In Awe of Grass and Other Realities

A blog by our Founder, Joei Villarama

Touching the grass has a higher wow factor after two years of lockdown staying at home for the most part. Hanging out, jamming, playing games, cooking pasta with three types of sauces, going to the playground, invading the music room and making it our own for an hour, doing improv, more hanging out — that’s how Self-Directed Monday at BGC transpired with music and movement, laughter and stories.

Abot Tala used to have its own space in Taguig but switched online when the pandemic happened. Wouldn’t it be great to have our own space again? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that vision of a homey, cozy, collab space come true? While waiting for the universe to conspire to deliver that request coupled with preparation and hard work, of course, the Abot Tala team has devised ways to make face-to-face possible, feasible, doable, realizable. Every month, there are three regular spots for meet-up each week in BGC, QC and Laguna. The fourth SDL Monday is reserved for virtual gatherings so they can also spend time with teens and mentors who are outside Metro Manila.

We also have a bucket list of venues to tick off one at a time:

Gopala Learning Haven in Silang Cavite
Pinto Museum in Antipolo
Crystal Beach in Zambales
Historical sites
Museums
Farms
Galleries and artists’ studios
Makerspaces, STEAM labs and fab labs

This pandemic has made us realize how precious it is being able to gather and to freely go outdoors. We never expected these to be taken away from us, but it has given this renewed sense of awe for the little things like grass and sharing a meal.