PBB (Private Baliw-Baliwan)

It was August 2005 when a new TV show was launched in ABS-CBN Channel 2. It was an interesting TV show for the cast were not celebrities but ordinary people. It was an intriguing one for they had to live in one house for 100 days wherein all their moves were being captured by a number of cameras and in no time, aired on national TV. It was the Philippine version of the most celebrated TV show worldwide, the Pinoy Big Brother (PBB).

It was a very unique show because it was reality-based. It was the very first in the Philippines and Filipinos were astonished with all the surprises the show brought. Even me, I was hooked on it.

I was having my review for the Chemical Engineering board exam in Cebu at that time. Me and my classmates/boardmates religiously watched PBB everynight. We loved it because we were always entertained by the housemates. We also got carried away by each housemates’ emotions. We reacted and we commented on their behavior that led to debates sometimes. In fact, we also felt that we were also Kuya’s housemates.

After the 100 days, Filipinos couldn’t just get over the show. So the network decided to open a second season and started to scout for possible housemates.

By June 2006, there was an audition in Cebu. This time, I was already working. It was a rainy early morning when I rode a jeepney to work. I lived in Labangon and I had to take one ride to the city proper wherein our company’s shuttle is waiting to fetch us (the company where I worked in offered free rides for the plant was located at Mandaue City).

But before my jeep reached our meeting place, I stopped it, went down, and hopped into another jeep to SM Cebu. I brought my biodata with me as well as food and water to get me through the day. On impulse, I decided to have the day off and line up for PBB audition.

When I arrived at SM, the mall was still closed but there were already a number of people outside. The people were diverse from all walks of life. Some were students, some just graduated, some were young professionals, and some were “tambay”. Then I asked myself, “Do I really have to be here?” I thought that if I would commute to the plant, I would already be late. Better be absent than to be late. "You’re already here. Just carry on,” I answered myself.

After a few minutes, the ABS-CBN staff arrived and motioned us to go at the back of the building for the entrance. After the security guards checked our bags, we lined up. Upon lining up, I came to meet a few people.

One was a very friendly guy who was so loquacious. He was so excited for the day. He initiated the conversation first and opened up himself for everybody. He also attracted two other persons aside from me to listen to him. According to him, he was a musician. He hadn’t finished college for the love of music. His father actually disowned him for his stubbornness. So he lived alone and made music his living.

However, being in Cebu meant having a lot of competitors. He just had small “rakets” in small-time bars. His earnings were not that good but it was fine with him. I understood. His battle was for the pursuit of his happiness and being happy is not that always easy.

The other two persons were students - one girl and one gay. Both were good looking and I could see some potential in them. They were just silent and like me, they were also unsure of what were they doing there.

After a while, another loquacious person came into the scene. Her name was Angel – the only person I knew of the name. She was such in a hurry to catch up for she just came all the way from Bacolod. “My God! She traveled just to audition? So, I was not the only stupid person there,” I realized. Then she told us that she already auditioned in her hometown but unfortunately didn’t get in. So she opted to try again in Cebu. It was just a ferry boat ride for her so why not take the risk? She talked about her audition experience and while she did, I thought to myself that I didn’t belong there.

Based on the people I met, there was one with talent, two good lookings, and one with experience. I didn’t have any one of those. So I must not be there.

Then the staff gave us numbers and branded us with a stamp that we were aspiring housemates. There were cameras around us. They took a fanning of the very long queue. Everytime there were cameras, I turned my back from them because I didn’t want anybody to know that I auditioned. It would be a shame!

An Evidence

Eventually, the audition started. The process was so fast. Ten people would go to the stage. They would just stand there without nothing to do. Only the cameras were moving. With the scrutinizing eyes of Derek Laurenti Dyogi, he would select those who would pass his taste.

Ten after ten, and only a few were chosen. Then came our turn. The only one who got in from our group was the pretty student. So I just laughed. If I had wasted my time there, it was much more for Angel. She then told me not to go home yet. She requested me to stay with her and I said yes immediately for I already had the day off. We agreed to just watch the audition.

