Anyway, that was my first ever Sinulog experience. Back home in Leyte since I was a child, I only watch Sinulog Festival on TV. When I reached college and started studying here in Cebu last 2006, I don’t go out during Sinulog coz’ of the crowd and another thing also is I don’t have company.

This year was my first ever experience of Sinulog: I walked how many kilometers during the procession, I almost fainted, I thought I’m going to experience a stampede, I was dripping in sweat, saw celebrities particularly Matt Evans, Melissa Ricks, and Sen. Bong Revilia, and I witnessed the most extravagant fireworks display at Ayala Center Cebu.

Back to 88DB.com booth, the 88DB.com members gave us exclusive sun visors and a sling bags with goodies in it. And guess what, I had a FREE face paint. That was just so cool. They do FREE henna and face paint to those who will register to their organization and we were there to help them spread the word. There were lots of people who wanted to get FREE henna and face paint so it really worked.

I thought it will not rain that day, but around 3:00PM the rain poured heavily but luckily it stopped right away. We ran to Acha Pizzeria for cover. Since we felt hungry, Atty. Ethelbert suggested that we grab a bite at Acha Pizzeria so we went inside, ordered two different flavors of pizzas, and helped ourselves. That became our supper. After eating, we then decided to go to Ayala to watch the magnificent fireworks display. We walked from Jones to Ayala. Imagine that. There were thousands of people in the streets even until we reached Ayala.

We waited an hour or two for the fireworks to light the sky. Upon waiting, we saw fireworks from Abellana, Crown Regency, and Capitol which were  beautiful. But nothing can beat the fireworks display at Ayala. It then started. It lasted for about 20 minutes. It was spectacularly amazing which just means its worth the wait! I’ve never seen such beautiful fireworks display in my whole life until that moment.

vain moment while waiting for the fireworks

After the magnificent fireworks display, we then hiked to Ayala Terraces to chill. We decided to stay atVanille and ordered some cold smoothies to freshen us up. I was already exhausted that time. Around 1AM, we decided to go home. Me and Sinjin rode a jeepney on our way home. He stayed at a hotel somewhere in Escario.

Mocha Frappe at Vanille

I would never forget that wonderful experience. Aside from all that, it was also a great day for me coz’ I was able to make new friends through Prince.

I want to thank Cebu Bloggers Society for letting me experience Sinulog Festival, to 88DB.com for inviting CBS to their booth, and to Prince who made me make new friends. Thank you all. May the next Sinulog Festival will be as merry as the previous one.

Also, as an evidence, here’s last November 9, 2008 issue Sun Star have published:

HIGH school students across the country might be able to learn Spanish in their schools, if plans for the integration of the language in the curriculum push through, said an education official Saturday.

“We hope that it will start next school year,” said Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Director Recaredo Borgonia.
Interested high school students will be allowed to pick Spanish as an elective course in their secondary studies. However, only those that perform well in class will be allowed to take the elective.

Requirement

“We cannot make it a requirement for all the students to take up Spanish. If the student doesn’t perform well in English or Filipino, you can’t expect them to do well in Spanish. So it is better that it just an elective, for the students to decide,” said Borgonia.

However, plans for the integration of the Spanish language in the curriculum are still in the early stages, he said.

“We are still preparing for it. Nothing has been made clear. Right now, we still need a task force that will draw up plans to have Spanish taught as an elective (subject) in secondary schools across the country,” he said.

An earlier DepEd memorandum called for the integration of Spanish in the curriculum for the current school year. However nobody took charge of the program.

Borgonia said they were hoping to fully implement the endeavor this time around.

“It will be done on a pilot basis. Not all schools will immediately implement it. It will be one school per region at first,” he said.
In order to effectively teach Spanish, public school teachers will be taught by Spanish teachers.

“Through that, we will have teachers who have the competencies to speak and teach Spanish. By effectively teaching students Spanish, teachers will be able to help students get a sense of history,” Borgonia said.

“The students get a good sense of history. And also, by learning Spanish, it is a good tool for industry and business for the students in the future,” he added.

Our professor have told us that Spanish subject before has 24 units, but based in our curriculum in this generation, we only have 3 units.

And now, they’re trying to bring Spanish subject back, not just in universities but also in high schools. What for? They say Spanish is also a really useful language because when you go abroad most of the people also knows how to speak the language, most commonly in Europe.