MARGIENARY

I went to Manila last October 21st to attend a modular course on the Gospels.  It's called New Testament 1.  We talked about the historical, cultural, and a little bit of both literary and linguistic background of the first four books of the NT.  We also talked about what was written first:  Mark, Matthew, or Luke?  Who copied from who?  I also learned so many new things and you'll fall asleep if I begin enumerating them here. But here are some interesting ones: The Good Samaritan:  Almost all preaching that I hear or books I read about this parable focuses on the response of the hearer to the question asked by the Lord Jesus at the end of the story.  Who is our neighbor?  Our professor presented another understanding that I think does not take out from the story but rather presents another good way to make sense of it.  It is better than the interpretation where the parable was totally allegorized and even the donkey is taken to symbolize something. This one is not like that

I received raised eyebrows (hehe! No, maybe just curious questions,) as to why this blog is called GandangIgorota and the blogger is called "Ganda." Kaya 'eto, naging dipensib tuloy ang byuti ko... hayyyyy nakkkkkkhhwooo!!! Here are the reasons, once and for all.. First, I called this blogpage "GandangIgorota" because it was created at the time when my in-laws aren't yet convinced that I am indeed a pure-blood, cuz I don't look like the Igorota that they have in mind. That time, I was in an offended 'so-I'll-show-you-what-an-Igorota-thinks' frame of mind, hence the blog title. And of course it follows that commenters call me by my blog title. Shortened nga lang. If you must know also, before blogs and internet came into being, a little cousin of mine who is a stutterer cannot say my name so he gave me a nickname. He picked 'Ganda" cuz I always exclaim, "Ayyyy, ang ganda!!!" to whatever it is that I see or hear, be it deligh

I was tagged by Jean to do this meme... FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD 1. what do you call that thing where you are to put soil in seedling bags and bury a gmelina seed or two in the middle and they pay you P75 a day? I did that... 2. what do you call that job where you are commanded to clean 3 two-storey houses every waking hours while you're struggling in junior high? and you are also to carry stones as big as four of my head put together to a dirraas (Ilocano yan 'noh!) nearby, I did that too... (I guessed this is not really a job since I was never paid anything but a few pennies to pay the jeep to school.) 3. to check the blood pressure and bandage little wounds of people working in a roof tile factory and to tell the boss as needed that all his men are healthy, that I did too... and I was paid really nicely... :) that's just about all the jobs I had so far... :) FOUR MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED OVER AND OVER: 1. Cutting Edge 2. Ever After 3. The Prince and Me 4. Sandra Bullock and

I was tagged by Jean to do this meme... FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD 1. what do you call that thing where you put soil in seedling bags and bury a gmelina seed or two in the middle and they pay you P75 a day?  I did that... 2. what do you call that job where you are commanded to clean 3 two-storey houses every waking hours while you're struggling in junior high? and you are also to carry stones as big as four of my head put together to a dirraas (Ilocano yan 'noh!:) nearby, I did that too... (I guessed this is not really a job since I was never paid anything but a few pennies to pay the jeep to school.) They told my dad it's a scholarship grant.  Yeah, right!  3. to check the blood pressure and bandage minor wounds of people working in a rooftile factory and to tell the boss as needed that all his men are healthy, that I did too... and I was paid nicely... :) that's just about all the jobs I had so far... :)   FOUR MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED OVER AND OVER: 1. Cutting Edge 2.

Interesting Learnings: King Herod the Great (47BC-4BC) - He is popularly known as the cruel power-hungry king who ordered his soldiers to kill all 0-2-year-olds boys when he heard from the Three Wise Men that a King of the Jews was born in Bethlehem. Historians would also tell us that he killed 2 or so of his wives and two or more of his sons for fear that they would usurp his throne in addition to all the other people that he killed. But with all that insanity, he was also the greatest visionary of his time in terms of buildings and structure. He built a palace in the Masada desert complete with sauna baths, and pools. He leveled a mountain and had his men 'plant' the same mountain on the opposite side of his palace to hide it from the scorching heat of the sun. He built an aqueduct and a good 1-mile of it went through the base of a hill. Rather than building around the mountain, he had his men dug a tunnel through the mountain. He built Herodium--another extravagant palace i

