Mindoro Excavation

Last February, I was lucky to have been invited to the on-going archaeological excavation in Mindoro. I've been wanting to go but I'm a bit shy in asserting that to the project director even though he had helped me before in my lithics paper and in return I arranged his books and created a digital inventory of his collection.

a statue of the tamaraw outside the airport

The moment I stepped out of the airport feeling a bit sick because I just had my period early in the morning before my flight, I was greeted by a statue of a tamaraw and I was excited. I was thinking that I should see a tamaraw during my ten-day stay in Mindoro but that didn't happen, unfortunately.

Ilin Island where Bubog I and II are located

Right on my first day, I was tasked to carry excavation tools aside from my personal belongings up to the site in Belat Cave. It hurt a little and I curse at my girlhood for being such a nuisance to activities I love best. Still I carried on and never whined about my condition until we were safely in the resort because I had need of sanitary napkins!

The trench in Bubog I where we got sediment samples per layer

On the second day, I was glad that I was assigned in Bubog II in Ilin Island. After working there, we were treated to beach time! Yay! So glad I brought my swimwear with me.

Ah the ship... I mean banca

Photo of a volunteer by yours truly: super proud to have done this :)

We have the freshest seafood and other food for lunch prepared by our local boys. Sometimes we have grilled fish, sometimes ensalada which was awesome (to think I don't normally eat ensalada in Manila), sometimes we have grilled pork... And the sauce that the locals make are soooo good! I never have any want in energy because we ate healthily. We even had crabs on my first day there. It was such a pleasant surprise.

sea urchins, gecko?, various shells recovered from Bubog II

sunset at a nameless sandbar: stopover before returning to the resort

a dramatic shot of sunset

What I will certainly miss about the Mindoro excavation is... Okay scrap that. I miss so many things in Mindoro. The weather, the sunsets, the funny and witty German director, the visiting archaeologist from Germany who also speaks Spanish and French so we got to practice those languages together (and I visited her in Mexico), the food (fresh seafood!!!), the beaches (who doesn't love the beach?),  oh and simply being able to wield the trowel and be an archaeologist again! I love doing permatraces. I would love to really master the total station.

local kiddoes who greet us everytime we return to the resort

a view from my hidden sanctuary in Inasakan Beach also in Ilin Island but on the other side of the Bubog sites

Hoping to be able to participate in next year's excavations. I was again invited this July but I chose to attend the conference in Mexico and promised the director that I will definitely join next time. Beautiful Mindoro will always be special in my heart. Also, did I mention that what I love about the project is that it's got not many volunteers so I'm not stressed with people that much.

sunset at Inasakan Beach

2015 at a Glance

So finally I can relax and spend more time with my books.

It feels as if I were a student again this year as I managed several things at once. January to April, four months in all, were spent traveling on weekends to different provinces for heritage documentation. As an Iska, this is my way of offering my skills and services to my country without sacrificing my happiness. I almost resigned from my current job but quickly retracted at the last minute after achieving enlightenment. That stint in the US was very tempting, especially since it involved historical documents, but I had to let it go. My life is too full of regrets to add another bad decision.

I was also able to participate in an excavation in February. It was one of my dream sites and I would love to explore every place in Mindoro. I finally visited Singapore and got to stay at Four Seasons Hotel for three nights thanks to my cousin. I returned to Bohol this time as a volunteer in a mapping workshop. It was my first time to be a workshop facilitator.

(Many of my friends are pushing me to work in the public sector seeing how my skills can be put to good use. Then again, I would refuse without second thought. I don't trust the government and I don't want to be put in a situation wherein it would seem like I were working under the government when in fact I am working FOR the government. Ugh! If ever, there is only one project I'd like to be part of but I think I have to level up fast first.)

This year also marks the start of my active participation in the volunteering community. I signed up to distribute goods to schoolchildren in the Mountain Province and participated in painting a school in Botolan, Zambales. For the first, I am thankful to my team mates who donated milk for the kids. 

