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When I was in college, I stayed in a ladies dormitory. The dorm has 7 floors but only 2^nd, 3^rd, 6^th, and 7^th floors are for bed spacers. The 1^st floor is for the nuns; 4^th floor is the cooking and dining area; and 5^th floor is the study hall.  My room was located at the 6^th floor; it’s called Emerald. Each room is designed to occupy 24 bed spacers but the room is divided into eight cubicles. One cubicle has two double decks. My bed was the upper bed.

Every 7:30 in the evening, they ring a bell as a sign for study period. It will last from 7:45 P.M. to 9:15 P.M. All students are obliged to go to the study hall and study quietly there. After the study period, you are allowed to go back to your respected rooms and you have to follow the lights off policy in the rooms after that hour. If you want to stay in the study hall and continue to study you are allowed to do so.

I wanted to have a business career at that time. So, I took an Accounting Course. Since I was an Accounting student, I always have problem solving homework and case studies. I normally stayed up late just to finish my tasks. 12 Midnight was my earliest time to go to sleep. Sometimes, I go to bed at 2:00 A.M. because I won’t stop until I've figured out everything is okay with my spreadsheet. But I always have a companion with me to go back to the room.

I used to do that every night and I was okay until one day, it was a stormy afternoon. Classes were suspended so, I and my roommates have nothing to do. We just thought of playing a game and we chose to play the “spirit of the glass”. One of my roommates created an improvised Ouija board for us to use. It has the letters of the alphabet and numbers around the board and at the center it has 3 circles: one for “Yes”, one for the station place for the drinking glass at the center, and one for “No”.

All of us were so curious to play it. So, we lit a candle and we placed a drinking glass upside down on the Ouija board, placed our index finger above the glass but not touching it, and we recited some prayers which was led by one of my roommates who has an experience in doing that game. Then after that, the leader of the game asked: “Spirit of the glass, are you in?” several times while our index fingers were still above the inverted glass. We were shocked when suddenly the glasses just moved to the “Yes” spot. We looked at each other and I knew everyone that was there were so be scared.

The leader of the game, started to ask questions like “what is your name?” and again, the glass moved to the letters until it spelled its name. Oh my God, my heart was beating so fast at that time but then we were enjoying it. We were amazed and so curious so we continued to ask questions. We found out that we were talking to a spirit of a kid who died of an accident several years ago. We were so engaged with the game until one of our roommates just arrived and opened the door that destructed our attention and lost concentration on what we were doing. So, we didn’t finish the spirit of the glass.

The next day, my roommates started to feel something different in our room. They said they’ve been hearing things at night time when the lights are off. These things I’m saying are turning pages of a book in the dark, faucet opening on its own, chains, and footsteps in the hall way. But I didn’t experience anything.

One night, I have to do a lot of homework and went to sleep at around 3:00 A.M and I went back to the room alone that time. As soon as I climbed my bed, I saw somebody going to her cubicle. So, I said “Hey, I thought you went to sleep early”. She didn’t answer back. She just glanced at me and went to her cubicle. As soon as I woke up in the morning. I talked to my roommate that I saw last night and asked her again: “why did you sleep so late last night?” And she said she slept very early last night. I insisted that I saw her going back to her cubicle and she was wearing white clothes. Then everybody was freaking out because nobody was wearing white clothes that morning. She swore she really went to sleep very early last night. I had goose bumps after realizing that I saw a ghost last night! I really didn’t see the face; I just assumed it was my roommate because she went to her cubicle. Waaaah! I saw a female ghost in white t-shirt and white shorts.

That was not the first and last incident about the unknown. My blanket was being pulled in the middle of the night and no one is below my bed. Everybody was asleep. I also experienced hearing strong winds but it was not windy, door opening and closing, banging, book pages flipping, footsteps along the hall way, and cold wind passing by me. I feel like I was going crazy. I am not the scary type of person and do not believe in ghost before but after all of those experiences I have encountered in the dorm, I can say... they really exist.

On our last day of school, there were only 3 of us left in our room. We were telling happy stories to each other just beside the window. Suddenly, the knife that was near the window just fell in front of me. The windows were totally closed and nobody touched it. And the space where the knife was located is wide enough and it’s very impossible for it to just fall by itself. The three of just looked at each other; we were scared but I bravely talked. I said, “Whoever you are, please go back to where you belong. Leave us alone”.

That was the last time I stayed in that dormitory. We found out that the ladies dormitory was a hospital during the early times and of course in a hospital, people die. That explains why that place was so spooky. What an experience!

