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Reflection Week 5

This week was the same as last week but more focused on yoga and stretches instead of heavy leg day and other exercises. For the first day I mostly focused on doing stretches to my whole body focusing on my back once again as well as on my arms and legs. Which after doing did help relieve the tense muscle I developed, because for some reason my muscles go tense right after its weird and it hurts but maybe its just my posture but we will never know. The next day instead of walking and doing jump rope, I dedicated the session to doing yoga but not the full body yoga but instead I just preferred doing individual yoga for species body parts so that they could be worked on then at the end I did simple breathing exercises at the end to help calm my body done before I collapsed onto my yoga mat to just relax a bit. Then for my final day I did a mixture of doing both stretches and yoga positions. Which was fun.

This week was strange, there was not as much activities we needed to do and there were not as much classes we had to go to. But this Friday was a stressful day, because we had our Final defense for our III which I was happy for, since we could relax for the following days especially since the groups I’m a part of already finished performing certain task, I only need to attend the other groups the following week. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bIxiqx705I2EZW14cq2L4WydA9YD-4bC/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection Week 3 Finals

This week was somewhat stressfully for me on both ends, with me the only one in the house doing the cleaning and taking care of my brother since we don’t have a helper and my mother would be at work early in the morning and arrives already at around five in the afternoon. So I would need to cook, clean and do other task like getting my brother ready. But its actually okay when I think back on it since it helps me on being able to take care of things on my own and it makes me work on my scheduling for the most part.

Anyways for this week of exercises they were the same as always but I mostly focused on both y arms and legs this week. Where I mostly went out to take walk in the community, but on Friday since my mom brought my brother to work, I was able to talk a walk up to the highway and remembered to bring my phone so I took pictures and a few clips of me going up and I didn’t feel like there was a need to take a video of me going to back home. Anyways for a few minutes of my exercise section of the day I dedicated a few minutes on my stomach area. And I didn’t take a video then because I don’t like the feeling.

I’ll probably keep this one short since all I did was do exercises, nothing really interesting happened this week. Other than the activities, lessons and quizzes we had. Also we already have our Performance Task in chemistry.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tZLxGbD8731vjqw3gZyHslCNxaDXpeTK/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection Week 2 Finals

Unlike what happened last week where I got myself used to doing the exercises again, this week I went back to what I usually do. And just like the rest of the videos I submitted these are once again just clips I’m comfortable in sharing since I never liked the idea of recording myself in the first place.

I never stopped doing the jumping rope so for the week I did it 3 times, and as always I was doing it inside the house. How I never broke anything before I never know. And as for the rest of the activities I always do it inside my room like for my yoga and other planned exercises. But for Friday I included it in my head that me doing the laundry for the whole house would be part of my exercise routine. Where during then since there was no hose I had to carry bucket of water just to fill the water, then there was the case of me needing to transfer the wet clothes from one place to another, and as well as the squatting. So yes I definitely included that in my routine of exercises.

During the second week I mainly focused on doing the upper back yoga as well as the arms and neck. Since they were the parts that constantly would ache no matter what I would do. But I really could say that doing the yoga as well as the stretches really do work to relieve the pain since it would disappear, but unfortunately return after a couple of hour, my mom told me that I should probably get a full body massage to relieve the pain, but I got no time and if wanted to get one I would also need to wait for her.

