La Despedida de mi Bossing Querido - PART DOSSS!!!! :D:D:D:D

- April 29, 2010, Thursday

- After my Spanish classes, I had lunch again with the interns before going back to the Instituto for my boss' second despedida, this time, courtesy of my boss himself.

- He ordered a lot of cakes for us, and it wasn't obvious that everyone was waiting to indulge themselves in the good-looking cakes. While we stared at the boxes of cakes, we just tried to keep ourselves busy - including me messing up Drei's hair, and Drei messing up Martin's camera and making an obscure short film that happened to be disturbingly funny. :D:D:D:D

- We ate around 2 something in the afternoon, a little before my boss left the building. At the same time, Ma'am Nanette, the librarian who just returned to the Philippines from her month-long teacher training in Spain, told a lot of interesting experiences from her stay in Spain.

- I do hope that my boss arrives safely in Spain. :D:D:D:D

La Despedida de mi Bossing Querido :D:D:D:D

- April 28, 2010, Wednesday

- After my morning Spanish classes, I had lunch once again with the other interns before heading to RP to buy my friend Melissa's gift. Apparently they were shocked to see me order just ONE meal....but had a biggie soda and a large frosty. :| :| :| :|

- I went to RP after, and wandered around endlessly since I couldn't think of anything to give to Melissa. Luckily, I was able to find one in one random store. No names, and no pictures, obviously. :D:D:D:D

- I thought of going to Da Mul Grocery, the Korean grocery across RP, and checked to see if they had the Korean Nooda-crunch thingie with a different SHINee member on the package. Luckily, I was able to find a whole bunch of Taemin nooda-crunch packs, and bought one for myself, for Kaye (another kpop fan) and my dear friend Margarette.

- I returned to Instituto earlier than expected, and bought some ice cream for the potluck surprise despedida party for my boss, Senor Fons.

- I snuck the ice cream in the kitchen freezer, and snuck in the office without my boss noticing me, luckily. Moments later, he went to the pecera and saw me there. Surprise fail. Anyway, I just shouted "SURPRISE" with a matching "tada!!" hand gesture. He asked how I was doing....and that was followed by him giving me a stash of Dia del Libro folders to fold for Manolo P, the head librarian. Oh well. That was his surprise to me. Hahahaha. (Yes, he literally shouted "surprise" when he gave the the bunch of unfolded folders. Haha.)

- After everyone sneakily prepared the dishes in the kitchen, we all went to the kitchen and waited for Jose. We had paella, palabok, ice cream, barbecue, pichi-pichi and Banoffee pie. (I was lucky to have tasted the Banoffee pie, since it obviously was a bit hit to everyone....and I've never tasted the famous Banoffee pie before today- to everyone's surprise. Yes, I'm such a loser. Hahahaha.)

- After eating with the staff and the professors, Martin shot my "Mi Palabra Favorita" (My Favorite Word) for El Dia Espanol this June. Hehe.

- Hasta luego, hasta luego. :D:D:D:D

4 Minicountries In ONE DAY: (Short Visit To) Instituto and Little India, Koreatown and Chinatown with Margarette

- April 26, 2010, Monday

- I visited Instituto around 10 something in the morning to pick up my evaluations from my Spanish boss. Everyone was surprised to see me there because they thought they had seen the last of me in Dia del Libro. I stayed there and helped a bit while my boss filled up my evaluation form.

- After my almost-an-hour visit to Instituto, I had a side trip to Little India to buy myself a pack of red chili flakes, since the one at home will run out soon. Sadly, I wasn't able to find a pack, though the sticky and ubiquitous smell of Indian spices, and the sight of Indian people speaking in Punjabi, Hindi, or Sindhi brought back good memories from my first real adventure with Tina in 2008. I never realized how long ago that was.

- I rode the train to Vito Cruz, since I'd be meeting with Marga for my first adventure after my epic OJT. As always, I waited at McDonald's, ate a bit, and studied a bit of Spanish.

- My panic senses tingled when I realized that today was a Monday. I remembered the time when Nellie and I attempted to eat at Korean Village during a Monday, after we toured the big pack of Singaporeans around Manila. Sadly, Korean Village was closed then, and we ate at the nearby Robinson's Place Ermita.