I didn’t know how Derek Lauren did the selection. Definitely, looks mattered most as always but there were also instances when he didn’t choose the pretty and the handsome ones. Maybe, it was the charisma. You know that sort of thing that makes you stand out and shine from the others? The X factor as they said!

After phase 1 of the audition, ten people (from those chosen) were hailed to the stage. The same thing happened. Those numbers that were mentioned stayed while those that were not were eliminated. How pitiable. They were already given hope but it vanished instantly.

When they were done, ten were called again. This time, Derek Lauren gave them a thing to do. They were asked to sing the PBB theme song with their tongues out! Then he selected and eliminated. Another ten came and he just let them twirl and twirl. Another ten and he let them bark – just any task that first comes out from his mind, he let the aspirants do. And he selected and he eliminated.

For phase 4, the group of ten was given a situation to act out. It was so funny for everything was impromptu. It was a test of quick thinking of what to say and do. Angel and I enjoyed watching “the show” so much until it was time for lunch. Then we took a break and ate at Chowking.

There, we had a chance to talk. She told me that she was desperate to get into Big Brother’s house for she had just broken up with her long-time boyfriend. They were about to get married when her boyfriend had another girl pregnant. As she was relating to me her sentiments, I almost cried. I felt her pain and her lost. She was so disheartened and frustrated with her life. That was why she was trying to do various things to let her forget the dreadful thing that happened to her.

After eating, we went back to the activity area. As we went down, we noticed that the line shortened. Angel and I looked at each other and she said, “Let’s try again!” I laughed and agreed with her. With hope in our hearts again, we lined up. The same process happened and luckily this time, Angel passed phase 1. We were so happy! So I didn’t have any business there anymore but I hadn’t said goodbye to my new friend. So instead of going home, I stayed there as a supporting friend. Phase 2 came and Angel passed again. For phase 3, the group was asked to sing the PBB song like a crazy person. Perhaps Angel’s acting was not that quite good and she got eliminated. So I just met her down the stage and hugged her. Then we laughed hard – so hard that the people were staring at us.

After getting back to our senses, tears fell down her cheeks. She then told me that it was the happiest day in her life after her break-up. For months, she hadn’t laughed and even smiled heartily. She embraced me and thanked me for the company. I was so touched and thanked her also. People were again watching of the drama that was happening. And we laughed again! They just didn’t have an idea of the realizations that we just both had.

Alas, she had to go. Bacolod was too far a place to go home to. We said goodbyes and good lucks. We wished each other happiness in our respective lives. Both of us left SM with light hearts though we didn’t passed the audition.

It was already twilight on my way home. It was just like an ordinary day computing home from work. But before I went to bed that night, I laughed at myself for the craziness I made that day. Though I felt like an idiot for lining up just like the others who had nothing to do with their lives, I felt fulfilled. At least, I did it! At least, I tried.

Like Angel, I had at least risked a day in my life for the pursuit of happiness like the musician was doing. And the good thing was, I had shared with the lives of strangers. They came in an instant and they were only passers-by in my life but I couldn’t forget them. From them, I learned to be true to myself and to follow my heart as the theme of the show, “Ang storya ng totoong buhay.” Though I hadn’t got into Kuya’s house, I had found my housemates with whom I had bonded with in just a very short time.

As PBB opens again today, I hope that it would touch plenty of lives as it had. For everything that we do with an eager and pure heart would never end up in vain. As what I did, lining up five years ago for the show had not come in vain. So I’m sharing this story to you for the lessons learned. Henceforth, my private baliw-baliwan had now gone public!

Finally Got Outside the PBB House!