I also got back to walking up and down the highway, but that lasted for two days before I had to return to walking up and down the neighborhood because my mom would leave early for work and no one would be there to watch over the house and my brother. Anyways this weeks exercise was nice although it was very hot even with the fan on, but if I did experience any cramps or my muscle would not stop aching from deep with in I always have my salompas and muscle relief rub.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zOaUXTeM0CqzIikYDTQHmnEfXDksUJW9/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection Week 1 Finals

This week of doing exercises I planned on taking a more chilled route to get back into doing my exercises for the week after our midterm exams. And so I did since i thought that it would be bad to just jump back into doing the exercises I did before test week. So during this week what I was able to include starting from Monday, I went out to go walking in our Purok just up and down the road after I opened the gates for the car, since it was a work day for my mom, and that was what I did during that day. The next day, Tuesday, I let myself do some jumping jacks and stretches when it was still early in the morning, as well as a little bit of walking when I went and bought somethings for lunch to the store up the highway with my cousin. On Wednesday was a break day since there were activities I wanted to pass so that I won’t be as stressed on the following days. Thursday I just did some jump roping out in our living rooms since I could and some neck and back exercises were done on the afternoon on Friday since my back continues to ace for some reason.

Doing these exercises were nice in a way that it made me feel like it did something productive, making me feel less guilty when I would sit down and start reading a book. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17OndRF3XxhBybKF2boj24Df4oIz4U9n1/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection Week 4

This week was definitely not a good mental health week, since all my body wanted to do was just lay in bed all day and sleep. I was only able to get up and luckily attend my classes and do the work we needed to do which admittedly weren’t much at all. But still with the exams coming up the idea of compiling the note would be very rewarding, then also studying for the two summative exams this Thursday.

But still this week I was able to do some stretches mostly for my back and neck, and some for my legs. Just simple exercises to relieve some pain, and loosen the muscle that tensed up during my time just sitting on the chair. I wasn’t even able to go on my early walk in the subdivision. Hopefully that maybe after the exam I’ll go back to doing my exercises properly.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FEhupCkGwBTLASqcBv99tR5xXuP1zMML/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection Week 3

The exercises this week was the same as last week, and I’m still not used to it mentally, but in terms of physically my body is somewhat used to it and I can’t complain. With all the stretching being done I could feel my muscles getting relax after a session. And I could also feel the burn as I would stretch but from what I heard from the videos the feeling of the burn is actually a good thing.

This week’s exercise would be made of the same as the previous week, where the stretching would still be the same as last week. With the inclusion of lower back and upper back yoga exercises since I have been feeling pain there more recently. And with those yoga exercises I have actually felt relief from the pain since the muscles were thoroughly stretched and released from their tension.

I still went on my early morning and sometimes late afternoon walks outside which I needed so that I could get time away from the internet, phone and other of my devices. And in those walks I would use them to destress and sometimes slip into my head, which I would not recommend considering that I am walking along a highway with big trucks.

This exercises really are helpful, both in mental and physical health, especially since during this quarantine we have been stuck mostly in out houses. Doing these activities really pushes us to be more active instead of just lying around and doing nothing. Which was what I was doing before doing these exercises, which now I’m quite used to.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lxLA397T5ahqPTlROBlCROk470_6eQsF/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection Week 2

This week was our second week of doing our FITT exercises and I could say that I may have not adjusted to it properly just yet, but I have noticed that I don’t easily get breathless after a few jumps on the jump rope. And when I would go on morning walks, they never tire me our quickly anyway. But when I start going on the incline since in our area there’s and incline that makes me breathless especially if I would make the walk up and down for about 2 times.

But anyways this week was actually a very bad week since mother nature rained down upon me, but still I persisted but instead of doing the heavier exercises in my list I choose to do the lighter ones like the neck and shoulder exercises and I also did a few back and arm stretches but couldn’t record it since it doesn’t save on my phone anymore and would result into crashing but luckily I have a few and I learned my lesson then and there to not push the technology it will only end up backfiring on you.

The stretches were actually relieving since there I was able to help loosen my muscles, but as I was doing the arm and shoulder exercises, I was so scared since it seemed like I pulled something on my shoulder since after doing them exercises it started to hurt a lot and I couldn’t move it without feeling pain. Luckily, I just made sure to not move it around so much and just after a few minutes the pain fades, sure it was still there and throughout the day I would get twinges of pain it disappeared on the next day after I slept putting on some soothing rub on it.

