Meet the Tropang Ganda

Seven Souls.

One high school.
(OMSC '86)

Delia

"I was known as maldita (bitchy). I transferred from Manila, so everyone thought I was a sociale-sociale high class girl. Everyone was jealous of me. They judged me without knowing my personality. Is it my fault to be beautiful like this?"

Tess

 "I was very shy back then, but now I'm the extreme opposite. I was very simple back then but now... opposite. Now I can drink half a case of beer!"

Gemma

 "I was very very shy back then. Whenever a guy talked to me, I would cover my face with a notebook while talking to him. Whenever I was asked to sing in public, my eyes would look up the whole time and I'd blink a lot... like I was having a convulsion."

Jo

"Before and now, I'm still the same. Still religious. I'm the youngest in my family so I always got what I wanted. I was a funny and friendly girl and always had lots of friends. I used to be a track and fields and volleyball player. I was also the muse during 4th year high school."

Jeanette

"I was a maths geek. I was a loner, a very private person but I was friendly.
I was sensitive during high school. Still sensitive until now."

Beth

"I was the brain and beauty. I was often the first honor in class. I used to participate in regional and inter-school maths and science competitions. I used to be quiet and reserved, but I had my barkada (close group of friends) who remained my friends until now."

Rita

"I was the sexiest back then. My waistline was 27. But now my size is 40."

Nine Souls (Part 3)

Nine Souls.

Nine Secrets.

★

"I almost took my own life, because of my mother."

"I'm resigning from my job this month, to pursue a greater purpose in my life."

"I accidentally switched my classmate's white board marker with a permanent marker. When he wrote on the board and tried to erase it, it didn't so he got in trouble. They didn't know it was me but I felt like I framed him."

"When I was very young, one night my dad came home very drunk. He was in a bad mood and decided to take out his anger on my mom. He started beating her, then I tried to get in the middle and calm him down but he ended up hitting me too. 

But that was a long time ago. Everything is fine now."

"I have a notebook containing all my major secrets and unorthodox 

things I've done in my life since 2013."

"Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite. I'm torn between inspired passion and frustrated indifference. I feel I have to always watch my words and actions, but in a way that feels like constructing a facade. And then I notice how much I talk about myself. I'm learning to act with what I have but I'm still so disappointed and so scared that I will fail. And then I remember that's the ego again."

"My wife recently took the kids and left me. The problem was about jealousy. My wife saw that I liked my ex girlfriend's posts on facebook. For me it doesn't mean I like her. I had no other intention. We broke up several years ago and my ex is married already and I'm also married and completely loyal to my wife. My ex married a foreigner and lives in another country and she chatted with me asking for some financial advice because she and her husband plan to invest in the Philippines. So I only chatted back giving ideas, based on my business experience. That's all. My wife can see everything, she has my facebook password. If I had anything to hide, I wouldn't have given her the password. I'm not a facebook addict. Whenever I'm free I just check my notifications and like all the posts I see because liking is just part of socialization. But my wife started accusing me of so many things that are not true. She went away and we broke up for a few months but we've reconciled now. We've talked things through and we're okay now. I try my best to preserve the unity because of the kids. I love my wife very much."

"During my childhood I was always bullied by my own family and relatives. I used to tell myself that when I grow up, I will stay far away from all of them."

"When I was in high school I used to wash the under wears
of my brother and sisters every weekend."

Nine Souls (Part 2)

Nine Souls.

Three questions.

★

What's one lesson you recently learnt

that changed your life?

Chiqui (Solano)

"The co requisite of learning and success is failure. It's not about the mistakes and failures you've made, but the learnings you've gained; not how far you should be but how you gave your best shot. Because trying means entering the portals of wider possibilities and opportunities, making your life worthwhile and meaningful. 

Fears are nothing but false evidences appearing real."

Ranel Keath (Bukidnon)

"We must keep in mind that success is not just about material progress. Do you think being successful means having a big house, a fancy car and being famous? Do you think these material things can give you true happiness? Abdul-Bahá said that prosperity depends upon the service and workshop to God. Why is it a lot easier to be happy by helping our parents, seeing people smiling and helping others? These give us the kind of happiness that material things can't give us. When we look at the bigger picture, the true purpose of man in this world is to acquire heavenly virtues and exercise them, for the betterment of our society."

