Frustrations and Hopes

So here I am once again, blogging my way out of frustration.

Why hello there? It's been a year since I last visited you. What's up? Crazy question uh? It's like me asking myself back haha! Well, life after college is like being in an island where it's your first time in that island. There are lots of tourist. Lots of trash but people keep on coming. I am not talking about Boracay here. I must say, Boracay is well, not so clean place, it's crowded but I believe there are officials who do weekly clean up on the seashore. Boracay, such a known wonderful and lively place. 

My life after college is so much similar to it. Most people in my age or older than me know how life would be like after thesis, after recitations, after class cards that's why i tagged it as known. Wonderful, yes,what an exciting adventure it could be. Intense and sweaty palms indeed. You will not be talking to your cool professor anymore, you'll gonna exchange witty answers to bosses, managers, specialist. It takes so much guts to face such people. And that makes it exciting. After an gut-wrenching interview, you'll feel the relief you have never felt before. When you're hired, you only think what to wear, how to connect, how to impress and what's next. Lively, hmm, I should say somewhere in between. In my case, I was once lively, once energetic, once excited, once once... You'll come to a point where you'll miss college, you'll miss the freedom. You'll miss not going to work on a holiday, you'll miss going home early, the in between gala. Life in college, is so much easier than being employed. You are no longer thinking of yourself getting high grades or tricking your parents that you are in school but you weren't, you were just at the mall loitering with your friends. You are now more of, working to not get an NTE, to not get fired, to earn money for your own luxury. You'll also come to a point where you're getting so much used to what you are doing especially when your job is routinary. You'll forget how exciting life is after graduation because you are stuck with emails, your work station, your desktop, your mug, your unprofessional boss and it sucks. Really.

Nothings too hard with what I'm doing. I appreciate the company, the benefits they're giving to us employees. I know, I am in a very good company. And I am blessed by it. However, there are some circumstances that you just wanna walk away with and be oblivious about. That burdensome feeling you get when its unfair. You see it. You know what to do. You know what to say and you just can't do it. You just can't. It could be that the timing is not there, you have no back up support, or people on top are too aggressive and  intimidating. You like what you're doing, you are happy with the company but you are not pleased with the fraud, biases happening around and it gets into your nerves that people on top are too blindsided about this. I am not generalizing these people. I am just pertaining to some. It's sad that I have been considering to transfer to another company for the past 5 months or more. This is my first job and it hurts my soul to think that I'll be leaving. It's like your first puppy love. You don't love him, you just like him but as time goes by you get attached to him and leaving him means a part of you is gonna be broken.

I am now planning my 3 months and will start saving up and try to think of something I can reward myself for a year of perseverance and patience in this company. A gadget maybe, a trip could be or a makeover. :)

Whatever happens in the future, I know my God has plans for me, plans not to harm me but to prosper me and give me a future. He will supply my needs in times I would be jobless. He will supply a suitable and enjoyable job for me. Specifics, it must be near, not prone to floods and snatchers. Salary wise, just a 50-75% increase will do plus meal allowance. :) I am not longing for too much, just what I can handle emotionally and mentally. Just as I can save up for the future, for a house and lot and for charities. It is my childhood dream to be able to share and give some to the needy, to abandoned lolos and lolas.

So there, just bits of what I've been through for the past year. 'Til next time.

Best Regards,

Fam

Page 25 of 25

LAST DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED.

Excited. Happy. Very happy. Up early, very early I must say. Our last day will be in Nueva Ecija, say what? I know, the best! Haha so yeah, I arrived at exactly 6am (taps shoulder) yes! What a perfect way to end my internship. J

Here are the things we did back in Nueva Ecija:

•          Surprised our former co-interns.
•          Ate lunch.
•          Assist our bosses.
•          Gave away the program and I.D.’s to the students.
•          Asked the students to fill up some forms.
•          Facilitated the Launching.
•          Gave away brochures and t-shirts.

 jj

      Our last day was a blast. Enjoyed seeing our new found friends (Jom and Teddy) again, had a chance to buy Nueva Ecija’s Silvanas for the first time. I’m glad to end our internship away from the city to do some field work and be able to facilitate a program launching. This is what I wanted to do after college, go out of town, out of the country, explore new places, do field work; do campaigns and stuffs, to reach out, make new friends, engage with different people. I love research but I love it more ‘pag may adventure na kasama. J

Page 24 of 25

LAST DAY AT THE OFFICE.