And doing the exercises I would still do them in my room since I still am not comfortable doing them in our living room no matter how much little space I have in my room. The jump rope section was done in the night times when my mom and brother would already be in the room, it didn’t bother me as much since it means that after doing the exercise, I would be able to fall asleep much quicker.

It wasn’t as bad as last week since my muscles were not as aching as bad as last week, but then again the reason might be only because I did light exercises and stretches, but hopefully my body has adjusted to doing exercises but I’m not keeping my hopes up, but never the less it was a very entertaining week, and I can’t wait for next week, though I do hope that I could do better, but we’ll find out in the next blog post.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_9pbGEcMff5B3BIODaiuc2vYHUwW9Fom/view?usp=sharing

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Reflection For Week 1

During the second semester we were given the task to perform a set FITT exercises and thinking back on it when it was first announced I wasn’t at all excited with the prospect of having to do exercises here. But is see the point of having to do the exercises in the first place, with them being important in keeping shape and keeping yourself healthy for any activity or just for living a good life.

         But during the first week of doing certain exercises i.e., Doing the jumping rope and going out on walks early in the morning or sometimes late in the afternoon, I started to enjoy them, but the set exercises I followed for the legs and the abdominals hurt a lot when I started to do them, I could only hope that in the following weeks I won’t hurt as much. In my plan I also included stretches and even yoga which were my favorite part of the exercise.

         Doing the exercises here in my house is quite stressful especially if I do them outside where my mom and brother mostly stay, I don’t like doing them in front of an audience especially people who would do nothing but judge what I do and make comments and would try to make me lose my concentration, so I would stay in my room and do them.

         Eventually I started to enjoy doing them but then I would start not liking them again especially when I started to form cramps and would ache at times. But I would persist and make sure I would do them. Of course I had to mess around with my schedule to make sure I would have time to also do my activities especially the ones whose deadlines are on the same day they were given.

         Another thing I also realized was that I didn’t enjoy the feeling of recording myself doing the exercises. And it was then I found out that I should probably stay away from future jobs that would require getting filmed by a camera. Sadly when I was going through the footage for the video compilation, they all went strange and did not save in my laptop at all so all I had left was the 9 minute video I had of the that I compiled in my phone. But I really don’t think there was anything missing other than the videos of me going outside and walking around for a couple of minutes and me doing the said leg and abdominal exercises.

         Anyways hopefully in the following weeks I could find a better system in compiling the videos and that I would start enjoying them more, but we would find out in the future reflection papers and what I would put in them.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nCOgrorqA863MvQF5S0AoPpsbE4whgip/view?usp=sharing

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Blog 12:

Blood stains the white sands of the beach

As another fight of skin colors once again erupt

They fight because they believe that white is pure

While other skin colors are not

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Fear runs rampant among the shores

The fear of racial injustice

And racial slurs

As they hunt down skin tones of brown

 -----

But how ironic is it to think

That the land belongs to the aboriginals

Yet they were driven out

Due to the shade of their skin

And it just shows how the world works

 -----

So we fight for equality

To avoid this situation entirely

Just remember that no one is better

No matter the skin color

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Blog 11: Waiting

After reading the text first my initial thought of the mother was that she was a little bit too much, in a way I felt that she exaggerating a lot of things like the time she was talking about the soap she was using and how much it helped her skin become so smooth. Then the point of view switched, and my initial thought of the boy was how much of a brat he was, being ungrateful for his mother who brought him to Canada for a better future. But as I continued to read the two points of view; the mother and child. It reveals a lot of complex emotions that they both felt, where the opinions they have contrasted so much that the boy was bitter, and the mom didn’t notice. From the text you could clearly see that the mom was full of dedication to making sure that her son would lead a successful life causing her to leave her old life behind and drop her pride. Yet her son was not appreciative at all and didn’t bother working hard for his education just wanting to find a job so he can work.

