Fro-yo and Blizzard

Frozen yogurt (fro-yo) is not for me. Even if I am into healthier foods this year, the taste of yogurt did not grow on me even with all the fancy toppings. I just find them nice to look at. Fancy, that's it.

My daughter does not crave for it as much as she craves for Dairy Queen's blizzard but she tries fro-yo every now and then...with M&M toppings.




***Read more sharing at Mommy Journey.

THANK YOU

I've been keeping a gratitude online journal since last year. I thank the Almighty everyday for anything and everything that made me happy.  But this day deserves a BIG, BIG THANK YOU!!!

All for your glory, God. Thank You.

"For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude." (Clarence E. Hodges)

Big hug to to my big God. :) 

A Round Table Discussion with Professor Rolando dela Cruz

A few Saturdays ago, I attended a round table discussion headed by Professor Rolando dela Cruz, the president of Darwin International School System. Our discussion was focused on what schools can offer to help our students excel and make the most of their education, specifically what Darwin International School System's role is in the furtherance of Philippine education.

We spent a very engaging exchange of ideas for practically four hours. An overtime I must say for a lunch meeting. It was right timing for me as I am scouting for a high school where I can enroll my daughter next year. I have my own standards and preferences based on my daughter's abilities and inclinations but I welcome ideas from an educator and fellow parents.

Let me share the highlights of our discussion which parents like me can explore while guiding our children in the process of learning and education.


1. An education system which can compete globally hence should be international in orientation.

*Humanities is a part of the curriculum at Darwin International School starting from pre-school to high school. Japanese and French languages are also integrated as part of the students' language skills development.*

My thoughts, the integration of other languages is an important aspect in a multi-cultural environment. The world has long embraced diversity. The children can start through proper communication and understanding of the different languages and cultures of other countries.

2. An education system geared towards excellence.

*One of the goals of Darwin International School is to develop top graduates accepted in top universities in the country. For the record, 100% of all the graduating students of Darwin passed in the country's top schools.

• Ateneo, 25 %
• University of the Philippines, 45%
• De La Salle University-Manila, 92%
• University of Santo Tomas, San Beda & Mapua Institute of Technology, 100%

For the last three years, Darwin consistently topped the NCAE (National Career Assessment Examination) in the Division of Bulacan. This year, the school ranked 2nd in the National Achievement Test (NAT) in the Division of Bulacan.

3. Investing more for a quality education.

*Asked about the proposed 12 year education program instead of 10 years, Prof. Rolando asserts that "it should be 12 years of quality education". We cannot attribute to the 10-year education cycle whatever misgivings we have in the progress of our students today.

4. Asked by one participant about the one educational reform he can suggest that will give the greatest impact in the Philippine education system, Prof. Rolando replied, "changing the mindset by being accountable for your learning and education".

It's not only adding budget, teachers and structures that will help enhance our educational system but more on knowing that one is accountable with what you are learning and how you are using it. Education is personal. It is what you can do for yourself and eventually for your community. This goes for all involved - the teachers, the parents and the students themselves.



The participants with Professor Rolando dela Cruz in the middle and Miss Claire Agbayani, the facilitator (second from right).

*****

Professor Rolando dela Cruz is the president of Darwin International School System located in Bulacan - Malolos, Sta. Maria, San Jose Delmonte. He is a former UP professor, a scholar from different schools abroad including Cambridge University. Darwin offers pre-school, elementary and high school education. His school adopts a Cambridge-style eductation which encourages the development of a reading culture.

Darwin is the only school in Region III that offers a full-fledged Cambridge-based Honours Program wherein all enrollees need to maintain a very high annual average from nursery to high school. Darwin’s comprehensive internationally-oriented program makes its graduates shoe-ins for the top universities in the country.

***Check out more weekend sharing at Pixel Bug Weekend.

Weblinked 7.0

There's seven of us. We met each other through the internet. We all joined a group about three years ago exclusively for Filipino mommies. We visit each others' blogs and from there we were able to develop some camaraderie. What made us closer is the fact that six of us live in the same city, in areas near each other. One is from a different city but it doesn't matter. She joins us whenever she can.

