Field Bio, PBB at Bora

What’s up with you?

Yeah…

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Field biology

I’m finally back to civilization. Yebah!
Alam mo na yon!
Hinati yung 12 students into two. I was with kevgon, jdavid, hopee, ria caringal and gihan.
Pumunta yung group namin first sa Taklong Island with Ma’am Len and Dr. Melanie Cheng.
Marine and mangrove ecosystems. Haha na-sting ako ng box jellyfish. Mahapding ewan and mafefeel mo. At FYI: ang Australian box jellyfish ay deadly. Just 3 minutes and you’re krekkh. Buti na lang I never had an encounter with it. Just the pinoy one. At alam mo ba kung ano ang solusyon sa hapde? Guess what! Vinegar o ihi. I was so lucky na nung na-sting ako ay ubos na yung suka, so I had to micturate on it.

Ngapala, if you were texting me for the past few weeks, hwag kayong magtaka kung never akong nag-reply. Paminsan-minsan lang yung signal, tas if a message isn’t opened for 24 hours, default siyang madedelete.

Ganito kasi yon. Isa-isa kaming na-sting. First was Gihan, ang Diyosa ng Stings. Even before reaching Taklong na-sting na siya.
Then, sunod-sunod na, leaving just me and Dr. Cheng unstung. When we were laying the transect on the beach, I blurted out to Jerome, “Maswerte ba ako at di pa ako na-stisting?” Tapos, just a minute after, near-shore, I stepped on that plump, little white-translucent, jelly-ace head, and the floating imp gave its all by wrapping its nematocysts on my feet. Arrghh! Nagulat talaga ako. Napaka-coincidental naman na just after I said na “Maswerte ba ako…,” ay linatigo ako nung jellyace na iyon.
At naiwan pa yung nematocysts sa paa ko, which was very much negatively effective. Magkakaroon ng burning sensation even if na-detach yung tentacles dun sa medusoid head.
Can’t tell you much more but it was so FUN.

Sibaliw Research Station naman. The station was up in the mountains, reached only after a seven-hour hike uphill. At our pace.
Tas umulan pa nung nag-hike kami. Wet n’ wild, tired and freezing, hungry and reluctant. That’s how I felt. Sila naman, they felt like they were going to black out and faint. Makitid pa yung daan, if you make a false move, you’ll roll into the creeping hell below. You had to grab anything, from tree-trunks to prop roots and rocks. Sometimes you had to fondle wicker-moss and fungi. Growl. Disgusting, and you’re taking it from a guy who’s game with everything related to field bio. Just up in the station, after Gihan got stung by a bee, you’ll see and hear various hornbill species. Penelopides panini panini and Aceros waldeni (*kung nagtataka ka kung bat nerdy ang usapan, mas magugulat ka kung kasama mo si Sir Espinas. Thousands of scientific names ang alam niya, usu. plants, and he easily distinguishes them just by sight.). Meron ding mga bastos-birds like Philippine bulbul at elegant tit. Di ako malisyoso pero bastos-names talaga yun. And they’re named so because of their respective physical features. Enough. We did birdwatching, improvised volleyball and jungle survival techniques. We learned how to make fire and cook rice using bamboos. I was able to do it on my first try. We rappelled too.

Then, the fun part was telemetry. The group was subdivided and we had a contest (mala-amazing race-mixed-with-survivor-challenge). Both subgroups were given antennae and three different transmitters were secretly scattered up in the mountain forests. Our job was to locate the transmitters, and memorize the secret code written on each. First team to give all three codes wins the bonus. The three transmitters symbolized three different organisms. Given just clues about habitat and what they eat, we won (obviously, because I wouldn’t have told you about the contest if we lost, *haha, plastic)!

Fun, fun , FUN!

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PBB

During oral reports, our sort of gimmicks were usually PBB-related. We watched every episode during the first PBB teen week. At alam mo ba? May kakilala ako dun.

Nagulat talaga ako nung nakita ko sa tv yung ex-crush ko. Yung kaklase ko. Yep. Hair-raiser talaga. Di ko akalain na sasali siya sa pbb. Ex-crush ko si KIM. Kimberly Chiu. Heartthrob siya ng school nun. Isang Chinese sectarian school sa Tacloban ang nagpakilala sa amin. Sacred Heart School. First time I saw her, drop-dead talaga. Yeah! Ganun ako kababaw nun. May-ari siya ng isang grocery-like store. Tas before kami naging magkaklase, dun sa store ko siya nakilala. Mom was friends with her mom.
So we shopped around their store, and that’s when I first saw her. She just immigrated from Cebu. Speaking Cebuano, and seemingly elegant, yet simple. I wanted to know her. Tapos yun, bull’s eye, naging magkaklase kami. Aliw talaga yun. Inaabangan ko talaga dati yung times na naging pairs kami with anything little like Chinese recitation and declamation. Haha. Kilig! Tas ang labo talaga, kasi mas asta-bata siya ngayon kaysa dati. Tas mas maganda siya dati, pero maganda pa rin naman siya ngayon. Ginagawa niya pa rin pala ngayon yung yoga-like exhibitions. Kaaliw, matagal-tagal na rin. Ba’t kasi lumipat siya ng Cebu? Nabankrupt nganaman sila dati. Balor-milyones yung mansion nila nun eh. Sabi ng mom ko, kaya raw lumipat sa Cebu kasi sobrang mahal nung bahay at di na mabayaran dahil sa bankruptcy. Anyway, namimiss ko na rin siya, yung ex-crush ko. Mabait yan, promise. So, anytime she gets nominated (buti na lang at safe na safe siya ngayon), vote for her! Get it? Got it? Good!

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Bora

Nothing special. I recommend you’d rather go to Club Paradise in Palawan (near Coron) if you’d like to spend some time with the beach. I overestimated Bora. Don’t expect too much from it because it’s just the name. I never felt that I was in Bora. Nothing much. The only thing I enjoyed was the sand-castles and the hand-painted shirt I got for my bro. Nothing more.

…catch you later!

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