Third Day, Okay: Home Sweet Home

Facade of the Church of Sulangan

On the third day of the fieldtrip was a home-sweet-home moment for us. But before we left Guiuan, Eastern Samar, we visited the sacred church of Sulangan. We prayed there and lit candles and bought souveneirs. You know what’s the biggest thing I ever did on the entire trip? It was to take a bath only for 3 full dippers and must have washed your whole body with shampoo and soap. Sounds gross! But really taking a bath was quite a challenge yet I had overcome it. I did everything with no complains because I expected lots of things will happen because this was not just a family tour. My face was burned and I became more tan. Really tan! The funny stuff I thought was that of my lotion being applied everyday and in just a 3-day trip I became so tan. But the whole thing was no regrets. I really learned a lot on the trip! I enjoyed! I laughed! This trip was like applying of what we have learned about quadrats and transects and also about bats. We learned it in the classroom but we learned more about it when we conducted those activities. Biology indeed learning more outside the classroom than the otherwise. It’s because we see things in reality than imagining it. 

A Peek Inside of the Church

Ughhh, Tiring Calicoan Island!

A Part of Linaw CAve

Our second destination of our fieldtrip was Calicoan Island. We went there on the second day of the trip. The place has white sand and windy. Waves were big and seaweeds were evidently sporadic on the shore. Afternoon of the said day, we walked to Linaw Cave. We walked through paved road to sharp limestone rocks or the remnants of the corals to be exact. It was an underground cave. I did not go down of the cave. But according to them the water was salty instead of its natural water taste. We also saw sink holes as we went along the cave. On the night of the trip (same place), we assembled nets specialized for catching bats. We placed it on the opposite side of our camping site because it was a forest-like place. 3 nets were setup and hanged until 2:00am. We caught only 3 bats on the entire night of waiting. While waiting for the bats to be caught, we setup our quadrats on the low tide sea around 11:00pm. Quadrats are used to identify the diversity of species in a habitat. Our group had seen many species and had drawn it on a paper because the slate was missing. It lasted until 2:00am. Quite tiring yet fun! I had walked for a long period of time during the day and soaked my feet on the seawater when the twilight was coming in. I don’t know how my feet would react as long as I savored the very moment to enjoy and learn on this day. If I would to comment on the second day of the trip, I would barely say that this day was the most tiring and lots of works to do rather than of the Pearl Island escapade. Whoooo! I’m amazed of myself that I had did this for the first time. 

At Calicoan Island on a Hot Afternoon

DÉJÀ VU in Pearl Island

Educational tour in Guiuan, Eastern Samar was our first educational trip this year. It was successful and fun though there were some unexpected situations occurred during the entire activity. Instead of having a 4-day EDUTOUR, our professors shortened it to a 3-day tour because they were going to a seminar somewhere. Our first place to visit was Pearl Island. Whoa, it was not my first time to ride a pump boat but the real problem was the big waves that hit the pump boat! I’m pretty nervous back then. I was thinking that the boat will turn upside down then drown and I’ll die! But the experience was fun though I’m quite nervous. The place was really much serene. A place that I could tell a nice place to relax. The wind and the waves were relaxing much. The silence of the place and the sound of the barking dog put me back to nature. How nice to feel this way. As what I’ve heard from a sitcom in the radio “Gusto ko magin kapwa, para hayahay,” was the nicest way to define the place.

Our first activity in Pearl Island was to place a transect and to identify or draw (if not familiar with) the species as you move along the transect. Transect is used to make a cross section of a certain place and identify the species living in the area as you move along the transect. We placed it in the edge of the shore near the port. It was 20 meters long. To be able to see the species living near the transect (2m wide) we snorkeled for about an hour or two repetitively. Our group had seen different kinds of species especially animals in the vicinity of the transect. This part was my most favorite part of the entire trip. Another thing in this place was the sleeping time. It was amazing to see the beautiful moon reflecting its light to the water. Wow! In my amazement I slept outside on a “katre” in between of two trees. I was accompanied by Rovie and Flor. But I slept for an hour or two because of the strong wind so we decided to move inside of the BFAR office. What was really flabbergasting in our first stop on the trip? It was all “DÉJÀ VU.”

Best Picture

         Our class in ICT in Biology had been instructed by Prof. Rutchelle Enriquez to take a photo of any subject and made a watermark on it. This photo was taken on the old bus terminal near Tacloban public market. It was entitled as "LAMBONG" since it depicts the poor condition of Filipinos that is caused by corruption. They are the casted shadow of the people of the government doings. They are the one who suffer the effects of graft and corruption. Ma'am Rutchelle was to choose different pictures of our class which will get the titles:

a. Best Picture

b. Best Story

c. Best Title

Unfortunately, we did not get the Best Story but was grabbed by Sharbie Artoza  and the Best Title was grabbed by Jaypee Limbauan and his comrades but we were happy to hear that our picture was entitled as the Best Picture by Ms. Enriquez. She said that our picture was really that competitive to get the three titles but we only bested for the Best Picture. We were really grateful to have our picture be selected as the Best Picture by our Professor. :D