. My father’s relatives live in Malolos and my mother’s relatives lives in Paranaque. All my cousins were there too so we played games, performed songs, received gifts and of course ate a lot.

This was our busy happy holidays.

Thank you Lord, it was awesome!

Parol-Making

As part of our Christmas project with Teacher Reinier, he asked us to make the traditional Filipino Christmas lantern to design our school. Our theme is Filipino design product with recycled materials.

We needed bamboo sticks to form a star but since we cannot find these in the market area, my father bought a complete parol to take off the original plastic cover. Then, we use and cut the foil wrappers of snack foods as its new cover by using rugby glue (it was so sticky and it won’t get off unless it is dry). We chose different colors to make it more attractive.

Finally, we decorated two plastic bottles with the cut-out foil wrappers around it and hang these below the two bottom tips of the stars as extra design.

I liked it we even finish it before deadline!

We also made additional four smaller stars but I did not submit it to my teacher anymore. These were simpler using barbecue sticks and we just stick glitters or small confetti to decorate. My little brother Aim loved doing these small starts.

Now they are all hanging in front of our house and above our dining table.

Merry Christmas to all! 

Speed Building

On November 26, me and my family went to the Alabang Town Center to join the Lego weekend contest called Lego Star Wars speed building.

In this competition you need to build as many Lego mini-figures within 1 minute. Each mini-figure must be correctly build like the head, arms and legs are all facing forward. If one part is incorrect or inverted, that’s not counted. If there is a tie between one or among players, a tie-breaker face-off will be done. Whoever has the most mini-figures that built wins P1,000 worth of Lego toy.

In my age category, there were 4 contestants so I have a few opponents though they all looked determined to win also. I made 10 Lego mini-figures but 2 pcs were not counted due to wrong parts position. The other kids  some got 4, 7 and 8 as well so a tie-breaker was called by the judges.

For the face-off round, I got a heart-racing 11 correct mini-figures (out of 12)  while the other kid still got 8, so I won the competition.

My prize was a Lego Chima set, a Star Wars poster and the Lego book catalogue. The other contestants also got a poster of Lego Star Wars as consolation prize.

I thank God for giving me this wonderful gift

Let God’s Love Prevail

After our second quarter exams, we celebrated the United Nation Day. We, the grade 7 students, made a interpretative presentation about the ongoing Syrian civil war. In our performance the UN is protecting the poor, defenseless Syrian people from the evil terrorist group called ISIS. They wanted to kill all the people of Syria and the UN is protecting them. After the first wave of the battle, they sent bombs to destroy the UN army and all the Syrian people.

These terrorists don’t have mercy, love and kindness to the people. They have anger, terror, violence which causes famine, which becomes worse by other people’s disunity and apathy. And now the defeated country has fallen into the hands of the evil ISIS.

War will not solve any problem.

Stop the hatred and let God’s love prevail. 

Animal Arts

Last Sunday, we went to Alabang where we made our dragonfly artwork

First, we went to the Molito Building where the artwork is located, and then we registered and went to the table where we will make the art.

These are the items we used – wooden clothesline clip, paintbrush, color paints, water, two eyeballs, glue, wings, bendable wire and button.

To make the dragonfly, these are the steps:

1. paint the cloth clip, add some design 

2. glue the button then the two eyeballs

3. put the wings to the cloth clip

4. to make the other kind of wings get two bendable wires

5. make the bendable wire into wings

6. do the same with the other bendable wire but make it smaller

7. then put it to the cloth clip

After we were done making the dragonfly we all went home

Itik-Itik sa Linggo ng Wika

Last week, my new school Seven Pillars celebrated the Linggo ng Wika.

When I went to our gymnasium, I was wearing classic Filipino shirt called Camizo de China with a farmer hat and a pair of rubber slippers.

Our grade level performed the “Itik, Itik” dance. The lower grade levels also danced while the upper grade levels performed play-scripts about old Filipino folk stories.  The Grade 8 class presentation is a bit nice because they have props, sound effects and costume.

After we danced, we went to our classroom to rest and changed our clothes then we watched the program.

Our school also made some food stands for the school’s business club. Before there was one stand and then there were three.

I enjoyed our performance because I learned some old folk dance moves. 

