Retreat 2006

RETREAT (re-trit, n.) - a special time to be close to our Almighty Father

Last September 21-22, 2006, that is Friday and Saturday, we had our retreat at the St. Benedictine Retreat House located at the Ulas (after the welcome signboard of Ulas), Davao City. But before that, let me reiterate some highlights before that memorable retreat.

MONDAY - Our adviser had told us some important points regarding the retreat itself. Some of us raised some points that a retreat is a special day for bondings and etc. Until one of my classmate, Camila, the daughter of our counselor raised her point that retreat is a time to be close to God (talking about girl power!). We were awe-strucked at that time and we only realized it after she said that. Then our adviser told us some incident regarding in the past retreat of the Chrysolite class. Last year, somebody brought or shall we say smuggled a bottle of liquor and in the morning they suffered severe headache and some of them vomited during the Holy Mass! So she said that this would not happened again in our class.

TUESDAY - Again, our CL teacher reiterated and added some important points regarding our retreat. He further added that cellphones, iPods, mp3 players and musical instruments are not allowed during the retreat. Also digicams are not allowed. That's why I have limited photos in this post (huhuhuhuhu =,c). Then, he assigned some offerers and readers for the mass this Friday. I volunteered as the first reader.

WEDNESDAY - Our excitement in the retreat was almost devastated because our late Sir Puno, our former prefect of discipline, announced to us that our retreat would be postponed and the Diamond class would have their retreat this Friday. It's because of the scout festival. But we really asked him not to cancel our much awaited retreat and some of us would not attend the retreat if it is moved next week because 1/4 in our class are boy scouts, girl scouts and rover scouts. But then, he changed his decisions and stick with the schedule. Hurray! And this day, it's our long test in El Fili plus the life of Rizal! Luckily, I perfected the exam.

THURSDAY - Stress became the partner of a Senior's life. That's totally true! It's because it's our long test in Physics. Good thing it's my favorite subject plus the topics are quite easy. So, I got 48 out 50 in this exam. And guess what of my mistakes - in the essay! And this day is the audition of the unit cheerdance in preparation of the upcoming Sportsfest 2006 (our name for our Intramurals). Fortunately, I passed the audition!

FRIDAY, THE BIG DAY - It's the big day! Some of my classmates already arrived in their homey attire unlike me, I still have my chucks. Mind you, I had the biggest baggage compared to others. Last minute request for letters is still their. As we enter in the classroom, we received one BIGGEST sermons in our life. Yep, it came from our late Sir Puno. He strongly disagrees on bringing cellphones! Yet our excuse is how about in case an accident occured or an unexpected circumstances happened?! I was so pissed with him and not only me but also my classmates. Good thing, our adviser told us to ignore the warnings of Sir Puno, she will do the rest and she promised that our retreat would be ruined because of that sermon.

When we arrived in the place, we had a mass celebrated by Father Willliam Cajes. But before the mass, we waited for the priest and while we waited for him, Camille, one of my classmate, slipped in the chapel floor and we laughed and snickered. Even the teachers gave her a subtle smile. The reason? High heeled Havaianas slippers! After the mass, we had the merienda and after that, we had our sessions from the priest. We talk about God and everything spiritual. We had our lunch break 15 minutes before 12pm. The luch was quite sumptuous and satisfying. We had a 2-hour siesta but nobody went to sleep. Others talked, others arranged and segregate the letters to the officers while others laughed like a fool - a typical situation of a teenager. Then we had a second session again. We had an activity, that is sharing. We went to the kiosk and we shared but not related to the topic given by the priest. Somehow, I managed to say my report even we didn't shared a single topic related to the sharing. Then, we had the confession, some of my classmates took a bath, others laughed like hyenas in the third floor which can be heard for the entire retreat house! We had a 30 minute-prayer in the chapel. Lights closed and the only source of light is the candle. We prayed fervently, asking for the forgiveness and the salvation of Christ. Then, we had our dinner - another satisfying dinner. 2 hours after dinner, we had our open forum. All we discussed in that open forum is all about bullying. All ended up in a nice manner. A good resolution for each and everybody. It's 15minutes before 11pm when we read our letters coming from our classmates, batchmates and even from the lower years! I received 101 letters. It's midnight and yet we were still active and energetic at that time so my clairvoyant classmate, Alvin told us some terrifying ghost stories. mind you, he's an effective one! It all ended, despite the screams at exactly 2.30am. I slept because I can't take it anymore. My eyes are drooly but others didn't sleep at all. They're awake for more than 24 hours!

SATURDAY, THE RESOLUTION - It's Saturday, we were all required to wake up at 5.30am. We had our breakfast and then a mass. We had our lunch, the most sumptuous of all meals. Then, we left the retreat house at exactly 1.30pm. I went home and slept up to 6.30pm. Even though we had many overloads in schools like projects, the never-eneding quizzes and long test, we still enjoyed our retreat without liquors, cellphones, mp3's and musical instrument.

edited and encoded by:

Renz Marione M. Bulseco

10.30.06 - Monday 3.44pm local time :: +8.00 GMT