No more paper works. Thank You Lord! We had a chance to engage with the people in the PSRS Division. And for the last time, we took pictures because it’s our final day. J

Page 23 of 25

MGA HULING HABILIN NI MAMA BEKS.

It’s almost our last day in the office. Thanking the Lord that we are almost done. We had nothing much to do just prepared our internship requirements such as evaluation forms and computed the remaining hours we still have. Before going home, Ms. Beca approached us and spoke to us. We had a long nice talk with her. We talked about our lives, school, our upcoming graduation and many other stuff. I am thankful to have that great conversation with our boss.

Page 22 of 25

And we’re done with the questionnaire! We presented it to Ms. Beca after printing it out. We each had a personal talk with her. She asked us how we assess the agency as a whole and the Policy Studies, Statistics and Research Division (PSRSD). Also, what part we did in the questionnaire and other questions regarding on how we can utilize and help the agency from doing future researches and data gatherings through the lessons we learn from school and throughout our internship. I really felt the motherly connection with our boss. She’s a very nice person and supervisor. I feel honored to serve her and the division with the best I can.

Page 21 of 25

We started the day by working our minds off with the questionnaire. We’re doing both qualitative through interview guide and quantitative through survey forms. Our respondents will be center-based and street-based contact-cement users, experts from partner agencies and contact-cement manufacturers and their employees. 

Page 20 of 25

LAUGHS. FIVE MORE DAYS!

I greeted everyone a warm “Good Morning” —a great way to start the day right in spite of my wrong timing na asthma attack from yesterday. Five more days! And I’m seriously making me countdown. Its freaking cold in the office feels like winter in the Pacific Coast which is totally ironic haha! J

Had nothing much to do today just starting out making the questionnaire for the 5% Mustard Oil in Toluene-Contact Cement study they made years ago. And we’re hoping to finish it by tomorrow or at least by Monday.

Page 19 of 25

ALMOST DONE.

We’re six days away from bidding DDB goodbye. Oh yes! Thank You Lord. Indeed, time flies so fast. Hindi ko na namalayan. J Not feeling good though. I feel really sick and sorry for myself. Can’t do anything for today but just observe.

Page 18 of 25

Tata PETID! Bonjour PSRSD! J

Before we can actually bid PETID goodbye, we were asked to do some clerical works. Punch and fasten modules that are to be used in training programs somewhere. We said goodbye to Ma’am Thess and other employees and to the library that accommodated us for the past 15 days. The library became the interns hub. Yeah, I kinda felt that strong attachment with the library—feels cozy, private and spacious. The library heard all our complaints, our laughters… that Library.

Moving on, I, Famela Joy Dahonog says “Hello PSRSD” and thinking of the pressure is on its way… “Hello po Ma’am”.

Page 17 of 25

A QUANTITATIVE TEST.

After doing some clerical job, we were assigned to do some statistical treatment. Flashbacks. We remind ourselves from all the lessons we learned in our statistics class and the chapter 4 of our thesis. Since four minds are working the work was done in no time. It feels great to apply the things you’ve acquired from school. The work we did shows that the things we learn remain in our minds. There are times that you get a little confused but it’s good that you have people who will help you to remember the things you’ve learned. Well, that is the sole purpose of internship right? To know if you can apply the lessons you get from school, if you can handle the work related to the course you chose and to also learn from the employees at the workplace. They are the people who will help you when you don’t know how to do things since they already have been doing it. J

Page 16 of 25

CONTINUATION…

Encode again. All day. All afternoon. As fast as we could, no more pee breaks and long lunch breaks we were able to finish it! Cheers for a productive day! J

Page 15 of 25

PAPER WORKS FILED UP.

We encode names, mailing address, contact numbers and birthdates of persons who filled up the Barkada Kontra Droga forms. We did it all day, all afternoon. Oh a day isn’t enough to finish this. Tons of paper work awaits our tomorrow. God, give us grace.