Fatimah (Laguna)

"Investigating the truth helps us to deepen our knowledge about our existence in this world. If we are not investigating, we are not able to develop. But if we have more knowledge, the more we can contribute to the development of our society."

 ★

What's one question you're still 

struggling to find answers to?

Corina (Cagayan de Oro)

 "When will our every day life challenges stop? 

How can families be perfect? 

How can I really show maturity to people, even though I try my best to all the time?"

Jeff (San Jose, Occidental Mindoro)

"What is the mystery of sacrifice? Because until now I think my understanding of what sacrifice is, is not yet deep enough. I need to take more time to study the Writings and serve the Faith."

Alfonsa (Baguio)

"Why do we do the things we know we shouldn't be doing? I am aware of being drawn to hypocrisy. Although I understand the effects and implications of such actions, I still keep on repeating the same things I feel I need to."

★

Who are you?

Cris (Antipolo)

 "I am who you are and who they are. We are spiritual and should strive to achieve it even more. I am a worker of spiritual enterprise and a humble servant of humanity. I belong to God and always will."

Kim (Quirino)

 "I am one of the servants of the Cause of God, a student striving to achieve a coherent life and to be a faithful lover of the Cause of God and the Covenant."

Rouhangeze (Bicol)

 "I am a 22 year old youth who became conscious that as a youth, we have the responsibility of contributing to the betterment of society through unified systematic action."

Nine Souls (Part 1)

Nine Souls.
Three questions.

★
What does it mean to be a youth?

Leo (San José, Nueva Ecija)

 "For me, my time being a youth is like a treasure hunt, where we have to find the treasure. Every detour helps us gain a clue on what true happiness is. Being a youth, one should enjoy detours because they give us experiences which we can use in the future."

Suhaira (Patpat, Malaybalay)

"It is a period of human life where we reach maturity in all aspects. We strive to be a cure to the problems of our society and also to help combat negative forces, through selfless service. The younger generation look up to youths as their model of what they want to be in the future, so it is the youth's biggest role also to guide and assist younger generations in developing their spiritual perception, power of expression and build their moral structure."

Jamal (Baguio)

"To be a youth means having a great deal of capabilities, energy and potentialities, on one hand, and a sense of social responsibility on the other. It is us, the youths, who can cause much of the change the society has been longing to have. Our uniqueness in terms of the vast talents and potentials we have implies that we can initiate change by being ourselves. YOUth can move the world!"


What drew you to the Bahá'i Faith?

Generose (Cagayan de Oro)

"What attracted me is that Bahá'u'lláh helps me understand that God is an "Unknowable Essence" and that there are Manifestations of God, sent by Him to guide humanity from time to time. Another idea that I really appreciate is putting action into things we have learned. I enjoy learning with others and my circle of friends keeps expanding. I enjoy walking in the path of service with them because Bahá'u'lláh helps us have the same vision even though we have different capacities."

Ariel (Cebu)

 "I was attracted to the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh and how it explains that the Almighty, the All-Knowing wouldn't abandon His creation. It explains that mankind needs guidance."

Nikki (Laguna)

"The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh promotes unity. As I know more about the Bahá'i Faith, the more I want to be part of advancing the oneness of mankind."

What is your favourite Bahá'i quotation?

Mae (Palawan)

Busy not thyself with this world, for with fire We test the gold, and with gold We test our servants.

"All of us have tests and difficulties in our lives especially when we are walking the path of service. One thing I learned is that when we are having tests, we should not give up and whatever problems you may have, you can use them as stepping stones in your journey on the path of service."

Josmar (Ormoc)

O Son of Man! 

Should prosperity befall thee, rejoice not and should 

abasement come upon thee, grieve not for both shall pass away and be no more.

"If anything good or bad happens to you, don't get too happy or feel too much sadness. Don't worry and be attached to things of this world because they will become dust and pass away..."

Joy (San José, Occidental Mindoro)

O Son of Man! Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldst thou be, and to this I bear witness.

"This quote means that as a person, we should not look at the imperfections of others, and we should always remember that every person has a uniqueness and that it is given by God. No one has the right to judge them."

