Our Frank Experience

Unaware of the devastation that Typhoon Frank (Fengshen) was bringing to the neighboring towns and provinces, Balay Lampirong residents were mostly having a lot of fun and having a great time getting acquainted with each other.

Blame it on the black out. UPV Miagao was without electricity for a whole week so news from the outside world was slow to creep in. No TV, no internet, and hardly any mobile phones with charge left. Hall 1 was back in the dark ages. Bored dormers even had to resort to thousand-year old board games just to entertain themselves.


The raging wind also threatened to bring total isolation to the dorm area when it toppled a large tree near the staff house area. All efforts to nudge it back in place failed.

However, blessings were also falling from above, quite literally. During a short walk at the height of the storm Julex chanced upon a cluster of fallen mangoes. It took two expeditions to gather the mangoes and another trip to Lola's to ask for patis and salt before the dormers got their generous rations of yummy green mangoes.


During one of the expeditions, Julex also found several birds' nests - four in all - that fell from the trees. We did what we can to take care of the little birdlings but without their parents, their fate wasn't all that bright.


Aside from the rations of green mangoes with salt and patis, dormers were also rationed with cups of Selecta ice cream - mango and rocky road flavor - unmindful of the chilly temperature and wind. It's ice cream and ice cream is meant to be gobbled up regardless of the situation.


And this was the picture of Hall 1 for what seemed like a very long time. The board games donated by previous batches were put into full use during this time of catastrophic boredom.

Some of the board games were from the House Council elected in 1991. That's the year most of these freshmen were born!


Typhoons and black outs aren't that completely bad after all. It was a chance for the freshmen to temporarily shun their rooms and congregate at the grand lobby of Balay Lampirong. After the typhoon, everyone will eventually return to the scurry of their busy lives, and the board games will retreat to the drawers. However, I do hope the friendships started by Frank will outlast any typhoon that may later come. That's the stronger kind of H-bond. The Hall 1 bond.