In June, the Light of my life disappeared, leaving me hurting everytime I think of her. (Just earlier today while at mass in UP, I thought of her and uncontrollable tears rolled down ny cheeks. It must be because the day after my birthday, my sisters asked me if I dreamed of her and I told them I have been dreamless for a long time and they wouldn't believe me yet unfortunately, it's true.)

Another childhood dream was achieved when I went to Mexico this year to attend a conference. Even though it was just for 10 days, it will remain as my most unforgettable trip. I never thought I had that courage to go that far on my own. After that, I felt like I could go anywhere in the world. (Okay I exaggerate. I will certainly have second thoughts about going to India on my own.)

A trip to HongKong was just what I needed in August to give in to wanderlust without killing the wallet that much. It was good to be with my cousins again and I will very fondly cherish my first bike adventure because they were with me. Also, I am surprised to find myself booking a flight just to attend a seminar abroad. While in HK, I made sure to finish my powerpoint presentations and scripts for my paper reader since the trip coincided with a conference where I was to present two papers, both on heritage documentation, a big leap from my 2014 paper which was on archaeology and animé.

September to November passed by with me too focused on work. Those months were uneventful except I finally found the time to attend concerts and plays. The whole month of November, I participated in the Asian Month and I submitted a few articles, mainly writing about extraordinary Thais who contributed to positive changes in Thailand. It was also during this time that I went out with friends again since prior to this, it was always hard to ask me out. I also assisted a friend archaeologist in touring his class around Binondo for two days and one day in the National Museum where I gave a short lecture on glass artifacts.

Today marks the end of a personal project. Plus I attended a seminar. It coincided with our company Christmas party in Pampanga but I chose to attend the seminar seeing it as more important. Walking inside UP Campus on a drizzling night, I took in the smell of wet earth, mushrooms, and frogs which I so miss. UP has been and will always be my sanctuary.

The remaining days this month will see me reading history books and writing papers in preparation for next year.

Catanauan 013102032014

I joined a trip to Catanauan last February to visit an archaeological site but because of a dilemma on whether to write about it or not, I didn't do so until now, for some reasons even I could not comprehend. (Yeah, that happens, believe it or not.)

On the way to Catanauan, we passed by a stone bridge made during Colonial times. Malagonlong Bridge took 20 years to complete with construction starting in 1840 by the Cura Parroco Antonio Mateos of Tayabas. It is one of the few remaining colonial bridges in the country and I consider myself lucky to have seen this, thanks mainly to two professors who were with me and a friend. That time I told myself, okay, I'll include old bridges as part of my itinerary whenever I go on a domestic trip.

In fact, what made the whole trip enjoyable was that I learned a lot about many things along the way and when we got to our destination. The geologist, Sir J was very generous in sharing his knowledge to us about the formation of volcanoes. Sir D, on the other hand, was ever the best person in the whole ASP to converse with when it comes to food and recipes. Both men are also into the outdoors so it was a whole lot of fun to be with them despite their age. I was more than inspired to travel again. Hearing stories of their buwis-buhay adventures made me want to follow in their footsteps. Oh what fun they had in their younger days! I wish I could live such a fruitful life so that when I am old and gray I will have a lot of stories to tell my grandchildren. (Okay... I think I will have to consider marriage as part of my personal goals in life...)

some of the cute creatures I saw: two burrowing creatures and a hermit crab
And the one in the lower right is one of the cooks who helped me cook spaghetti for the team

In the site, the dig was not difficult because of the sandy sediments which are easily to excavate. And after a day of digging everyone goes to the beach to enjoy the sunset amidst beer and laughter and lots of storytelling.

At night we slept inside tents. Some 15-20 meters from the shore was the tent city. A friend and I shared one tent where we often chatted until we fell asleep. 

If there is anything new I learned onsite, it's how to do proper flotation under the guidance of a professor who's studied in the UK. She was such a good talker and for a while I thought of going back to school if only to learn more about botanical remains and ways on how to analyze them. Her passion was something and I think she could be one of the loveliest persons to work with, always smiling, friendly, chatty, and eager to share knowledge.

