..first assault.. Batulao

March 14, 2008, We were on a bus to Evercrest, Nasugbu, Batangas to start our trek to the peak of Mount Batulao.. It was the start of the summer climbs.. At getting off in front of Evercrest, we "suited-up" and started the trek. Around 3.30pm.

First Turn, Wrong Turn


We have read other blogs about Batulao and followed their instruction -- "keep the mountain to your right.." We got to a fork on the road and took a left (to keep the mountain to our right). After sometime of walking, the turn was actually taking us away from the mountain. It was a wrong turn. We traced our steps back a little, and cut through a short-cut to the road we were supposed to take.

"Step Up the Pace"


Since we started late, we were quite in a hurry to beat the sunset. We new it would take us around 2hours according to blogs. So Ed said, "Pick up the pace!" We kinda did until we got a guide.

Then, the pace did pick up. It was no ordinary pace, I tell you. Especially with the terrain. Steep ups; steep downs. We were huffing and puffing after awhile. For Ed who was carrying the heaviest pack (including the tent), it was not "Pick up the pace!" any longer.

It took us around 1 hour & 30 minutes from the from of Evercrest to Camp 8, where we set up camp. We were really tired. Some workout!

First Reward



Despite us being tired, we decided to make it to the peak before sunset. We set camp and started the assault. The reward was amazing! It was worth the effort. The view was spectacular! As you can see in the pictures above. The assault took another 30minutes. Before the sun fully set, we started back down for supper and worship and much needed rest.

A Little Socials

After a little worship and some supper, RJ went to bed, while me & Ed went to talk to 2 locals who were there. We talked about the trail, the history of the mountain, where their income goes to, other climbers, etc.

Something really interesting is that they use the income to help their little church and school down in their village. This was a really touching story. They told us how the local government didn't do anything to help them and that this was their only way.

The trail we passed was actually new. It was started January 2008 and was finished one month after. No wonder the ground was still soft. Not much feet had trodden on it to compact the ground to make it hard.

We didn't take long cause we were also tired. We entered the tent and fell asleep after much talking.

The Beauty of Creation



Up at 4am Saturday morning, we got ready to assault the summit one more time for sunrise. We packed our breakfast, got our flashlights and set out. The sky was just awesome, the stars were so bright. Countless stars dotted the sky that it was more difficult to point out a constellation. It was really a beauty. Seldom can you see so much stars down in the "civilized" world. Up here, we were closer to heaven and it was glorious.

We made our way up slow but sure remembering the loose ground from the previous day. The sky was already illuminated when we got to the peak though the sun wasn't out yet. We took in the 360 degree view from Batulao. Batangas, Laguna, Cavite. You could even see mount Halcon from the island of Mindoro.

The lighting of the terrain around changed as the sun started popping out onto the sky. Sun rays raked the mountain side. An endless array of colors and shades. The wind started rolling in with the sun. The view was really breathtaking. Layers of different shades of light that couldn't be captured by my camera. I guess to have to go up there yourself to see it.

We then had a little devotional to welcome the Sabbath. We talked about creation and what we saw around. Then, we ate breakfast, took some pictures and started our way down.

The Return Trip

The return trip wasn't as difficult although it took about the same time. It was mid-morning and the sun was up in the sky. Down at the village, we did give a little donation for their church. A little help from us just to show our gratitude. We made our way back to the road where we waited for the bus home.

.:Existence:.

This is in reply to the post of Francis in his blog "Purpose and Reason"
http://intothemindofman.blogs.friendster.com/into_the_mind_of_man/2008/03/purpose_and_rea.html

I suggest you read the above. It is an eye opener.

"Man's ultimate goal is to find purpose and reason. Without them, man would cease to exist." -Franz

I have no argument against this. These two things are what motivates a person to continue to exist. If you have no purpose, no reason, you are nothing.

There is another side to the equation though. A person's existence doesn't only rely on having a purpose and reason for himself. It also relies on another "existence", having a purpose and reason for that person.

Let me make the above more personal. Your existence doesn't only rely on you having or looking for your purpose and/or reason. It also relies on what purpose and/or reason others have for you.

An existence can be compared to the flame of a candle. The wick the flame engulfs could represent your inner desire, your purpose and reason for yourself. But it isn't only the wick that causes the flame to burn. There is also oxygen -- an external force that the flame feeds on. This could represent other's desire for you to exist. Without one, the flame dies out - it seizes to exist.