The greatest of all services

I just spend the last two days visiting a Bahá’i-inspired school up North in Pangasinan. I first heard about Feliz Academy one year ago, and I’ve kept in touch with the Administration (especially during the bicentenary celebrations a few months ago) but only had the chance to pay them a visit this week and boy has this short visit been worth it! 

I don’t know if it’s because Feliz literally means “happy” in Spanish which is why I’ve enjoyed my visit so much or because I’ve always just loved school. Yep, I was that student.  

Coming to Feliz Academy brought back memories of my year volunteering as a teacher at City Montessori School, Lucknow. Although you really can’t compare – Feliz has 500 students; CMS has over 50,000. Feliz is just managed by two (incredible) men; CMS has an entire head office with more than a dozen departments. But let me tell you what they have in common. These two schools, though local, have universal mission and vision statements. They inspire the students to look beyond not just their four walls but out of their countries to see “the earth as but one country and mankind its citizens”, enabling them see themselves as part of something bigger. In both schools you will hear their Principals utter “Every child is potentially the light of the world”.  

I was very humbled to be invited to give a talk to the teachers, to sort of inspire them. I say humbled because who am I? I’ve only volunteered as a teacher for one year; what can I say to these teachers who actually took up education and have been teaching for years?! But then I realized that when the owners gave me that privilege, they wanted me to share my experiences as a “travel teacher” – bits and pieces of lessons I learnt from my travels over the years and from my service activities and so I did that. 

I then started to reflect on how as a teacher you might never see the results or changes in the students with your two eyes. Transformation takes time, and most times when the students have already graduated. We are not the only ones to plant the seed or nurture the plant; we are just one of the many hands. 

For the rest of my life, I’ll never forget my English teacher in the 3rd grade – Mr Uwem. I remember during one of our Creative Writing classes, I wrote a poem about a gold fish, then he gave me back my paper with a note written “Farzaneh, stop going ahead of your class”. I didn’t really understand what this meant, until over the months he kept calling me aside telling me he sees so much potential in my creative writing. Four years later, in the 7th grade, he decided to come up with the school’s first magazine and he called me on board to be a co-editor. That whole experience – writing articles and editing all the submissions opened up a whole new world for me. Then I had to deliver a speech in front of the school when we launched the magazine, and afterwards one parent came up to me and said “Farzaneh, you should become a journalist when you grow up” and that stuck with me…even until this day. So it was Mr Uwem who saw a potential in me, encouraged me and even went ahead to give me the opportunity/the space to explore this talent he discovered in me. 

Like Bahá’u’lláh says, “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom”. 

Being a teacher is extremely challenging…but it can also be the most rewarding profession. If anyone says “being a teacher is easy”… they’re obviously not doing it right. I’m not just referring to academic teachers, but even mentors (sports, arts, business, etc). It is never enough to only prepare for your subject; you have to be prepared for questions and conversations in every other field. We need to be careful with the answers we give students because most of them will carry that answer for the rest of their lives. Whether or not we have the answers, we should always encourage students to be curious and to independently investigate the truth. Rather than asserting knowledge, we should empower students to seek and acquire knowledge. The only way around this is to remind them that they possess such capacity, because that is how bountiful God is. That's one of the reasons I really admire CMS and Feliz Academy - they stress on spiritual education (mind you, this is NOT the same as religious education) equally with the sciences. 

I salute everyone who threads this path because they’re basically carrying the weight of the future on their shoulders. 

"Among the greatest of all great services is the education of children, and promotion of the various sciences, crafts and arts. Praised be God, ye are now exerting strenuous efforts toward this end. The more ye persevere in this most important task, the more will ye witness the confirmations of God, to such a degree that ye yourselves will be astonished. This verily is a matter beyond all doubt, a pledge that shall certainly be redeemed." - Abdu'l-Bahá

Opening my 2017 Happiness Jar

Sometime in December 2016, I saw this post on Facebook that a friend shared of a Happiness Jar. The challenge was to put a penny/coin/money in a jar/piggy bank each time we felt happy, then open it at the end of the year and celebrate with however much money we've saved. 

Instead of putting in a coin, I decided to jot down happy memories on a piece of paper and fold it into the box...then read them all at the end of the year. 