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Mom's Sweet Delight

At the heart of Ozamiz City, there was the humble home of Engr. Tercero "Tersing" Decena Bala and Mrs. Mercedes "Cheding" Tumamak Bala who were blessed with seven children namely, Ur, Al, Jade, Ray, Jude, Lena, and Paul. They were living comfortably for the couple had stable jobs. Tercero, being a mechanical engineer was working as a plant superintendent at Misamis Lumber Corporation which was an electrical company and now MOELCI II. Meanwhile, Mercedes was a History and Economy teacher at the high school department of Misamis Colleges, now Misamis University (MU).

As a mother, Mercedes had this passion for baking cakes to delight her children. She would buy the ingredients at Misamis Soap and Candle Factory which was the only supplier of flour and other baking ingredients in Ozamiz at that time. Her co-teachers knew about her baking abilities so they started bringing-in their ingredients and let Mercedes bake for them. Then it became a hobby for her to bake cakes not just for her children but also for her co-teachers.

Eventually, her co-teachers got tired of bringing-in their ingredients so they requested Mercedes to sell the cakes she was baking. So she sold the chiffon cakes for only P3.50 each. Through word of mouth, Ozamiznons started flocking into their house at Gomez St. to have a taste of her scrumptious cakes.

In no time, Mercedes realized that money was in the cakes. So she resigned from her teaching job in 1968 and concentrated on her cake business. Moreover, her kids were growing up and with six boys, she had to be there to oversee them. She needed more than enough time in order to discipline them hands on.

The Bala Family Taken in 1977

Then she taught all her kids how to bake. All of them learned but it was only her fourth son, Ray “Yayang” who showed much interest. His first task was making icing letters and flowers for the decorated birthday cakes when he was still in second year high school. He became his mom’s little assistant and subsequently, he developed a skill for icing cakes. He grew up helping his mom in the kitchen and after he finished college, he formally studied baking and cake decorating at the Philippine Women’s University in Manila in the year 1987.

And Yayang’s skills were further enhanced. With that, he became his mom’s partner in the business. When he got married to Josephine “Joan” Lumasag in 1992, Yayang took the business more seriously. Furthermore, Joan helped him in product research and development as well as new technologies in baking and cake decorating. And in 1997, Mercedes formally turned the business over to the young couple. Thus, Mom’s Sweet Delight was the name given to it.

Gomez St., Ozamiz City

With Mercedes’ sweet delights, all her children finished college and they are now successful in their careers:

Ur – forester, now living in Australia

 Al – commerce graduate, owner of Mom’s Eatery

Jade – nautical, now living in Australia

Ray – commerce graduate, owner of Mom’s Sweet Delight and current Brgy. Kagawad of Ozamiz’s 50^th Barangay

Jude – electrical engineer, now living in Australia

Lena – renowned ballet dancer and instructress, now living in the United States of America

Paul – nurse, now living in the United States of America

Yayang Supervising His Cake Shop

Not just that. Mom’s Sweet Delight also paved the way for other people not their own flesh and blood to get their diploma. To name a few, they were

Marciana “Neneng” Pandac – BS in Home Economics graduate, now living in Canada

Elma Villanueva – BS in Education graduate, now living in Canada

Eve “Ging2x” Andos-Arsula– BS in Secretarial graduate, now employed at Cebu City's Supreme Court

Loribeth "Amay" Geonson - BS in Secretarial graduate, now manager of Fely's Pawnshop Cagayan de Oro

Malen Conol – BS in Business Administration graduate, now working at Fely’s Pawnshop Ozamiz

Rochie D. Cebedo – BS in Commerce graduate, still working at Mom’s Sweet Delight

Jenelyn T. Lapera – currently in second year college taking up a BS in Secretarial course, still working at Mom’s Sweet Delight

A Glimpse of Mom's Busy Kitchen & Receiving Area

Currently, Yayang is continually honing his skills by attending seminars in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro City. His dream is to keep his mother’s legacy while doing his best to attain longevity in the business so he could also pass it on to Ryann Gift Lumasag Bala, their only daughter who is showing interest in cake baking and decorating at an early age.

