Morning with the Masters...

I wasn't feeling very well today. No, I've been feeling unwell since yesterday noontime.

Since the dry cough is still there, I decided to go see the doctor and get some medicine. It turns out that a lot of people have been feeling the same thing. When I reached the clinic, my queue number was 27. The doctor was attending to patient 10. I thought I'll step out first to get lunch and be back after an hour. When I got back at the clinic, I had to wait another hour before I finally got to see the doctor. Good thing I decided to stay while the other patients chose to head back to their offices and wait for a call/SMS from the clinic.

Anyway, my thoughts of a restful long weekend were shattered when I checked my calendar. It was a good thing because I didn't have one, but three(!!!) museum duties. Today was at the National Gallery. Tomorrow, I have a History Gallery and the BM exhibit.

It was too late to back out because it would be difficult to find a replacement.

After taking my meds this morning, I dragged myself to the museum. I thought that since my tour was really early (1030), there would be few people. To my (pleasant) surprise, the ticketing was crowded at 1020AM! I'm always happy to see a crowded museum. I hope it means that people are interested to see art and culture.

The group I led was from a church in the West. The group was about 30 or so people, mostly women and kids. I was happy to see the kids interested in learning more about the art pieces.

After the leading the group, I decided to stick around to check the Reframing Modernism exhibit and I also wanted to look for the Luna and Hidalgo works at the Southeast Asia gallery.

It was such a good decision. At the Reframing Modernism exhibit, there was a panel dedicated to Anita Magsaysay-Ho. I was soooo excited when I saw it. I kept taking photos.

Meanwhile, the Luna and Hidalgo pieces were in one of the grand rooms in the Southeast Asia gallery together with works of other great Southeast Asian artists. I was so mesmerized by the three pieces. I felt proud to be Filipino. I felt proud to be Southeast Asian.

I must definitely go back again. If Tipz were still here, I'm sure I would've been able to drag him to see the galleries. I have a feeling he would've enjoyed the Kandinsky and Affandi pieces at the Reframing Modernism exhibit.

Second day of 2016 went well...

Today felt like a Sunday even though it's only Saturday.

The day turned out to be quite fruitful and I'm happy about it.

In the morning, I went to the gym to attend Vinyasa class. The teacher for the class I attended is one of my favorites. Since I have not been practicing, it was a challenge. I could do certain poses but I definitely still have a long way to go. It was a good workout though since I sweat it out. The left knee survived although it doesn't feel as strong as my right leg. For the meantime, I think I will be doing less Pump and more yoga classes, Body Balance. On the side, I'll do the weights. On off days, I'm thinking I can do short, light jogs.

After gym, I passed by the kopitiam for a quick brunch. Then, I headed back home to change my clothes.

The afternoon agenda was a guided tour at the National Gallery. Today was the second time I led a group around the Singapore Gallery. And I must say that I did a lot better today than my maiden tour last week. I felt I was more confident today. I felt I knew the gallery better. I adjusted my tour - I dropped some of the artworks that I talked about previously and I added some of the other art works that are closer to my heart. Of course, what also made the tour more enjoyable and twice as fun was the group itself. I led a group of 20 people - Singaporeans, Americans, Japanese. Several members of the group were responsive to my questions and many were willing to share their thoughts about the painting.

I was smiling on the inside when I saw several heads nodding in agreement, when there were smiles on some of the faces, and of course, when they applauded at the end of the tour. The other proof I have that the tour went well was that I took almost an hour and a half to finish the tour. Last week, I completed the tour in under an hour. Today, it was much better. I should however learn to stick to the 60 minute or so tour time since another group will need the headsets that we used. Oh, there was also one guy who walked up to me after the tour and told me that he had also previously attended my guided tour at the National Museum. I really appreciated the kind words he and a number of other guests gave.

Anyway, I was happy with how the tour went today. Round 2 of tours tomorrow. ;)

I left the gallery and walked to nearby Funan where I grabbed a late lunch at Subway. Thinking that it was part of the $5 meal, I ordered the Italian BMT. Ugh! It turned out that it wasn't and I paid more than what I wanted. Haha!

The last stop was the National Library. It wasn't as crowded and I easily found a study space. Spent a few hours at the library before packing up my stuff and heading back home.

Now, I'm just taking a break and then I'll study again for an hour before calling it a day... a long day.

All day Museum day...

Good morning, Saturday!

Who gets up before 6AM on a Saturday?! Lol!

It's going to be an entire day at the museums today.

In the morning, I have an activity at the National Museum. I'm helping out interview docent programme applicants! Whoa! Two years ago, I was the one being interviewed. Now, I'm the one doing the interviews. Hehe!

In the afternoon, I have volunteer shifts at the newly-opened National Gallery. Today will be my debut as a museum guide for the fantastic gallery. I'm very, very excited to see the space finally completed. I'm also excited to converse about the art works.

This weekend and next weekend, we will be doing soapbox tours (which means I'm stationed at one painting and if there are any visitors, I would engage them in a convo about the painting). I would say that I'm more knowledgeable in Singapore and Malayan art. For the soapbox tours, I chose the work of one Malayan artist - Chuah Thean Teng and one FILIPINO artist - Jose Joya.

Joya's work featured at the National Gallery was a loan from the National Museum of the Philippines. I couldn't be more proud to talk about it and see it in Singapore!

So, yeah, it'll be an all day museum day today!