- Marga and I were supposed to eat at Masan in Makati. Though a different Korean restaurant, I thought that we might have the same fate as my experience with Nellie.

- I calmed myself constantly and texted my friend Michael Sang Weon Lee and asked if he knew if Masan was opened today. He replied promptly and told me that it was. Just to be sure, he also sent me Masan's phone number, so I can verify for myself. He's such a great friend. :D:D:D:D

- I called Masan immediately and was relieved to know that they were indeed opened. Just as I pressed the "end call" button, Marga arrived at McDonald's. It was around 12:20 in the afternoon.

- As usual, we rode the LRT to EDSA, and the MRT to Guadalupe, and rode the L. Guinto jeep to Rockwell. From Rockwell, we had a long long walk to Masan in the far end of Polaris Street.

- We were happy to see Ms. Lee in a hanbok again; we last saw her during our first visit to Masan last July. Since we arrived later than usual, it was our first time to see Masan with a lot of people in it. We weren't able to take a picture with Ms. Lee in her blue hanbok since they were about to close in around 3 in the afternoon.

- As always, we were served with full excellence, not to mention Ms. Lee's hospitality and warmth to all her guests. She even cut cellphone conversation just so she could thank us when we were about to leave.

- We went to Wang Mart to grab myself a chocolate Korean ice cream, and buy the noodle-cracker with SHINee members on the package for Kaye. Coincidentally, Marga also gave me something like that with Onew and Key on the cover. Hahahaha.

- We rushed to the Guadalupe Pasig River ferry station, just in case we'd be able to catch the 3pm ferry. Since we arrived a bit late, we missed the 3pm ferry by around 20 minutes, and had to wait for the 4pm ferry instead. Cool. At least we could rest our super duper full stomachs, as well as our legs that made a big effort to walk faster than usual.

- The beaming sun and the awkward warmth of the station made us sluggish. Margarette had a light nap, and I brought out my Spanish book again to study.

- The ferry came during it's expected time of arrival, and we hopped on it excitedly. We rode the ferry, and went out the deck once in a while. Like all the people I tagged along with me to ride the ferry, I showed Marga the Malacanang Palace. Haha.

- After arriving at the Escolta ferry station, we walked towards our favorite dimsum place, Golden Fortune (Soler Branch.) Good thing we still made it in time for their afternoon dimsum promo. (From 2:30-5:30pm and 9-1am, a lot of their dimsum dishes are priced almost half the original.) If Marga and I had arrived around 10 minutes later, we would have missed the afternoon dimsum promo. Haha.

- We ate again, and talked again, not to mention drank to much water and iced tea from all the summer heat. I guess the afternoon was a bit stressful and short since we started our adventure late. Then again, I'm still thankful that I can now be officially reunited with my social life since my OJT has finished. I do miss my OJT, but I also miss my social life. Haha. Kudos to the last "real summer" of my life. Hahahaha.

DESBLOQUEAR: Dia del Libro 2010!!

- April 24, 2010, my final OJT day

- I expected Dia to be very stressful, just like everyone else. I arrived earlier than the other interns, and waited for the staff to set the table for my booth. I was assigned to man the Foto del Dia booth, which was a photo contest where the photo entries should be taken within the day and within the event.

- Meanwhile, the other interns and volunteers arrived shortly, and we were given our "Desbloquear" shirts. The "Desbloquear" shirts served as Dia 2010's official shirt, and our uniform.

- I had the chance to take pictures before the event officially started, and eyed on a book that I specifically liked: a dictionary of languages and language families around the world - only for a hundred pesos. Too bad I am not allowed to reserve books. I did hope to be able to get that book.

- I set up my table soon after, and a voluntario named Yvonne was paired up with me. Yvonne and I didn't have to set up too much, since all we had to do was wait for people to join the photo contest.

- Later, after almost no one inquiring about the contest, I thought of doing a short video slideshow, encouraging people to join the contest. I tried to play some music, just in case it would attract people's attention. I couldn't blame the people for not seeing our booth, since we were placed in the far end of a hallway. The only people who could see us were the ones who were on their way to the restroom; our booth was placed beside the restrooms.

