I received some generous comments from two high school classmates, Mikey and Auric, when I did the post Finding Classmates. Grateful for their comments, I thought maybe I can return the favour by writing about them on this blog. So travel back in time I did! While reminiscing about these two old friends, I realised that the memories that struck me right away was when we were high school freshmen. We were just entering our teenage years and still full of innocence.
Of the two, it is Mikey I have not seen in a long time. The last time I saw him personally was in 1991, in a batch reunion held at the Janssen campus. I last saw Auric in May 2002 also in a batch reunion party. He did not seem to recall it, which was understandable as I only spent a few hours in the party. I was going to Cebu later that night with my soon-to-be-my-wife then. I was getting married the following month and was in the thick of preparations for the church wedding.
Mikey and I joined the Student Catholic Action (SCA) in our freshman year. Membership training lasted the whole year and this was capped off with a weekend of induction rites. Although I have to be vague about what happened in the induction, what I saw from Mikey there was his "fighting" (dili palupig) attitude. On hindsight, I have to say I was impressed with what he had shown. I was the opposite, suffice it to say that I was a softie during that event.
Auric commented in my last post that "...your blogs...really bring back good memories...not only making (him) homesick...(but) want(ing) to travel back in TIME." So bay (mate), join me in my travel back to time when we were in first year high school.
My "takyang" (Tagalog - sipa) skills is quite respectable, but against Auric I felt like a bumbling novice. The coolest dude I have seen playing takyang, he makes it appear very easy to play, indeed. In our freshman year, takyang was the "uso" or fad. We used to play a lot of it in virtually every nook and cranny we can find in the Janssen campus. But, our favourite spot was beside the chapel. And then there was the quadrangle, where many an intense and fiercely fought takyang battles were fought during lunchtime period.
The quadrangle matches were started by a few of us who brought our own "baon" (lunch food) to eat in school. Auric and the others would join in as soon as they arrive for the afternoon class. These takyang matches became popular and soon most students would be watching us play. The principal later banned those lunchtime matches as it was killing the grass, I think.
It is true what they say about first impressions are lasting. These memories happened 25 years ago and I still remember them although not as clearly as it once was. Still, I hope Mikey and Auric would be smiling as they reminisce about them.
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
29.9.08
10.9.08
Finding Old Classmates
Nowadays, it is no longer hard to find out about old classmates you have not seen nor heard of from in a long time. If you have access to the internet, you only need to open an account in a social network site and there is a big chance that you will find an old friend or classmate there. I have an account with Friendster, which is very popular with Filipinos worldwide. I have already linked up with many classmates from high school and friends from college through Friendster.
Still, it was a surprise to find an old high school buddy in Friendster. I am referring to Art, who is a classmate in freshman and sophomore years. I have mentioned him in an earlier post about walking home from school. Along with Reg, we were walking buddies every afternoon when the school day ends. Art was also my tennis buddy, along with Raymund and Sean, during weekends at the Cogon Shrine (also known as Simbahan Lingin).
You can also find an old classmate through blogging. Recently, I came across a blog post of my fellow Blogger and Bol-anon, Edik, about Atit. She was a classmate of mine in elementary and high school years. I knew that she got married to an Ormocanon. I am glad that she had settled very well over there and has a successful flower business.
If only I have known this, I would have contacted her when I got married about six years ago. One minor geographical problem, though. I got married in Baclayon, Bohol and her business is in Ormoc! I did get a very good flower arranger who is from Dauis, which is where Atit traces her paternal roots. I knew him when I did some voluntary work with the local government of Dauis in late 90s - early 2000s.
The so-called information superhighway i.e. internet, certainly makes it easier for us now to find old friends and acquaintances.
Still, it was a surprise to find an old high school buddy in Friendster. I am referring to Art, who is a classmate in freshman and sophomore years. I have mentioned him in an earlier post about walking home from school. Along with Reg, we were walking buddies every afternoon when the school day ends. Art was also my tennis buddy, along with Raymund and Sean, during weekends at the Cogon Shrine (also known as Simbahan Lingin).
You can also find an old classmate through blogging. Recently, I came across a blog post of my fellow Blogger and Bol-anon, Edik, about Atit. She was a classmate of mine in elementary and high school years. I knew that she got married to an Ormocanon. I am glad that she had settled very well over there and has a successful flower business.
If only I have known this, I would have contacted her when I got married about six years ago. One minor geographical problem, though. I got married in Baclayon, Bohol and her business is in Ormoc! I did get a very good flower arranger who is from Dauis, which is where Atit traces her paternal roots. I knew him when I did some voluntary work with the local government of Dauis in late 90s - early 2000s.
The so-called information superhighway i.e. internet, certainly makes it easier for us now to find old friends and acquaintances.
12.1.08
School walk
Our first son Cean formally started school in September last year. I bring him to school everyday while his mum collects him in the afternoons. It is a rather short 5-10 minutes walk to his school from our house, and rather uneventful (at least from my viewpoint).
I still have quite vivid memories of some of my school walks. The earliest among them was during my kindergarten days in Holy Spirit School in Tagbilaran. I must have been five or six years old when it happened. One day, I got carried away playing after class that I lost track of time. When I went out of the school building it was eerily quite and almost empty. There is no sign of my cousin who came to pick us up nor of my older brothers. I went searching for them for a while before I resolved to myself that I will walk home. I remembered the route very well so I was confident going home, which I did. Upon arriving safely at home, there were sighs and shouts of relief from my family. That was the only walk I did during my short stay in that school, though.