Page 14 of 25

AH YES!

We’re done with the narrative report hooray! We hope that the results would be given good feedback. All of the things we put in there are based on mere observations and what we believe is for the betterment of the program launching in the future. We also hope that they may take it in consideration our recommendations even if we are only interns. 

Page 13 of 25

I’M HALF WAY THERE.

Almost done making the narrative report for the monitoring we made during the BKD Launching in Nueva Ecija. We’ll finish it tomorrow and pass it next week since Ma’am Thess is out-of-town. Other than finishing our narrative report, we also did arrange files in the office.

Woohoo! Nakakakalahati na ako sa 25 days ko na ipapamalagi sa DDB. YES!

Page 12 of 25

LONG REPORT INDEED.

We’re still working on the narrative report. With hopes up high, by the end of the week this report is done! 

Page 11 of 25

GOOD DAY.

We have lots of stories from our trip last Saturday! We’re really happy to have new friends, to experience field work out of town and apply the monitoring scheme we worked on for a week. Now, back to work, new task on the way. Now that we have monitored the launching of Barkada Kontra Droga in Nueva Ecija, it is a procedure that after that you have to make a narrative report. Well of course, monitoring will not be complete without it. It would be like putting ketchup on your fries and not eat it. So all day, Carmela and I worked on our narrative report.

Page 10 of 25

STOKED.

Welcome to Central Luzon State University.

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS INTERNSHIP WILL TAKE ME TO NUEVA ECIJA LIKE SERIOUSLY I’M ON CAPS LOCK!!! We’re so happy that we were given a chance to do field work in Nueva Ecija. This is all I ever wanted! To go to different places and do field work. I just love the feeling.

I arrived early of course. Blood’s rushing because of excitement I felt like a kid na ngayon lang makakalabas haha! J This is so great!  I’m wearing a Barkada Kontra Droga shirt and hop off the bus of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) ha! I feel so proud of myself never have I imagined I’ll be working with this agency and now I’m riding at their bus haha.

Now after hours on the road, we finally reached our destination, the Central Luzon State University. What a nice state U. Parang U.P. lang oh pero mas maganda (my opinion, respect) at mas presko. Oh sarap! Breathe in. Breathe out. Fresh air, how I long to inhale thee. As we enter the room where the launching will be held, I have seen how privileged the students are; the rooms are in good condition as well as the chairs and fans. I envied them. No wonder why kids in the provinces are well taught than those in the city. Anyway, as the launching-slash-seminar started, Carmela and I started to monitor the flow of the program of BKD. This is where we used the monitoring scheme we made last week. We did a lot of observations, comments and suggestions and of course photo documentation.

As for the extras, sorry I can’t get over with the thought that I’m in out-of-town, thanks to my internship! So there, happy moments are when we had a chance to explore some parts of the university, applied what we worked on and learned back in PUP-COC and the dinner with our ma’ams and sirs. What an experience indeed! J

Page 9 of 25

ENCOOOOOOOODE ALL DAY LOOOOOONG.

To be honest, this task is easy the hard part here is that there are too many to encode and its cold making it hard to fight the urge to sleep. I believe you know the feeling. So yeah, before the working hour end we printed out the edited monitoring scheme.

Page 8 of 25

MARK THIS DAY.

Early this morning, Carmela and I presented the powerpoint presentation we made yesterday. I’m honored to see that our boss was pleased. She liked it. By the way, the presentation is about life skills and good communication skills.

Previously, I said “mark this day” ever wondered why? Well, there are two simple reasons. One, I already said in the preceding paragraph and the other was… well, I HAVE MY I.D! Haha yeah I know, ang babaw but whatever haha finally have my identification card oh yes! Ang laki nga lang, it’s like an Ayyyyydeeeee... lol. I enjoyed this day.  J

Page 7 of 25

POWERPOINT MAKING WITH CARMELA.

Ooooh I love doing powerpoint presentations. I have yet to master the software but it’s one of my favorites. So I felt enthusiastic when we were asked to make a powerpoint presentation.