I now know that there are other existing things in this world aside from us. We can never explain who they are, where they come from, and what they want but we should know how to respect them. Let us not disturb their peacefulness. No more playing of spirit of the glass. Playing with the spirit is not good and it’s dangerous. Let’s just pray for the souls of the people we love and for those whom nobody is praying for them anymore. May they rest in peace.

Life is full of surprises. It can make you happy, sad, or scared. It’s a mixture of everything. There are unfortunate events that may occur and you have no control over them. You may be okay now but tomorrow are you sure what’s going to happen?

More than 2 decades ago, July 16, 1990 I was just a freshman back then. I and two friends of mine went to a store to buy something. We didn’t have school that day because of the student protest on tuition fee increase at Saint Louis University. We took advantage of that to just stroll along Session Road of Baguio City. But before 4:00 pm we went back to our boarding house and stayed inside our room. We were so happy telling stories to each other then suddenly the mirror on the wall moved. My friend continued to talk while holding the mirror but then the double deck bed began to move too and stronger this time.  We were scared and we screamed as loud as we could. Our room was located in the basement. We didn’t know what to do. We just held each others arms while we continue to scream. We didn’t even think of getting out. Not until we heard some voices outside yelling at our names to get out from the building. That’s the only time we thought of moving from our present location.

When we started to move to the exit, the first floor was already smashed and went down half of the basement. This made our way out very narrow and dangerous. The voices were my friend’s brother and a family friend of ours who lives across our boarding house. We moved to their house and we stayed together. After shock tremors continued every after a few minutes.

At 4:26PM Philippine time, Baguio City was hit by an earthquake with a 7.8 magnitude in the Richter scale. Other provinces like Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Cabantuan City, and the Cordillera Region were hit by this devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people and destroyed a lot of properties.

What if we didn’t go back to the boarding house early? What could have happen to us in the streets? Good that we did that move. The student strike was a blessing in disguise. Thank God our caring neighbors invited us to their house and there we spent the night. We all slept in the living room to be ready for coming after shocks. In the middle of the night while everybody was tightly asleep, I needed to pee. OMG! I was so afraid to go by myself but I had no choice but to go or else I’ll make a mess. So, I decided to just go to the bathroom on my own quickly. But, unfortunately as soon as the last drop of urine came out we started to feel a tremor again. I was terrified! I screamed to the top of my lungs to be heard. Luckily, our family friend came to the rescue. As soon as I opened the door, he was close to the stairs and I just jumped 7 big steps high from the main floor and he caught me just right. I was on tears as we went outside in the dark.

We didn’t get to sleep that night. The next day, I went back to the house and see how high was the stairs and I can’t believe I was able to jump that high. That’s what they call adrenaline rush. We tried to go out to buy food and water. Since, Baguio City was isolated at that time water and food was limited. We cannot eat right, cannot drink enough water, and cannot shower or even brush our teeth. We pitied ourselves. All we can do was to pray at that time. We saw dead bodies, smashed cars, buildings that looked like sandwiches that were packed together, and a lot of destroyed facilities and shocked people in the park. It was a challenging career on how to be a paramedic at that time after the earthquake.

Baguio City recovered from that natural disaster after a few years. Now, Baguio City is a beautiful City well known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. It’s also popular because of its “Banagbenga Festival” where in the people parade with beautiful floats of flowers.

I will never forget that scary experience. But I thank God I am still alive. I survived that killer quake. I believe God saved me for a purpose. I am very grateful for the life he gave me. I will cherish it forever.

I am short I know that but, I never thought that there are some things that are really, really way taller than me; like 65-75 times taller! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe it. I’m talking about the Sequoia Giant Trees.

Last year, my husband found out about the giant trees located at Three Rivers, California, USA and told me that we should go and see them since we are just a few hours’ drive from it. So, he checked Map Quest for the directions and found out it’s around 4 hours to get there. That’s just right because my family were on our way to my sister’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving Day at that time. She lives about 8 hours drive from our home so we decided to have a stop over to see those Sequoia Giant Trees first and spend the night in a hotel.

As we reached the sign Sequoia National Park, my daughter said, “at last we are here”. But then, the guard said we still need to drive our way up to see the trees. Okay, then my husband asked, “how far is it from the entrance?” and we heard four to five miles as his answer. We need more patience. So, we drove and drove until we have driven about 5 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles, 20 miles and still we didn’t see giant trees. We laughed because we figured out that it was not four to five miles but it was forty five miles! We were all tired. I and my daughter were so dizzy because it was a stiff road going around a big mountain to reach the top. We were car sick. We never thought the giant trees are literally on top of the mountain far, far away.

