Come again?

Well, Mateo has been on several field trips already. He has joined the annual Bataan field trip of first and second years TWICE and just last week, we also tagged along with the third and fourth years to UPLB/Makiling. His class also had a minor field trip a few weeks ago to a nearby barbershop and coffee shop.

BUT, tomorrow is his first real major field trip. A field trip wherein he’ll ride a bus with his classmates and he is an official participant. As early as last week, they were already asked to bring to school their field trip backpack. No chance for mommies who tend to pack everything to bring a Titan luggage because a list of things to bring was provided.

I’ve already packed our lunch bag with our snacks. The only thing missing is our lunch which I have yet to cook tomorrow morning. Mateo is fast asleep with the warning that he has to wake up early if he wants to join the field trip.

My little boy is excited because I told him we’ll visit a dark tunnel where he’ll need to bring a flashlight. He’s been saying that he’ll go on a field trip with his classmates and his Teachers Madelle and Gerl. I am excited for my little boy as well. I hope he enjoys this as much as he did all the other field trips he tagged along to.

The overnight accommodations during the third year and fourth year field trip was an upgrade considering that everyone was used to either sleeping in a tent on the beach, sleeping on the sand beside the water, sleeping in a tent on top of a mountain, or not sleeping at all, during high school field trips.

For once, everyone gets his or her own bed to sleep in – with a pillow and a bed sheet. Some rooms even have TV and a kitchen. Heck, there’s even hot water in the bathroom! Of course, it’s not like the fancy hotels that even have stainless steel tiles but it was definitely an upgrade from the other field trips we’ve joined.

We stayed at the TREES hostel which was conveniently located right at the start of the path going up to Mt.Makiling. There was even a volleyball (or was it a badminton?) court, a pingpong table, and a foosball. The children enjoyed very noisy games of the table football and even Mateo tried it himself.

It was definitely a good trip/break for Mateo and me.

Mateo and I tagged along when the third year and fourth year high school students went to UPLB for their exposure trip. I was initially hesitant to go because of my condition and because Mateo was nursing a cough. Nevertheless, since we have no chance for any kind of vacation, much less a Florida rentals vacation, and since Los Banos might be the farthest we’ll ever get in the next few months, I’ve decided to push through with it.

The trip consisted of a tour of several places within UP Los Banos during the first day and a hike up to Makiling the next day. I would have gladly joined the hike if I wasn’t pregnant and if we didn’t have Mateo with us but I had to settle for walks around the foot of Makiling with Mateo.

One of my favorites is our time in a field in front of the Forestry Residence Hall. There was a basketball court and a field (I think it’s used as a soccer field). We brought Mateo’s small soccer ball, knowing that there would be such places to play with it.

We also brought snacks with us so we had a grand time just lounging in the field, munching on snacks, and enjoying the cool mountain air. There was some kind of preschool sportsfest happening in a part of the field as well so Mateo and I also enjoyed watching them.

The school year is almost over. I have just finished my two trimestral exams, hopefully not the last two I’ll ever make. For several days now, our household has been a literal extension of our workplaces. The three of us, Ramil, me and my sister, would all stay glued to our laptops trying to come up with questions to our exams. Poor Mateo, he resorted to playing by himself and resorting to antics from time to time to get someone’s attention.

The printers in our teachers’ lounge have also been overworked these past few days. Most of the time, at least one of them would act up, hindering what would have been a buzzer-beater printing job, just in time for some teacher’s next class. The problem is usually the cartridge which don’t seem to be filling up with ink (we use a continuous ink system). But they were relatively easy to fix, it’s not like we were using a printing press that needed Anilox cleaning.

So me and my sister are finally done while Ramil has yet to finish his because he had to check all the exams from the science department as well. In an effort to make up to Mateo, I did not open my laptop until before dinner. Instead, we spent the afternoon reading several books, practicing his number writing, putting stickers on his sticker book, singing songs, and eating while waiting for his dada.

Although, there are still more to be done before the school year wraps up, I can finally feel the relaxation that summer break would bring. But then again, I plan to spend the summer as a trying-hard-preschool-teacher just to keep Mateo’s summer as fun, educational, and productive as possible.

This is one of my challenges this coming summer. In a few weeks, Mateo won’t have classes anymore and I’m pretty sure my active, energetic preschooler needs something to keep him busy.

Once school’s out for the summer, Mateo will have his mornings free. I cannot even begin to think how to keep him productively preoccupied, if there’s such a thing. Ramil and I have initially thought of enrolling him in Kumon just so he still gets to regularly go out of the house for some ‘lessons’. However, budgets constraints have led us to decide to forgo this option.

Since my sister will also be staying with us for the whole summer break, I’ve already told her to help me structure Mateo’s day. The teacher that I am, I’m planning to make an outline of what we’ll have with Mateo each day. No, I’m not thinking of making detailed lesson plans but just something concrete for each day. I hope to just list down concepts and possible activities related to each concept and budget them all throughout the summer.

Aside from this, I recognize Mateo’s need to go out of the house from time to time. So I’ve already told Ramil that I expect him or me to bring Mateo to the subdivision’s playground thrice a week.

Although the playground is not as nice as I’d want it to be, Mateo still finds enjoyment in the slides and the swings. Also, there’s a basketball court right beside the playground so he can bring his ball and play there when there’s no one playing.

Another thing I’m planning is to bring Mateo to a nearby clubhouse at least once a week to go swimming. Entrance is only 90 pesos and very few people use it so I think we’d enjoy it especially with the summer heat. I also need the exercise anyway and swimming is great for pregnant women.

So I think summer will be busy for me and even if I’m not pregnant, I won’t be needing Fastin to keep my weight down. I only hope it’s going to be very enjoyable for everyone as well. Of course, I’m very optimistic despite the fact that I’ll be taking care of a growing baby in my tummy as well. No pressures though, it’s summer and it’s always one of the most relaxed times for teachers like me.