- Gladly, more and more people inquired about the contest, and some even submitted entries. I took pity on this girl who had great pictures, but for some reason, my computer/card reader just can't read her memory card. I knew I wasn't supposed to feel guilty, but I did anyway. I just sang my Spanish-ized Telephone (the Lady Gaga song.) I know it's a weird thing to do, but desperate times need desperate measures. HAHAHAHA. (Yes, I was THAT desperate.)

- Yvonne and I took turns manning the booth, so we could go around, and maybe buy a books or two. Oh yeah, I was able to buy an eco-bag (the one I was fussing about the past week.) YEY. Haha. Aside from that, I was able t grab a Berso-sa-Metro shirt, one of the things I wanted to buy since the 2009 Dia del Libro.

- The afternoon was as slow as hell. I kept on yawning, and the only thing that kept me alive were the songs that played continuously from my iTunes playlist, and random interns who came and talked to me. Obviously, I wasn't stressed at all. It was also less stressful when we stopped accepting submissions around 3pm, and started letting the people vote from 3pm to 6pm. For some reason, this was the first time that boredom made time fly by quickly.

- Yunji also showed my something that I might have wanted to buy. It was the story of Chun-hyang (a famous Korean literary character,) but written in Spanish. That Chun-hyang book was one of the books that I had packed a few weeks ago, and had told Tina for weeks that I wanted to grab hold of that book. Luckily, that book coincidentally went to Tina's 100-peso-book pile. Great!! Other than that, I grabbed myself a guidebook to touring in African countries. Not my best bet, but I think it's interesting.

- As the sun came down completely, Yvonne and I closed our booth and counted the ballots. Out of nowhere, a Brazilian guy came to me and asked for Instituto brochures. I told him I could speak Portuguese, and so I did. He was obviously surprised. Haha. Then again, I found it hard to speak Brazilian Portuguese, since I was trained in European Portuguese (Portugal.)

- I roamed around just in case I was able to find more books to purchase, but instead found a surprise for myself: Mr. Capili. Mr. Capili is a Spanish and Portuguese professor in the Ateneo. Last semester, I mustered up enough courage to ask permission from him if I could sit-in in his Portuguese classes every Monday. He happy said yes - and I couldn't be more thankful. (He's the one responsible for my European Portuguese training.)

- After everything was settled, we interns had a good rest before proceeding to our free dinner, and the much-awaited Latin party. Some of them even changed to their "party clothes." As for me, well, I didn't have anything else to put on, except for the black shirt I wore when I came to the Instituto this morning.

- The Latin party started out with shy people at the back, and deliberately un-filling the dance floor. The Latin band played with much gusto, and a few Latinas at the side finally couldn't control their Spanish-Latino dancing genes. Even our jefes (chiefs) like the Head Librarian Manolo couldn't resist dancing, while sipping his cup of wine once in a while while dancing with one of the female Spanish teachers.

- For some reason, the dance floor was slowly filled up, as more and more people, including me, had a crash course salsa and cha-cha lesson from the female dance instructor.

- It wasn't a doubt that we all had a good time, and obviously a special way to end my internship. I'd be going back to the Instituto next week for my evaluations and my Spanish lessons, but I know it would be different. I learned a lot about my course while working in the Instituto. It was a big risk applying in the Instituto not only because it's not a mainstream place for Comm people to have the OJT in, but because it was the only place I applied in. Good thing.

- By the way. I didn't drink tonihht. I don't drink at all, anyway. Hahahaha.

The Icebreaker: Omakase With Dor and Tiane

- April 21, 2010, Wednesday

- Finally, I have assured myself that my social life hasn't left me totally. I was lucky that Dor and Tiane saved me from my home-OJT-piano weekly routine. The truth is, we organized this dinner a week ago to celebrate Christiane's recent graduation. (Next year, my turn!!)

- Just as planned, I left the office a bit past four in the afternoon, and hurriedly went home to change my bag, and buy a cake for Christiane before heading towards Dorenett's nearby house.

- Upon arriving, Dorenett and Christiane flocked around Dione, Dorenett's niece. It's been a year since the last time I've seen Dione; now, she has longer more tie-able hair, can walk, but still cries violently upon seeing me. I really don't understand why the kid cries when she sees me. All I did was say hi. Hahahaha.