Mom’s Sweet Delight is indeed a fruit of a mother’s love. I myself had experienced the sweetness of this fruit for I also grew up playing in Lola Cheding’s kitchen. Me and my cousin Judelyn “Dayday” were so restless disturbing the adults while they were working. But we also helped in handing in some ingredients and sometimes, in making icing flowers. We also had chances to bake! But sad to say that until now, I never learned to bake. My cakes were always failures. Luckily for me, I still have Mom’s Sweet Delight up to this time who’s always taking care of my birthday cakes!

My First Birthday Cake

Actually Taken at the Balas' Living Room

My Eighteenth Birthday Cake

Since this is my birth month, I am giving away a chocolate cake from Mom’s Sweet Delight! Simply answer this question:

“If you could give a cake to someone special, who would it be and WHY?”

1. Click LIKE on the Facebook button below this post.

2. Click LIKE on Mom’s Sweet Delight Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moms-Sweet-Delight/148683938503934.

3. Send your entries along with your home address to maryrosalieo@yahoo.com on or before October 30, 2011.

Be creative in your answers! The winner will be notified by email on October 31, 2011 and delivery of cake will also be on the same date. Send now! Members of the Bala Clan up to the third degree cannot join this contest.

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29 Years and Counting

As a little girl, I used to play with my dolls, sit on my father’s lap, and sleep in my mother’s arms. But now that I am turning 18, I couldn’t do everything that I had “used to” anymore. This is another phase in my life which calls for maturity….

Surely, problems and trials await ahead but I do believe that being brave is just what it takes. There’s always a smile for every frown, a wish for every tear, and hope for every broken dream….

With God as my light, I am now ready to face the responsibilities and challenges life brings!

I had written that for my 18th birthday invitation card some 11 years ago. Indeed, life was so full of challenges! Even so before, it really was. Let me take you back in time when I was still a kid.

As a seven-year old, I was the least child to be adored. I was not cute and I was not pretty - only my mom said that I was pretty. I was always the object of mockery by my rude classmates, my neighbors, and my cousins. They called me names like "libat" (cross-eyed), "aeta" (indigenous group of people), "kulot" (curly haired), etc. Then I always ended up crying in the corner, feeling as an outcast. Although I have very fun childhood memories, this however had created a very painful one.

Bala Clan's Search for Mr. Unong & Ms. Unang

But what can the child do? Those words were all so true! Unfortunately for me, I inherited much of my father's genes. My mother is such a beauty that until now, people get shocked whenever I'm introduced as her daughter.

Anyway, when I reached high school, I had come to know my strength. I discovered that I was a bright kid. Having finished elementary from a public school, I got into section one in first year high school at Immaculate Conception College – La Salle. I had a high score during the entrance exam together with our class valedictorian and only four classmates who were in the top ten in elementary. I was never part of the top ten so I figured out that there was favoritism in my previous school.

As I got along in high school, I maintained to be in the first section while my other classmates were demoted to the lower sections. At the end, it was only me, our valedictorian, and other two classmates from elementary who graduated as section one students.

Then I concluded that my brain is my weapon. I may not be a beauty but at least I have the brains that could overpower all the beauties in the world. By then, I built self confidence and I started to develop some other skills. And mind you, I always excelled in every endeavor I entered into – just except joining beauty contests of course. But still, I was not that happy for I gained weight in high school. I started to have big appetites and I ate all the foods that were served to me in ample amounts compared when I was in elementary.

Ibaan River, Batangas

College came and I was still the flower in the wall. My friends already started dating but nobody ever picked me! As a defense mechanism, I showed everybody that I never cared. I never attempted to approach some guys for I was afraid of rejection. Yeah, right! All my crushes never saw me the way I was seeing them. I just ended up loving them on my own only. As for the time being, they are all happily married now!

Studio Photo for a Friend's Birthday

Then I think that I’m cursed! I must be cursed in this situation. I’m already 29 yet I’ve never been courted since birth. This is already shameful! But, what can I do? Just get hitch with those guys whom I think don’t deserve me? Damn, no way! In consolation to myself, I just have to think that I’m reserved to someone whom I call as “God’s best” for me.