Meanwhile for the video we watch it showed the side of OFW parents working our of the country with the relationship with their children still intact. It shows the love is still there in the family even if they were a thousand mile apart from each other. Unlike the text it was full of misunderstandings causing bitterness to rise, and maybe a way for that to be avoided would be for them to talk with one another properly. Being an OFW really is difficult, you have to be away from your family, you can’t be there for them if smithing bad happens and you can even visit them properly. But for every sacrifice they would make their loved ones would live a comfortable life, and they can support them in times of need.

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Blog 10: Turban Legends

Reading the Turban Legend, I was originally confused to what it could be about, then I found out that it was about the connection of a balikbayan box to OFWS. I never really understood the thrill of receiving a box like that in the first place. I would see my relatives whose daughter, mother or father would see boxes like that and I’d watch from the side and wonder what makes it so important, since my dad is a seaman he can’t exactly send balikbayan boxes from the middle of the sea, so what he would do was that he would buy the things he would bring home when he would arrived at the airport and buy at Duty Point. So maybe it could be considered as a balikbayan box which is why I get confused on the first place.

But further reading into the text we were introduced to a tale told to the main character about the Turban Legend. Where it talks about a story where a man working overseas was desperate to go home to his family that he willingly puts himself in the box of a coworkers balikbayan box just so that he could go home, but sadly he ended up dead due to hypothermia. The reaction of the main character as well as mine was one of disbelief since, just how could a body pass the x-ray machine since every single airport has one, it just had to many to many loopholes for it to be true. Then at the end of the story it was explained that it proves just how desperate Filipinos are to go home for Christmas.

The legend being told was just an exaggeration to prove a point how much Filipinos care for their families and how much they love them. Where they willingly send themselves to a place where they would be separated to the people they care for and is familiar just so that they can provide for them. It shows the family-oriented mindset of the Filipino people. And if ever they do not find the chance to go home they would instead send home to their families boxes filled with treats from another country, and at times it can be filled with clothes, bag or other various things such as perfumes and lotions just to feel as if they are included to the festivities.

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Educational Blog

Title: Why They Say Our English Is Bad

I.    Common Errors Found in Papers

A. Commit errors in verbs, prepositions, tenses, articles, and punctuation.

B. Obvious difficulty in using articles, conjunctions, and spelling.

II.  Ways and Strategies for teaching English effectively.

A. Research studies have been conducted and theories have been used.

B.  The study of the recurring errors such as; phonology, syntax and semantics is necessary to address.

C. Saqueton (2008) paper identified common errors in essays and provided explanations using error analysis, and Fairclough’s paradigm on the appropriacy of “appropriateness”, to what caused the errors.

III.   Standards in English teachers want students to follow.

A. Standards that were prescribed by the grammarians

B. Educators want their students to gain mastery of Standard English as a second language.

C.  There is a need for a particular standard in order to rationalize policies on teaching Standard English.

IV.   Philippine English is still not creolized

A.  English is still our second language here in the Philippines.

B.  In teaching any second language, one must accept a standard.

C.  No matter how hard the English teacher tries, a local variety will continue to develop.

 Summary:

             English teacher in the Philippine are finding themselves in a difficult situation where even in college the paper’s students would submit would still contain errors that have taught on how to avoid since they were in grade school. Leading to teachers to find strategies to teach English effectively. Different studies have been conducted and theories have been taught of, to explore the problems and recurring errors in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse. There are standards being set by the Grammarians ang English teachers for the students to follow. And these standards that have been set is in order to rationalize the policies regarding the teaching of Standard English. And until the Philippine English is creolized English will still be a second language to the country.

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Blog 9: Where is the Justice?