I couldn't find a jar, so I got found an old box, covered it with some recycled gift wrapping paper and made an opening for my little notes. I also placed an inspiring quotation on top (it has faded though). What's written is "Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday". -Bahá'u'lláh

These notes don't account for all the times I jubilated; I don't think we can keep track of all those moments we smiled/laughed our hearts out! I just had the box on top of my desk the entire year, and decided that whenever I experienced something really happy/wonderful and felt like I want to keep that memory forever and ever, I should just note it down. Sort of like a diary. But a happy one!

Apparently January and June had the most number of notes, and the last three months had the least! I can't share ALL the notes here because that would make this blog verrryyy long (and also some notes are extremely personal) so I've decided to just pick one note per month!
Here are my (top) monthly picks: 

January

1st - Safe/no one hurt from our car accident on the way back from Tarlac. 

Body shaming

I recently saw this post in Instagram... and while a lot of people LOLed on the comments, there were also people like me who felt bad about it. For those who don't understand, these are all Merry Christmas greetings in different languages, but the last one in Filipino translates to "hey, you've become fat!"

I never knew there was a thing called 'body shaming' until I encountered my first when I moved to the Philippines more than a year ago. Before that, I was in India where I lost so much weight because I was forced to be a vegetarian and I was sick half the time. So naturally when I left India, I got back to my normal eating routine and happily gained back my full health. For me, I felt I was just getting back to normal. I didn't feel any big change because I still fit perfectly into my old clothes. Then suddenly I came back here and all the people who hadn't seen me after a long time would say: 

Oh Farzaneh, you've added so much weight, what have you been eating?! You've become so fat! What happened to you?!

The normal reaction is to just smile, I mean what else am I supposed to say?! What do people expect back when they tell you things like that? Am I supposed to say thank you? Am I supposed to defend myself and explain? At one point when I complained about this to my Dad, he joked and said tell them "yes of course, because I've been enjoying life". That helped me smile about it... for a while.

Identity crises

Growing up, I very often got asked "what are you more like? your Filipino side or your Iranian side?" I never knew how to answer this so I always gave this joke that I look more Filipino but I behave more like an Iranian. That's probably because I was raised in a third place. Nigeria. But while in Nigeria, I spent my first ten years in an international school. Every year we'd be 12-15 in one classroom... which would have at least two Lebanese, one Italian, one Palestinian...then every year someone new would join, like once an Indian, then a Thai, then an Australian, next year an Egyptian, then a Colombian. Outside school, my brother and I would attend Children and Junior Youth classes where we were taught that "the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens". Now, when you grow up like this - how on earth can you identify yourself? Why does it even matter?

"Man's glory lieth in his knowledge, his upright conduct, his praiseworthy character,
his wisdom, and not in his nationality or rank." -Bahá'u'lláh

One identity-defining experience for me was during my year in Sheffield, England. On the first week of University, we had the chance to join student societies. First I found the Persian society and I signed up. I joined their bowling and dinner nights, which were really fun, but I never felt "Persian" enough. I was still a khareji to everyone in the group. Around that same time, I met Filipino students and we created a Filipino society (the first ever at the University of Sheffield), and yet - we all conversed in English, because every single member were Filipinos who had grown up in England. So none of us were "Filipino" enough. Then I went to a West African dinner night and all the Nigerians and Ghanaians were amused at how I was the only Asian there chopping all the jollof rice and plantain, claiming I hailed from Naija.

Zambales Getaway

One of the friends I traveled to Puerto Princesa with is leaving the Philippines very soon, so we all just wanted to spend one more weekend together. We initially thought of a quick escape to Boracay, or a little bit nearer - Baguio, or even much nearer Villa Escudero, but then he suddenly remembered he has a frisby match on his last weekend. My other friend and I saw the frisby event page on Facebook, and when we googled the location (Crystal Beach, San Narciso, Zambales), turns out it's just 4 hours away from Manila! 

So my other friend and I decided to surprise him at his frisby match. 

We invited another friend to join us, and here's how it went.

Sunday 3:30 am - we arrived at the Victory Liner bus station in Pasay and boarded the bus going to Iba - Zambales. We bought tickets to San Antonio - this is the town before San Narciso, because I found a really pretty place online which we decided to have breakfast at before going to Crystal Beach. A one-way ticket for one person costs P275. The bus was very comfortable and clean. We had a 20-minute stop at Olongapo, where we had a magical cup of taho to warm us up. 