Buddy Builders

Last May 21, 2016 we went to the Robinsons Magnollia for our Lego Nexo Knight shield-building contest.

As I entered the mall, there were lots of stuff in the Nexo Knight contest such as displays, statues of knights, a building area, a game zone, mini cinema, shelves of Lego toys and even the mascot Clay, one of the mini-figure character from the Lego Nexo Knights.

The contest is to build a shield that is rare or unique, stable, and close to reality. Once chosen, the winner will get to win P3000 worth of Lego items.

After we built our shields, Aim and I took a picture with mascot Clay before going home.

Then next day, we received an SMS message that my brother Aim has won in his category! We were so excited to claim the prize and build another sets of Legos. 

[Daddy Rowin : Zek and Aim also joined a Lego cake building at Lego Shop BGC last May 15 but the winner will be announced at the end of this month. Both are excitedly waiting for the result and hoping to win again.]

Ready...Aim....Fun

On May 17, 2016, we went to Malolos for our yearly swimming vacation.

In the swimming area, there are four kinds of pool. First is the big blue lap pool, second is the shallow kiddie pool, third is the deep Jacuzzi, and the fourth is the wave pool which is the biggest with fascinating waves. In the wave pool there is a beach shore design with water sprinkler in the middle.

There is a couple of big brown bahay-kubo where we stayed to place our stuffs and to eat. There are also two zipline and a playground within the resort.

The wave pool is nicer because it has giant waves that can push us back. My cousins and I do tricks like two people locking arms together while the third person sits on our arms. We tried going over the waves and under the waves. After each set of waves, we raced around the wave pool using our yellow and pink ringed float.

After swimming, we went back to our grandparent’s house to celebrate my brother’s birthday. My brother likes Minecraft so we bought him a minecraft-themed cake with surprising details.

Then we all went back home.

Everything Starts Now

On April 1, 2016 we went to Lantana St, Cubao and to a church named Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral for our CFA graduation and moving-up ceremonies.

At first, we went in line to register. Second, we gathered together to final-practice our song. We waited until 10:00 am for the holy mass to start. Afterwards, the ceremony for the batch 2. We marched to our assigned seats on the front with our parents on our side.

Our grade-school head, Ms.Rita Yokingco, announced our names one by one to receive our certificates and medal awards on the stage and to have our family picture taken with Bro. Bo Sanches, our school founder.

While waiting for my name to be called, I felt nervous the whole time but then I felt proud and happy when it was over. I got 2 medals for loyalty and for character award which is Forgiveness

My classmates, Mico and Maida and I talked about of our recent entrance tests in other schools and where to live. We also played some Filipino games and exchanged a lot of jokes with each other.

To all my good CFA classmates and friends - Maida, Mico, Mau, Mandy, Paul, Nathan, Echo and Belle, congratulations and I just hope I could see them all again soon. And to my parents, parent coach Ms. Imee Binay and most of all to Jesus, I give my loving thanks.

I am so excited now to turn Grade 7 because I am gaining more knowledge.  And as I go to the new school, I will surely meet new friends

Word Play

1.     Who is the actor that likes changing weather?

Answer: Liam Season

2.     Who is the Autobot that cannot be seen?

Answer: Iron HIDE

3.     Who is the Decepticon robot that likes to block?

Answer: Barricade

4.     What do you call a tower full of pizza?

Answer: Leaning Tower of Pizza

5.     What is the favorite movie of rabbits?

Answer: Hoppit

6.     Who is the Autobot that likes music?

Answer: Jazz

7.     Why does Darth Vader’s army always bring umbrellas?

Answer: Because they are Storm-troopers

8.     What is the pogostick’s favorite season?

Answer: Spring

9.     What happens when the Flash falls into a water?

Answer: He becomes Splash

10.  Who is the Star Wars character that always wins?

Answer: Obi-WON Kenobi

11.  What do you call a bread spread that has many colors?

Answer: Butterfly

12.  Who is the Star Wars character that likes to mental-exercise?

Answer: Master Yoga

13.  Why can Batman drive well at night?

Answer: Because he is Bruce Way.

