Teacher
I love teaching. Ever since highschool I would grasp at every chance I get to teach. During my arki board exam review days, I would gather my org mates and try and teach them structural design for practice. When I was involved in the construction industry, I would be asked by my boss to serve as proctor for examinations for his classes, and when possible, I would guide his students around our on-going projects, lecturing and sharing knowledge on plumbing and construction. I have also already sent out applications for teaching positions. I hope somebody notices.
I got the chance now to teach in a review center. I was offered to teach plumbing and sanitary design. Coincidentally I was preparing for the Plumbing Board Exam, so I readily accepted the position.
Now I understand how hard it is to teach. You have to prepare lesson plans, as well as find ways for the lessons to be less boring. Since this is a board exam review class, it wouldn't be a problem since review classes are basically series of bombardments of principles and concepts on the subject being taught. Thankfully I myself went to a review school, so I know what people would be demanding from the lecturer and the course, and understands the relevance and place of review classes in reviewing for the boards.
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I started off the review class by introducing myself, then explaining that I am an urban planner, as well as a plumber. I would further explain the relevance of planning in connection to plumbing, stating that the Architecture is but a middle part of a larger environment, and that plumbing, as a specialized field would not relate only to Architecture, but to Environmental and Urban Planning as well. After that it was three hours worth of concepts and principles. I just hope that they comprehended this placing of the position of Plumbing and Architecture in the total built and natural environment.
But of course I did not limit myself to just reciting what is expected from the plumbing course. I also had to inject inputs and experiences, in order to show the relevance of plumbing to Architecture.
And of course jokes and anecdotes would be a part of the whole lecture, since jokes would serve as highlights where people most remember concepts. Favorite jokes would be:
1. Pointing out that a dug well is where Sadako came out.
2. That you do not bring a date up to the roof near a VSTR for stargazing (based on the experience of a colleague)
3. That I was saving up money for the Php250,000 "smart" watercloset
4. Water closets as your best friend (during drinking sessions)
5. "Manong", with his handy tabo, and the male through urinal
6. And that I encourage students to eat, especially during the sanitary design portion of the course. I especially asked them to bring kare-kare, champorado and peanut butter sandwiches.
The second class which falls on a saturday would prove as a greater challenge, since I had to deliver the nine-hour lecture course in one day, plus the remaining three hours of the T-Th-S course. So that would be twelve hours of almost non-stop talking.
Hopefully I would still be asked again to give lectures, I really enjoyed my stint as a lecturer. No matter how physically and mentally challenging it may be.
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One interesting comment I got after the lecture was when a colleague asked a student how I fared as a lecturer, she answered "Parang marami siyang alam." Hmmm..."
parang" lang?. I think the student would not have said "parang" if only she and her group would listen and stop chatting and eating without listening. UP students talaga tsk tsk...
Now I know why teachers are masungit. That is one aspect of teaching that needs consideration, how to handle students.
Building Modernity
Building Modernity: A Century of Architecture and Allied Arts traces the evolution of architecture and designed environment in the Philippines in the 20th century, structures that had been created within the framework of modernism. The exhibition is composed of archival photographs, paintings, vintage graphics, blueprints, building components and ornaments, and related artifacts. The exhibition underscores the larger stylistic tendencies, movements, ideologies, and technologies that have shaped the complex Filipino architectural culture of the last century; acknowledging the plural expressions of modernity.
The exhibition is a collaborated project of the Committee on Architecture and the Allied Arts of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), together with National Museum of the Philippines and the UP College of Architecture . Exhibition opens on February 7, 2007 , 5 pm at the Museum of the Filipino People (formerly Finance Building), National Museum Complex, Manila. It will be the main feature of the National Museum from February until May 2007.