And so I smile to myself again. Being pretty is not just shown physically. I realized that it has to come from within. I maybe once an ugly duckling but now, I believe that I’m pretty. I came to believe that I am for 90% of my former students said so when they wrote me letters before I left the school. They may have written it just for the sake of writing or they may have written it just to flatter me. In anyhow, I believed them. I believed them just simply because I love them. Thus, I am pretty inside and out! And no one could ever dare contradict that.

Now Pretty and Sexy Me!

Having lived into this world for 29 years is not that easy. Of course, there were problems, trials, frowns, tears, and broken dreams as I’ve said but there were also solutions, triumphs, smiles, laughters, and successes! I could say that I am a grown-up woman now who’s ready to take on more of life’s challenges. I admit, I’m still building up courage but with God as my strength, I can face anything that the world would throw at me!

Happy 29^th Birthday to Me!:)

For my 29^th year, I decided to celebrate it with some less fortunate kids. I was in third year high school when I attended church at Word Foundation Christian Ministries (former Bread of Life). Our youth pastor, Kuya Linus de Barras founded a little ministry for the street kids. We would wait for the closing time at Gaizano every Friday night and gather all the kids there. Our Sunday school teacher would then narrate a Bible story to them. Afterwards, we would give each child a bread to ease their hunger for the day. And this we called as our “Pan” (bread) Ministry.

Getting To Know the Kids

Bible Story Telling

It was so great reliving my late Kuya Linus’ ministry for I was once also a “yaget” (unkempt) child at Brgy. Triunfo who loved attending Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS) at the Nazarene Church in our neighborhood and who lined up for food during the occasional feeding programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the same barangay.

Sharing Blessings

Eating Time!

Many thanks to my family and friends who also celebrated with me in this very special day! I am overjoyed that I feel so loved. I love you all!:)

With Family and Friends

Thank you, Lord for all the blessings!:)

Post Bday Celebration at Kuya Jun2x's Payag

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I Heart MUHS

Becoming a teacher was the least mental imagery I ever had in my entire being. I never wanted to become one because I never wanted to be like my old maid teacher aunt. She always complains about her job. She complains about her students, her paper works, her lesson plan, her principal, and everything! She always grumbles about her fate and tells us never to become like her.

But after all the jobs I had entered into (see From One Career to Another, to Another, and Another of My Adventures), being a teacher just came out of the blue. It was February 2009 when Misamis Union High School (MUHS) advertised on TV that they were hiring a science teacher. “I will apply,” that suddenly popped out in my mind. Without a choice having wanted to just stay here in Ozamiz and without any idea of how to become a teacher, I did submit my resume to the school.

After several days, I was called for an interview. It was Miss Joan B. Missiona, the school registrar who first interviewed me together with Xianse Teresita Ong, the school’s academic head. I was not sure of myself at that time so I just answered them half-heartedly. However, maybe they saw my potential so they had me for the next step.

Then Dr. Priscilla Villanueva, former schools superintendent of Ozamiz City and the current school consultant interviewed and scrutinized me. I could feel that she was doing it to see my determination of becoming a teacher. So, I showed her my willingness to learn how to teach. Afterwards, she scheduled me to a class demonstration.

I was so nervous during the class demonstration. I was lecturing on Evidences of Chemical Reactions with the second year and third year students. It was my very first time to teach a class that marked a funny memory to my then students. I was having a fever, I was so tensed, and I was sweating a lot that my underarms showed the “evidences of chemical reactions”, as what the students teased me after two years I spent with them.

Then the Chinese lao shi men arrived and I was interviewed by Mr. Kevin, Ms. Serena Guo, and Dr. Zhou Jing. They were such a fright for they came from Jinan University in China. After all the processes, I got in with a little luck! So I officially started working at Chinese school on June 8, 2009 (not to mention I already started reporting in summer 2009 for the preparations).