One memorable night was walking a long stretch of the shore at night with a friend whom I haven't seen for long. She was with a new-found friend, a boy from Australia who I think is very friendly and smart. I even used his belly as pillow while the three of us lay down on the sands to just enjoy the beach at night, with the sound of cicadas, the stars spread out in the clear sky, the occasional flicker of light from one or two fireflies in the mangroves.

But on the fourth day we had to go. It had been fun, the trip providing me a glimpse of that much talked about Catanauan excavation where, everyone who's been there says, is a paradise. A paradise it truly is especially on nights when you lay on the sands and just listen to the waves crashing to the shore.

Trigonometry in Calculus

Right now, I'm taking a little break from studying Calculus today. Before leaving for Ilocos, I studied the derivative of logarithms  (a.k.a. logarithmic differentiation... Okay I sound so smart but really I'm struggling with all the things one must remember...) and while everything is a bit hazy, I didn't review much when I got back and immediately continued on, finding myself face to face with trigonometry once again.

Now trigonometry is one of my favorite math topics despite my slow speed in solving and/ or proving because I'm so used to drawing circles and determining formulas all on my own every time I solve a trigonometric function. Sometimes I get frustrated because I can't seem to just memorize the formulas, but in the end, I pride myself at being able to derive formulas from the ones I already know by heart.

So just to share, here are the the derivatives of trigonometric functions as well as the derivatives of the inverse of trigo functions. (Just hoping that everytime I see them here in my blog they'll get stuck to my brain LOL):

1. d/dx sin x= cos x
2. d/dx cos x= -sin x
3. d/dx tan x= sec^2 x
4. d/dx cot x= -csc^2 x
5. d/dx sec x= sec x tan x
6. d/dx csc x= -csc x cot x

1. d/dx arcsin x= 1/ (sqrt (1-x^2))
2. d/dx arccos x= -1/ (sqrt (1-x^2))
3. d/dx arctan x= 1/ (1+x^2)
4. d/dx arccot x= -1/ (1+x^2)
5. d/dx arcsec x= 1/ ( |x| sqrt (x^2-1))
6. d/dx arccsc x= -1/ ( |x| sqrt (x^2-1))

Actually the derivatives of the inverse are a bit easier to remember because they come in pairs. Derivatives of arcsin and arccos are almost same except one is positive and the other is negative. The same goes for the pairs arctan/arccot and arcsec/arccsc. 

It's been a while since I last did trigo, which was in the summer of 2010 when I enrolled in Math 17 (Algebra and Trigonometry) just to see how difficult it really is. I got two perfect scores out of five quizzes but unfortunately I flunked the final exam because I was overwhelmed by the number of items and we just had one hour to finish. (Deriving formulas ate up most of my time, you see.)

Now I'm hoping to somehow be able to use this knowledge for mapping sites. It would be very cool to be able to create a map of an irregularly shaped site.

And I also need to relearn how to use the scientific calculator if I want to get answers fast.

April 2013

April will be memorable for being the month when I used up most of my leaves. A few days was happily spent in Shanghai with high school friends (blog entry to follow). It's been years since we last hang out together and it's amazing to see the three of us still on the same wavelength of craziness. Nothing much has changed, I guess. I'm happy to have gone on the trip with them. I do hope we get to travel again soon.

And then I had a choice on whether to go back to Xiamen for 20 days or to go to Palawan to join the annual excavation at Ille. I just visited Xiamen in December last year and I haven't been to Palawan before so naturally I chose the latter. Had I chosen the first, I would have immersed myself in an educational tour for 20 days--- and it must mean being with kids younger than me. I certainly do NOT want to be the eldest because the responsibility shall fall on me. NO WAY! Besides, I have been building up my Chinese vocabulary with the help of Chinese TV series and songs, so I think it would be a waste of time to be with the young ones and be on the same level as they are in.

Palawan is just paradise. Two and a half days spent in Puerto Princesa, five days in Ille, and one day in Calitang made my summer complete. Never mind the sunburn layers this produced. I was able to visit one of the seven natural wonders of the world--- the Subterranean River Park. The limestone formations are just magnificent. The tour is doubly fun thanks to the funny guide who paddled the boat we were in during the  tour. The trip to Palawan wouldn't be complete without Honda Bay, of which the most memorable is the Pambato Reef. (Too bad I don't have an underwater camera.. huhuhu!)

