Orchids in Formaldehyde

Yesterday we were in Davao for various errands and one of them was to visit a lot in Bansalan, Davao del Sur. Bansalan is the land where my father hails from. He was born and raised there; all his siblings and half siblings and their father before him. In fact my grandfather's family used to own a huge part of land and some they divided among relatives (the large clan that is so common to ages past), and some they've donated to schools and other public structures.

My cousin, seen on the pic, showed us around, especially the school which is still standing today and is bearing our grandfather's name.

It's not everyday you get to see a school with your name on it, so of course we took a pic.

Based from my dad's stories and other relatives', my dad when he was still a student here wasn't really attending classes frequently, spending most of his time picking fruits from trees instead. And yet he didn't flunk a single subject! LOL!


What was weird to me though was when we visited this school, it was a Monday and there were plenty of students around. We were treating it like a special landmark that we have to take a pic at the front of the school. I'm sure the students and faculty in this school were a little weirded out because it was just the same old school that they see everyday. To them it's nothing special.

It's like when we see some people taking pictures at a mall we frequent. It does seem funny, like- "What's so special about this mall? These people might not have seen a mall before." And the jokes would commence.

This time, we were those people. I just felt a little embarrassed about that. They don't know why we think it's special, and I'm sure I don't like to explain it to everyone giving us weird glances. :/ So yeah, escape promptly. :)

The newly wed couple, my sister donning a violet dress. That's my other sis at the front, serving as photographer... with a tablet. Hehehe.



And we've arrived. Heading in to eat. :) *I really don't have very good photos here.
The guys are helping out with my dad and his wheel chair. The girls have a moment to pose for a pic.





I have a short video of when they cut the cake, but that needs to be edited first. So I'll just update this post when I'm done with that.


The beautiful view at the Monastery of the Transfiguration. We went here after the reception. It was around 15-20 minutes travel from the city proper. This is the view approaching the chapel from the parking lot.


Beautiful view, isn't it? It's very tranquil here. And 360 degrees of the surrounding areas are trees and mountains and flowers. It's so beautiful really.


Roaming around and taking pictures.


The inside of the chapel. I really like that rock altar with the light underneath.


We were the only ones noisy there. Lol. I think it was around this time (when we were crowding in that area) when we were asked to keep silent. Lol. But that was because a mass or something at the nearby monastery was about to take place.

We went home then. Hehe. Got a little embarrassed I guess. :) But we had another outing planned for the next day, so it didn't feel like the celebration was cut short. :)