 

.(Daddy R: Zek has always been fond of reading jokes and amongst his favorite booklets are those old copies of our Snoopy and Archie digests. He also loves reading K-Zone magazine and guess what section he immediately flips onto as soon as he holds a copy? Your guess is right – Jokes Section! So it is not a surprise anymore that every time out-of-the-blue, he would blurt out a joke to us or his friends or cousins. Above are some of his “originals” and surely more will come. :D)

Semana Santa

It was a busy holy week.

On Palm Sunday, we went to the church in EDSA Shrine to celebrate Palm Sunday and we bought plants for us to shake and wave after the mass.

On Holy Wednesday, I went to home to Malolos with my whole family.There was a procession and there were lots of “karosas”. In our family karosa, there is St Peter with the rooster and two angels decorated with lots of flowers. After the mass, I pulled and pushed the karosa with my cousin Bono. Our grandfather, papa Ben was leading the way. The procession went around Alido subdivision.  

On Maundy Thursday, we went back to the EDSA Shrine church. Our Kid’s Inn Choir sang religious songs at the roof of the church while the people pray the 14 Stations of the Cross. We sang at least 8 songs and we sang them every 30 minutes for 4 hours. And after our singing, I went inside the church for a confession.

On Good Friday, we went back again to Malolos for another procession and this time my other cousins were there to participate in the procession. There was no mass but the was longer because we went around the entire Alido.

On Easter Sunday, we celebrated the “Salubong” in EDSA Shrine. It was the day of Jesus resurrection. There was a procession for Mama Mary and for Jesus that finally met at the top side of EDSA Shrine. After the procession we get a balloon attached with a written a prayer-letter to God. Then, all the balloons were let go to fly up into the sky. After that there was a mass and we stayed there until 1:30 am in the morning.  

Hello Summer!

On March 16, 2016, we went to a resort named Sol y Viento where there are hot and warm swimming pools.

Before we went swimming, we first went to the reception area to inquire for a room. And as soon as we went to our room, we left our stuffs to swim.

There are four kinds of pools. Two are with warm water and the other two are hot (like boiling!) springs, One of this pools has water sprays around the sides of the pool while the other bigger one has a bridge in the middle.

After and before swimming we fed the koi fishes and saw the beauty of the mountains and trees.

We enjoyed the trip because of its fresh air out there and the fun relaxing swimming.

Rizal Shrine

Before we went home, we have a quick visit to Rizal’s home in Calamba. His house was so old but big, so I think that he was rich. 

As we entered, we saw very old items like bed, dining table, kitchen and the visitor’s table. There are two rooms upstairs. I was surprised about the toilet because it’s like a long chair with a hole on it and another room is where the buckets (aka tapayans) of water for the toilet are. Beside the toilet, there is a well. In the stone garage, there is a carriage. We saw Rizal’s spacious backyard with a bahay-kubo and a statue of the small Rizal.

Afterwards we went to the other museum halls full of old items like his hat, clothes, money during his time including the ones with his face, polo, coat socks and his pants. We also saw a statue of Rizal as an adult.

Did you know that:  

                                                                                               

 1.   There are three animals named after Rizal such as Apogonia Rizali, Draco Rizali and finally  Rachophorous Rizali.  These species of animals were the ones he collected while he was an exile in Dapitan

2. Contrary to popular belief, the Rizal monument in Luneta was not made by a Filipino artist. The design was the work of Swiss sculptor named Richard Kissling who won second prize in an art competition

.

3. Rizal cured himself of tuberculosis.

(source: http://www.filipiknow.net/jose-rizal-facts/) 

Stargazing

It was a very early wake up call for me and Aim. We woke up at 3:00am so we were still sleepy to go there.

We were going to a place called University of the Philippines or UP to visit the PAGASA ( Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and  Astronomical Service Administration ) Astronomical Observatory for our stargazing. There were so many kids there and some are from my CFA school. There were even some camping tents there because there were people that went to the UP early and slept there to wait for the early morning stargazing.

There was a big telescope for us to see stars and planets like Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. As my father and I walked towards our car, I saw a giant telescope that looked like a turret. My father said that the telescope was inside the building and not going out there. We went inside the reception area where there were posters of the universe and parts of the telescope and how it works. We also learned about the time differences of the other countries.

We have so much fun there and we learned more about the stars and the planets after we left the UP site. 

CFA Recollection

On March 10, we, the Grade 6 students of CFA, participated in a year-end recollection where we learned new stuffs and played games. We talked about teenage life with our teacher Kuya Pao and Tita Mayette.