A person isn't an "existence" because of physically being there. A person is an "existence" because he leaves traces of himself on other "existences." Because he leaves memories and thoughts. The more memories you generate and leave to more "existences", the more you exist.

"God is love. We search for a higher purpose because we love." -Franz

We exist because of Love. Because we love and because we are loved. Our inner desire is to leave more memories in others. We want to be significant. Our external force is how significant we are to others. It is a cycle. We seek to to be significant so we could be significant to others.

Once our memories disappear from others, we simply seize to exist. What is the use of living when there are no existences that reinforces, that proves our existence.?

We live because we love and because we are loved. Because others love us and because God loves us. In the same way, others exist because they are loved and because God loves them.

Here's a simple rule: If you want to exist, help others exist.

.seLfisHneSs.

I posted this in the group of my batch and I thought I'd share it here..

SELFISHNESS

This is a common problem. There are people who just want
the "good" things in life.
The "pleasurable",
the "lovable",
the "best"...

the sad thing is, they often want it for themselves. Human by nature are selfish.
And this is really unavoidable. But although it is true that environment affects who
we are.. I would like to quote a "hero" of mine.. Chase Armitage..

"...you must become a master of your environment not a servant to it.."

We are still in control because God gave us the precious gift to make our own decisions.
We cannot really blame our troubles on others -- It is always a result of our decisions.

There is nothing wrong with wanting
the "good" things in life.
The "pleasurable",
the "lovable",
the "best"...

But let us not only want it for ourselves but let us want it for others as well.. :)
Let's have a Wonderful Day..

-aLdZ

WCYCS

We left for Taiwan December 24th of the year 2007 to join the World Conference on Youth and Community Service. The flight took a little less than two hours. From the airport, we were taken to the Taiwan Adventist College in Nantou County around four hours from Taipei. It was the beginning of our 2 week stay in Taiwan.





The "AIIAS" Group in Taiwan:

1. Abishek Deepati
2. Aimee Tapeceria
3. Aldwin Tapeceria (me)
   
4. Edmund Solaiman
5. Francis dela Cruz
6. Grace Ragui
7. Ian Mambu
8. Ji Hyuk Song
9. Kenneth Deles
10. Lorjean Carpena
11. Obed Soire
12. Tamira Sandagsuren
13. Yeji Choi

Week 1:

We stayed one night in Taiwan Adventist College before moving to Taichung City the next day. Our group was split into three. One group stayed in TAC including Aimee, Grace, Yeji, Ian & Ji Hyuk. We, who left TAC, first, traveled four hours south to Pintung where Tamira's group was dropped off. Then we traveled 2 hours north toward Taichung. We stayed at the Taiwan Conference.

The Community Project

We spent the week doing community service in Taichung. The first 2 days, we cleaned the Conference Building -- scrubbing the stairs clean, painting, and preparing some rooms for other guests. On Friday, we headed to the nearby public elementary school to do more cleaning.

The public school was really big! We had the task of cleaning a few of their stockrooms, the performance stage, and the basement. After that, we were treated to a really delicious lunch in a restaurant.


While at Taichung, after the cleaning in the day time, we had free time at night. We took the time to go around Taichung City.

My thoughts on Taichung: Taichung is a beautiful city. It has lots of parks around just walking distance from each other. We found good parkour training spots in some of these parks.

And it's pretty cold there too. Walking around the city is a nice thing. Electronics is also cheaper in Taichung compared to Taipei.

>Thanks to Francis for the pictures in Taichung.








Week 2: We headed to Taipei for the World Youth Conference on the morning of the 31st. We stayed at the Chien Tan International Youth Activity Center around 30 minutes from the Taipei County Hall were the convention was held. The afternoon of the 31st was spent for registration.


On New Year's Eve, we were free since the convention didn't start until the afternoon of January 1, so we decided to go see Taipei 101.

The MRT stations were crowded! We entered the Jiantan station at around 9:30 PM. The station was so crowded it took us almost two hours to get to our destination which would have normally taken around 30 minutes. The streets were crowded. No motor vehicle could pass through. We had to walk from the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial station to were we could get a nice view of the 101. It was worth it. Watching the 5-minute fireworks display from the 101 was a good enough reward for the long wait.

To see a video of the fireworks display from the 101 click the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycnB1U8Y034

The Convention
The Convention started on the afternoon of January 1 after a New Year's celebration by the Taipei County Government. It kicked off with an opening program that included a Lion Dance.










