Hello 2017!
Happy New Year!
It feels so good to be in my beloved Cebu (Philippines) to welcome 2017.
The last three years of our family life was characterized by frantic moves from the Philippines to China to the US and back to the Philippines.
To be honest, I don’t really know where our nomadic life will take us next but for now, I am just really happy to be back in Cebu: to interview people, to write more stories for Cebu Daily News and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, to work with several like-minded people on writing projects, to write and make poetry again, to practice creative writing again, to organize more storytelling sessions and help strengthen youth programs, to immerse myself in organizations I left when I chose to be a gypsy/nomad, to (perhaps) lose weight by eating more utan bisaya, to spend more time with my family especially my mother, to work with people whom I love to work with, to travel to more local destinations after years of exploring the globe (the Philippines is beautiful), to finally succeed at potty training my children, to improve my knowledge and skills in homeschooling, to finally register that business, to finally sing or act or dance infront of a crowd.
So many things to accomplish, eh?
I’m hitting the ground running this year.
I am so revved up to write more special features, stories that matter to readers… stories that will inform, inspire and involve them to share, to talk, to act.
On January 7 to 13, I will be in Los Baños, Laguna to be part of the 1st National Young Teachers’ Bootcamp, a week long gathering of young teachers organized by YOUTeacH Philippines and funded by the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines through its Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund.
YOUTeacH Philippines is a nationwide network of young educators in the Philippines that aims to provide venues for the sharing of best practices and support initiatives for the development of education in the country.
I will share more about this when I’m in Laguna. I promise to write constant updates on the social media pages of the Reading Ruffolos.
Come January 29 to 31, I will be in Manila for Miss Universe 2016!
No, I’m not competing but this is a once-in-a-lifetime event that the eight-year-old Me would love to be part of ever since Charlene Gonzales represented the Philippines and Sushmita Sen was crowed Miss Universe 1994.
In between these exciting events are fieldworks and special events and then on February 26 to March 6, I am embarking on a solo trip around three Southeast Asian cities which I had visited before but I’m curious to go back and meet my friends who live and work in these cities.
I yet have to tell you how that one-month cruise around the US and the Caribbean on a ultra luxurious ship, Crystal Serenity of Crystal Cruises, panned out. I’ll probably just let Jeff do the storytelling.
Oh, oh… I now have a weekly column on Cebu Daily News called “Nanay Says”. It’s a about what I have to say as a mother, what my mother has to say, and what other mothers have to say. It comes out every Saturday on the opinion page.
Cheers to more stories and travels in 2017!