- ANYWAY. Dione left minutes later with her mom, Dor's sister, and the three of us went our own way too.

- It was fun to see Christiane driving - especially since it's the first time I've seen her drive. I think she did a great job, even if she confessed along the way that "she has." (Ehem, mood swings, ehem.)

- We arrived at Omakase after sundown, and immediately noticed the creative names for their specialty sushi,maki. (Just look at the pic captions.)

- We left Omakase around an hour later, barely having space for dessert. We went to the nearby Banapple Pie, and was highly dissapointed, but not surprised, to see a ton of people in the tiny tiny place. We just headed back to the ground floor, somewhere in front of Omakase, to have a dose of fro-yo.

- Fro-yos and catching up are one of life's great combinations, especially during the summer. The heat and thrill of conversations unfelt in online conversations and the ice-cold yogurt just hit the spot.

- Just a random thing though, since we sat near the escalator, we could obviously see the people going up and coming down. For some reason, a flood of models kept on coming down the escalator. As the three of us kept on talking, more and more models came down the escalator. "Galing sila sa langit. [LITERALLY.]" Christiane said.

- Before we went home, the three of us tried to find out where the models were coming from. Sneaky sneaky. Haha. Turned out, there was a tiny passageway to the building's third floor. The building's third floor had a studio where the models, we assume, had their photo shoots and whatnot. Oh well.

- The three of us went home, again, riding Christiane's car, and tried to plan another dinner, just in case we'd be able to go on one one of these days. I hope Mon can come next time. :D:D:D:D

Instituto Cervantes Week 6 (Days 17-21)

- April 19-23, 2010 (Monday to Friday)

- Monday gave me a headache, LITERALLY. Not only was the extreme temperature difference bad enough (extremely hot outside, and frigid cold in the office,) but the big pile of newspapers given to me made things slightly worse.

- TJ wasn't around this Monday, since his granny was confined in the hospital. (Hope she's doing well.) Because of this, his almost-daily work was given to me: scan for Instituto-Cervantes-related articles in the gigantic pile of newspapers. Now, I wouldn't really mind doing it normally, but since it was a Monday, the pile of newspapers was thrice the thickness of the usual pile. It was a Monday, and I had to check all the newspapers from Monday's papers, as well as papers from the previous weekend.

- Yunji was supposed to help me, until she was asked by our boss to accompany the Spanish poet (yes, he hasn't left the country) to RCBC in Makati. Everyone else was busy as well, so I was left to drown in the pile of newspapers.

- I also had to check all the newspapers as quickly as possible, since Director gave me a 12noon deadline. It was supposed to be 11am actually, gladly he gave me an extension. Even better, Enzo came shortly after 11, and I desperately begged him to help me. He did. Haha.

- After lunch, waited for the eco-bag person to arrive. She told me that she'd be arriving around 1 in the afternoon, but she arrived at the office around 3-ish in the afternoon.

- Things became complicated when my boss told the eco-bag person that he wasn't allowed to give the 50% down payment to the lady, as part of standard procedures. The lady reasoned out that it was their procedure to get the 50% down payment from their customers. I on the other hand went in between my boss and the lady, since I was the lady's contact person.

- Since my boss assured me that he really couldn't give the down payment, I had to tell the lady to trust my boss that he'd be giving the full payment upon delivery of the bags. Thankfully, the lady trusted us, and went on to discuss the bag size and design with my boss.

- Things were settled quickly, and I aired my aching head for a while before going home. I left the building with Yunji, and rested the moment I got home.

- Even though my headache, as well as everything underneath it almost tore me apart this Monday, a few good things still happened. Aside from my article being published again in another Chinese newspaper, I was officially enrolled at the Instituto without having to spend a single cent, a benefit I had for being an intern.

- I was supposed to enroll at level 7, but the classes for level 7 in this cycle would be done during the night. Level 6 on the other hand would be done during the morning. Better. Haha. It's OK though, at least I'd get to review my Spanish. After all, I didn't take formal Spanish lessons aside from my Spanish 1 class in Ateneo. :D:D:D:D

- Tuesday was sort of Monday's opposite. Things ran smoothly, and I wasn't as stressed out as the previous day. I got published again in another Chinese newspapers, and it certainly made my boss happy.

