Growing sideways: downtimes, tranquility, and friends at NEDA

I knew that it was just a matter of time before we live through laidback and slow days at NEDA. Unlike my colleagues who work at Atty. Jerry Uy’s Office who are client-facing, we silently deliver in cubicles and unobtrusively work around tasks that need no more than a functional technical device, analytical skills, reasoning capacity, empathy, and patience — tons of it. Four weeks in, and the normalcy of waking up at 5 am, commuting to and from Palo, sitting down for eight hours, and using office language (you’ll know when you hear it) have finally kicked in. The monotony of the built routine have surfaced. The predictability of tasks have settled. The thrill of novelty gradually waned. Perhaps what I’m trying to get across is, I started feeling bored.

But that’s the thing. Like all of life, I understand that the constancy of fun and enjoyment is trivial because as political animals and social creatures, we are meant to feel a diverse range of emotions. If anything, I realized through this week at NEDA that the only way forward when faced with mundanity is to persevere and pursue innovative ways to overcome it. And this, I believe goes beyond work, and is a profound reminder every living day.

Part of these efforts, I reckon, is the change of setting. Most of my days this week were spent at the Knowledge Center (not at my usual DRD space) where other interns from the University of the Philippines Tacloban College (UPTC), Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU), Visayas State University (VSU) stay. I am privileged to have met and worked with people of their caliber. Some of them had this week their last week in the office. Candidly, engaging in conversations with students from other universities was an enriching encounter; it reminded me to be better at what I do. I’d like to think that I made some actual good friends. In fact, on Wednesday, 26 July, we went on a picnic at McArthur Landing Memorial National Park, walked to the terminal going home, and revisited funny experiences in our respective universities.

NEDA interns in a midweek afternoon picnic sharing intellectual conversations and funny anecdotal accounts, Wednesday, 26 July 2023.

Another effort to ward off tedium was afternoon walks around the vicinity — sometimes within the office (NEDA has big parking spaces and yards), other times around the government center. Of course, only during downtimes do I go out, still with permission from Sir Ceb and Ma’am Ges. Funnily, one afternoon while I was strolling, RD Meylene was also up doing the same thing in her workout attire, complete with tights, sports top, and headband. It was cool of her to do this, and it speaks so much of the culture and rapport she has established with the rest of the employees. She was graceful to have exchanged pleasantries with me during that small period.

Decided to walk around the government center one afternoon.

Workwise, I felt fulfilled. On Tuesday, 25 July, my co-interns presented the RDC Resolution Analysis complete with their own inputs. The day after, just before we went on a picnic (as shared above), I had the honor to present to Sir Ceb, Ma’am Ges, Ma’am Gladys, and the rest of the interns the Manual of Operations I have recurrently been working on, complete with all comments and recommendations from agencies, as well as its new design and layout. I have not spoken in front of a crowd in a while and so reliving classroom reporting through that stint pulled some nostalgic strings. Toward the weekend, my last few tasks involved editing and crafting Google Forms for the proposed repeal of EO 325 (s. 1996) and a confirmation form for the upcoming Joint RDC-RDRRMC Meeting at Ormoc, respectively.

These were the outputs I worked on this week.

The ebb and flow of experiences this week taught me something as valuable as the technical knowledge honed and cultivated by UP, that is, adaptability, resilience, and fortitude. Adaptability, resilience, and fortitude in working around one’s own internal yet highly disruptive struggles, in navigating through unforeseen external challenges, and in dealing with the unpredictabilities (and predictabilities) of life. Difficult but only when we settle in lockstep the knowledge and the character, the intellect and the integrity, the excellence and the honor, and the utak at puso, can we truly triumph and emerge victorious.

Last week next week!

NEDA Interns at McArthur Landing Memorial National Park, Wednesday, 26 July 2023.

This was yesterday!!! We had a little something-something for the UP Politikons Graduates, Friday, 28 July 2023.