The papers are disheveled in the Dean’s desk along with a number of seniors piling up and crowding the lobby of once was Ms. Mads office. There were a lot of laughter, some are verbalizing curse-words to the Dean, and I saw few people crying, and some are just waiting like they don’t know what to do.
It’s been almost quite so many years that I never returned to my Alma Mater. It still looks old, quiet, and nothing new in particular. The lobby was still there with fresh memories of everyone running during breaks and sneaking out with their bags to escape a dull, tedious, boring instructor.
Few steps away and I will be approaching the crystal window glass of the office when I accidentally bumped someone who is an instructor and tipped over the whole mimeographed of what seemed to be a qualifying exam.
“Ay, hala so sorry guid”, those were the words came out from my mouth as I help herwith the questionnaires.
“Jessa? she gasped.
“Thesa, what are you doing here?
We are about to stand as she started to talk. “Well, I’m the Academic Coordinator now and it actually feels great to be the successor of Jimenez and Garzon, what have you been up to? It’s so nice to see you back.
“Yeah’ but have you received a mail about –
“– about the reunion? Yes’ we’re coming. Dean Marcial, George and me will go together”
“Oh’ this is really going to be fun, you mentioned George what about her?”
“Ay indi gid magpalibak, ari siya Jes hu’ I have to go I still have to meet with Father President but I’ll see you around and I’ll be joining with you for lunch.
“Sure! – Georgina’ how are you? It’s so nice to see you.”
“Same here’ Jes, I am so damn busy right now. I am currently one of the Board of Directors of Doctors Hospital and at the same time Asst. to the Dean. What about you? you look dashing like you still have that figure 10 years ago.
“Haha’ well I am the Chief Nurse of a Tertiary Hospital in Saudi Arabia and currently I am helping other Filipino nurses to acquire jobs abroad and now I will be the Guest Speaker for the graduation.”
“Oh, you have to met Dean – she’s waiting for you when I left her office. You’re our best choice to speak as inspiration for our future nurses and I’ll join you for lunch and were going to Hawaii, but right now go straight this path and enter the left wing cause Jarine is waiting.
“Thank you so much, George”.
“You’re very welcome. See you around.”
It was the same faculty room with a lot of tables looking unkempt in their own places. The curtains and the walls were defiled but noticeable laptops were perfect as well as the big screen on the center that you would think you were inside Central Intelligence Agency, and you know what? There are monitor cameras in every classroom from Nal-1 down to Nal-10…this department is so futuristic in nature.
I enter the Dean’s Office and the Dean was inside the lavatory. I waited at the scarlet settee and beside me was a water fountain that it feels like I’m inside a spa in Japan. Speaking of Japan, I still have to catch a classmate for a seminar in Alternative Medicines
“Jarine? Oh my God, you look exactly like Marybeth 10 years ago.
“Why the hell didn’t you call me that you already arrived? I should have picked you up at the airport.
“Ja, I just want to surprise you.
“and yes, you did. Come on’ lets get outside and we’ll have a long chika-chika.”
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The Board of Nursing committees were all set in the boardroom as some were brushing up the minutes of the meeting and the altercated memorandum. Everyone seems to be excited to talk about revisions in the NLE and how the two-day exam with seven test parts would affect the 2018 June NLE examiners. People are agreeing and disagreeing about the Chairman of the Board judgment to add the transcultural nursing as a Part VI and the Jurisprudence Nursing as Part VII making it seven hundred items infused in two days exam.
All these cannot be put into action as they all looking at the clock and the empty seat of the Chairman of the Board of Nursing.
“Good Morning, Ms. Chairman” I said.
“Nyce, you don’t have to address me as a chairman, just call me Jos’ like what you always call me back at college’.
“Well, it’s a bit different now, Jos’ you’re the Chairman of the BON and soon to be Mrs. Decena”, I replied.
“It’s not yet final, and now look at you Nyce, you’re the only part of the Board of Nursing who has a Ph.D. in Psychiatrics and in fact graduated the Masters at Stanford University”
“Well I think luck just got me here”.
“I don’t think so, by the way why don’t you rundown a discussion on all the revisions you agreed because at the moment I will have a meeting with the DOH Secretary and I’ll see you guys later for the final provisioning.”
At the Office of the Department of Health
“Hi, I have an appointment with Secretary Occeno pls.”
“One moment please Chairman Dinorog, he’s currently in talks with the Red Cross President”
“Oh, I guess I am a part of that meeting..
“Oh so sorry, you can come in.”
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The Office was totally like his room. It has full of papers and genuine expensive material display on the top of every shelves. It was a small office but very visible.
“Good Morning Mr. Secretary”
“Oh, it’s nice to have both of you here; Ok then, let’s start the wedding ceremony.”
“What?” bellowed Josie.
“Just kidding, well Frank seems to be happy to hear it. After of his so many years in the Red Cross as a volunteer and become an EMT in America and so blessed to become a part of the famous Rescue 199, he’s now the Phil. Red Cross President and the UN Red Cross Officer and how can you not marry him?”
“Well Mr. Secretary I think its 911 not 199” Frank said with a sheer of laughter.
“Whatever number it is, I invited you both because I want you to gather all your resources to control and eradicate the widely spread of Malaria disease in Mindanao. You can contact some of our other classmates who could help and anyone who could aid in the eradication of this killer disease as soon as possible”
“When is the target date Sec.?” Josie asked.
“It should be next month, but since we will be attending our big reunion next month and I know for sure both of you will be there, I moved the Oplan Malaria date next week but sad to say I cant be on the mission because I will be meeting some important people of Asia about alternative medicine and wellness therapy.”
