LIFELONG LEARNERS

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
February 16, 2012
My grandchildren, aged 10 and 8, cannot wait to grow old. The boy says, “I’m going to be 11 soon.” The girl says, “I’m turning 9.”
On the contrary, I could not accept growing old. “Turning 60?” One day before, I still declared that I was 59. Ha-ha-ha! Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
February 1, 2012
Angelo, my 10-year old grandson, had to submit a written project for his religion class. I helped him brainstorm through a long conversation. We talked about the story, the characters, the problem, the solution, and the message. He typed the message on my laptop, and like a good teacher, I let him express his own thoughts in his own words. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
January 1, 2012
Christmas in a “bahay- kubo?” Unthinkable, some of you might say. Most of my friends and relatives are city folk, but my immediate family and I are country folk at heart. It’s the classic city mouse and country mouse conflict of comfort zones. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
December 16, 2011
Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it. Everything that happens is either a blessing that is also a lesson, or a lesson that is also a blessing.
I want no gifts this Christmas. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
December 1, 2011
“Work is love made visible,” says Kahlil Gibran (1923) in his magnum opus, The Prophet.
I always try to work with love, but sometimes, work becomes overwhelming and suffocating. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
November 1, 2011
Does your day begin and end uneventfully? Be thankful. What has Danny “Hilot” Perez got to do with an uneventful day? Please read on. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
October 16, 2011
Have you seen the Iranian movie, “Children of Heaven”? If you haven’t, I urge you to watch it soonest. Yes, it’s an Iranian movie, a film about Iranian children by an Iranian scriptwriter and director. And no, it’s not in English. It’s in Farsi, the most widely-spoken language of Iran. It’s totally non-Disney! Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
September 16, 2011
The first house of my childhood was made up of bamboo, wood, corrugated iron, a stay-at-home mother, a father whose job provided for his family’s needs, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
August 20, 2011
A doctor I’ve just met the day before tells me that I need immediate surgery to remove my swollen gallbladder and to extract gallstones from my common bile duct. Continue reading →

by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
July 1, 2011
The next thing to take care of was the trusses and posts for the roof. Despite the prohibitive cost, given our shoe-string budget, we decided on steel trusses and posts for strength and durability. Continue reading →