- I was later asked by Martin to proofread the print out of the Bersong Europeo sample copy, and see if there were any errors. I proofread the blurbs of the authors, as well as the poems and the translations. It was a bit difficult since I also needed to proofread the poems themselves, written in their original language - including a Greek poem written in Greek. I guess my slight knowledge in reading Greek letters helped a lot in proofreading that two-paged poem.

- Other than that, I had a slow afternoon inviting people to the upcoming Dia del Libro. (Please come :) :) :) :) )

- Wednesday was a teeny bit the same as Monday. I was asked to design some item and price signs for Dia del Libro, and I thought hard on how to make the signs attractive, convincing, and clear. After thinking and designing two signs, my boss saw what I was doing and immediately told me to change it. Turned out, he wanted the signs to be plain.

- I revised my work a lot of times that it was a bit past my lunch time when I finally finished my first task of the day.

- Later that afternoon, the eco-bag person came to pay us a visit with the sample eco-bag to be sold this Saturday. I must say, the sample looked simple, but great. Everyone liked it too.

- Like before, I was the messenger between the eco-bag person and my boss. The eco-bag person was sitting in the second floor, while my boss was with someone at the Cafe de las Letras at the ground floor. I didn't have a choice but to relay one's message to the other while endlessly brisk-walking up and down the stairs.

- Finally, everything was settled, again, and we were told that the bags would be delivered around late afternoon this Friday.

- My other task was to edit the SMS announcement of this Saturday's event written by Enzo the other day. It didn't take long before I finished editing it (along with Kaye.) After I gave the edited version to my boss, he sent it out to hundreds of people in his address book.

- Thursday was not a stressful day, unlike the previous days. Since I already started my morning Spanish classes, I only come to work in the afternoon. It's a good thing that my Spanish classes were credited in my log time; I think they consider the Spanish classes as a part of training in working for a Spanish institute like Instituto Cervantes. During the afternoon, all I had to do was send a short invitation via text to all the people in the Instituto contact list. While doing that, I also helped Martin in taking pictures of our model/student/volunteer Franco Imperial. Franco is also an Atenean, an incoming sophomore from MEco. We shot a series of photos showing the "10 Reasons to go Dia del Libro."

- Martin later decided that the photo series should be made into a video slideshow. Since Martin didn't know how to do one via Moviemaker, I volunteered to do it, since I'm used to doing video slideshows. I did the slideshow Thursday night, after Martin sent me the photos. As I was doing the slideshow, Martin gave me instructions - all I had to do was to turn his instructions into reality, and upload it in youtube using the Instituto Cervantes de Manila account.

- Now Friday was a surprisingly not busy day. I expected Friday to be very busy, since it's the day before one of Instituto's most elaborate annual events. I was tasked to print out the ballots sent to my email by Martin. The ballots will be used for the Photo del Dia contest during the Dia del Libro. People would use that to vote for their favorite entries.

- Aside from that, the eco-bag person delivered the eco-bags, three hours earlier than expected. That's a really good thing I guess. Since I was responsible for the eco-bags, the big bags of ready-made eco-bags gave me a big sigh of relief.

- What added to the un-busy ambience was the lack of people in the office. Some of the other interns went elsewhere to deliver more flyers, and our Spanish bosses had their regular late-lunch. (It's their culture to have a later lunch.)

- Though supposedly a bigger event, I think I didn't feel the pressure - unlike the preparations for Berso sa Metro - because the Instituto started preparing for this event long before I started my internship. At least things were done one by one, until all of the pieces of the puzzle have been placed in their respective places. The only thing left? Dia del Libro itself.

Instituto Cervantes Presents: Berso sa Metro 2010

- April 17, 2010, Saturday

- Finally, the long-awaited event has arrived!! This three-venued poetry event started from Serendra's A Different Bookstore, Greenbelt's Powerbooks, and ended at Mag:net Cafe Katipunan. (I only went to the first 2 though.)

- I was happy to know that I didn't get lost the second time I commuted to Serendra. I guess I was too early since A Different Bookstore was still closed; it was around 10 something in the morning. I decided to have lunch at McDonald's Market Market.