Believe in the system is what people would say

Since it has never ever led us astray

Showing that we should give them our trust

But can’t you see the Scales begin to rust

 ----

The justice system surely still works up to this day

Where those who were guilty would pay

And victims and their families would find peace

---- 

But there would be cases swept under a rug

Hidden from the light of justice hiding like a bug,  

Wrongfully accused citizens left to rot

For crimes they were blamed for

---- 

The justice system is still alive

But does justice really thrive

With secrets being revealed left and right

And how the system really worked

 ----

We still should not lose hope

That there are those who are just

And will fight for those who were wronged

And will fight for what is right

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Blog 8: Preludes

The first time I finished reading the story I was honestly confused for a moment so I turned to read it again and by the second time I may have grasped an idea to what it was about. It seemed in the beginning that it was an innocent story about the sudden death of a woman’s husband, and she wasn’t even there to know about it. Then as it went on the theme seem to get more mature, where it was written that the husband is a cheater and had multiple women and that the wife would still accept him back if ever he had a fight with one of his other women. Then the wife started to talk about her in-laws and how they were dead, except for the one remaining brother. She also talked about the husband illness and how she had a herbalist friend who would recommend leaves to use for the husband medication. Then it talked about how the herbalist also gave the wife a packet of herbs to use if she wants her husband dead, not knowing that while she was thinking this her husband was already dead at the municipal hall.

The story dealt with really mature themes of adultery, and it was disturbing to read if it just hits you out of nowhere. It was difficult for me to reflect on the story since I can’t really reflect anything about it. There was a lesson about not cheating to your spouse and to stay loyal to the one who would continue to take you back no matter how many times you have hurt them. There was also a lesson in patience where the wife continued to persevere even with her in-laws saying that he could have found someone else better than the wife.

This read really made me confused especially since the sudden death of the husband, the fact that the wife actually has something with her that can lead to the husband’s death. I even believed for a while that she was the one who killed him by small doses of poison only to find out that she held on to the powder packet to feel powerful. I don’t think I have anymore to add to this other than committing adultery and murder is bad and that building up patience will be a useful skill that can benefit anyone in the future.

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Lengue Para Diablo

"What does the story tell about the Philippine society? Does this still exist up until today?" 

The story “Lengua Para Diablo” reflects the Philippine society in the way of how unemployment affects the people and their families. This story talks about the suffering of families as they live through poverty, the risks and sacrifices the parents would make as long as they were able to feed their kids. Until today it can still be seen in areas around the Philippines, where unemployed families would build up home in private properties or in areas near the street. Since they are unemployed it would be difficult for them to provide for their children but they always find a way to fill their children’s stomachs even if there are times where the parents themselves will not be able to eat and would just give it to the kids.

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Fight For The Glory

It was a dead land, as far as the eyes can see, any form of life gone and turned to dust. The smell of rot fills the air as carcasses of both ally and enemy litter the ground. Blood taints the soil and scars of war will be immortalized by the amount of destruction wrought in the area. In the middle of this lies a man slowly bleeding out, his wounds not deep enough for instant death but enough to make anyone beg for it, but he can’t and would not steep that low to beg for death. Not when the knowledge of the destruction of his clan is still fresh in his mind, not when the knowledge of the fact that the man who he considers as a brother was the one to stab him in the back, and aided in the destruction of the clan that brought him in and treated him like he was one of their own. Only to repay them by giving away all their secret to their enemies and turning their allies against them.

“Hahahahaaah..”

The sound of his estranged laugh echoed across the air but no one was there to hear it, not one was able to see the tears stream down his face mixing with the dirt and blood. And no one was there to see the hatred and anger that burned in his eyes.

“If only we saw him as the snake he really was,” He said out loud, body still bleeding out, the pool of blood surrounding growing bigger. “But we were fools to trust him, and now I can’t do anything but wait for death to take pity on me.”

He fell silent and just continued to look up to the red sky as if it were reflecting the bloodied earth. Trying to find peace in his final moments, but the anger would not leave his soul.

“Is it wrong for me to want their death, would it be wrong for me to want take back the glory of my clan that they have taken away?” He asked to the empty air not at all expecting a reply, his eyes slowly lost their focus the red sky blurring with the smoke, closing on their own making his vision go dark. “This is it, this is the end, maybe in the next life I would know better.”

