Viva DAR Ilocos Sur!
It was a two-week preparation, tension-filled, pesky me driving my staff nuts day after day to give me answers to questions impossible to answer right there and then, but I insisted and my staff scrambled to get me what I needed to know. Literally walking to and from hotels, venues, bus terminals, shops for souvenirs, calesa drivers, tourism offices, City of Vigan and Provincial Capitol offices, calling officials directly for travel arrangements.
It did not help that while all these are going on, there are also colleagues who are watching in the background, sourgraping that the staff are doing great, enjoying every minute of torture I inflict upon them even up to midnight. Waiting for us to make a mistake so they can laugh at us, which is actually hurtful but I did not have time to waste and confront them. Whatever we accomplish, I thought, it was going to be the accomplishment of Region 1 and Ilocos Sur.
Now that the management of the conference is over, I have the time to think about it. I realize these:
That Ilocos Sur is so much more than what I thought they were before I was assigned here. The staff surprised me with their drive, enthusiasm, their ability to cry one moment over a snide remark then bounce back to laughter just the same. They are so used to having told what to do, not to suggest anything lest they be criticized as 'idiots', not to say anything at all, even when their very persons and souls are cursed up to the heavens by those, of all people, are not actually helping. These people are strong, they are shoved to the ground, but they get up, brush their sleeves, and go back to work.
That I am a proud, newest proud member of this family that endured the best and the worst, remained steadfast in the faith that in time, things will change and be better. I have, in my almost two years here, to 'fix' the situation I arrived to, yet I seemingly failed, until this last week. I watched them run around with their ready smiles for our guests, despite their sore feet, sweat gathered up at their handtowels propped at their backs, make-up gone with the wind, hair unkempt, but still wrapping 'bawang', 'sibuyas', 'longganisa', 'bagnet' for our guests.
That it takes only one. One to make life difficult for an organization, one to infuse hatred in the veins of this small office far north, to disable them from being at their best. Yet it also takes only one, to let them know that these can be overcome. With quiet resignation to the fact that we cannot change people; in calm reassurance to oneself that it is not worth it to waste time on self-pity and fear; to keep our heads held high despite the challenges.
Thank you, Ilocos Sur. I dare say, not Viva Vigan!, but Viva DAR Ilocos Sur!
It did not help that while all these are going on, there are also colleagues who are watching in the background, sourgraping that the staff are doing great, enjoying every minute of torture I inflict upon them even up to midnight. Waiting for us to make a mistake so they can laugh at us, which is actually hurtful but I did not have time to waste and confront them. Whatever we accomplish, I thought, it was going to be the accomplishment of Region 1 and Ilocos Sur.
Now that the management of the conference is over, I have the time to think about it. I realize these:
That Ilocos Sur is so much more than what I thought they were before I was assigned here. The staff surprised me with their drive, enthusiasm, their ability to cry one moment over a snide remark then bounce back to laughter just the same. They are so used to having told what to do, not to suggest anything lest they be criticized as 'idiots', not to say anything at all, even when their very persons and souls are cursed up to the heavens by those, of all people, are not actually helping. These people are strong, they are shoved to the ground, but they get up, brush their sleeves, and go back to work.
That I am a proud, newest proud member of this family that endured the best and the worst, remained steadfast in the faith that in time, things will change and be better. I have, in my almost two years here, to 'fix' the situation I arrived to, yet I seemingly failed, until this last week. I watched them run around with their ready smiles for our guests, despite their sore feet, sweat gathered up at their handtowels propped at their backs, make-up gone with the wind, hair unkempt, but still wrapping 'bawang', 'sibuyas', 'longganisa', 'bagnet' for our guests.
That it takes only one. One to make life difficult for an organization, one to infuse hatred in the veins of this small office far north, to disable them from being at their best. Yet it also takes only one, to let them know that these can be overcome. With quiet resignation to the fact that we cannot change people; in calm reassurance to oneself that it is not worth it to waste time on self-pity and fear; to keep our heads held high despite the challenges.
Thank you, Ilocos Sur. I dare say, not Viva Vigan!, but Viva DAR Ilocos Sur!
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