- I think my companions came around half an hour later, and the VIP's, riding the Berso-sa-Metro-decorated eco-jeepneys, arrived another half an hour later.

- After setting up, Director (Jose Rodriguez) gave his welcoming speech. I enjoyed listening to his speech because it had a fairly light tone while stressing on the importance of reading, poetry, and literature itself.

- The theme of the poems to be read in A Different Bookstore was "City Life."

- Aside from the Spanish poet, Jose Gutierrez, (the one Enzo and I fetched from the Manila Pav,) the main highlight of the recitals, I would say, was the Balagtasan between Mike Coroza and Vim Nadera. Their poetic joust was also parallel to the theme.

- I wasn't able to listen very closely to all the poets, even the Balagtasan, since I was busy organizing the videos of the poets and attempting to upload them asap on youtube.

- After the poetry recital, we interns rode Enzo's car (Thanks Enzo :D:D:D:D) to Greenbelt. It was a short and fun ride to Greenbelt, while Lily Allen's LDN and Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind II played inside my head. Haha. Random.

- Upon arriving at Powerbooks, we asked the staff the set the place up. Since most of us were hungry, we decided to eat at Glorietta. We had a lot of time to spare anyway. Oh yeah, Ito and Martin also accompanied us, since they were also hungry.

- After eating at Glorietta's food court, we rushed back to Powerbooks and set up the music, courtesy of my iPod's "wide selection" of world music. Ito asked be beforehand to prepare a playlist with Spanish/Latin American songs, and I didn't have a hard time organizing one. Hahahaha.

- The same procedure followed, but with a greater audience, and a greater set. (The fake Berso sa Metro jeep was set up as the backdrop....and later used for wild wild pictures.) The theme of the second venue was "Dreams, Memories, Nightmares."

- I was able to listen to most of the poetry, including the Balagtasan-turned-kundiman-concert performed by the same pair, since the videos failed to upload on youtube. Sigh much.

- After the rather short poetry recital - one hour instead of two- many people, including us interns, took the opportunity to have pictures with the fake jeep, and of course, our friendly Spanish bosses (Direc Rodriguez and Head of the Cultural Dept. Jose Fons.)

- I met my former wushu teacher, Ms. Alma Sy, and also had a picture with her. I told her how much I missed my wushu classes with her. (I took wushu for my PE class during my first semester in sophomore year.)

- We also had the chance to have a picture with the (quite laid-back) Spanish poet, Jose Gomez. (I just realized that most of the Spanish men I know and have met are named Jose. Haha.)

- The event ended, at least for us who didn't go to the last venue. Karla and I were the last ones to leave, since we organized the video and picture files through my laptop. Luckily, she was also going to ride the MRT -at least I had someone to talk to during the long walk from Greenbelt to the MRT station in SM Makati. :D:D:D:D

Instituto Cervantes Week 5 (Days 12-16)

- April 12-16, 2010 (Monday - Friday)

- Monday was a not too busy day. With the upcoming Berso sa Metro event this Saturday, volunteers were called up by my co-interns, and Ea and I fixed the press kits for Tuesday's press conference that would be held in the Salon de Actors of the Instituto. Aside from that, we were asked by our superior to join the contest of the Berso sa Metro event. All we had to do was to create a blog entry about this Saturday's event, and the winners will get free Spanish lessons (1 level,) awesome Dia del Libro t-shirts, and a mystery prize. I was teamed up with Kaye and Karla, and Enzo was teamed up with Ea and Tina. :D:D:D:D Good luck to all of us.

- Oh yeah. Antonio, my boss' secretary came back to Manila recently, and brought a ton of pasalubong from Leyte. God. The (edible) pasalubongs were GREAT!!!! Haha. It's not also obvious that I ate a lot as well. Haha.

- Interesting thing I learned this Monday was how to photocopy. I always wanted to learn how to operate a photocopy machine. Gladly, I, as well as Ea, had the opportunity to learn how to photocopy things, courtesy of TJ, one of my co-workers.

- Tuesday was one heck of a day. I was welcomed by a task upon arrival, and started doing it at once. I was supposed to write summaries of the lives of the poets that are going to present their poems this Saturday. It was a good thing that I was able to finish this before we were asked to attend the press con at the Salon de Actos.