On my first day, I was so nervous again. I was not tensed with the teachers whom I’m gonna be working with but I was tensed with the students. Of course, being rich Chinese kids, they might underestimate me and look me down. My first class that day was Biology with the second year students. They were only eleven and they were well-behaved. I got intimidated by them for they all speak in English. “So, this is it here. They are sosyal,” I told myself. My nervousness worsened.

My Darling Second Years

My second class was Physics with the fourth year students. All of them were not friendly or maybe, they were just shy. I felt like they just talk to me out of respect but not heartily. And there looks were like spears that intimidated me more. At the end, I never got to enter their exclusive world.

My third class was General Science with the first year students. Being kids, they were rowdy. But I managed to get their attention anyway. And they went rowdy again, and I silenced them, and vice versa. Then I survived my first morning in Chinese school.

My Baby First Years

In the afternoon, I had my two vacant periods wherein I did my lesson planning. I also had to endure being in the faculty room with Mrs. Pongase’s biting eyes and sharp tongue.

After the afternoon recess, I had my last class which was Chemistry with the third year students. Believe me or not, I didn’t have the chance to introduce myself to them because they were so warm and so friendly that they were the ones who initiated to start the class. I didn’t have the chance of making my class the way I did with the other classes because they were the “one-of-a-kind kids” in the school.

My Forever Junior Griffins

During my first few days, I had a hard time accepting my fate. Of course I did my very best to serve the school but every time I heard “Teacher Mae”, it irritated me. Then it sank in. I’m already a teacher!

For my first year in MUHS, I could say that it was such a roller coaster ride. I struggled a lot on how to present my lessons well and how to make the students understand what I was teaching them. Moreover, there was this incident that tested me big time!

It was one afternoon when I instructed my advisory class which was the third year to clean their classroom. I had to return the laboratory apparatuses that I showed them to the science lab. When I came back to the classroom, I was shocked to see all my belongings in the bucket that one of my students was carrying. I couldn’t understand what I felt at that time. I was speechless because I was so hurt seeing my things there. My heart was crumpled so I just got my things back and walked out because I thought that I was gonna cry. I had never been this humiliated in my life and only 15-year old kids did that to me! I felt like they treated me as garbage – as filth! I was so disheartened and discouraged. I was so angry that I did not speak to the whole class for a week and I hadn’t slept well for that whole week also.

After the resolution, I forgave them. It was not that hard as I thought for they were only kids and immature. And the good thing is, this incident made us closely bonded like covalent bonds. I already understood them and learned to love them unconditionally.

Portrait of a Struggling Teacher

In my second year, I had adjusted a bit already. I had learned how to control the students, I had learned how to impart knowledge to them, and I had learned how to become a teacher as a whole. My hardships had been paid off every time a student approached me and told me that they answered the NAT/college entrance exams/other achievement tests well because I had covered it in class. It was so heartwarming when they say “Miss Mae, this and that went out in the exam. I answered the questions.” And that always makes me happy!

A Happy Miss Mae

Me and my students had been through a lot. There were times when I scolded them and shouted at them, times when they talked back at me and maybe hated me, and times when I hurt them and they hurt me too. But there were also times when they showed that they care for me and love me. They were the sweetest kids I ever knew. They will always be in my heart – my baby first years, my darling second years, and my forever junior griffins!

In conclusion, my two years in Chinese School transformed me. Though being a teacher was never in my dream and in my plan, I came to enjoy it. Though a lot of people said that I was just being a fool for not doing a chemical engineering job, I learned to accept it.

As I visited the school yesterday and today, I realized that the two years I had spent there was indeed not a waste of effort and time. Because it was also when I had the happiest moment in my crazy life! And now, when the kids greet me “Hi, teacher Mae!” it is music to my ears!

MUHS Faculty 2010-2011 with Mr. Steve Lim

Happy 75th Birthday, MUHS! Shang di bao you!:)

Motorcade

Cheer Dance

Cultural Night

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