Day 0: ISTE19 Conference

I'm in the city of Rocky Balboa!

I was wondering why my hostel kept on playing this particular song in the lobby, and it turns out it was the theme song of Rocky Balboa's movie where he trained in this flight of stairs which is now called "Rocky Steps" before his big win.

Who would have thought that Philly has so much history? I came to Philly knowing only that it was famous for Philly Cheesesteaks but I'm about to know so much more.

Here are random photos for my Day 0 at the ISTE19 Conference. I literally had no time to rest coming from a 13-14hr flight from Manila and an overnight stay in LAX and then off to the east coast, straight to the conference as soon as I arrived in Philly! I did not thoroughly think through about how the time differences would mean literally no sleep for me.

But I'm here in Philadelphia and ISTE! Sleep is for the WEAK!

Volunteering at the ISTE Central Store

My first workshop

There's a separate category for Filipinos in Los Angeles

The map for the expo of vendors! 

Strolling along Philly with my scavenger teammates

two of my scavenger team mates, new friends!

Benjamin Franklin Institute

#ISTE19 Here I Come!

FLYING TOMORROW TO USA!!!!

Travelling has ALWAYS given my more life and purpose to live. I have been waiting for this since last year !!! And the day is almost here!

My last travel to North America was in 2017 which was halted because I had to go fly home for the passing of my grandparents. That was a really really downward event in my life. I felt like I had not enough motivation for anything. I think which is why I found myself being active in church by 2018. The entire year felt like a rehabilitation. But now I think I am back on track again and USA here I come!

I am super stoked and excited to, not only go back to Los Angeles, but also I'm going to Philadelphia for the first time! Anxious (but excited) because I literally know NO ONE. I've been connecting with fellow ISTE participants via twitter and ISTE discussions and studying the commute in Philly. God please be guide me throughout my adventure.

I can't wait to meet new friends and fellow EdTech enthusiasts. There are over 8k participants for ISTE and I hope the convention is also BIG. I really have no idea what is in-store for me but I am sure there will be a lot of positive takeaways.

Can't wait !!!!!!!!! USA & CANADA 2019: HERE I COME!

March 2019 (Dreamland)

March 2019 (Boracay)

Before I start posting about ISTE updates (which is happening in a few days!! *stoked*) ...

I want to go through things that happened last March.

My friends and I went to Boracay and a few hours layover in Cebu.

My trusty travel minion. 

Just gotta love the beach!

night life

 

loving the breakfast view too!

layover at cebu city 

February Speaking Engagement in Cebu

I had a quick trip to Cebu City last February for Design Thinking in Education. 

And then took a photo op at the Tutoring Club Cebu branch. 

I had so many memories in Tutoring Club;

as a tutor in Alabang Branch and as a director in the Pasong Tamo branch. 

Tutoring Club has contributed much of my experiences and learnings in the Education Industry. 

A life update #ISTE2019 #EdTech

Is this serious?

My last blog post was in January 2019 and I was talking about how I'm trying to control my emotions? Wow. Where did the time go?

I've done a bunch of things over the past months, I'm probably going to just create a separate blog post about that to summarise

February - went to Cebu for a speaking engagement
March - went to Boracay island for a short vacation
March - sponsored the Singles Encounter 27 Retreat (this kept me busy for the month of Feb)
April - attended the TED 2019 Conference Live Stream at Marriott Manila.
May - registered to ISTE 2019 Conference which will be held in Philadelphia, PA USA.

At the moment - planning my trip to USA & Canada!

Basically I just wanted to make a blog post to update my non-existent readers that:

"Hey world, I'm attending ISTE2019!" 

By invitation special event for international participants.

Monitoring twitter ISTE19 activities and I got to grab a free Philly Cheesesteak!

Excited for the Global Scavenger hunt! 

Received the hard copies of the newsletters

A taste of Philly food tour experience!

I AM SO EXCITED ON SO MANY LEVELS.

1) International Conference
2) Philadelphia
3) Travelling
4) Potential new friends

God keep me safe in my travels!

The week that it was #TeamCebu2018 #AraWanderer

Oh Cebu! You're the place in the Philippines I love to go back again and again.

And it's probably because I know that my roots go way back to this island.

Cebu is the province of my grandmother, this is where she grew up. But for some reason my family never really went back to Cebu during summer breaks unlike my other friends. Probably because my grandmother already moved to Manila and therefore there was not enough reason to go back to Cebu. 

Whenever I go to Cebu I am a tourist. Trying my best to speak in Bisaya if I can. 

My colleagues who work in Cebu Branch

I love this church! Home of the Miraculous Mary. 

I was also sooooo lucky that The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale also arrived in Cebu the same time I was here!!!!!! Bought a lot of books AGAIN. We were worried that we might be charged with excess baggage fee at the airport but all is well!

I finished this book already!

Went there twice. 

Thank you to my friend for tagging me along as usual.

Me.