“And how do you plan, to get back the glory that was stolen?” A voice asked

Eyes snap open and right above him he saw was a young girl who looks to be around the age of 7, her features were that of any little girl he would see, but what made her feel different was the aura she had. It was as if the void was personified into a person, her dark hair seemed to not reflect light like it was a void. But it was her eyes that caught his attention more, they shone like molten gold, shifting into different shades not at all solid.

“Who are you?” He rasped throat dry and soar.

The girl never responds as she pulls out from his view, the sky was once aging the only thing he could see before he felt himself being pulled upwards to a sitting position. It was strings pulling him up, he observed, following the threads he saw that they were connected to her fingers. They continued to pull him along but were surprisingly gentle with his wounds, which he felt were slowly closing up.

They crossed the bloody field passing many bodies, it was horrible. The number of the dead was not noticeable when in the middle of battle but with the silence, and with the only signs of life being the two of them along with crow picking away at the carcasses. They continued to travel, with only the girl knowing the destination, and him going along for the ride. He finally was able to recognize where they were headed to when the trees became thicker and larger, the area seemingly untouched by the war. The runes carved into the trunks reacted to his presence glowing for a second as they passed. They finally slowed down stopping at a large entrance to a cave.

“What are we doing here?” He demanded.

But still there was no reply from the girl, who was only looking into the darkness of the cave. Instead all she does is let go of the strings holding him up, causing him to trip as he landed not at all prepared for the sudden drop. Looking up he sees the girl enter the cave, the darkness enveloping her. He rushes to stand up following after her, worried that she would get stuck in one of the rune traps that were still active.

“Hey wait, you can’t just come in here without any warning, who knows how many runes you might spring,” He said reaching out to the girls shoulder, “Even the elders of the clan would have trouble navigating through the cave…”

The words lost momentum as they left his mouth when he noticed where they were. It was the shrine that should be deeper in the caves and would normally take longer to arrive to, but presently it only took a few seconds. He froze in his spot loosing his grip on her shoulder to which she shrugged of and took a few steps towards to large statue that was situated in the middle of the room,  vines were slowly making their way down the walls only a result of a few weeks of negligence due to the war.

She walks up to the statue and gestured towards the unlit braziers that lined to walls, causing them to burst into flames bringing light to the dark room. She gazes upwards inspecting the statue, it was at this moment the man brings himself together and approaches the girl and stops only a few steps back of her.

“Who is that?” She asks pointing upwards to the statue, which was carved of white marble depicting the image of a woman whose hands were cupped where it seems as if life was created from her hands.

“She is my clan’s patron god, Lady Epitheme god of life.” He asked as he slowly lowered himself into a sitting position, body still sore even if it was healed.

“Your patron?”

“Yes, she’s deeply ingrained in our clan history, dating from out beginnings until now.”

“But she did nothing for your clan during the war, no matter how much you prayed for her help.” She said looking to him, “Do you still respect her after that?”

“I still do, my people believe that she would be the one to receive us after death.” He answered after a few moments of thinking for a while.

“So what you said back then at the bloody field, do you not mean it then?”

He thought back to what he said, and still felt the anger and the want for paying them back return to his not at all cooled down.

“I still mean it, because no matter how much I believe in the next life and that our patron would be there to receive us, I still want to fight back and reclaim the glory our clan once had.”

“Then what do you plan on doing then?” She asked this time fully turning towards him, “You are alone, your allies turned didn’t bother returning your cries of help, and the only reason why you’re not dead was because I found you.”

“I don’t know yet,” He answered honestly, “I wish that there was an easier way but I still haven’t thought that far.”

“And if I were to offer my help to you, would you accept it?”

It was at this point the shadows seemed to come alive crawling up the walls, shifting and surrounding them. As if they were given life, but he was aware that the shadows were not at all as they seemed, it was as if they were filled with life, that they had a presence to them.

