It's now the last week of September, which means it's also the last week of sharing some nostalgic moments from my Elementary days.




I was sad that my friend Kutchie had to switch schools once again, but I was really relieved that my "puppeteer" switched schools, too. I can now concentrate on my lessons, and my parents as well as my second cousin Lolit (who was taking care of my sister) didn't have to get angry with me anymore. Halfway through the school year, ate Lolit decided to come home, and mom took the services of ate Baby, which was my own nanny when I was still a baby. I loved her back when I was a child, but I really hated her now that I can already understand things.

I was never the emotional eater, but I do love to eat - and my weight increased tremendously. I have always been the fat girl (even if I looked smaller in pictures), but in Grade 6, I was a bit surprised I was already the same size as my mom, and I was even bigger than my class adviser! Still, dieting wasn't something that came to mind because my dad didn't want to see us "thin." Well, my brother was actually skin and bones thin that time, and my dad couldn't bear to see his son like that - so he would always encourage us to eat. I was never sporty, so the excess calories just piled and piled.

One of the best thing happened to me was when dad took brother and I to the optometrist. I have already complained about my poor vision and even though my parents blamed us for watching too close to the television and reading books in the dark, he still had our eyes checked. The new pair of eyeglasses was a good change.

Some school memories:

• My teacher in Sibika at Kultura wanted us to recite Andres Bonifacio's poem "Pag-Ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa." If the student can recite the poem in whole, she would give a grade of 95%, but since it was a long poem, she told that reciting at least 4 paragraphs would give the student a grade of 75%. I have learned to procrastinate, and just started memorizing the poem during the lunch break. At first I was ready to take the 75% grade, but I guess I do wonders when cramming for I was able to recite the whole poem, and it took me just 45 minutes to memorize it.
• One of the teachers gave a surprise quiz, and I realized I didn't have any pen nor pencil to use. I panicked a bit and was happy to see another classmate using my pen (which he borrowed a day or two before). I took my pen even if he was left with nothing to use. Oh well, I didn't feel guilty about that - he was one of the popular students in the class, he certainly found a way to get a pen for himself.
• The Glee Club was given a name, "the Young Minstrels." Aside from being the school choir for the First Friday masses in school, we also performed in different school activities.
• I joined the Spelling Bee. I made it to the top 10, but because there were so many contestants, and each had to come up the stage during his/her turn and I already got tired of doing it, I decided to get my word wrong so I could stop coming up the stage and facing the people watching.
• When I was in Grade 2, my brother had a classmate that would always pinch my face whenever he saw me. I really made an effort to hide from him, and in Grade 6, during the school's Foundation Day, I went to the high school's canteen to buy myself a glass of Halo-Halo. I had a hard time mixing the food, when he came to me to offer some help. Oh my, he certainly looked handsome! Hahaha! Well, he was already cute back then - he even acted on some TV shows, he just never made it big.
• While performing the graduation song, my classmate and I weren't singing - we were chit-chatting. Hahaha.
  

Once again, I finished third that year. Being the 1st Honorable Mention, I had to do the invocation. I was happy because the prayer I told was written by one of my parents' principal sponsors when they got married. During graduation, I was happy, too, because aside from feeling proud that many parents could see me come up the stage and be pinned with my medal, seeing two sets of "parents" made my night. First of course was my own parents, and the other, the couple who would always "borrow" me when I was much younger. Since they have been married for quite sometime, it was a little sad on their part for still not having a child, so I became their adopted daughter in a way. Well, they eventually had a child (a beautiful daughter - taking up law now), who was also having her pre-school graduation that night. Receiving their hugs made me really happy.

It was also a sad day for me, because when the ceremony was over, my dad asked me to go find my brother so we can walk home together. Dad said she and mom will be attending the 1st day of Couples for Christ - Christian Life Program, which was about to start. When I found my brother he told me he cannot come home yet because they still need to clean up the place (he was in the CAT that time already). I went home alone and sad... and it made me cry that ate Baby didn't even cook something for dinner. I just opened a can of sardines and watched TV. I felt really sad because I gave my best to be part of the honor roll, yet my family didn't even complimented the effort. The thoughts of hearing another parent telling how proud she was for her daughter to finish Elementary and that they have prepared lots of foods in celebrating her graduation was a big blow for me.

Graduation will always be bittersweet. While I was happy to be finishing elementary, I had fears of what will happen in the next stage of my school life.

*** Jenn ***