#pascaleruega

Day 1 was full of excitement and joy, but day 2 has done the trick just fine! If you cared enough, you can see that I only posted few amount of photos because we cannot capture moments time by time. I can say that eyes are more reliable than the camera. It’s good to see it in you own eyes and indulge the present time rather than stressing yourself on how you’ll capture the scene. 

We are required to wake up early. It’s a lot hassle to take a bath in Caleruega because you cannot control the warmness of the shower. We took a bath (pascal) around 2 AM to make sure that we will not join the crowd before the sun rises. It’s our routine, sleeping at exactly 12 AM, get ready around 2 AM and sleep until 6 AM. It’s ridiculous, I know, but it was fun hahaha!

When it was not still time, we tour around and took pictures. The view is beautiful and really worth seeing. 

We headed to the church and pray. After that we had our morning exercise while breathing the fresh air nature gave us. It was fun though, because I never had a morning exercise with our batch so it was consisted of laughs and..... fart HAHAHA.

We had our breakfast, session and sleep!!!!!! <3 I think it was the most productive day of our retreat. We had a lot of fun activities that we did and my favorite is the one that you will be portraying a scene. It’s a whole class activity and I admit it was full of happiness and camaraderie!

We had our solidarity night. At first, I was thinking that I will not cry because I hated crying in front of everyone. But when someone spoke up, I literally cried like a baby. I wasn’t expecting everyone to say sorry to me and give me the biggest thank you for helping them out. I was a bit flattered because I didn’t think my whole life that I am a big impact in someone’s life. Everyone gradually had their best speech and I was really touched and satisfied with our night. It was the best! We went out Catalina with filled hearts and unrecognizable smile!

We also read that night our letters from our parents. It was touching and grateful that they still manage to make me retreat letter, despite the busy schedule they have.

I learned that we cannot disregard rejection in our life. We, sometimes reject people for some certain reason. People also reject us for their own reason. It’s heartbreaking, but we also learn from that. The most important thing is we should affirm people who are being rejected. We should change our own perspective.

I honestly don’t want to share my experience about this retreat because I want it to keep raw and memorable to myself and to everyone who experienced it. But since I am in total cloud nine about this trip, I want to share it with you guys <3

First of all, I haven’t had the chance to update my blog because of so much work. If I had a spare time, I’d rather be sleeping or just do anything boring. But, thanks to everyone who gave time to visit my blog and leave notes in my inbox. Much appreciated!

September 26 was the most awaited day for us (hi pascal!) Probably, retreat is one of the exciting parts of being a high school. I always ask my cousins about their retreat and I always get interesting answers haha that’s why it’s a bullet that keep poking myself throughout the years. 

It wasn’t easy for us, of course, to manage time to be excited (haha), to make retreat letters and do our student tasks. They said, you’re going to surpass first the hole in the needle before you get what you want. And maybe that’s the circumstance for us.

We were riding the Letran bus and it was my second time! It wasn’t special, but you get the point already hahaha. We decided to read the letters in the bus after praying the rosary. I was feeling hesitant to read it there because I might cry hahahaaha but thank goodness I did not!

It was my first time to be in Caleruega and it. is. breathtaking. After a long time living in a polluted place, I finally felt the warm breeze on my skin, knowing that it’s fresh and safe to breathe in. Seeing the rustling trees swaying under the scorching sun, the flowers blooming accordingly and the pleasant noise coming from the nature are the best things I ever documented in my life. It was better to see it in your eyes and feeling it in your heart. If I have given a chance, I could lend everyone my eyes just to see the wonders Caleruega gave us.

We went for a little walk as we indulge the beauty of nature. They gave us time to rest and after that we go straight ahead for our first session. It was great and we had a great time listening to the speakers. 

The one thing I am always reminded of is that, listening is important. As we try to listen to everyone’s perspective, we learn something new. It’s part of a good communication and a healthy relationship. Listening is a significant key to understanding. We will not be able to understand each other if we keep talking and not giving someone a chance to talk for their own point of view.