The rest of the week was kinda busy. The morning devotionals started at 8AM so we had to leave the hostel by 7:30AM. After the morning devotionals were a series of seminars. There were two tracks of seminars and then lunch at 12Nn. Right after lunch we had tours of Taipei to various tourist attractions like the Taipei 101, the Martyr's Shrine, some temples, and other places.

The afternoon tours would be back to the Taipei County Hall by 5:30PM, we would have supper and then the evening sessions began at 7PM. We would have reports from various divisions on the achievements of their youth department. This would be followed by the Power Hour.

My thoughts:
We were really blessed at this event. We had alot of world leaders there with us (The GC Youth Director and 4 GC vice-presidents), the youth directors of the divisions around the world, great speakers like Mark Finley & Fordman Fortham, we met lots of new friends. In total it was a great experience.

..iNsiGhTs fR0m mY bRokeN aRm..

How it happened..

It was October 14, 2007 -- A nice Sunday morning. As I usually do on Sundays, I went to AIIAS to train Parkour. Me & my friend RJ got together and trained vaults and catleaps. It was around lunch time when Edmund showed up. We were about to go on a lunch break when I decided to try an acrobatic move I've successfully done 3 times the Friday before. We were on top of a 4' or 41/2' wall between the library and the seminary. I stood at the edge of the wall looking down on the grass below preparing myself. Swung my arms back and bent my knees. Then, I was airborne. The move was an 'exploder' a gainer is the more common term -- a backflip moving forward. It was the longest time in the air I could remember. Then my back hit the ground. Both RJ and Edmund came running. My back hurt from the impact and I didn't really feel anything else. Then Ed mentioned a broken arm. I rolled to my right to get up and saw my right forearm -- it was broken. With some 'basic' first aid, we went to the clinic to get my arm cleaned. And then, my parents drove me to the Manila Adventist Medical Center were they fixed my arm.










Insights from my broken arm
I've been living almost 3 months with a broken right arm. During that time, I've gained some insights & lessons from this incident.

1. Mental preparation is very important

Before I did the move, I was kinda nervous. I know I've done the move before but this time I wasn't sure. When you're not sure about something, better don't. Your everything MUST be united to guarantee success. This could apply to all things.

2. Disability isn't a valid enough reason
Even before the incident, I've committed myself to take responsibility for myself. I've never wanted myself to be a burden. I've accepted whatever happens. I do not blame anyone specially God. Since the incident, I didn't want anyone to pity me.

I have been able to do a lot with my left hand alone & have learned new skills I never thought of before. Here are some.
- Eat with only my left hand (since in the hospital)
- Take a bath
- One hand keyboarding (right after I got out of the hospital, I went back to work)
- Tie my shoe laces
- Play sports (badminton, table tennis, basketball)
- photography (i'm still able to continue my hobby with one hand)
- I've also done some tricks (tricking - this is dangerous)
- cook

In programming, we computer science students have been taught that there are hundreds of solutions to one problem. I'm still leaving my normal life. Except that I'm leaving it differently.

My ultimate goal is to be able to write properly with my left. I've been practicing but my penmanship is still bad. I guess more practice is needed. :P


3. There's a reason God gave two
Although I could live with my left alone. I could help but think, If only I had both hands.

One interesting thing I found out:

While I was taking my first bath, I thought I had everything planned out. Until the time came to soap my left arm and hand. No matter how hard I tried, my left hand just couldn't soap itself!

This could apply to other things too. No matter what you say, there are just things that you couldn't do alone. I've learned to ask for help. People just laugh at me when they see me struggle with something and don't ask for help.

When I drive, I need my sister beside me to shift the gears for me. :)

Thanks to those who've been my 'right hands.'

4. Others do care
This incident caused my parents and that of my friends to be worried. I've been training without even taking into serious notice the 'take care' messages of people. That day I broke my arm, Edmund & RJ were more worried than I was. Ed just kept rubbing my back & RJ was running around frantically trying to find a good splint. While I was in the hospital friends were contacting me and asking how I was.

In parkour, they say that when you jump, you jump alone. No one can help you in midair.. When I get back to training, that won't be my way of thinking anymore. There are others out there who do care & who will be affected by incidents like this. This is an important lesson learned.

To those others: I'm sorry.

-------------------------------------

Still, I'm searching for that purpose why God allowed this to happen to me. Maybe it's to learn these important lessons, maybe there is something else. And because God protected me from worse damages, I am thankful.

Hope you've also learn a little something from my incident.