National Museum and Museum of the Filipino People Tour

After the interview, the chosen volunteers (who passed the interview) are required to attend the orientation and tour the following day, and that was YESTERDAY. I was one of them, and Marie was too. When we got there, we were 12 minutes late for the orientation. And I was so happy that almost all of us were there, meaning we all get the job as tour guides!

The orientation started, with Sir Melchor (correct me if I’m wrong?) discussing the history, Vision and Mission of the National Museum. He also showed the different divisions where we might be put, and the Board of Trustees. After the short orientation, we were introduced our tour guide (I forgot his name) for that day. He looked young, like maybe younger than us? Anyway, we went to see Juan Luna’s famous Spoliarium, and the tour guide began discussing about it. History, yeah I needed that if ever I become a tour guide to some visitors someday. The painting was a colossus, so I said, “Sige volunteers, nakawin niyo nga yan!” and we were laughing. We went to see other National Artists’ paintings after that, and the section for animal bones and stuff. Then after touring the National Museum, we were cut to eat our free merienda, which was cheesburger and softdrinks. Yum! And after eating, we went to the Museum for the Filipino People.

At that museum, we saw the diorama for the San Diego wreck site as well as the actual banga and other artifacts that were seen by archaeologists on the site. There were a lot of jars and porcelain materials, they were all beautiful and intricate. Also, we were shown the Paleolitic-Metal Age artifacts in the Philippines, but we were cut because the lights suddenly turned off. We decided we’d just go visit there soon, since we have free admission.

To view the pictures, proceed HERE!

NYC Volunteering Activity: National Museum

To sum it all up, the experience was awesome! It was really my first time to do a volunteering activity, and this is not just any ordinary activity because this involves the whole nation’s culture and heritage: A work at the National Museum!

The moment Marie and I went there, we were excited and at the same time nervous of what may happen on the interview. We saw all the other volunteers and I was kinda surprised to see that they look like older than us. Then I saw this girl in black and gray stripes shirt and she was so quiet and she’s alone. But I didn’t talk to her, I just kept smiling because I’m hesitant to approach her at first. Minutes passed and there were 4 new volunteers who came. Then the interview started.

But the interview was cut when it was almost 12nn, because we’re going to eat lunch. Take note: FREE LUNCH!

When we went inside the canteen, there were 2 guys who approached us, and said, “Ah kayo pala yung taga-UST. Taga-UST din kami.” And of course, Marie and my reaction was, “Wow! Ang galing ah, paano niyo nalaman yun?” And the other guy said, “Haha, nakalagay kasi sa ID niyo eh.” So I looked down and yeah stupid, WE WERE WEARING OUR ID! All 4 of us kept on laughing, when the 2 girls who were wearing white interrupted, “Ui, share na lang kayo sa’min ng table oh!” and she’s smiling. So we sat there and introduced ourselves. There were:

• University of Santo Tomas: Marie (Information Technology), I (Computer Science), Louie and Karlo (Political Science), and Jensen (Tourism)
• De La Salle University: Lilai and Sarah (International Studies)

All right, students from the top universities! We ate and we ate, and while eating I chit-chatted, so I was the last one to finish.

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After that, we went back the museum to finish the interview. There were I guess 4 people to be called before me. When it was my turn, I was somehow nervous but I managed to control it. They asked me about my name, my course, my volunteer experiences, the languages I speak (thankfully I speak 3– English, Tagalog, Japanese– but I can only read and write in Korean, not illiterate so it was not counted), my skills, weaknesses, expectations; the typical interview questions. All throughout, I realized that these questions were just compiled questions from previous organizations that I already entered, so I was semi-confident of my answers.

When I came back, I gave them the hints for the questions. Marie, Jen, and Karlo got almost the same questions, but when it was Louie’s turn, he told us, “Wala naman yung questions na sinabi mo eh! Iba naman yung sa’kin!” then I retorted, “Bakit wala? Ano yung tanong sa’yo, French?!” And they all laughed. He said it involved his resume, asking him what’s this, that, blah. Then Louie and Karlo left, leaving us girls there. We talked about Fred (he was kinda weird) and stuff about Languages. Sarah and Jen talked in French, and I was like, “Wow, awesome!!”

Then after Lilai got back, we all said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Fun day!