Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

There were no posts Friday and Saturday because I was in the province with my former co-teachers, my last non-official summer trip with them before the first term of the new school year starts.

One of them, Nap, just finished his Ph.D. He’s thinking of working in Singapore where his younger brother and sister are staying already.

Another, Ronald, completed his M.S. last term and is now working for a local computer company.

On Thursday and Friday I will be on the last official summer trip, where we will be having a continuation (and maybe conclusion) of the workshop we started last April 20.

This time it will be out of town (in Quezon) and overnight. I’m just not sure if it will also be on the beachfront, and if so, if it will be the beach in Quezon facing the sunrise or the one facing the sunset.

There is an option to extend from then until Saturday, when the staff will be having their own workshop in the same venue. Maila is already thinking of staying until Saturday because she feels only one night would be too short for her to relax.

The preparations for the Freshman Orientation on Wednesday are more or less on track. We have the laminated nametags already that will be used for the tree planting. We just hope that if it will still be rainy on that day that the students bring umbrellas, boots, raincoats and extra clothing.

The students already started cutting out the lettering for the stage backdrop this morning. The nametags for the orientors are also past the design stage.

Maila is already working on the eight-page freshman passport, which is actually just printed back to back on letter paper and folded, making it almost passport sized. She has been transcribing the welcome messages of the executive vice president and the directors of the schools as well as the almanac-like important information that the new students will need to look up in a flash.

Local computer guru Xerg will not be here on Wednesday; he has an interview for his own starting masteral studies. So most likely I will be the one operating the multimedia system, starting from the audio file of the National Anthem all the way to the video of the Alma Mater song.

David also showed up for the first time in four weeks. Actually he was here during the time when I was at my mom’s cousin’s wake and funeral, so it was only that I haven’t seen him here in the office in four weeks. But he already gave our only non-taker of the final exams, John Phillip, passing grades in both the mechanics lab and the introduction to robotics subject. He might not be enrolling here anymore though, but will be continuing his studies near his home in Surigao.

The new faculty members also have their own seminar/orientation from today until Wednesday, facilitated by the administration. In fact, there are also some of my co-teachers who have been teaching since the second or the third term but are only having their introduction now. Those handling the freshman orientation, like Ronnie, are exempted though.