“I’m now cleaning up my bed room; transferring my files from my desktop computer to my USB; piling up books stacked within the past year; compiling my essays printed or handwritten; and planning how am I going to pack my things and have them fit inside the bags. I’m leaving in five days and I’m preparing myself from this transition period.”
—March 14 journal entry
BUDA, DAVAO CITY — I planned to post this entry above while I was still in MAPAC. While I am writing this, all my companions in the scholasticate are now in their respective communities in their immersion in Luzon with groups in the Bulakeños and the rest with the Dumagats in Rizal Province. Now I am in Buda for three days already, I have the luxury of time which I had in MAPAC but didn’t spent the time well because of different distractions such as computers with high speed internet. When I flew to Mindanao, I went straight to Cotabato for a detour in Tamontaka novitiate for two days. I just had with me my clothes, money, and some necessities (is smartphone considered?).
When I was in the Jesuit retreat house in Malaybalay, I received a call from our lay mission partner from MAPAC telling me that they are already going to the post office to send my boxes containing important documents, books, and my journals. I’m assuming all my books and journals were sent to Cotabato community but I haven’t confirmed yet if the parcel had arrived already.
Blogging as an in between break
I was scanning some blog posts I’ve written when I was in MAPAC since May 2014 up to February 2016 and it seems that I noticed that I post an entry before a hectic schedule and after surviving the crazyness. I spent one and a half year just using my desktop computer and just started to use this WordPress Android app last November 2015.
So this is how I spent my life as a student Brother in the past two years:
1. my first impression of our scholasticate
2. academic related reflections (like on the doctrine of original sin)
3. flash fiction (e.g. the unreturned book)
4. trips outside (Baguio trip or a recollection in the Cenacle retreat house)
7. an inconvenient experience with an international airline
8. occasional breaks (I can now breathe).
I believe the best essays I had were in the context of a school requirement where I would treat the dissertation as my journal, making it personal. So if I have time, I’ll search where I put them and archive them here to share in the blogosphere.
It’s good to read my previous writing entries once in a while and see how I grew in our post-novitiate experience in MAPAC.
Br. Allen 