First, we played a game called “Do you love me?”. Next was, “Introducing yourself” and wrote something about ourselves and writing about the things we love and hate. Then Teacher Pao showed us some short videos for us to memorize and he also showed us a few pictures examples for seeming, seeking, identity, seeing, selfie  and sinning.

 After we read Psalm 136:14, I thought that what the Lord is telling me are not to be afraid and not to worry. He will always be helping me in times of trouble, and He will help me to find my passion.

Mandy and I went to the photo studio to take pictures of us wearing graduation clothes. Afterwards, went back to CFA to get our stuff and went to our parents so I could go home.

Shell Eco-Marathon

We went to the Shell Eco-Marathon last week and we saw so many stuffs there such as exhibit tents, promotion booths. And as we entered to the marathon there were so many things to do. 

We first went to the Fan Zone where there was a Shell booth that gives away mini toy cars that runs with salt water. Then we saw the part where the participants assemble their cars which is rare because they run with only a little fuel inside. But they are more small than the normal car because only one person can fit inside. We also tried the remote controlled toy cars to move around a mini city within 2 minutes. After the game we collected prize giveaways such as notebooks and key chains with LED light. 

After that we went to the picture booth with a mini gas station and two cars.We pretended we were a gasoline crew and a car owner who wants to gas up. Next, we watched the race track competition of the assembled mini salt cars. Later, Aim joined the drawing zone and put his drawing in the wall of pictures. Meanwhile I joined the Coke zone where I tried to make a puzzle in one minute. They gave me a red rubber bracelet.

Because it was only the first day and all competitors were still assembling their cars, we were only able to see 1 car go around the tracks for their test-run. 

Finally we went to the energy zone where we learned, using virtual 4D glasses, how Shell company explores gas under the sea and how the engine car works. We also received more giveaways inside the Energy zone.

Lots learned and lots of fun!

Celebrating EDSA 30

On February 24, 2016 we went to the EDSA Shrine church at 7:00 pm so we can join the procession. There were so many tents full of snack for us to eat after procession. My friends Bill and Cyrus also joined the procession. Cyrus joined the altar service so when the mass was done, he was on the front of the procession.

There was a Mama Mary float which is at the end of the procession and the priest was at the middle of the procession while he prayed the rosary. There was also a marching brass band at the front of the procession. We went to the EDSA road then got inside the Corinthians Garden.

 After that, we watched the cultural dance performance of the people. First, there was the candle dance. Next was the kiddie dance which was cute because it combine modern and traditional Filipino dances. Bill and I sat on the stairs and watched them.

Finally, Father prayed to Mama Mary’s help and intercession, for all of us there and for the food we will eat.

I ate with my friends and we all went home.

Paint-Me Masks

Kung Hei Fat Choi !

At Robinson’s Galleria last February 8, Chinese New Year, their event was free painting of Chinese masks! There were so many big golden statue animals like pig, rabbit, dragon, snake, rooster, rat, dog and so on.

This 2016 it’s the year of the Fire Monkey. In the event there were so many stuffs to design our mask like glitter glue, paint and sprinkler. Aim made one mask while I made two masks. Aim’s painting on the mask was a bit messy but nice ( because mommy help my brother). I did a striped mask at first. Then I made a half face painting, one side has green and yellow to the other side. I even put my name on its forehead.

We brought these back home for our play.

Nayong Pilipino

On Dec 30, 2015,  we went to Nayong Filipino in Clark, Pampanga where I learned new stuffs like dancing the Tinikling, a Filipino folk dance, how the old Philippine villages looked like for the Aetas, Ifugaos and the Kalingas. I even saw a small Banawe rice terraces.

We also saw the replica houses of our three heroes named Dr Jose Rizal, Gen. Emilo Aguinaldo and Apolinario Mabini, the brains of the katipunan. Next we went to the Barasoain church. It looked just like our church in Malolos! Beside that is the Teatro, the place where the cultural dancing show by lively Filipino dancers was shown. After that, we went to the museum of old clothes (Museo ng Nayon). Next, we saw an orchidarium and even a laboratory for plants breeding.

Before leaving, we bought a sungka board and a lot of bird whistle for our New Year celebration tomorrow.