volcano on the balcony!

Feb. 8-9, 2011: Our very first overnight retreat. :D

"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery." - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Yes, and understand, we did. :) It was an unforgettable retreat, guys. Our expectations really turned into an awesome reality! How nice.

So yesterday and earlier today, we had our retreat in Light of the World in Silang, Cavite. It was an overnight, and for most of us, it was our first time to have that kind of retreat/recollection, since mostly our recollections were just a day's duration. But this time, since we're already in 3rd year high school, we had the opportunity to bond with our classmates and spend more time with God for two days and one night. Thus, retreat. And this is how it goes. x]

We climbed onto the bus so that we could go to our destination. My busmate was Hanna, Michelle's was Keanu. I was feeling kinda queasy but guess what. It all went away when food started to be passed around the bus. :)))) And I'd told myself that I wouldn't eat much in our retreat, but my hand still continued to scourge in the chips' bags to get some. :))) Oh well, maybe later during our actual retreat, I thought, I wouldn't get to eat much. And man, was I wrong! But we'll get to that later.

We arrived there, I think an hour later after our departure. We stayed in the, uh, second floor I think, because Mornese was still there (theirs was the day before and yesterday) but we weren't supposed to see them. So we waited in St. Ignatius Hall in the third floor for maybe 30 minutes before going down to the dormitories. Uh, I forgot what we did there while waiting, aside from the giving of keys of the rooms (my roommate was Betina by the way) and surrendering phones. After a while, Sir Carlos said that Mornese's mass was already finished, so we climbed downstairs with our bags to go to the dormitories. When we reached the first floor, we saw some Mornese boys, and Joanna and Alyssa. Okay, so much for not seeing the other class! :)) But we didn't see our best friends, and so we thought they were outside or in the bus already. Awwwww. :(

So we went to the dormitories after seeing the Mornese peeps. We saw some of the rooms and waited for the other girls to come. I waited because Betina wasn't there yet and she had the key to our room. Then, we saw Vielka, Christine and Jonina!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I felt genuinely happy when we hugged, and I don't know why. Maybe it's because we didn't get to see each other the day before, and whatnot. And I didn't want to let go of them. :)) (Aw, shucks!) But unfortunately, they had to go already. They weren't actually supposed to let them see us! :)))) Yeah. x]

After they left, Betina arrived, so we headed to our room. And guess what. It was the only room on the other side. Even Tr. Anne's room was near the other girls, and our room, Betina's and my room, were on the other side of the dorm, and we were completely isolated! So therefore I got really scared when I learned that because of the scary stories I've heard about the place. Seriously I was scared!! Of being isolated! :)) So we told Sir Toby and Tr. Anne, and in a few minutes, the problem was solved. Betina was moving to St. John 3 with Jovielle and Steph, and I was moving to St. John 2 with Michelle and Reg. Well, at least that was what it was at first. But then we, Mira girls, being such good girls, switched places with the others so we can be roommates with our friends :)) Not that we weren't all friends there. It was just that, some friends are closer to others :)) Well you get what I mean :D After all, if you were in our position, believe me, you'd want that too :)

We went back to St. Ignatius Hall (although in my personal opinion it should be called St. Ignatius room) and Kuya Sandy introduced himself as our speaker. A little background about Kuya Sandy. Kuya Sandy had the good life as a child. But then his father went astray, and they lost everything they had. He was a repeater. He was usually absent in school because he sold cigarettes on streets and did other odd jobs to sustain his mom and siblings - he was the eldest, I think. But he finished high school and college, and aside from giving seminars or talks, he has a small business. Now he has 2 children with his wife. He actually had three, but his second child, his first son, Luis Miguel (nicknamed) Luigi, born September 7, died fifteen hours after he was born, due to a disease where his internal organs got all replaced. His youngest child is 2 months premature, I think. But he is a family man. There are other stories about him that he told us, but it's gonna take more space so no go :)) But yes, that's him, and that's what we learned about him in our 2-day-stay there with him.

Remember what I said about not having to eat much in the retreat? I was totally wrong. I mean, after every activity we got to eat! And I was not happy at all, because I might not fit into my prom dress if I eat a lot before that day comes. :)) But yes, at 10 in the morning we ate snacks, then at 12 we ate again for lunch and stayed in our dormitory until 2, snacks again at about 4, then dinner at 7 'til 8. Then I ate a lot of rice earlier during breakfast there. :)) So that expectation about retreat wasn't exactly met there. :))

But a lot of others were. :) I mean, really. We had a "silent edition" of our retreat at night. :)) Michelle and I changed into our sleeping outfits first. By the way, Hanna and Reg switched rooms so Michelle, Hanna and I are all in the same room now \m/ She took a shower first then changed her clothes, and we waited for Margie and Paige to finish taking their baths. The five of us were all together, then Nica came looking for food =)) Then we went upstairs to their room and started the session. XDXD

We played Spin the Bottle at first. Every time someone asks a question and the other answers we were all reacting, then shushing each other. :))))) Then after some time, Ruth's phone died. =)) And since it was her phone where the bottle app was, we decided to ask each and every girl in the room questions. And yes, they now know who CoCo Chanel is. :)))))) Wew!!!

And then, Paige, Nica, Ruth and Steph all started sharing about their lives and family. And it was then I realized how lucky I was to have a complete and unbroken family, and how oblivious I was to their problems, because of how amazing they keep them. Most of us even cried because of what we learned. Also, we wished on 12:34 because we didn't get to wish on 11:11 :)) Aaaanyway, so after all that, the Mira girls became more bonded, and we all went to sleep. :D

When I woke up, Hanna took a shower first, then me. Michelle was already done because she didn't sleep. :O We got up and went upstairs to St. Ignatius Hall and wrote some letters for the boys. Then we ate breakfast and went to the, er, chapel, I think. Or was it the St. Joseph Hall? Anyways, we had a mass (I actually slept there, I closed my eyes and before I knew it the scene changed), and then Kuya Sandy had his last words of wisdom before letting us give the letters. We girls didn't bother to give our fellow girls - that sounded odd - letters, so we wrote to our guy friends instead. After that, we went to the lobby and took some pictures XD Then we took even more pictures at the stairs! :)) 3 cameras, 1 photographer. :)))) After all that, we hopped on the bus and rode back to school. Wee!

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go upstairs and see our fellow juniors. Tsk! We waited for about an hour until dad arrived to pick up me and Michelle. I slept in the car. :)) Then slept in the house from 11am until 3pm! How awesome is that? x] Haha! Well, that's it for our Mirabello adventures. :)) 'Til next time, eh?

"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Labels: journal, Mirabello, school

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

11:44 PM

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My name is Denise Soriano. IV-Chofu, ESC Committee Head on Discipline, Managing Editor (Administrative) of Echoes, YES member and PSYSC affiliate. Weeeee!

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Feb. 8-9, 2011: Our very first overnight retreat. :D

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

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