reaction papers

i. allergic reaction

the bulk of our habitat for humanity stint consisted of breaking up the lumpier sections of the construction site and carting them away to fill up those sections below parallel, a process called [obviously] "cut and fill".

while this detail of the work was actually quite enjoyable [i was manning the pickaxe], we sooner or later realized that the five-foot-high mound of earth we were standing on was, in fact, an anthill. the main chambers of the nest were under a half-buried rock two-thirds of the way up, and around two-and-a-half feet in diameter.

i and a few other students decided to exhume the rock and roll it to one side in order to dig out the ants, a task easier said than done. 15 minutes and 38 bites into the exercise, one female student offered the following advice:

bitch: there are ants all over your shoes!
self: thank you for stating the obvious.
bitch: i was just trying to help...

the next time i need your brand of help, i'll call up firefighters to write a statement on how my house is burning.

ii. violent reaction

i used to think that the stigma of lasallians being spoiled brats was an exaggeration, but that group from the college of business and economics [dlsu's main output, unfortunately] seemed hell-bent on proving me wrong. as if that totally useless havaiana-clad princess wasn't enough, i also had to be in the company of "razorback boy" who:

a. showed up in the aforementioned tank top, aviator shades, and bearing a starbucks coffee tumbler.

b. asked to borrow the pickaxe, took two swings, tired himself out, and handed it back to me.

c. climbed to the top of the mound, took out his cellphone, and started searching for a signal.

earth to coños: it's a construction site. you will get dusty, you will get muddy. by lunchtime, you will be hungry, thirsty, tired, and drowning in your own sweat. if it rains, you will get wet and may even contract leptospirosis. if you can't handle that, you can take your elephantitis-ridden faces to gawad kalinga and show the kids there why they shouldn't count on you to give them a better future.

the fact is, you're in cbe for one of two reasons: either all your friends went there, or you're inheriting your parents' businesses; not because you give a shit about helping the motherland. i can tell, seeing as you'd rather hold hands with your just-as-inept boyfriend than transport sandbags, while he complains about the mud seeping through his nike work gloves.

either get a life or drop dead. preferrably the latter, as it's also a step towards solving overpopulation.

iii. action reaction

on site with us were students from korea's ewha women's college. 400 students volunteered for the field work, from which 14 were selected via written test and interview. it's such a shame that foreigners are competing for the opportunity to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters, and we are the ones shirking from the task. the difference is that they know that a lesson can be garnered from every experience, and they don't take these lightly.

a sudden downpour after lunch forced us indoors, from were we could make out their blurred silhouettes in plastic raincoats still digging trenches and laying gravel foundations. what's the lesson there?

if you start something, finish it.
if you do something, do it well.
if you refuse to contribute, don't be a puta and say "the work was hard but i had fun".

sige ingat.ü 
posted by stani at 1:13 PM