Sean+Agustin+on+Outbound+Trip

**THE EXPERIENCES AND FUN ACTIVITIES**
//WARNING: This wiki post contains a lot of photos so it might take time for this page to load. Please be patient as the photos are.. awesome and as amazing as my Bagac experience! :>//

Despite the 7:30 am call time and my lack of sleep on the day of the trip, I still felt keyed up for the trip. The travel itself was not at all bad. It was long, but bearable. All thanks to the most awesome bus seatmates who were all in the mood to share stories and laughs – Ana Domagas, Camz Bernardez, Megg Panopio and of course, Ms. Pineda to name them. J

When we arrived at the place, I was stoked first, by the little kids running outside the school who were all too cutely shy. Secondly, I was stoked by the beautiful sea side. It was not as fancy as the shores of pagudpud or any white sand place, but it was worth appreciating. To be honest, I just wanted to take a plunge to the sea but, "duty calls" as I remembered that we didn't go to the place for the beach, but to teach the young students of the school and just enjoy together.

Upper left: The amazing landscape in Bagac, Bataan! Upper Right: Sea shells! <3 Lower Left: Hermit crabs! My group was assigned to teach the Grade 2 students make sky lanterns and origami. Being a kid lover that I am, I felt very excited to start our “teaching and getting to know” session for the day. We then stayed at the covered court area. The first thing we did was to have ice breakers. Half of the group played "the boat is sinking", "agawang panyo", "chili chili/ice ice water" and "langit lupa" with the kids while the other half prepared the materials for the lantern making. After preparing the materials, our group then started our first activity which was “how to make sky lanterns”. We were able to make one sky lantern but due to time constraint, we weren’t able to have the kids fly the latern. As an alternative, we then decided to teach the kids “how to make jumping paper frogs”. We gave each kid colored papers and guided them through a step by step process. The time it took for the kids to make a paper frog was longer than we expected due to the limited number of group members. Each member had to assist 6 kids each. In any case, we were still able to finish the 2nd activity. The grade 2 pupils that I handled finished earlier compared to other kids so I taught them how to make paper hearts. I made a paper heart for each kid and wrote a note on the paper hearts. During the activities, we implemented a “reward system” wherein kids who were well behaved gets a candy! Also, after the activities, we felt that the kids were tired so we decided to give out snacks for everyone!

Upper left: Some kindergarten pupils who were also watching our sky lantern making! Upper right: Grade 2 pupils with their own colored paper, ready to start learning origami. Lower left (3 photos): My group mate, Camz, explaining the steps to make a sky lanter and jumping paper frog. Lower right: 1 of the kids I handle, trying to make her paper frog jump. The grade 2 kids were very hyper and eager to learn, which made us more enthusiastic in teaching them. Despite the heat during and the large number of students, we still managed to handle the class. The students also did their part in making the session enjoyable as they followed instructions and were very participative. Personally, I really enjoyed talking to the kids and playing with them. It was fun talking about their crushes, dreams, hobbies and practically anything.

After the sky lantern and origami activities, we then headed to the sea shore for the clean up drive. It was fun as while picking up trash, we get to play around (a little bit!) with the water. When there weren’t that many trashes to be cleaned, we played skipping stones! We also had a short photo session while on the waters with the kids. Also, I met a grade 4 girl who has the same name as I am! Too bad I forgot to take a photo of her. L



Upper Left: Ms. Pineda taking a photo of the performers during the culminating activity! Upper center: Megan and Joanne posing for the camera! Upper Right: Some dead corals trails. Lower LefT: Ikee with his garbage collection(hehe) posing for the camera! Lower Center: 2 girls enjoying the waters! Lower Right: Joanne finally done cleaning! Lastly, during our stay at the school, I got very close with a kindergarten kid, whose name is Angel. Given her name, she is indeed very angelic and sweet! She made my heart melt! She was my "alaga" or "anak", as my peers referred to her. Definitely, she’s one of the many children who made my stay at Jaime Hilario so worthwhile! Overall, it was fun for my group and I, and hopefully for the kids as well.



**THE REALIZATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED**
In all honesty, it felt so good to be able to reach out to other people, give and share the little that I have. In this case, I was able to share some of my skills (if paper folding, origami, running around, being a child magnet may be considered! Hehe) and my time to the kids. I felt tired yet happy since I saw how deserving the kids are of our help. I don’t have much material things to share but I can proudly say that through my effort and the companionship that I gave to these kids, I took part in making the world a better place because I made a difference (and I hope I touched)in a life of at least one child.

I learned from the people in Bagac that the students have their own bus service since they live relatively far from the school and travel to and fro takes a lot of time, effort and not to mention, may be a bit costly. Knowing such, it made me realize how much perseverance the students have and how the parents greatly support their children that they endure the long travel time just to have a good education. Definitely, these kids are people who we can look up to.

I also learned that even with the simplest things and a simple life, there is so much happiness and satisfaction. Playing with sand, swimming on waters, doing arts and crafts and the like are definitely simple joys in life.

//"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, the excitement, and the mystery of the world we live in." --Rachel Carlson//