After two days in Puerto Princesa, I took the bus to El Nido. The six-hour ride was enough for me to sleep. In addition, the bus served as a moving hotel for this miser. My first day in El Nido is spent buying vegetables and other stuffs at the wet market. The second day was the most fun as we climbed the Ille Rockshelter and visited the 14 Waterfalls. It has always been a dream to visit the Ille excavation. I admit though that I doubt if I can survive more than 2 weeks in Ille. It's just so far from the city and the comforts of life are few. (Will write a blog entry about my Ille experience soon... if time permits.)

The camp at night during a full moon. Note the presence of the Philippine flag.

Aside from my travels, April 2013 shall be remembered for being the month when I finally started to watch Game of Thrones, one day after searching for what to watch next after Hataraki Man (review to follow). I instantly fell in love with the GoT and up to now I cannot comprehend why it took me two years to watch this. (Yes, it's been on my bucket list for 2 years...) It won't be complete without reading the book itself from which it is based, so I finally downloaded George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.

Aaaaand, I finally got to dine at my restaurant: Melo's. Okay I am far too ambitious, it's no restaurant of mine, but it does share my nickname. Had dinner there with my sisters. No doubt the ambiance was nice, the service impeccable, and the food lovely, with the exception perhaps of Fisherman's pasta which has disappointingly very little seafood and which doesn't live up to what I imagined it to be.The porterhouse steak we had was cooked medium-rare as requested by yours truly and the little fat it had melts beautifully in the mouth. To this day, I still dream of that. The buffalo wings are missed a lot, too, which means one thing: they are good. (And my stomach is grumbling as I type...)

Buffet dinner at Seoul Garden is a big disappointment. I hate that the smell of meat pervades the whole place. It feels like being inside the wet market. Bibimbap is a major letdown, being poorly prepared. So far, the only decent buffets I've been to are Buffet 101 and the one in Las Casas de Acuzar.

And Operation Budgetarian still in progress because I still haven't saved even a centavo this 2013.

March 2013

Compared to February, March this year is pretty lax as I am made more aware of my financial conditions following my many travels in such a short period of time. My Hong Kong trip last February ate up most of my savings. This was followed by my trip to Vietnam which is much cheaper, but which nevertheless contributed to more expenses. It’s still a good thing I was on duty on Holy Week as this may help in my finances.

I finally experienced sleeping over at a friend’s house last March. That was my first. My parents never allow me sleep at a friend’s house despite the many invitations I got. It was fun, I got to peek at my friend’s manga and DVD collections. It was just unfortunate that I didn’t consider bringing my 1TB external HDD; I could have procured copies of series and movies.

Before we got to her house, we spent some time at Timezone in Glorietta. It had been a long time since I was there, the last was when I was in my third year in college and a friend treated me to some games there. Prior to that, my last was way way back when I was a kid. I just can’t bring myself to spend money on something so trivial. I’d rather buy a book or spend on food, thus the rare visits to arcades. We then headed to Mercato Centrale in the Fort. It was my first time there, and also my first time to take the bus shuttle from Ayala Station. I used to get off at Guadalupe and just take a jeep. There are many weird foods there and the prices are not as steep. I love the flower-shaped nachos, strawberry basil ice cream, Chef Anton’s turkey, and the buffalo wings. Salmon and cheese paella, and Japanese Wagyu paella are not bad either. My friend told me about the ostrich meat which is a must, but it was getting late and we everybody was tired so we didn’t wait for it anymore. This experience reminded me of that one night when my officemates and I went to UP-Ayala Technohub Mezza Norte where I first experienced a weekend food market. The concept is awesome and it just beats dull food court fare in malls.