We got down at San Antonio and got a tricycle to Ohana Art Café (look them up on facebook!). Each of us paid P30 for the ride. The road to the café is verybeautiful - you'll see mountains on one side and farm lands on the other and the compounds of the wooden houses left and right were also so clean. Half way through, we stopped at a check point and each of us had to pay P20 environmental fee! How amazing is that; no wonder the area is so well-kept and clean!

Soon we reached our destination - a very quaint and exciting little cafe on the side of the road. The café is overwhelming; it's filled with so many little things - you won't be able to see everything!
There are inspirational quotes on the wall (all about love!), shell chandeliers, curtains ad dream catchers hanging from the ceiling, beautiful little plants on the shelves, a free fish foot spa, a dog (with colored eye brows!) and lots of mini-decorations made out of recycled material. So much creative thought was put into this little hippie place. Each table has a little message, and ours said "Call someone and tell them I love you". So we dared each other, noting that family and relatives weren't allowed! For brunch, my two friends a burger and myself a pizza. The price is very good too (ranges from P100 - P300). When my friends' burgers came, I commented "those fries are so little" while the waitress was still there..and a few minutes later she came back with an extra bowl of fries! I was so surprised that she made note of my comment! I absolutely recommend this place - it's definitely the most interesting café I've ever been to! It's a truly relaxing place with so much personality (every corner is Instagrammable!).

We spent more than an hour there eating, talking, looking around and playing with their photo props. I asked the lady if there was any beach nearby and it turns out we were a few steps away from Pundaquit beach! We slowly walked towards the water, as if our souls were following a yellow lamp in the dark. I asked the boatmen if they could take us to Crystal beach by boat, but they said it's not part of their tour package.

If you have time to spent in San Antonio, then I highly suggest you take the boat tour to Anawangin  and Nagsasa coves and/or Capones and Camara islands. It typically costs P1000 - P2000 to rent a little boat for a day (this fits 4-6 people).

We didn't have time for that, so we looked for a tricycle and paid P100 each to Crystal Beach resort (San Narciso is pretty far; more than 30 minutes ride away).

When we got to Crystal Beach Resort, we had to pay an entrance fee of P500 each. This was the part I didn't expect (I didn't see this while doing my research before the trip!) Turns out it's a large private area. Apart from the P500 we each had to pay P100 security deposit fee (which was refunded upon check out). After registering, we were each given a P150 meal/drinks stub (so this was taken from our P500) which we can claim at their restaurant. When you walk in, you'll first see the different types of accommodation - big rooms, small bamboo cottages, trees where you can hang your hammocks to sleep and also the tent area (you can either bring or rent your own tents to stay in at night). See their accommodation rates on their website.

Then when we got to the beach we saw the frisby match going on. We spotted our friend and he was very surprised to see us! After we changed into our swim wear, we bought some fruit shakes from the restaurant (we didn't use our stubs for this - we each paid P100 for a fruit shake), then we found some seats under a shade and relaxed for a bit before hitting the water. The current was strong! I have never encountered such strong waves before. I've been to Baler many years ago, but I didn't go to the water. So as expected, there were lots of people surfing the waves, and very few people hanging on the shores. 

After a few hours of relaxing and talking, we got changed and went for our lunch (at 4pm). We used our food stubs and ordered pasta, pancakes and some apetizers. The prize was really good, for the serving size! The mixed basket appetizers (hot dog, squid balls, cheese sticks, etc) was P150, the baked macaroni and tuna carbonara were P152 each. Price range is generally between P100 - P200.  We used our meal stubs, and then paid the extra. This was our last supper with our dear friend! 

After checking out, we got a tricycle (P15 each) to go to the bus stop. The tricycle driver suggested we take any bus going to Olongapo then go to the Victory Liner bus station to get a ride to Manila, rather than wait for the bus from Iba that goes straight to Manila (they're very limited). A bus ride to Olongapo is P50. When we got there, we walked over to the Victory Liner station and bought a ticket back to Pasay (P223).

So I put in our expenses just so you have a rough idea on how much you need if you want to make his quick one-day escape out of Manila! Our timing was really good too, so we didn't encounter any traffic leaving or heading back to Manila.

If you know other beautiful beaches near Manila, do let me know through the message box on the left side of my page, because I'd love to do more exploring!