I spent my first three years of primary school in a public school in Baclayon, my father's hometown. It was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed, especially the school walks. I still cannot forget that surreal walks past the huge balite tree situated between my school and our house. That tree was said to be enchanted so it always feels a bit scary everytime we pass by it especially in the afternoons even though it is found beside the national highway. I now forgot the time of the year when this tree sheds its leaves. During this time, it was a surreal experience walking past the balite tree while yellow green leaves rained on me from above the high branches. It reminded me of those slow motion scenes in recent Chinese martial arts movies where multicoloured leaves are flying.
In high school, I went to Divine Word College in Tagbilaran (now Holy Name University). In my freshman year, the high school department moved to its present site in Dampas. It was then still quite rural with few houses and lots of open spaces covered mostly with grasses. I have not gone back there for more than a decade but I gathered it has now become crowded. There were some memorable walks after school that I still remember. In freshman year, I befriended Alan who introduced me to a walking route from the school to our homes. It involved walking in footpaths passed houses and grassy open spaces that rather made me think that I was walking in the bukid rather than in the city.
We would then come out of the open spaces into Calceta Street Extension (I think). Next, we then walk to the elementary school where Alan's late mother was teaching to say hello and to catch our breath. After a short rest, we take a shortcut to Alan's house. Goodbyes said, I then proceed to walk home passing by Governor Aumentado's house, BDRC, Garcia Park and then down to BAEx office and the DA nursery before I arrived at home.
In sophomore year, I explored other walking routes with some friends. I remember well a route that had become popular with students. It takes you on footpaths that pass by the back of houses and into Tamblot Street near Camp Dagohoy. One time (I think it ran for several days) neigbourhood bullies waited in ambush and demanded money from the students before they let them proceed to Tamblot Street.
I was not there when it happened but I imagine it must have been quite scary for some. After this incident, very few now take this route and instead now use the main roads. I used to take this route to Camp Dagohoy with my classmates Reg and Arthur. From the Camp, we would walk through streets I now forgot (in the absence of a map) until we ended up in the corner of Visarra Street and CPG Avenue. We would stay for awhile and talk under the street signpost until it gets almost dark. We then said our goodbyes with me getting a tricycle ride home while my two friends would proceed to Visarra ubos to their respective houses.
There were still other walks I did in junior and senior high school years that I can still remember. The aforementioned ones, however, brings back very good memories indeed. I do not know what Cean will think of his school walks but I hope there are good ones in it as well.
I still have quite vivid memories of some of my school walks. The earliest among them was during my kindergarten days in Holy Spirit School in Tagbilaran. I must have been five or six years old when it happened. One day, I got carried away playing after class that I lost track of time. When I went out of the school building it was eerily quite and almost empty. There is no sign of my cousin who came to pick us up nor of my older brothers. I went searching for them for a while before I resolved to myself that I will walk home. I remembered the route very well so I was confident going home, which I did. Upon arriving safely at home, there were sighs and shouts of relief from my family. That was the only walk I did during my short stay in that school, though.
I spent my first three years of primary school in a public school in Baclayon, my father's hometown. It was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed, especially the school walks. I still cannot forget that surreal walks past the huge balite tree situated between my school and our house. That tree was said to be enchanted so it always feels a bit scary everytime we pass by it especially in the afternoons even though it is found beside the national highway. I now forgot the time of the year when this tree sheds its leaves. During this time, it was a surreal experience walking past the balite tree while yellow green leaves rained on me from above the high branches. It reminded me of those slow motion scenes in recent Chinese martial arts movies where multicoloured leaves are flying.
In high school, I went to Divine Word College in Tagbilaran (now Holy Name University). In my freshman year, the high school department moved to its present site in Dampas. It was then still quite rural with few houses and lots of open spaces covered mostly with grasses. I have not gone back there for more than a decade but I gathered it has now become crowded. There were some memorable walks after school that I still remember. In freshman year, I befriended Alan who introduced me to a walking route from the school to our homes. It involved walking in footpaths passed houses and grassy open spaces that rather made me think that I was walking in the bukid rather than in the city.
We would then come out of the open spaces into Calceta Street Extension (I think). Next, we then walk to the elementary school where Alan's late mother was teaching to say hello and to catch our breath. After a short rest, we take a shortcut to Alan's house. Goodbyes said, I then proceed to walk home passing by Governor Aumentado's house, BDRC, Garcia Park and then down to BAEx office and the DA nursery before I arrived at home.
In sophomore year, I explored other walking routes with some friends. I remember well a route that had become popular with students. It takes you on footpaths that pass by the back of houses and into Tamblot Street near Camp Dagohoy. One time (I think it ran for several days) neigbourhood bullies waited in ambush and demanded money from the students before they let them proceed to Tamblot Street.
I was not there when it happened but I imagine it must have been quite scary for some. After this incident, very few now take this route and instead now use the main roads. I used to take this route to Camp Dagohoy with my classmates Reg and Arthur. From the Camp, we would walk through streets I now forgot (in the absence of a map) until we ended up in the corner of Visarra Street and CPG Avenue. We would stay for awhile and talk under the street signpost until it gets almost dark. We then said our goodbyes with me getting a tricycle ride home while my two friends would proceed to Visarra ubos to their respective houses.
There were still other walks I did in junior and senior high school years that I can still remember. The aforementioned ones, however, brings back very good memories indeed. I do not know what Cean will think of his school walks but I hope there are good ones in it as well.
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