Also published on The Pond Our Living Asia writer's blog.
Baptised in Baguio
Newbie Scriptwriter/Presenter Julia Arenas says…
Finally decided to get my feet wet and take a dip. Never knew exactly what to write about until after we documented the Panagbenga festival in Baguio last February 23-25. It was my first LAC trip. I do recall “da boss” saying after we got back that there was talk of my being “stupefied” during my first time on cam. Ow, the truth hurts! Haha. In my years as a digital artist I was either behind the camera and/or writing, animating over digitized material or editing. I’ve been asked on occasion to be a VO stand-in but never was at the mercy of a camera lens professionally. It takes some getting used to I suppose.
I gave myself a grace period to pray, relax, and ease through the first-time jitters of being shot, just a day. By noon, I told myself “You’ve got one day, Julia, then snap out of it.” Sir Dick, Efren, and Dickie made such good company and towards the end of the first day I was feeling better about what we were doing and what I had to get done. I noted that in future trips there’ll have to be less of the pensive tourist in me and more of the inquisitive storyteller, and it’s quite ok to mess up in fact sometimes it helps add charm to the piece. While Panagbenga was going on I was having a pep rally and parade of my own deep inside!
By sunset on the 2nd day, the tiny discoveries I made throughout the trip about almost everything, from being a first-time host, to knowing my LAC posse, and of course the sights and sounds of everything Baguio awakened in me the truth that I was exactly where I wanted to be and doing precisely what I set out to do: know my country, love it, and tell people about it in the best way possible.
