What’s UP, Los Baños?

I usually go home on Fridays since my hometown is just another town in Laguna. So I never really experienced staying at the campus over the weekend. Coming back to UPLB years after college, and having such a hectic schedule, I go home every other weekend now. What’s life in UPLB over the weekend? Well, Baker Hall seems to be the center of activity as I soon found out. It’s like family day actually, from morning when the active ones go out to jog bringing kids and dogs. Some families have their picnics beneath the numerous trees surrounding the upper field. The golden shower trees lining the street near the dorms have grown, providing ample shade. They were still seedlings then. If I remember right, they planted that during the alumni homecoming sometime in the early 90s. Today, there are a couple of benches around the field so you don’t have to bring your own mat. It’s actually a good place to sit and do boy (or girl!) watching. The fertility is still there, of course. The Saturday I went there, I saw people having a picnic, some families playing badminton, another group doing the tai-chi. Some students are practicing softball. Every Saturday afternoon, the soccer field is busy with soccer, soccer and more soccer. Several groups of players are practicing as you will see in the pictures below. My favorite site is the football school for kids. Really starting `em young! Other sports? It seems every nook and cranny of Baker Hall is busy – tennis, badminton, basketball etc…

What do you do on Saturdays?

Going to Baker Hall from the Audi, Palma Bridge or Forestry, you’ll pass by this huge acacia a.k.a. the Fertility Tree. Good for people watching and picnics especially on a Saturday afternoon. The sidewalk on this side of the field has been paved too. Baker Hall! Every student surely passes through here. I remember on my freshman year, for the second semester pre-reg, they held it here. Grabe, I could feel the building rocking because all the students converged here. Syempre, alas dos ng umaga nakapila na kami ng blockmates ko.
The soccer field is always filled with beautiful people playing the playing The Beautiful Game (I am biased, this is my favorite sport). Each age group has their own corner to practice. There is even a football school for young kids! That’s really starting `em young!
These kids are practicing for a soccer tournament, a team composed of Filipinos and Koreans. For those not in the know, we have a lot of Koreans here learning English.
I guess, another way of learning English is through sports, not only for the Koreans but for us Filipinos as well. Imagine, kung mag-mumura ka sa field, kailangan mo pang i-translate sa English para maintindihan ka ng kalaban mo?

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