When we reached the top, we saw a lot of people roaming around taking pictures. It was very cold there. We were about 5,000-8,000 feet high in elevation plus it was already close to winter. That’s why the temperature was so different there. We were amazed to see the Sequoia Giant trees. They are the largest and oldest trees in the world. They are about 250-311 feet in height, 30-56 feet in diameter, and their bark are about 3 feet thick. I looked like a tiny ant beside them. That was my first time to see giant tress. It’s a wonderful experience to see the beauty of nature. We found out that they can live to about 3,000-3,500 years. That’s pretty cool! From our great grand parents to our great grand children’s life and even 10 more generations, they will still be standing firm and alive there. You can learn how to become an artist so, you’ll learn how to paint a nice picture of these amazing views for other people to see. And it will last for a lifetime.

Protecting the forest is a great thing the government is doing. This way, the next generations will get to see these wonders of God he has given us. I love going to places and feel nature. With patience and enthusiasm, I saw and I was with the Sequoia Giant Trees. It’s an additional beautiful view that I will treasure in my life. It’s another life experience for me to share. I and my family enjoyed it. It really pays to wait; beautiful things will be seen next.

Exploring Hawaii is so fun and you’ll be amazed by its natural beauty. We lived in Hawaii for 7 months and went to many beaches, state parks, hiking trails, animals and water life entertainments, and other beautiful mountain and waterfall scenic views. But the best thing that made me feel good and proud is climbing the Koko Head Crater.

Koko Head is an ancient tuff cone located in Oahu, Hawaii with a 1,207 feet height consisting of 1,048 steps hiking trail. You may say that’s ridiculous to climb! What’s in there? Why would people like to go there? And some people keep on going back.

We went to other hiking trails before like Aiea Loop trail, Kualoa Ranch, Makapuu Lighthouse trail, and Diamond Head. So, my family was curious and challenged to hike Koko Head too because it is higher than the Diamond Head wherein, I almost didn’t make it. I, my husband, and my daughter were so excited to go there.

On the day of our hiking, we were all on our hiking shoes and light clothing. As soon as we reach the parking area near Koko Head, I saw the trail using our binoculars. OMG! It’s really high and the people look like small ants. As we get closer, I saw the steps which are really stiff! I said, “I won’t do it, it’s very high and with many steps”. But my husband said: “Oh come on, let's go and see who can reach the top first. We’re already here so, start walking”.

We started to walk and talk. As we got higher it’s getting windy and I can see the parking lot and the cars look like matchboxes. At first, I can take 20 steps but then I have to stop every 10-15 steps as I get halfway to the top. Until, my sweat became cold and started to feel I’m losing my sense of hearing and I started to see black. Before I became so weak, I sat on one of the steps and rested for a while. Hey, I almost fainted! If I didn’t get to sit down, I could have fallen from the mountain. My husband and my daughter were enjoying the race and when they looked back, they saw me there in the middle of the stairways almost unconscious. They were almost at the top but they went back for me. I think I stayed there for about 15-20 minutes. I saw a guy who just passed me and then suddenly he is going down again. I was thinking how could that man climb the stairs so fast?! That was his exercise. Some people said they see him all the time climbing Koko Head more than 1 time a day. Wow! And I barely made it! 

That could be one of his top growing careers there.

After drinking water, I regained my strength but I told my husband I’ll just go down and wait for them there. But he insisted that I can make it. I’m already halfway and if I go down that’s another halfway but I won’t see anything. Why not go on and see the beautiful top of the mountain. Well, my husband is such a motivator; he gave me confidence to continue the hike. He walked with me slowly until we reached the top. I just prayed to God to help me strong enough to go on. Woohoo! Finally, I made it to the top. I’m so proud I climbed Koko Head Crater. It really felt good. What an awesome family day.

It’s really worth it to be on the top because it is sooooooooo beautiful with a nice breeze. You will see almost the whole city from the top view, the blue ocean, and the big mountains nearby. It’s like paradise. It’s something you wouldn’t ever imagine. What a work of art by God. This experience taught me how to believe in myself that  I make it. Don’t give up! Stand up and continue.

In life, we have dreams. Along the way, we may feel weak, frustrated, and lose hope. Just stand up and continue you’ll be there soon. You’ll not even notice you’re pains when you see the effect of your hard work. Trust in God.

This happened May 2010 and I still remember it so well. Do you have some mountain climbing or hiking trail experiences too? I would love to hear them soon.