Visiting different places will be one of the plan activities of our department. For this year, our destination was Siquijor. The place was known to be mystical for it is the place where the “mangkukulam” resides. However, if you were in the place you will get to love the nature that eludes the concept of witchcraft.

Talking about nature, one of the itineraries of the group was the CANTABON CAVE. It is one of the tourists spot of the place that you should not miss to visit. According to some writers, the cave was discovered way back 1985 by the foreigners. Since then, this cave was visited by thousands of people and still counting. And luckily we are one of those who dare to do a ducked walked, took photos and ops got hurt  during the journey in the cave. Sad to note that our group didn’t endured to the very end but we were happy to get out the cave alive and kicking.

Here are some photos that I took in going into the cave..

Going inside the Cave…

First thing that I observed as I get into Cave...

THE ACCIDENT!!!

Mrs. Gob's powerful Lacto pafi

Mr. Renante Ulan,one of the MAPEH teachers fall into the deep rock that creates an abrasion on his right in- step foot.

Mr. Ulan's abrasion

Application of first aid

This is the reason why we were not able to reach the very end. However, we didn’t mind it for our main concern is our co teacher’s welfare. Sometimes, things happen for reason.

Based on experienced, we came up with these conclusions and recommendations.

What to wear?

1. Short pants

2. Comfortable shirt

3. anti- slippery shoes or sandals that could grip on the slippery rocks

What to bring?

1. flash light

2. water

3. Camera

4. helmet (advisable)

5. first aid kit

No more, No less

What to expect inside the Cave?

1. dark place

2. muddy area

3. nice view of  stalactites and stalagmites

4. thigh level water (for a short person like me) * it could be waist level, head level depends on the weather)

5. rocks

6. narrow entrance that you have to go down in backward motion

7. flowing water like a falls

8. swimming pool with shower (this is according to the tour guide) We didn’t able to reach this area because of the accident.

Who are allowed to go into the CAVE?

1. I would say 10 years old above.

2. Those who are physically fit for you need to squat, duck walked.

3. Those who are risk taker and adventurous

Those who are pregnant, suffering from back pains, afraid of the dark, children ages 9 below are not advisable to get into the cave.

ENTRANCE FEE:

The Cantabon Cave is still a virgin cave for it was not developed. The formation of the stalactites and stalagmites are awesome that you could say how wonderful the creation God bestowed to the people. If the Siquijor tourism will develop this cave, they could attract more tourists to visit the cave.

Cantabon Cave  =  Rate 8/10

Safety of the Area  = 5/10

In my past years until now, the bed we are using are beds from wood. Very cool. You just put foam to make it soft and them bedding and…. solve! So if I were to choose, I will surely choose the pine bed which is very durable and affordable too.

April 23, 2010 was a memorable to me because it was the date that me and my husband were back to dating. Yes, dating. The usual dating we had were watching movies on screen.

Working Girls is a Filipino movie. It is the story of seven different women.  Eula Valdez, Eugene Domingo, Cristine Reye, Bianca King, Iza Calzado, Jennylyn Mercado and  Ruffa Gutierrez. Each of them has different story to tell.

Eula Valdez – played the role as Dr. Cleo Carrillo, a well-known dermatologists.

Eugene Domingo – Paula Cabigting, a hardworking mother of two. She’s very proud in sending her children at Ateneo. She is a nagger. One thing I like her is she’s having an online business which is selling bags and delivers it.

Cristine Reyes – Wendy Casuga is a promo girl. She is been considered as “pok-pok” or a prostitute. She has this demure attitude but very aggressive.

Bianca King – Dara dela Vega, a daughter of Amanda dela Vega (Cherry Gil). She ‘s been appointed as segment producer in news and current affairs. It was only then, I knew what is a segment producer. I just also realized that you must know what your work is so you won’t have a hard time adopting its new environment.

Iza Calzado – Tere Villanueva – a very kind and understanding nurse. Her past relationship made her stayed single for all time. The feeling of emptiness and hatred will not be eased until such there is closure. Only then you will realized that you have been moving on without realizing it.

Jennylyn Mercado – Ada Villanueva, a call center agent and a single mom. It is not easy for her to raise her child especially if the feelings towards the father is still there. Sometimes, we must look around and appreciate the people around us.

