On my flight back to Manila from Tacloban a week or so ago, many of us who were waiting at the airport began to be impatient when our flight became increasingly more and more delayed from its scheduled departure time. The plane was already there but it seemed like there was no sign yet that we were going to board the plane anytime soon. There was so much time delay I thought to myself and I couldn’t see any activity for a long while at the tarmac.

But then later on, my impatience was changed into curiosity when I saw a policewoman got inside the plane. I quickly grabbed my camera and changed my 14-45mm kit lens to my 45-200mm zoom lens. Then some of the ground crew gathered around the plane’s stairs. I thought that there might be some crime that had happened or maybe a bomb may have been planted and they are checking the plane.

I was wrong.  As it turned out, the reason for the delay was that there was an American who got sick and vomited while in flight from Manila to Tacloban. They were waiting for an ambulance to arrive before they moved the patient out of the plane. My impatience turned to compassion—feeling sorry for the American who got sick while in flight. Hope that by this time he is doing fine and in good health wherever he is now.

I had the opportunity to visit Tacloban City ten months after it was devastated by typhoon Yolanda. During that super typhoon (international name: typhoon Haiyan), it is estimated that more than 6,000 died due to the storm surge. Previous to this, we Filipinos did not understand what a “storm surge” meant. I guess it did not register quite well in the minds of people and many did not take seriously the warning knowing that this area was prone to typhoons and typhoons happen all the time. It was too late when we finally understood what “storm surge” really meant. Now we know.

Ten months after Yolanda, I can see that life in this area seems to be getting back to normal. People are doing what they can to survive and live a normal life. On this trip, I was asked to take photos and videos of what’s going on in the area. I was glad I had the opportunity to visit the place.

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These past months, I’ve been busy driving back and forth from Pampanga to Manila every week. For this semester, my daughter is doing her on-the-job training (OJT) as a student of Animation. It was great training for her. She was exposed to the real world of work and the business environment. Quite different from the school environment. I believe it was a great learning experience for her as she grows up to become more mature and able to hopefully handle life’s many challenging situations in the future.

One thing good about this was that she was not alone in the big city of Metro Manila. He classmate and good friend was with her. They were together in the same animation company, Snipple Animation Studios, where they had their OJT. So I normally, brought them both to Manila every Sunday evening or early Monday morning and then I fetch them every Friday evening. That was quite an experience because I already have an old car. Thankfully, the old car never broke down and never failed to bring us home safely.

These two girls got to know each other while in high school. Then they were together as well in college. Because of this, her family and my family have been good friends for a good number of years now. That’s really great.

Animation Student’s Birthday

It was perfect timing because her last day of OJT was also her 20th birthday—no longer a teenager! Great training for maturity. Her mom baked some muffins and brought some food from Pampanga which her office mate enjoyed—it was told me.

I was just glad it was all over after 3 months. Hopefully, she will finish this first semester without any problem. After that, next semester will be her last and final semester before she graduates.