Because this month I bought a new laptop (Fujitsu), I need to find ways to save money and shun temporarily theatrcal performances. To somehow recuperate from my overspending, I seek entertainment in books, animé and movies. I finally watched X, an animé I have been putting off for so long. Also, I continue to watch My Date with a Vampire, easily the best Asian drama ever (so far). These days, ever since I quit school, I seem to have distanced myself from books, as I find myself taking too long to finish a book. This month, I’m determined to finish the extra verbose novel Lempriere’s Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk which is not an easy read at all as it includes classical mythology aside from the convoluted mystery plot and dizzyingly beautiful historical references that one is inclined to suspect the book of being pretentious but anyway, it’s rare to find beautiful prose these days. And reading on, I became interested in the author himself so I checked his website and also read how he conceived Lempriere’s Dictionary and his other works which I plan to read should I find them in Booksale. [Maybe I ought to switch back to non-fiction.]

As for physical activity, I am embarrassed to admit that it has ceased suddenly perhaps owing to the fact that I became engrossed in non-physical activities. Brisk walking has been a quotidian activity but I would rather increase my activities to burn more fats (hopefully). Early this year I planned to take up dance lessons but the plan has not materialized yet.

In order to somehow cushion the financial blows following my monthly travels, I decided to go on budgetarian mode, making sure I have packed lunch for work or if not, just have veggies since these are not only cheaper but also healthier. I even bought promo canned goods in case there's no food for lunch. Still, my food lust is difficult to satiate as I found myself buying restaurant vouchers from Metrodeal. I availed Barbara's dinner buffet with dance performance with a post-graduate friend and Marina Restaurant's oyster promo with my sisters.

Barbara's buffet dinner was a bit disappointing as there are very few dishes and most fall below expectations. Chicken soup with shrimp head is so-so. The pancit bihon is surprisingly good. Chicken barbecue becomes hard when cooled. Beef caldereta unfortunately does not have veggies like carrots and potatoes. Fish fillet is too covered with bread crumbs. Grilled tanigue is bland. The desserts are a welcome treat in comparison to the main dishes, most especially the brazo de mercedes which melts in mouth with a hint of lemon. The brownies are chewy and moist and chocolates oozes out of it, thereby delighting the senses. But I guess what we really look forward to here actually is the dance performance. I am reminded of the breathtaking performance at Las Casas de Acuzar. 

Marina's red hot oysters are heavenly. I just love the cheese and the spices are just right. Alongside the promo, we also ordered bagoong rice and pinakbet Truth be told, we found the food extra pricey when we couldn't find anything special in it.

For my brother's birthday, we had dinner at Uncle Cheffy (Eton Centris). Food was disappointingly sad though service was okay. Among the food that we ordered, I love only Spaghetti Alejandrino (red sauce with Spanish chorizo). Beef steak is okay,too, but the serving is too small. Asian fried rice doesn't taste Asian to me, but my sisters loved it.

I couldn't believe that I would be assisting in an excavation this year, I thought I had zero chance since I am no longer an archaeology student. I was informed of the AIA near Sta. Ana Church and on March 17, I went there to assist in accessioning the collected artifacts. I miss digging!!! What is bad in urban archaeology is that you go home after a day's work and work is not that continuous compared to excavation in far flung areas. During lunch break, I walked around the area and took pictures of the church, something which I have been putting off for so long. We went back to UP afterwards and my friend and I shared an order of pasta at Friuli's, my first time to try the restaurant.

Top: Santa Ana Church
second row (from left): plaza fountain, test pits, Chinese temple
third row (from left): Santa Ana Market, preserved tree inside Savemore, preserved trench in Savemore showing walls made of adobe

Working from home during Holy Week, I was finally able to clean our room and arrange my books things and to throw away garbage that occupy too much space. Yes, I am a clutterbug and the four-day holiday was too short to ever do the things I wanted to do for our bedroom.

Memories of San Juan, Batangas (2012)

 Because pictures paint a thousand words (and well, because words fail to describe the beauty of San Juan, Batangas), I am posting here some of the photos I took during our archaeological excavation this year in the region. 

