Wednesday, 24 January 2024

Remembering Bro. Schmidt

For more than three decades, the students of Don Bosco Technical Institute in Victorias, Philippines, knew him as a coach and a friend on the football field. 

On any school day, just after having lunch, students would stand by his room at the dormitory waiting for him to come out with footballs🏀 in hand, and like the Pied Piper, he would lead them to the center of the football field where he would start a football match with a kickoff.  Whoever wanted to play was welcome, and he did not care if there were more than the regulated 22 players on the field. It was a free-for-all game because the intention was not to win, but to have fun🏆. And there were always students who stood as goalies, each one defending the goals at the dormitory side and the school gym side of the field.  Even under the noontime sun, amidst the heat of the tropics, he ran, sweated and yelled with the boys of Don Bosco in Victorias just like what the saint himself did in Turin more than a century before.

Bro. Charles Schmidt was our Trigonometry teacher 📘from Germany. He was stern, robust, and just like any German, had blue eyes. His favorite word in class was "hopeless" - to describe his students who couldn't answer his Trigonometry question (I included!).😂 Most of us probably didn't care about sine, cosine and tangent, much to his disappointment. He must have been very strict in the classroom because, for him, knowledge and education were first, football skills second.  He wanted us to learn more from him inside the classroom than in the football field.

A month ago, after years of being told about his death, I was finally pointed to his grave at the Saint Joseph Memorial garden in Victorias City. His grave was surrounded by tall weeds, his tombstone grayed and his headstone broken. He has been buried here for more than 33 years, and time and the elements have certainly done their part.  Solely occupying a large lot, he is kept company by a tree that welcomes any visitor with a shade. I saw no melted candles or wilted flowers on his grave.

Wanting to do something for Bro. Schmidt, I shared an idea with my batchmates and they generously responded, though the amount needed was not much.

And just weeks before the feast day of Saint John Bosco, Bro. Schmidt's grave was cleaned and painted, the weeds around it cleared, and his headstone repaired and his name reinked, and two candleholders were placed on it to allow any visitor with candles to light a flame for his eternal peace.  The two small benches next to his grave were also repainted so that anyone who wants to stay longer and say a prayer for him can do so in comfort.


We may have heard stories about his origins or about his drinking, but what I would want to remember about Bro. Schmidt, among the good things he had done for us, was how he made the sign of the cross. 

Had you seen him do it, you would have also admired the way he elevated the sanctity of this Catholic ritual: it was done slowly and silently with his right hand taking its time to touch his forehead, his chest and then his shoulders like it was indeed a profession of his faith. And at the end, you'd hear clearly the 'Amen' spoken in his husky voice.

His weekend hiking was legendary. Even under the hot sun, he trekked for kilometers around Victorias and Manapla, covering the distances of the national highway and the dirt roads of the haciendas to the north and south, and even meandering through the highlands of Gawahon while mingling with the locals he met along the way and always carrying a walking stick.

Whoever he was in the past should not matter to us. It was his dedication in helping realize Don Bosco's dream of teaching young minds and molding young characters through his teaching and his football here in Victorias that we, Bosconians, should remember and honor. He might not have been officially a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco, but to us, he was 'Brother Schmidt'

On his headstone is written:
  "RIP Karl
   Bro. Schmidt
   BORN:  Aug 22, 1912
   DIED:   July 26, 1990."

"As I light these candles, I pray that you rest in eternal peace."🙏


                                * * * * *

These are the photos of his grave on my first visit:





Bro. Schmidt's grave now looks like he is indeed remembered:




A short clip of the grave:


His grave is at the western end of St. Joseph Memorial Garden, second to the last plot before the closed gate and marked by a tree.🌲



#donbosco #sangiovannibosco #bosconian #salesians #famigliasalesiana #dbtivictorias #victorias #donboscophilippines

Tuesday, 9 January 2024

A Breakfast Reunion @ New World Makati's Café 1228

Deciding to travel to Manila to receive my prize at the 2022 Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award (read blog here), I knew I had to meet up with friends and former colleagues when I was there. And what better time to do it than breakfast! Talking about starting the day right!😎

We used to work together in a professional services firm in Makati and we haven't seen each other in years. We would meet up during my Christmas vacation from my work in Seoul, and would talk away the years over dinner.😊

So, on one Friday morning during Christmastime, we all met up at the Café 1228 of the New World Hotel Makati. It was my first time in this restaurant and I was happy, not only with the breakfast choices, but also with the space.

We were seated at a quiet corner of the lounge area, away from the noisier and crowded section that was just next to the food displays. There, we were allowed to laugh and be our chatty selves. 

And in between trips to the fresh fruits and salad, cold cuts and cheese, omelettes and juices, we chatted the morning away with stories and laughter about the years of working together.

Since I was always on the lookout for something Filipino in an international breakfast buffet, I was impressed with Café 1228's tahô! But I wondered why it was huddled away at a corner. Luckily, I spotted the tahô because, when in buffet restaurants, I would always walk around first to check the food choices that are available for me to enjoy and later decide which ones I should put on my first plate.

Just like the reunions all over the town during Christmas, ours was so much fun. While the many choices of Café 1228's breakfast buffet were topnotch, it was the accommodating service staff that made it memorable for us. 

Although the breakfast buffet was only until 10AM, we were allowed to finish our chitter-chatter until past 11AM! Now that's first-class hospitality!😍

Most restaurants have perfected their menu and recipes, but it's the quality of service, cleanliness, and hospitality that put others above the rest.😋

I once heard the poet Maya Angelou saying, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Well, someday, I'll probably forget what I ate and forget the jokes we shared, but I will never forget the fun I had that morning with my friends, and we'll never forget the service, ambiance and hospitality we received from Café 1228's staff.😃

Thanks to Verj, Selyn and Precy for the fun reunion, and especially Precy for the treat!😀

Happy new year, everyone!😊


#Cafe1228 #NewWorldHotelMakati #NewWorldHotel #Makati #Christmasreunion #breakfastbuffet #breakfast