I just finished an intensive course on New Testament 1: The Synoptic Gospels. It ran for five days and after that five days, I have with me a 3-unit worth of credits to my MDiv in Biblical Studies. I decided I like the 8-5-classes-for-five-days better than the one-hour for six months kind. Fun: One of requirements of the course was for us to choose a parable we like and dramatize it. I've always loved drama. In my younger years, my cousins, friends and I would come up with funny and dramatic presentations to present at talent nights during youth camps. I was always able to derive fun more than challenge from such activities, and so I never thought that the same interest would present me a challenge last week. There were like more or less 40 people in our NT class and our professor divided us into groups of six. When he called out the names of my group, it went like this: Ki Wong Kang, Kim Jeongshu, Kim Hyun Su, Jeong Il Lee, and then two familiar sounding names followed. Y

I feel guilty to be talking about silly things cuz I just came from ftb and did a serious read on the Jocelyn Dulnuan posts. May her killer be apprehended right away and may her family find comfort in each other in these terrible times. I have to warn you that sari-sari has nothing to do with the little stores that you see in your neighborhood (well, not in TB's, Kayni's, or wil's) where you can buy a sachet of shampoo or a spoonful of vinegar and soy sauce in a clear plastic tube tied at both ends and in the middle to separate the two liquids. Di n'yo maimagine anoh? Sari-sari because it's going to be halo-halo. I have been going crazy over e-bay this last four days. I suddenly thought of looking for a nice used phone+pda to bid on when I stumbled on the Books pages. Just for fun, I started typing in my dream volumes in the search box and presto, it turned out that there are lots of them in ridiculously low prices. There's this historical fiction series

Dear Praying Ones,  Last Sunday evening, the center students held a despidida party (a going-away party maybe) for the other dorm students who will be leaving CFM to go for their On-the-Job trainings.  There are more or less 10 of them.  They asked me to share some words and I decided to talk about friendship with stress on how God made us, the former enemies, His friends; as well as an application to human friendships.  I had them play games before, in-between and after discussions.  I think they had a very nice time!  I did!  I was just telling someone how introverted and not-a-people person I am but I do love teaching.  I've learned in so  many ways and occassions that when it comes to adults, letting them think and discover things for themselves bears the more fruit.  So I came up with questions and biblical references alongside them, grouped them into six and gave them half an hour to discuss and answer the questions.  Afterwhich, each of them reported  the answers they

Politica a la del Barrio. The coming of the barangay elections caused a considerable stir in one of the villages of Kayapa.

A song by Twila Paris that reflects the prayer of my heart at this very point in my life.

I was so cranky when I woke up this morning because I wanted to have a quiet time but the tv was blaring and set on a channel where big men with vandalized integumentary system and wearing vandalized denims and leather vests who make and ride motorcycles and speak the foulest language were discussing about motorcylces of course..   Well, the tv always go ‘toooot’ on all those languages but it does not matter because your mind hears the words, so anyway, I got so irritated that I asked (not very nicely) the person watching the tv to turn the volume down, or better yet turn it off, then I picked up my book and went inside my room to sulk.    My irritation started yesterday, actually.   I received another suggestion on what should I do with my future and it really got on my nerves that I blurted out, “Lord, You know I am not a very patient person, but as far as I know, I really have been very patient with this situation!   Yet how long are you gonna be quiet instead of mak

Just random pictures of our swimming spree in villamar... today, Oct 12th.

Weew! This feels weird. I don't know what to write after a month of absence in the blogosphere. A mentor from Australia dropped by my house on his way to Bontoc. Over breakfast, he asked me what have I been doing and I said: "Well, when I got back from Manila at the end of August, we went to a funeral of an uncle, then the next week, we prepared for the wedding of my brother. And then the third week, I was busy making wedding invitations for my cousin and then after that, my great grandfather passed away at 98 and so we attended a series of vigils until he was buried last Thursday, the 4th." So yes, I realized that I did nothing the whole month of September but prepare for funerals and weddings except for the day when I was in the hospital with my sister. I doubt anyone likes being in a hospital even if just to watch over loved ones. With my past hospital experiences, you would think that I would be used to it at the least; the smell, the sense of illness all around