When I got back from field, I opted to apply for an office-based work to see how it goes. I applied in Manila, got hired, got sick, and ended up in a hospital back home. After I got out of the hospital, I got in touch with my old boss when I was a student and fell into my old job: writing home-based. While working home-based is convenient, it kind of developed into a routine and it wasn't long before I got bored. I wanted to be outdoors again. I then searched the weekly paper for job openings and found something interesting: legal transcriptionist. I applied, I got hired. It became a routine again. It wasn't long before I felt like I need to get out or I'll die of boredom. It was then that I decided to go back to school. I applied for a graduate degree at the university. My thesis adviser, a renowned professor very kindly agreed to give me a recommendation letter. My academic load adviser/former professor doubted I can finish the degree and actually told me when she gave me my recommendation letter: "Oy, tapusin mo yan ah." (Finish the degree). The other recommendation letter came from a mentor/friend/adviser of a university program of which I was a member. He gave me my letter and told me I was making a very wise decision.
I didn't even get the chance to disappoint my academic load/ former professor because I abandoned all plans of getting an MA and instead applied for law school. My first choice was in Manila. I had reservations about the location of the campus and the terrible heat. I, along with my friend, found ourselves enrolling at a university based in the city where I live. I should be given a loyalty award for not leaving the city even for education even as most of my friends did. It sometimes makes me feel sheltered because my parents prefer it this way, anyway.
Law school was a roller coaster ride. It drove me almost over the edge that I had to find something unrelated to it and something where I can feel my self-worth again or I would would go insane. As luck would have it, a former professor asked me if I was free to work as a research assistant. I explained that I can but it would only be for half a day each work day. They told me I can work flexi-time. I grabbed the opportunity and saw it as a way to detoxify from law school. It was a month before the semestral break when I started working as a research assistant. By some twist of fate, the other research assistant found a bigger opportunity and resigned from her job. My former professor needed someone to do some fieldwork for them and asked me if I wanted to do it during the semestral break. Again, I said "Yes," after explaining that I had plans for during the break and there would be days I won't be able to be on field. They said it was okay as long as there were days when I can do actual fieldwork. We arranged my schedule and three days after my last examination, I was off to fieldwork.
I was going to places I've never been to and I was going alone. Luckily, I had friends living in two of those places and another lived near one of my other fieldwork assignment. The first stop was in Tabuk, Kalinga. The work there involved some waiting time so I spent that time wandering about in the city with two of my friends. I got introduced to an irrigation and how people would sometimes take a bath in there. It was something I never saw in my life until then.
While my friend was telling me this is what an irrigation looks like, I was more interested in a man taking a bath in the irrigation canal completely naked and without a care in the world.
My next stop was in Lagawe, Ifugao. I didn't get a chance to tour around the place and all I saw were buildings and structures. Apparently, the nature tripping spots were at the outskirts. I basically stayed inside the inn all night and all for half-a-day arranging the data I gathered. It was during my data-arranging moment that a parade passed by near the inn and I quickly grabbed my camera to take a picture.
The parade seemed so out of place in the marketplace where my inn was located.
I went home to dear old Baguio after Lagawe, had a two-day rest and then I was packing once more for a quick vacation trip to Palawan. After I got back from Palawan, I only had a day to unpack my things and then pack for Abra, my final fieldwork destination. I stayed in Bangued. It was pretty much like Tabuk City. It was so much like what I learned in history: the way the Spaniards strategically located the church as the center of the town and forming the communities under the sound of the bell (I forgot the Spanish term). So there was the church then the town plaza. I also didn't get a chance to tour around the place having arrived late in the afternoon. I only got a chance to take a quick bath then proceed to the office I was tasked to gather data from. It was only on my way back home that I was able to take pictures from the window of the bus.
The town plaza from the bus window. A quick capture.
All in all, I had fun riding the bus, touring, observing people, observing places. I'd love to visit Kalinga, Ifugao and Abra again in the future. Maybe I can try some of the delicacies and other activities they offer. I hate being a tourist in my own country but it's a good way to explore and to learn. The good thing about traveling being a part of the job is that you don't have to be a tourist and you avoid acting like one with your main purpose in mind being work.
The travel took my mind off the stress of law school, grades, and other depressing thoughts. I had time to think while on the bus on what to do, though. It was not enough time but it was time I got to listen to my inner self. It may not have resulted to ultimate enlightenment but it helped in sorting my plans and feelings out.