Ruffa Gutierrez – Marilou Cobarrubias, a beauty queen and widow. She now become the CEO after her husband died. She doesn’t have any knowledge about running a business however, she been practical in finding ways to solve the bankruptcy of her company.

The only story that keeps the movie alive is Paula’s  tale. I really enjoyed her silliness. Ruffa, Bianca, Iza, Jennlyn are beautiful. Carmi, Eula, Gina, Isabel and Rio are the original cast of working girls. They are also beautiful as if they were not getting older.

Movie Rating : 7

Talking about the place where the retreat was held, I was really curios of its name.

Talavera means “true star”. It symbolizes spiritual rebirth, evangelical radicalism, longing got a life of loving dedication and closeness to the Lord. The place had several rooms which can accommodate up to four people. They have also dormitory type of room with the capacity of 30 people.

The place is cozy to stay with. If you want to unleash and uplift your spiritual aspects in life. Talavera House of Prayer is the right place for seminars, retreat, recollection and other religious activities. Having a retreat at Talavera was really a great experience. Our speaker of the said retreat was Fr. Louie Punzalan, SVD. He is a great priest and speaker. He gave us a conference which is just brief yet it gave us a great impact to our personal lives, and being a teacher. He could relate to us  for he was also a teacher then.

Interior View of the Talavera House of Prayer

Fill in an empty spiritual aspect of your life at Talavera House of Prayer.

Directed by: James Kearns

Written by: Nick Cassavetes

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Kimberly Elise, Daniel E. Smith

Genre: Drama, Crime

Check your health insurance provider whether you are fully being covered. This is my advice to all of you who are reading this review. This is how the story John Q evolves.

Summary:

John Quincy Archibald (Denzel), is a loving husband and father. He will do everything, anything just to make his family secured and happy. His son, Mike (Daniel E. Smith) is talented boy and wants to be the next well known wrestler. His wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) is a good Christian woman. They lived in a simple life. Until such a tragedy happened that they never expect. Mike, suddenly fell out in the ground while running for the second base during their baseball game. John and Denise rushed him to the hospital. Only then, they found out that Mike’s heart is three times bigger than a normal kid of nine years old. Denise can not believe it for Mike seems okay. The only way to save Mike is through heart transplant. Heart transplant will cost them a bundle. John Q expected that major medical is covered in their health care insurance. Sad to say, it wasn’t. As a result, he sold every belongings that they have, seeking an advice to the expert, asking their community to help them to come up with the amount desired just to put his son’s name on the donor’s list. Doing all those things are not enough. He is really desperate when his wife called that Mike will not make it. Consequently, hostaging the doctor and other people in the emergency room is the only way that his son will be listed in the donor’s list. Even though, he looks like a mad man with a gun, still he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. Their conversation with his wife and son proves that he only want to make his boy operated and be back to his normal life. Because of this, many people support him in his undertakings so with the doctor. John wants to kill himself so he could donate his own heart. Fortunately, he was saved for there is available heart that matches his son’s blood type.   His son lived but he is sent to the prison for kidnapping in false imprisonment.

Review:

I like the whole story. It really gives us an idea that you can ready to sacrifice your own life just to make the other alive. It is not easy living in this country without any knowledge of your insurance policy. It would be best if you will ask the agent the things that are being covered under the privilege that you choose. Denzel (John) did a great job. I could really feel his acting. He seems so natural portraying a loving father and a hostage taker with a heart. Kimberly (Denise) also had a very emotional acting. I like the part when she calls Denzel; she’s very assertive and vocal pushing her husband to do something. Another one that I like is the part where there is a confrontation with the director of the hospital. She acted so compelling that I wanted to give her applause. I do really like the twist at the end part of the movie; it seems that John really killed himself before Denise told them that there is a heart available. Another one, it seems that John stepped out in the emergency room and surrendered himself after receiving the organ but it wasn’t him. He was there, watching as his son was being operated.

