Two of the best and the worst days of my year.

I would like to tell our RETREAT story in full detail. So here we go.

The day before, I went to Cubao with Junette. (Okay, this has nothing to do with the retreat-- yet.) We talked about a lot-- friends, studies, family, and the retreat. Junette went on and on about how exciting the retreat was because of the things that we were going to do there. And while she was telling me all this, I looked at her with a blank expression. I didn't want to do any of those things she mentioned. Particularly, the aminan part. Because many people know that I'm no good with talking, much less expressing any form of feeling. So from then on, I started to dread the retreat.

September 10, 2007 was a Monday, the first day of our retreat. I woke up late, remembering that it was TIME. Aaahhh. So I grudgingly prepared all my things and set off for school at around 6:45 (as if school's FAR from our place). I got there and I was greeted with yells and screams. Everyone around me seemed so excited to go. Little did they know what would happen, I thought. And so wrong that thought was.

On the bus. As there are 34 girls and only 10 boys in our class, the last four girls ended up on the bus with the boys. And we enjoyed it. Hitham kept us going on and on until no one could sleep because of laughter.

And eventually, we got there. (I still remember Hervin and Hitham looking on the wrong side of the road. xP) The place was surprisingly nice. I liked it the moment the bus entered. So we filed off to the Conference Room for the room assignments and the orientation.

I was assigned with Shappy! Yeey. Better yet, we were on the second floor. That was good because there were only four girls in the second floor, making it easier to take our baths and stuff. And the ten boys were right beside our rooms, so there was never a dull moment in our floor.

The first thing we did was meet our Retreat uhhh.. Speaker. (I forgot.) His name was Kuya Nick. :) He had this little rubber ball which he used to make us talk (or well, recite.). He threw it at someone who wanted to talk. And after that, we went off to eat sopas in the dining area.

The next thing we did was play a few games, including the "Do You Love Me" game and the "One-to-Seven-Up" game. A sharing session was also included, which resulted in our group playing Langit-Lupa with Jane's group, out of fun. :D We also had a "centering prayer".

After lunch was time for our creativity. We were divided into groups. Each group was to think of something that we liked about our batch. Then we had to sing a song and make a "trophy" our of anything that we found. My groupmates were Mej, Twinkle, Daniela, Jaydine, and Hanna. We used "The Best in Me", "We're All in This Together" and "Because You Love Me" as our songs. Then we improvised, using a napkin holder, a fan, some pens, a ponytail holder and some leaves to make our trophy. Unluckily, we were the first AWESOME (=p) group to present. After singing, Kuya Nick asked for an explanation of our trophy, and I blurted our something about things having beauty once put together. Luckily, that explanation held, and we got a "very good" for it. LOL. There are pics in my MULTIPLY of the other groups. ;) Then we had our evening prayers.

After all this was the dinner time. And after finding out what was next, I was suddenly freezing. Because what was next was the aminan session, the night session. The "reflect" part did not make me feel any better. With almost everyone egging me on about that, I didn't feel like admitting ANYTHING at all.

So with the lights dim, and some mattresses placed on the floor of the Conference Room, we went in. Bob, Shasta, Jawe, Yu and I stuck together in one mattress. Then it started. The crying. Almost everyone cried during the night. Oddly, Bob and I (and some others) did not. But the speeches of some of them were touching. I particularly remember Joma's, Connie's, Hervin's and Junette's speeches. I expected myself to cry, especially at Michelle's or Hervin's speeches, but nothing came out. I guess that was all because of nerves.

Well, three and a half hours passed and 42 people had already finished their sharing. It was either Jawe or me who would go next. But for some reason, I did. So I took a deep breath and started my speech. I gave my first drawing, which was a flower to symbolize thanks, to Bob. He's been like a brother to me since second year. I gave my candle (as a sign of saying sorry) to Danielle, to apologize for all that we've done to her. And after a lot of thinking, I decided to give my key, as a sign of unexpressed emotion, to Jawe. Yes, that thing may be gone, but I don't think I ever expressed it fully. So, all that was over and I took my seat. Jawe took his turn (I don't think I should put anything here). Everything I was expecting he would say, he said. And that was fine with me, until he got to his last few sentences. After a prayer, we went off to our rooms. I think I was going to explode then.

On my way out, I couldn't move, since many people came to hug me and say things. First were Bob and Hazel. We gave each other a long group hug (Shasta was crying) then Shasta left. Bob and I were attempting to get out, until some other people gave me hugs. That was fine with me. But not with Bob. I guess he could tell what I was fighting back. So we slowly went back to our rooms until it was time for bed.

Sorry again, Shappy. If you couldn't sleep. ]:

The day was new. The roosters are what woke everyone up. xP So we took our bath and I saw that my eyes were red. (Haha, that means only one thing.) Then we went to breakfast, then on to the morning session. I think this was the real tearjerker. We were to have one-on-one conversations with EVERYONE in the class. As Kuya said, "Walang iwasan." And he meant it. O_o

Una pa lang, naiyak na ako. It was Hazel who I talked to first. And after a few seconds, I started crying. We started TRYING to make each other laugh. The others just kept on saying the same things. But as much as they said the same things, I realized some things and found out some new things. Not many people were able to make me cry, and hopefully, I made most of my classmates laugh. :)

But when it was Bob's turn, I don't know why we both burst into tears the second he was coming over to me. I think I felt like I could explode in front of Bob, and him the same to me. I let everything out, and Bob felt like he and Hazel were at fault. And I didn't want him to feel that. So we both kept on crying. Everyone was looking at us because I was (and am) the only person who can make Bob cry. It's an achievement!? Hahaha.


I did not really enjoy that activity. After that, to cut the afternoon's events short, we had another activity, our lunch, rosary, Confession and Mass. After the Mass was our final merienda, then a short picture-taking time. =p That was when everyone's cameras came out. Woooooooo. We took a LOT of pictures. A LOT.

The bus ride home was a lot of fun. :) We were all full of energy and high spirits. =p

The retreat was an experience I will never forget. We shared everything there, and in this way, we became closer to God. And hopefully, our closely-knit group will grow even closer together, as our year together draws slowly to a close..