Our Pre-Cana Seminar

I've been meaning for weeks to continue with the wedding updates but somehow never got around to do it. I am tempted not to skip on the details, but I am thinking that it will ingrained more in my memory if I write about it. Medyo napahaba nga lang hehe.

So now I would like to tell you about our Pre-Canonical Seminar:

We were thinking of going to a Discovery Weekend, but with the schedule very tight, we decided on just attending the whole Saturday Pre-Cana Seminar held at NSDG every end of the month. Luckily, the seminar for the last weekend of October was still open and Inday at NSDG convinced us (rather Laser, who finds her very easy to talk with kasi nga Bisaya din ;)) to attend it.

We were a few minutes late that day, but it was ok as they were just about to finish with the couple introductions (there were about 17 couples and I even saw one highschool classmate with his fiance!), where each one has to introduce himself and why he/she wants to marry his/her partner. However, as Laser had to go back to the car since he forgot his mobile there, I gave our introductions together with a simple answer to the question. The moderator moved on to the next couple then, but when Laser returned, he was still asked the same question. I was expecting that he might get rattled or what, but when he answered the question so matter of factly, clear and strong, I was so pleasantly surprised that I found tears prickling my eyes.:)

The speaker was really good. He’s with the Couples for Christ and he spent the next hour and a half going through the ins and outs of marriage life. He gave good and practical examples and managed to keep the talk very lively and interesting.

Afterwards he turned us over to the next speaker, who was slated to talk about Family Planning. Inday and other NSDG volunteers came also to give us the morning snack...which are still hot Jollibee cheeseburgers and softdrinks! Naubos nga namin kagad, kasi we didnt have breakfast (& not to mention that I really missed Jollibee food). I really appreciated that the NSDG people were very patient and even hurried out to buy bottled mineral water for those who requested for it (sana lang the others werent very choosy on the drinks and should have been more considerate...I mean, the 300 seminar fee for each couple barely covers the snacks, certificates and other expenses na nga eh).

The lady speaker started off by pinning a chart on the board, which basically shows an illustration on the similarities between the woman's monthly cycle and the planting season (you know, wet and dry seasons). She started off interestingly enough by saying something about us being able to plan our children and 'choose' the sex of the child by using this Church-recommended method (which of course I forgot the exact name, only that it was named after the couple who researched on it).

So naturally, we were expecting that she will be giving us the details on the ins and outs of this method right? Unfortunately, she just gave a very rough overview on it and spent the next hour telling us about horrifying stories of couples/women who used artificial methods to their own detriment. I guess it was to scare us from using it...of course she raised valid points on it... but really, there must be a better approach to do that than telling what your neighbor, cousin or kapatid has done ('at alam nyo ba, yung pinsan ko hindi nagkaanak kasi...'...'may taga-dito, dinala dun sa clinic malapit dito...'). It felt like we were having chismisan at the local sari-sari store!

After that somewhat hilarious talk, we were given an hour break to have lunch. Laser and I decided to go to Rockwell, and had lunch at KFC (miss ko na yung chicken!). We even managed to squeeze in a few minutes of shopping and I almost got to buy a white sandals on sale from Bass, kaso wala nung size ko (but it was blessing on disguise coz I found out later that an officemate of mine has exactly the same style!).

When we came back, we learned that for the afternoon session, we will be answering a questionnaire individually (no copying!). It's like multiple choice questions on different topics related to marriage, like on sex, on in-laws, on having and raising children, and so on. Each couple will then be paired off to a Couples of Christ member-moderator who will compare your answers and give you advice, pointers etc.

As there were quite many couples and only around 5 of them, while waiting for our turn, Laser and I had fun playing Blobby Valley on his phone. After about an hour of waiting, a new lady moderator entered the room, and luckily she approached us first. She went through our questionnaires and just compared and discussed questions in which each of us had a different answer on. After about 20 minutes, we were finished and just spent the next 15 minutes just chatting with her while eating the siopao and softdrinks, which was the afternoon merienda.

Her verdict? We are compatible and she gave her best wishes to us in our marriage! She said kasi that the questionnaire basically is a gauge on whether a couple is compatible or not, and when they are not, they are advised to reconsider the wedding.

For us, the last activity served to confirm how we know each other very well...it was somewhat funny...we both knew what or how the other one thinks or will answer a certain question that sometimes the questions were answered in anticipation of the other's view. It is heartening to learn how our being open to each other from things mundane to deep core views and beliefs and our willingness to work out and talk over our differences showed in this activity.

All in all, while there are points for improvement (esp. on the second talk!), the seminar was an enlightening and interesting experience. I commend NSDG for its efforts to give a balanced and practical pre-canonical seminar to prepare couples for the road ahead of them. The last activity was also very good, because it becomes personal already and gives couples a venue to express and discuss their beliefs and views on critical issues they might/will face in the future. The seminar certificate was given immediately after, so no more hassle on having to go back and claim it.

More kwentos on the next days!