afternoons at the museum

I brought my eldest son Andres for his Junior Museum Guide Workshop that will run for two weeks at the UP Diliman yesterday. Excitedly, he got his workshop kit and waited impatiently for the activity to start. I was hesitant because he is the youngest at eight years old among the participants whose age ranges from 14-16 (the advertisement said that the workshop is for 10-14 years old that’s why we had to bring him before the start for an interview). We were however assured by the organizer that they will tackle and do presentations in a light way.

So i went out of the museum leaving him and enjoyed the long walk the UP campus offers to people who wants to, well, walk. Eating my late lunch at the UP Workers’ Cooperative Canteen, i cannot help but think if Andres might get hungry earlier than the pegged snacktime at 3:00 pm. The time frame (1:00-5:00 pm) of the workshop is a bit long for an incoming second grader who is used to a 3 to 4 hour schooling with playtimes inserted in between (i sit in a four hour class and i really get irritable sitting for that long a time).

After checking out some new book titles in a bookstore mall (i am a fledgling bookmonger), I rushed back to the museum and asked if i can observe Andres during the sessions. So I went down to the museum basement where they hold their discussion and sat at the far back end where Andres cannot see me. True enough, while I find the discussion conducted by a Ph.D lecturer very interesting, the form was very academic in the brink of becoming a scholarly discourse on what a museum is all about.

Then the lecturer asked,”what is an artifact?”, then i saw a small hand shot up the air and recited “it is historical.” It was Andres! And i cannot hide my pride seeing my son in the company of much older children (on the way home, he said that his co-participants all had “teen” attached to their ages except him) expressing himself confidently and articulating what is on his mind. He shared his knowledge and understanding connected with the topics being discussed and i can see the organizers looking at each other with amazement on their faces. I was proudly smiling inside my self.

I cannot wait for his next story on his afternoons at the museum.

May 6, 2009