It's different when it came out of the planned mood boards, especially if you get so specific in terms of getting everything to look like out of a magazine. But even if it looks different in how you imagine it there is beauty when the final look comes different from what you expected it to be.

How do you stand out when the scene has been saturated with the same players? The Nabunturan Food Scene has been thriving. There were food houses to choose from; if you want Chinese there's the Mandarin Tea Garden, and if you want chicken inasal there's Mang Inasal,  and if you want homemade chicken noodle soup and rice cakes there is Bulakena Food House, and if you scour the whole Poblacion area, it's a mixed and match of pizza, chicken barbeques, pork liempo, home-cooked meals, tasty bread, cakes, burgers, fries, and street food and milk teas.

But what makes it more exciting is that Nabunturanon has allowed themselves to open their own palate to new flavors, it started with Cafe Noventa, Creativitea, Sweet Seoul, Enrico's, Yangyang's Kapehan then Bad Monkeys. Yes, we also need to acknowledge the existence of Vina Bai, and Sanitary Restaurant, the bulalo and balbacuas of Abucayons, and the homemade viands from Gina's Lechon House, the food at Humol's or the Twin sisters food stall near the Municipal Gym, the ALS View Sugba-Sugba, the bibingkas of New Sibonga. But don't forget the lechons and lyurots during Simballay Festivals. 

I cannot remember the last time I created a gratitude list. In this journal I was able to coin such as Gratitude Fridays, listing down things that made me grateful in a certain week and post the list on a Friday. I found myself going back to such activity for there were certain ups and downs that I did experience and writing it somewhere in the cyberspace as a mind breather activity helps.  



Today’s 31^st but it is the last day of January 2021, I felt lost and maybe looking into the things that I am thankful and writing it down might help in easing the “feeling lost” emotion. So here are some of the the things that made this list an almost gratitude Friday.

• Meeting Ma’am Harry, Ate Donna, Judyland and Frenny Given, for the first time this January.

• Going back to the station for the Division of Davao De OroRadio Based Instruction Program Radyo Z-eskwela at Z Radio.  Getting our own shirts for RBI.

• Collaboration with local youth development for Panag-ambit, a National Arts Month Celebration for our town.

• Coming out of home quarantine.

• Hearing a DJ greeting you on air also greeting your mom.

• Reading Homebody by Rupi Kaur. 

• Helping co-teacher on the things they can develop.

• Virtual Meeting together with Microsoft Education Ambassadors of the Region XI, being tapped to do another task related to that meeting.

• Rain, for cuddle weather during work from home schedules.

• Watching students’ submission for their final outputs. Getting excited to receive submission from them.

• Brewing two school-related activities.  

• Finding out that TeachTech Nabunturan and Richard Arellano Nabunturan term is now redirected to another blog site I made for a passion project.

• Tea Em’s Corner Sisig and Beef Silog.

• Eating singkamas.

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A post shared by Chadchad Arellano (@chadieness)

• Walking the main streets of Poblacion.  

• Finishing an online course at Coursebank.ph

• Almost completing this list. 

Endorsing milk teas.

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A post shared by Chadchad Arellano (@chadieness)

I guess. I do not know, I just felt that it is contrived in a sense that I felt I am not that of an influencer type of person, I never dreamed of becoming the Nabunturan version of Jane Aldridge of the Sea of Shoes or TriciaGosingtian, I just love the idea of sharing, not because of earning perks but for the sake of telling stories. Influencers are tapped because they have different ways of telling stories and that is what I like about influencers, they have stories to tell. 

This was supposed to be a gratitude journal post but it turned out something way more different than I expected but the thing is I love the eventualities of my life for this month and that was important. February here I come.

 

So I did a graphic design for an online shop based on Nabunturan, Joy and Jane Online Shop that shares the love and passion for imported apparels and beauty products. You can find them at instagram.com/joyandjaneph.