- The press con went well, though attended by a few mediamen. After that, my co-interns and I ate at the Cafe de Las Letras (Instituto's Cafe.)

- After lunch, I was again asked to do something even more tideous -> BUBBLWRAPPING. Why is it tedious? We had to pack several GIGANTIC movie posters painted on wooden canvasses, and a lot more smaller (and more manageable) ones.

- Bubblewrapping took up my afternoon, and I even had to go overtime since I needed to help TJ with the press kits for the press con the following day in Mandarin Oriental.

- I also realized that I barely spoke to my boss, and the only time I was able to talk to him was when I was about to go home. :| :| :| :|

- Wednesday was a slightly different day. I arrived at the Instituto, almost seeing no one, since my boss and some other people went to the press con in Makati. I was just tasked to do a book and DVD inventory again.

- Come afternoon, and with all the people back at the Instituto, pizzas, ice cream tubs and soda bottles galore arrived. We had a pizza party in celebration of LV's belated birthday. :D:D:D:D YEY!!

- It was also nice to see our Spanish bosses just "be themselves" during the party. They looked so cute when they talk to each other, and joke around about stuff that I barely understand. Hahahaha. Oh well.

- Thursday was all about preparing the video for the Berso sa Metro event this Saturday. Martin was all set up with his video cam and all, despite having a slight flu. Originally, I was tasked to be the "photographer" while Enzo and Drei were being shot. Since the fake jeepney couldn't stand on its own very well because of the wind, I was asked to "be the driver" of the jeepney while Drei and Enzo were being shot. In short, I didn't have any lines. Haha. It was fun though.

- Friday was the busiest (not to mention the longest) day of the week. Everyone was preparing for the Berso sa Metro with much pressure. Enzo and I were tasked to fetch the poet from the nearby Manila Pavillon Hotel, and Enzo was later asked to tour the poet around Intramuros. I badly wanted to tour the poet around, but I had my Spanish diagnostic with the other Atenean interns.

- Aside from that, I was asked by Ito to prepare the things to be brought to the venues tomorrow. I felt like I was in a game of scavenger hunt, since I had to look for items on a list given to me. Aside from that, Kaye and I updated the eco-bag manufacturer about our orders. Oh well.

- I went home around six, since Ma'am Isabel had her despedida. (She'll be going to Bataan.) I went home around 6, and waited for around 10 trains to pass by. Sigh much. Too many people. Haha.

Instituto Cervantes Week 4 (Days 8, 9, 10 and 11)

- April 5-8, 2010 (Monday to Thursday)

- This Monday, the Instituto was splashed by a wave of Atenean interns. I was joined by EU Studies students Enzo, Karla, Kaye, and Drea. Honestly, it was better having more interns around, since I had more people to talk to (a good way to kill boredom.)

- We were tasked to arrange some books in the Salon de Actos since Congressman Angara and his wife would be arriving that afternoon to get them. Those books would be donated to public libraries and schools in Baler.

- Aside from that, Monday was pretty much a slow day full of chitchat and sabaw moments.

- Tuesday and Wednesday were insanely busy days. We all thought about one liners for the t-shirts, rolled posters, stuck stickers on hundreds of envelopes, and wrote invitations in preparation of the Berso sa Metro and Dia del Libro. Due to the sudden blackouts that lasted for around 2 hours, we tried to be as productive as possible despite the scorching heat. (How hot?? My boss came back this Wednesday and brought small Toblerone triangles from Laos. Just moments later, all the triangles melted inside their plastic packs. :) :) :) :) )

- I also found out about two um, "paranormal" activities that occur in the Instituto. However, what really made my week was when I was informed that interns could avail fee lessons from the Instituto. Yippeeeee. :D:D:D:D

- Thursday was a stressful day. My boss asked Drea and I to cut the Inipit-like cakes from Laos in the kitchen. Funny, because the German ghost opened the lights for us - no kidding. The stress however, starts in the afternoon, when I was asked to bring flyers to A Different Bookstore and Fully Booked in Serendra. It was my first time commuting to Serendra, and I got lost within Fort Boni, since I got off at the wrong bus stop. Oh well, at least I was able to find my way around and go back at the Instituto safely. :D:D:D:D