Three years ago, one of us suggested we meet up and have dinner. And so we did. We met in a mall and had our first dinner at Five Cows. Only four of us were able to come but in most succeeding meet-ups, we are complete. We had our picnic, we had our Xmas party, we had our malling and eat-outs, we attended events a few times.

We created our own site catered to mommies all over the world, Filipino Mom Blog. True, we were not able to give this much attention as all of us have our own preoccupations in our daily lives. But we are still maintaining it and will relaunch as soon as we can. I hope we can relaunch this year.

What we are busy with right now as a group is our newly formed small company, Weblinked 7.0. It was borne out of Wenchie's entrepreneurial spirit. There is a big market for a lot of professionals, and people with businesses, which are very interested in creating and maintaining their own websites. This triggered her to tap potential clients and for us to start a web development group.

I will not go into details but this small group will evolve into media consultancy and events organizing later on. For now we are focused on website development and maintenance, which includes web content management depending on the needs of the clients.

Finally, I was able to join the group yesterday as it was a holiday. We missed Chats because of her migraine. Talk about wrong timing. We had our meeting at Figaro, UP-Ayala Technohub. It was very productive as we were able to finalize the first leg of our activities complete with target dates of completion.


Julie, Feng, Wenchie, Me, Cookie
We have different personalities but we have the same drive to make things happen. We have proven this in our individual lives, professionally and personally. I guess these differences in personalities are complementing as we have been together for about three years now.

Wenchie is the entrepreneur. Chats is the marketing person. Cookie can take care of legalities as she is very well versed in big businesses and her husband is a lawyer. Cess is a good writer. Julie has technical knowledge and has a resource person, her husband who is an IT consultant. Feng takes care of government dealings as she is very familiar of the procedures. I can do business development and financial and investment management - managing costs, expenses and how to make the business more profitable.


Julie, Wenchie, Me, Feng, Cess, Cookie
This project of ours excite us because this is something we are passionate about. We love the internet, its benefits and its power to send messages across millions of people in just one click.

We have to manage our busy schedules for this great project of ours. Admittedly, we have our own preoccupations. We are all mothers for one. I am in the corporate. Julie is a teacher. Wenchie is an entrepreneur and works part time in a government agency. Feng works too. Cookie presides their business. Chats does a lot of freelance writing as well as Cess and she's also into sales.


Cookie, Me, Miss Liza Maza, Wenchie, Julie
We chanced upon former congresswoman Liza Maza at Figaro. Wenchie introduced herself since she and Miss Liza have a common ground. We took the opportunity to have our photo with her.

She said it perfectly as a reply to what Cookie said that we have our "own things". Miss Liza said, "women, they always have their own thing". Haha. True.

Trust us, women, to make things happen. :)

My Dearest Friends

At last I was able to see two of my long time friends last Saturday. These two people are very special to me. They are my best friends. Our schedules just won't meet. We only get to talk through YM and that is on rare occasions only since two of us do not frequent IMs.

We comment in each one's status in Facebook but not much too since none of us are fond of posting status but we do send private messages every now and then. I am just glad this meet-up materialized finally. I miss them so much. It was a post-birthday celebration by one of them actually.

Real friends are hard to come by. I am thankful to God that He gave me these two great people. They keep me grounded. I can be myself with them and know that they accept me as I am - with quirks and all. They listen to me even if I just keep on repeating myself. They make time, even through YM, when I send a message that I need to just talk about anything under the sun.




J, L and me @Trattoria Gourmet, Shangrila. Good food, great friends. What a great day!
We are friends since college. I love them both. Through thick and thin, we stay together. There was a time I was missing in action because I was so engrossed with my work. The only world I know was my work. But things change.

Life has a way of balancing things. As I mature, there's this feeling that I need to reconnect. And I did. I am so glad I did. And my friends are still there ready to welcome me and pick up where we left off. Material wealth and professional success are not enough to give someone bliss and happiness. Friends, like family, matter a lot. They are there to root for us, to care for us, to scold us if needed, to be with us just because.

Thank You, God, for dear, dear friends. We have our differences and boy, they are a lot. But they don't really matter. There is understanding and acceptance. There is love...and tolerance? Haha. Bottom line, we are always there for each other no matter what. I love these two girls in my life.