The historical marker that says that the site was where a church once stood. This photo was taken before we cleared the site of vegetation.

dead jellyfish we saw at the beach

Yna Briton doing an artwork in the sand

Sand artwork made by my best friend in Pinagbayanan, Yna Briton

Clear blue skies and clear blue waters

a boat on the beach of Pinagbayanan

Trees reflected in the waters

under this tree we lie down and nap

Pinagbayanan Elementary School where we stayed for 5 weeks

Bridge at the Bird Sanctuary

A girl and a bicycle (She's actually a friend of mine lol)

Painting-like photo of dusk

The Municipal Hall at San Juan

Ten Commandments of Drinking

Pinagbayanan's main road

A normal day at the excavation site

bright full moon on a dark night

An eeny weeny tiny little coconut

awesome sight of dusk that was about to come

unfinished (yet) permatrace of the pavers

having a drawing break in the middle of doing a permatrace

Excavating the National Archives and Thinking of Librarians

I'm back to doing archival research following the end of the archaeological impact assessment at Intramuros in which I volunteered, seeing it as an opportunity to practice my excavation skills. (I do admit that I suck at troweling and I have yet to master the art of walling.) Also, it's my way of training myself in recording which is of course the most important thing we do as archaeologists.

That experience in urban archaeology deserves an article on its own. Right now, the focus is archival research.

I used to dream of being a researcher, locked up in a library browsing old brittle documents with a magnifier, going to different libraries, checking out their collections, consolidating the data gathered and writing a report. I guess being a bibliophile and an avid reader inspired me a lot. Besides, I do think that people who read are hot. (I can just imagine Nico Robin of One Piece, and the girls of Read or Die, and also, the yokai in Bungaku Shoujo right now and I miss watching anime... SIGH!) But along the way, I developed into an adventure-seeker and now I am training to be an archaeologist, though I am happy to have been assigned to go to the National Archives where I feel most at home surrounded by books and yellowed papers. (Never mind the dust, my lungs seem to have adapted well since I have been visiting The Stacks at the Main Library since I was an undergraduate student.)

People may have negative opinions of libraries. Librarians tend to be strict, grumpy, and unfriendly. I do have my share of moments when librarians would reprimand me for misbehaving and for attempting to enter restricted areas. But these people, the librarians, they are the guardians of books and books I regard as friends, and this view of mine has never changed since I was young, thus my utmost respect toward librarians. Besides, viewing them in a negative way is unfair because most librarians I have met are warm and friendly. There are of course friendly ones who smile at me, probably because I frequent libraries and I already look familiar to them. But the one thing I love most about librarians is their willingness to help whenever I am in need of references when doing research, making access to information easier.

I remember a particular librarian in the Main Library who often smiles at me when she sees me. She's also the first ever librarian to have attempted to befriend me. When I'm busy and haven't visited the library for a long time, chances are, she'll ask me where I've been. There's one ugly day in my undergraduate years when a series of unfortunate events befell me but she asking me about my day made me feel better. That simple gesture certainly made my day.

(Come to think of it, I miss the Main Library...)

So anyway, today I went to the National Archives and saw the wonderful people there again. We researchers provide each other with information regarding our respective research. For instance, one does research on local history, I do research on both economic history and local history, one has an interest in cemeteries, etc. Interacting with fellow researchers is fun; you get to learn new things. Besides, joking around and having someone to talk to while doing research makes the work more bearable and enjoyable since archival research is no easy task and needs lots of patience.

But excavating the archives has been a good training ground for me.Not only do I get to use my knowledge of Spanish, I also get introduced to the usage of Spanish. Not only do I transcribe and translate documents, I also keep track of differences in orthography, semantics, and syntax. This makes me appreciate the dynamism of the Spanish language better.

I guess I'll be having another INC this semester. But what the hell, I am enjoying the learning process. There's just so much to learn in places other than the university. To hell with academic rules! It's time that students draft their own learning curriculum. I happen to prefer DOING AND THINKING rather than just thinking inside the classroom.

(Yes, dear readers, I do know that I write horribly, always typing as I think without bothering to check if my thoughts are coherent or not. Reflects my chaotic mind... But I have a pretty good excuse: I am also currently TRYING to finish a major paper as I write this....)