“Well next week is a good target, we’ll be gathering up all our resources immediately as soon as we have the national budget.” Said Frank.
“I will be contacting the PNA as well as the Universities in Mindanao especially the nursing students to aid in this mission.” Josie added.
“Well, that’s great to hear’ just give me a call if there’s any problem because I’m sure by that time I’ll be in China.”
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I am not even in the deepest state of my plane slumber when I feel the altitude lowering down. I thought maybe there’s going to be a crash but when I hear the attendant’s voice over, hmm.it’s not that long going to China. I am still mystified by Chinese letters everywhere and my first stop is to meet Maileen Tan at Shanghai for the Alternative Medicine Convention.
Shanghai is really a very modern city and the convention area was so crowded and attended by so many delegates from all over the world. I came to approach Maileen at the side of the podium preparing her report materials.
“Maileen, you look lovely”
“Oh’ Sec. Occeno, thank you so much for coming it is really a pleasure”
“It is indeed my pleasure. I never thought this convention would really be this big”
“Yeah, I never thought as well, after my experiences as a pharmacist in the Philippines, I have brought to mind that we should develop alternative medicines that are indigenous to our surroundings and after so many years of my nursing experience in Wellness Center in Beijing, I have laid out researches about alternative medicine and guess what?”
“What? Haha” I asked back.
“I will be going to Geneva, Switzerland to present my research to the World Health Organization Headquarters and I am hoping that it’s gonna be accepted but well of course I will be attending our reunion in Maui first to take a break and then I’m off to Switzerland.” she proudly exclaimed.
“Wow that is so cool. I might as well listen eagerly because I can share this to many of Filipinos right now who could be spending so much in medicines alone’
“Exactly, well I think we should start and I’ll be seeing you after the report”
“Sure, no problem.”
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It never came to me how imperative Ms. Tan’s report had been, it was so true and so correct that my next person to visit would somehow love these reports to infuse in her own research as well. Seoul, South Korea had at no time been this busy. Well it’s always been teeming but it’s never been this busy maybe because of winter and rush hour. After such a very exhausting walk from the metro, I arrived at the National Rehabilitation Research and Hospital Institute and I was welcomed by their Nursing Service Director, Xenia Dee M. Tolentino.
“Oh My God Sec. Occeno, I am so sorry I never had the time to pick you up at the Seoul International Airport”
“No, no, it’s okay…I enjoyed Seoul so much, It’s like the Chicago of Asia.”
“Thank you, let’s come to my office and have some refreshment”.
I went inside Mrs. Tolentino’s office. It was a huge modern inspired office with nice backdrop nature lay-outs and a so contemporary furnishing.
“Your office is so cool Xen!” I remarked.
“Thanks, this is actually my husband’s idea. After I was promoted to be the Nursing Service Director, we came up with the idea of having both a working office and a cozy after-work place because at any circumstance you could be working 16-24 hour shifts.”
“Right, very nice idea at what accompanies that very nice idea is a nice collection of reports coming from Ms. Tan who would love to conduct a seminar here in Korea and I guess it would be nice to include some of her ideas in your research and assemblies”
“Thank you so much Mr. Occeno, actually I am supposed to get these reports personally but I just can’t book a flight from Bussan direct to Beijing. I was in Bussan for a symposium and I badly want to come to Beijing but there’s no chance at all.”
“It’s okay, it’s a good thing I have delivered the reports to you personally and I had the chance to check out your place.”
“Well this report is a big help for my presentation January next year at Switzerland in World Health Organization and I’ll be doing a symposium tomorrow about therapeutic rehabilitation and you are definitely have to come.”
“As much as I would love to Xen, I still have to visit another classmate at Tokyo and I already have booked a flight to depart tomorrow morning”
“Oh, so this means you’ll only be staying her overnight. Too bad, but let’s just make this a memorable one, I’ll phone Delvi to come and we’ll tour you up in the whole Seoul now.”
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Tokyo is even more overcrowded since I last arrived here two years ago. In spite of this, standing here in the busiest street of Tokyo feels renowned. I have to get a cab from the metropolitan area to the Tokyo Wellness and Children’s Center.
“Surprise!” I said as soon as I enter his workplace.
“Kokac! wow’ the Sec. of DOH visits me”
“Shut up, Marlon. Look at you’ you’re the nurse supervisor of the largest wellness and children’s center in Asia.”
“Haha, just got lucky, so what brought you here, you really damn surprise me Dude’”
“I have to hand-in Ms. Tan’s report. She thinks this could help in the research program of your center.”
“Yes, yes’ I knew it. She phoned me to invite me about the convention but it just cant fit in my schedule. These reports will really help the center now that we are considering alternative medicine and therapies for rehabilitation.”
“Good to know, what about your anime’ life?”
“Haha, kinda forget about that DOTA days at Daj. I’m more focusing on my research on stem-cell and genetics.”
“Whew’ still a cum-laude by mind.”
“Haha. NO! Actually, I just phoned Janmark a while ago because he’s the chief nurse geneticist in South America’s largest Genetics Lab in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and he said he will 100% support me in putting up a stem-cell lab here in Tokyo”
“That so cool’ maybe I can develop that in the Philippines as well”
“Why not. After all many intelligent Filipinos have based backgrounds in genetics”
“Yeah. I’ll think about that.”
“Oh’ I heard about the reunion at Hawaii. I am going to drop to Russia first to met Aaron and then well both go together, but now I will take you to Tokyo Disneyland, let’s be childish again...”
“Yeah...Let’s kick some ass.”
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