17 DECEMBER (Monday)

My son, James, traveled to Bahrain this morning with 5 of his schoolmates and their two teachers to participate in the 5th Inter-School Talents, Skills and Academic Competition sponsored by the Order of the Knights of Rizal Middle East and Africa Regional Council. The aim of the competition is to commemorate the works and martyrdom of our National Hero in order to inculcate among the Filipino youth abroad love of one’s own country. Quite a laudable mission worthy of support. The students were to vie for honors and prestige in five major disciplines: Quest for Young Jose Rizal, Quest for Young Maria Clara, On-the-Spot Painting Contest, Essay Writing and Battle of the Brains. He was in the painting category.

The Artist is 5th from left

The night before, we were at an art shop looking for acrylics, paintbrushes and canvasses. Why, I said, except for the canvass you already have all the rest. Well, he wanted all his things brand-new. He surveyed everything – and I mean everything – before deciding on what to get so much so that the store was about to close on us and we were the last customers to leave.You better make this worthwhile, I said in jest. Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll bring home the trophy or I won’t come home, he replied. Big words, I thought. A month or so ago when he told me that he was chosen to represent his school, I was surprised. You don’t paint, I said. Sure you’re very good at sketching and doing stuff on the computer but painting’s another matter. Since when was the last time you held a paintbrush, I asked. Oh, it’s all the same – just a different medium, he shot back.

So in the next few days, I saw him studiously setting up my old easel and going at it with my much older bunch of acrylic tubes and paintbrushes. Since I was pretty busy at work, I didn’t find the time to really teach him so my input was limited to giving critiques every now and then after he showed me his work. Sometimes he didn’t like what he heard and argued endlessly. One point he didn’t agree with was the time. I said he had to move quicker since the contest had a strict time limit of only 2 hours from start to finish. That’s too short he complained. What can you do, rules are rules. From then on, I saw him working with his mother’s timer which she used for baking.

I drove him to the airport with a large suitcase for all his stuff and he borrowed my Nikon Coolpix. Guard it with your life, I reminded him. Whatever happens - win or lose - take this experience as an opportunity to have fun, I added, so as not to put pressure on him. Honestly, I didn’t expect much. Either from him or from his fellow students for I knew that they really didn’t have much time to prepare and practise.

They would be gone for three days. Since it was the start of a long holiday because of the Eid celebration, I planned to follow after two days just to spring a surprise on him after his painting competition was over. Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out since all the flights to Bahrain were fully booked. So I got stuck at home……

20 DECEMBER (Thursday)

The evening found us waiting at the airport Arrivals area for the flight to arrive at 8:00PM. Made small talk with the other parents who, like me, were also in the dark as to whether they won any prize. None of the kids texted back and were evasive in their answers on the phone. Surprise na lang daw.!

When they finally came out, they were carrying four trophies plus several certificates. Seems that they had brought home the bacon, I thought. Hugs. Kisses. Congratulations. High-fives. Everyone was talking all at the same time. It was time to shoot some pictures while nobody was paying attention.

Well, James, what’s that on your hand, I asked. The answer came sooner enough. He was holding the 1st Runner-up trophy. Out of 16 artists, he came a close second. His 2 classmates garnered Second Runner-up in “Battle of the Brains” and 3rd Runner-up in the “Search for Young Jose Rizal”. Overall, their school landed in 3rd Place. Out of 8 schools, not a bad achievement for a motley crew of half-prepared, not-really-well-trained kids; theirs was the leanest delegation. I think their innate talent won the day for them.

Winners with their trophies

His companions later told me that he could have run away with the Painting championship trophy were it not for a slip-up. Since the theme given was Freedom (as seen from the life and works of Rizal), my son had painted two raised arms, unshackled from slavery, releasing a dove. Behind these symbols was the national hero’s image backdropped by the Philippine flag. Now in these two raised arms, one hand had six fingers. Not 5 but 6. That’s what the judges noticed and caused some point deductions.

What happened, I asked, out of curiosity. His friend said that James was so sleepy that he was nodding off while painting during the two hours allotted for them to finish. Didn’t you get any sleep? I probed. He said that he was busy practicing till midnight and had to be up at 3:00AM to get a headstart with his morning shower since they had to be at the venue by 6:00AM.

I found out the reason why later on when I checked the photos in his camera. They were filled with pictures of his companions in various poses while they were sleeping. Apparently, he was up really early to take impromptu shots just for fun. Plus there were a lot more shots of himself with the pretty Maria Clara contestants. No wonder, I think, he lost sleep as well as concentration. Oh, well, I thought, boys will be boys no matter…….. It seemed that he took the “fun” part advice I gave him to the max!

On the drive home, I stole a glance at him every now and then cradling his trophy. He seemed mighty proud of what he achieved. Then he uttered almost to himself that next time, he would draw aliens so that he could damn well please to choose how many fingers he would put on their hands.