“May I know who you are first?” He asked after observing the scenario, there was nothing but curiosity in his voice, not a drop of fear present.

“I have no name, it has been lost through time,” She replied, “All I have is the void and the dead keeping me company through the years.”

“And I want to know your purpose of offering your help to the man who lost everything.” He said his bitterness hidden from his voice but it was clear in his eyes, mixing with his anger and rage, “After all, as you said my clan is dead and the people we thought as allies didn’t bother returning our cries for aid.”

She smiles and walks towards his position on the floor, stopping in front of him and plopping herself down to sit, “Who knows, even I am unsure to why I want to help you, but there is something in me telling me to help you, and maybe I’ll find out the reason why as time passes on,” She says before holding her hand out as if asking for a handshake, “Let me ask again, if I were to offer my help would you accept it”

He says nothing, and just takes the offered hand, which causes runes to erupt from their seated position. There were now changes to the girl seated in front of him, her eyes shone even brighter as if it were the sun. The shadows were now closing on to them, tendrils wrapping around their clasped hands binding them.

“What is your name?” The girl asks, her voice now more ethereal and layered as if it were multiple beings talking out of her.

“Erik, my name is Erik.” He replies, his blue eyes gaining a glow to them as the binding between them started to form.

“Well then Erik, I hope that you will succeed with the aid that will be given to you.”

And with those words the binding was completed, shadows start to envelop the both of them till all that remained was a pair of glowing eyes one shining blue shining like the blue moon that would rarely grace their lands the other shone like the sun that graced the lands.

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Blog 5: The Safe House

The story of “The Safe House” was about what the people, who fought against the martial law, lived through. In the beginnings of the passage we’re told of the houses who would welcome those who came to them for help, where people could heal and rest up before leaving once again, the people coming for refuge would first arrive in singles and eventually it would be groups coming together. And in this particular story it was told in through the eyes of a little girls, who would perceive what was happening around her through innocent eyes. She was five and she never did care for the many uncles and aunties coming over and staying for the night.

There was a part where the girl would wake up in the middle of the night and could hear the conversations happening the next room over, and although they would stop talking she could never find herself being able to fall back to sleep, thinking that there were small animals crying. In this part, my opinion would be that the description of  small animals crying were actually the hushed crying of the people who were staying over her house, crying either about the situation they are living in or the talk of what would happen to them if they were caught.

In the following scene it really shows how much they way of their living affected her, and her parents, mostly her mother who in my opinion probably can not handle the way they lived causing her the breakdown. Eventually leading the mother to leave and never return, at this part it makes me think that for her age she was showing maturity since it was not written that she was crying all she did was state them as if they were simple facts of everyday life. It makes me believe that maybe children who lived in those situations would mature faster than a child who doesn’t live in them. She then loses her father next getting caught in front of their house with her and her brother along with their neighbor watching, not allowed to do anything for the fear of attracting attention. The following interaction she would have with her father would be her going to visit him at Camp Crame, or with her staying over and sleeping at the bunkbeds in the cells.

As years pass by, she would receive a knock on her door, finding a man who she once considered to be her relatives standing outside looking for her father. To which she replies that he no longer lives at her house, to which the man only smiles, his disappointment and fear clear in her eyes before he leaves, and she closes the door bolting it firmly right after. In the last part of the passage in my own interpretation that she shows her clear distaste for the world her father once belonged in, not at all wanting to be apart of it. She distances herself from the people interacting with them at times smiling along with them but never letting herself be pulled into their world.

If it were me in this situation, I would do the same thing as what she had done. I believe that if I really lived through what the girl went through, I would grow bitter and distasteful at the though of being pulled into a world that tore their family apart, where they would live in the constant fear of being discovered. So its very clear that I sympathize with her decision of keeping herself safe, not at all wanting to follow her father’s footsteps of turning their house into a safe house.