A Pinoy Biker’s Philippine Rural Adventures

Having solved the puzzle, we received the next task: go to the NCTS building and have our group’s picture taken in front of the bike rack there. None of us knew the meaning of NCTS and of course, they wouldn’t tell it to us. I had a vague idea of where it was, having heard of it sometime somewhere long ago. I told my team mates to head east towards Balara where I thought the building will be.

The UPCAT has obviously ended by this time, as people and cars mingled in the middle of the street. We had to squeeze our bikes in between the hordes of people and cars. Judah asked one of the traffic officers if he knew where our target building was. We found out that we were off the mark and was far away from it. I looked back to see if Rizza was still with us. I did not see her. It occurred to me then that perhaps she took another way. We went to the direction pointed out by the traffic officer. We finally found the objective but we were the last to arrive. Rizza was already there, waiting worriedly for us. We asked a member of the other team to take our picture using Judah’s camera phone as I volunteered to the same for them. Nobody knew what the next task was and since the organizers were not there, we did not know what to do next. I phoned Voltaire, the Firefly Brigade vice president to ask what’s next. He told me to proceed back to the AS parking lot. As we were making our way back to it, I realized that from the AS parking lot, all we had to do to go to the next task was cross the street, heading north.

Back at the parking lot, they gave us the next task. It was a bit off theme, as it was not bike related but it was about fireflies. Each team had to interpret a poem by Lope K. Santos entitled “Alitaptap” (Filipino term for firefly). We prepared our piece but someone from the other team suggested that instead of each team presenting, why not make it a group effort. So it was agreed that we would get one or two from each team to read the poem while the others would act it out. Judah and I volunteered to read for our team and so Rizza was left the acting part. The stage would be the pedestrian lane across the street. So they wanted us to be like street performers! I thought that since we were in the middle of the premier university in the Philippines, doing so would not attract so much attention and be out of place. The people there should be used to seeing unusual creatures doing their thing. So without shame, we performed.

That was the end of the adventure race. We were all proclaimed finishers, as it was not actually a competitive race, but one designed to forge camaraderie among us. It was exciting as it was exhausting for me at least.

We proceeded back to our original meeting place in Kamias. It was already past 1:00 pm. We knew that Mia prepared something for us so we were already anticipating a hearty lunch when we arrived. She prepared tuna pasta and it was good. We rested a bit afterwards and then Mia asked us to gather once more for a short group dynamics. She asked us to look at the person on our right and think of a particular body part that we like and don’t like on that person. After about two minutes she asked one of us to start. The one on my left looked at me and said he liked my hair, but he did not like that I seem to be overweight and had a paunch. Next was my turn to look at the one on my right, Inoy. He is a tall guy with short, cropped hair. So I said I like the fact that he is tall, but Mia wanted me to mention which particular body part that I like. It seemed to me that his legs made him look tall so I said legs. The body part that I did not like was his hair though, because It reminded me of the haircut I used to have but hate in high school. The rest did the same and as soon as everybody was able to speak, Mia explained the next activity. We were to make a pledge regarding what we would do for the environment, one that is doable and quantifiable. For my part, I said I would reduce my electric consumption by at least 5 percent by turning off appliances and unnecessary lights. I also pledged to continue to bike to work as long as I am able. The others also made their pledges which we all agreed were what are needed today.

Going back to identifying what we like and not like about the person on our right, Mia said we would have to flick the part we like and kiss the one we didn’t. This brought laughter from us, as it would be embarrassing if we really have to kiss some of the body parts mentioned. Well, not really, as none ever mentioned obscene parts. The objective for doing this, according to Mia was to express the love we feel for our teammates.

The end of this activity signaled the end of our training to become full pledged Firefly Brigade members. Jack, the FFB president was called to give a short talk and welcome remarks for us. He gave us the official FFB shirt to symbolize our being admitted and with that began our life as real Fireflies.

Then came the General Assembly and Election of new sets of officers.