I would recommend this movie. This is worthy to be watched. Because of this, I will rate it 10 out of 10.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

The key to happiness is to do what you love with the people you love. This line really stuck in my head as I and my husband watched the “Night at the Museum 2” yesterday at SM Cebu Cinema. The movie sounds interesting since it is something to do with the history and new adventure. This is a sequel movie with an additional of characters like Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), Abraham Lincoln, Kahmunrah, Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone et al come to alive. The scenario happens in Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex and research organization composed of 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo. This really cost a lot of money, filming this kind of movie.

Larry Dales (Ben Stiller), a guard who turns out to be the owner and inventor of the glow-in-the-dark flashlight. He is successful to his new career. However, his business- minded person changed when he visited where he used to work, American Museum of Natural History. He found out that this will be closed for upgrading and renovation thus; some of the pieces will be moved at the Federal Archives at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The battle begins as the sunlight goes out.

The movie is not so appealing to me. I am expecting for more adventures and comedy. The battle at the Smithsonian Institute happens only in one night. It would be better to sustain the adventure for several nights. There are only few scenes that make me laughed with, which are; Kahmunrah dressed talk and the slapping of Larry and the two monkeys. The aggressiveness of Amelia Earhart as she kissed several times to Larry makes the movie romantic though not so good to the kids. The production is exuberant as well as the cast. However, Ben Stiller is not so effective this time not unlike in first movie (Night in the Museum).

As over- all rating I would give 6 out of 10.

Starring: Will Smith
Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Barry Pepper
Genre: Drama
Directed By: Gabriele Muccino

Suicide is a sin. But what if you commit suicide for good? Would you still be called as bad person? This is the story of Tim Thomas (Will Smith), used to be an aeronautical engineer. After the accident, he’s life became miserable.
He committed suicidal act to compensate the mistake he did. There are 7 people died because of fatal car accident that includes his fiancée, Sarah Jenson (Robinne Lee). He blamed himself for that incident.

As a result, he searched 7 names that have problems with their health that he believes that they still have a chance to survive and become useful in the society. He tries to help them by giving off his vital organs and his wealth. Tim donates a lung lobe to his brother, Ben (Michael Ealy), an IRS employee. I wondered what is the relationship of Holly Apelgren (Judyann Elder) to Tim? At the end of the story, it was revealed that Tim donated part of his liver to Holly, a child service worker. There was a flashback wherein Tim watched a hockey practice. What’s the relevance? The junior hockey coach, George Ristuccia (Bill Smitrovich), is another receiver of Tim’s kidney. Tim gave up his house and gives it to Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carrillo), who lives with an abusive boyfriend. How does Tim know her? It’s because of Holly. He then moved to a motel and brought with him his pet, jellyfish. Then, Tim donated his bone marrow to a young boy. Tim needs two more people. He meets Ezar Turner (Woody Harrelson). Tim was a rude caller then, tries to provoke Ezar. He wants to know how Ezar handles the situation. But Ezar remain calm and gentle. Ezar also play a piano in public. Tim observed him keenly. He found out this person (Ezar) is worthy to help with. What do you expect on what organ did Tim donates to him? (read at the last part) and the last person whom he helped is Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), who suffered heart condition and a rare blood type. In order to convince them (Emily, Ezar and Connie) he disguised himself as agent in
I. R. S (United States Department of Treasury), even his name which is supposedly Tim Thomas, he used his brother’s name Ben Thomas and Bens’ credentials. He felt in love with Emily. He did everything to be with her; fixing her printing machine, weeding, walking her Great Dane. After they make love, he rushed to the hospital to check the chances of survival of Emily; he called his best friend Barry Pepper that this is the time to bring on the papers stating his will of donating his organ; he also called Ezar to receive the gift from him and finally he called 911 (which you can see this at the first part of the movie), reports his suicidal act. Then, he puts cubes of iced on a tub; he dipped on it and put his jellyfish, the deadliest creature on earth. As Emily woke up, she was flabbergasted that there is a donor. At the last part of the movie, Ben narrated the incident to Emily. She was deeply hurt of what Tim did. Then, she visited to a recital conducted by Ezar. When they meet Emlily and Ezar, she gazed profoundly to eyes of Ezar. Tearing eyed flaunts. I can’t help myself but also to cry.

Moral Lessons: Never use your cell phone while driving.
Helping people is good, but committing suicide is not.