Building Modernity Lecture SeriesTambunting Hall, 4th Floor,Museum of the Filipino People, National Museum ComplexAgri-Fina Circle, Luneta Park, Manila9 am - 12 noon
February 28, 2007
Building the Imperial Imagination: The Politics of American Colonial Architecture and Urbanism
Dr. Gerard Lico, University of the Philippines
March 14, 2007
Remembering Who you Are: History, Identity and the Designed Environment
Arch. Emilio Ozeata, University of the Philippines
March 21, 2007
Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Architecture
Arch. Rene Luis Mata, University of the Philippines
March 28, 2007
Contested Meanings: Public Parks and the Revive Manila Program
Prof. Tessa Guazon, University of the Philippines
April 11, 2007
Development of Philippine Architecture from Pre-colonial to the Present
Arch. Cristina Turalba, University of the Philippines
April 18, 2007
Philippine Architecture in the 20th Century
Arch. Norma Alarcon, University of the Santo Tomas
April 25, 2007
Modern as Native: Vernacularism in Philippine Modern Architecture
Arch. Edson Roy Cabalfin, Cornell University
May 2, 2007
Tropical Architecture in the Philippines
Arch. Nicolo del Castillo, University of the Philippines
For more information or reservations, please call the Museum Foundation at 404.2685/ 722.9073 and look for Elvie, Flor or Patricia.
For more Museum Foundation events and activities please visit our website at
http://museumfounda tionph.org/ news/Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc.G/F National Museum of the Filipino PeopleValencia Circle, Rizal Park, Manila 1004 PhilippinesTelefax: (63-2) 404-2685
Monkey
Got this from She'. This is currently my desktop image. I hope my boss sees it. It would sure crack me up hehehe...
But on the other hand, I never did become a cad monkey. I just wonder if its a good thing or a bad thing. :)
Four
At last, after four years of preparation, I have finally taken the Master Plumbers Board Examination. I first aspired to take the examination after the Architecture Board Examination, but after repeated denials at the PRC, it was only this year that I was able to take the boards.
Plumbing, as a subject and as a trade was not very glamorous for me back then. It was only during the Architecture exam review classes was I fully exposed to it, partly because I enjoyed the way the lecturer delivered her discussion of the class. She encouraged us to take the MP examination, not just for the sake of taking after the Arki boards, and not just for the sake of getting projects, but also as a specialization.
I was first denied to take the boards due to a change in policy at the PRC regarding the use of original birth certificates. It was right after my board exam when the PRC decided to allow only board takers who have NSO certified birth certificates to take the exam. When I showed my papers to "Tiger Lily", the infamous government employee stationed at window nine of the admissions counter, it was rudely shoved back to me, and she used the infamous microphone at the counter to tell everybody what my "error" was. (On a side note, this lady has this very nice way of telling everybody at the admissions area via this microphone what their mistakes are such as "O yung mga take two diyan, dapat kasi ganito ang gagawin ninyo blah blah blah...)
The second time I attempted to take the exam, it was only two days left to go for filing for the boards, so I failed to again take the examination.
For the third time, it was again another change in policy that prevented me from taking the board examination. Now they need the examiners to have updated NBI clearances. This time I had a problem with my name, since I carry the priviledge of being a "Junior", therefore I have a "Hit" at their database, and would have to clear it out with the main office at Manila.
Another change in policy almost prevented me from taking the examination, this time concerning the Official Transcript of Records. I did not know that the TOR has to have a small stamp at the bottom stating "For Board Examination Purposes". Again my papers was shoved back to me, but oddly, Tiger Lily was not there. In her place was a less discourteous lady, but nonetheless needs some sessions in customer service. Maybe Tiger Lily finally retired, after serving would be professionals for the past few decades. Now its Pocahontas.
My first impulse to correct this problem was to find a stamp maker outside who just might have the needed stamp, but then again Pocahontas wrote down the time when I was at the counter, thus it would be physically impossible for me to have it stamped all the way from Diliman and back to Manila. I contemplated on whether I should go to UP Manila for the stamp, but instead chose to simply go back some other day.
I was finally allowed to take the examination after rectifying the problem. It took me four years and four denials before taking the examination.
And happily, I came in fourth. :)
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On a side story, while preparing a few days for the examination, a former officemate who will also take the examination decided to stay over for a few days at the apartment. Due to over studying, we would apply all we learned to everything we do inside the house when it comes to plumbing. If we need to use the faucet, we would declare that we will use "two water supply fixture units", and use up "two units of drainage fixture units". And we would keep on repeating "four fixture units" when referring to the use of the john.
And happily, we both tied up at number four. While over the phone I jokingly told him we overused the john, thus landing at number four, when we should have overused the faucet, thus landing at the higher number one and two slots.
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Now I think I love this number, the number four. :)
