First Year- Pandanggo sa Ilaw

Dear insansapinas,


First yearI was in the top section and I danced Pandanggo sa Ilaw.

Except for me and some five classmates, the members of the class were all valedictorians and salutatorians. They were the bunch of young people who thought that the school owed it to them that they enrolled in that university. They were given full scholarship. Mine was just partial but at least, it was the same school where I would be starting my high school.

The principal played favorite to our class. He assigned us a room exclusive for our use. Instead of us moving from room to room every change of subject, the teachers would come at their scheduled time. I did not see any protest action but I thought the issue was settled in the principal’s office. The message was “don’t pamper the guys with IQ that is not lower than 140” or else the faculty would resign en masse. I still did not understand about mass action then.

So we were treated just like the ordinary “mortals”. But the “classmates” walked in the school’s corridors with prideful swagger as if they were god-chosen to be in the elite section. Not me. I got friends in the lower sections who I hang out with during class break. I found it boring to be with guys who did nothing but memorized with their eyes rolling not because they’re laughing but because they can’t cram all those formula and definitions.

The competition for the grades was just nerve-wracking and stressful that one lady student broke down. She was a candidate for Miss Loonies of the year award. She came with wreath of flowers in her hair and danced even without music. We called her Sisa. You know the demented mother of Basilio and Crispin in Jose Rizal's novel, Noli Me Tangere. We were reading Noli Me Tangere then for our Pilipino class. If we were asked to dramatize that chapter about Sisa, she would have gotten the role, hands down. The Pilosopo Tasyo was another classmate who was in the habit of annoying our teacher in History by his off-tangent-sarcastic-patama-remarks.

Grade Six - New School Again

Dear insansapinas,












Grade 6 - New school, new classmates and new teachers. I danced the Havanera de jovencita

The new home was an hour ride from Manila. My father was provided with housing facility and car service.

I was a late enrollee again. My form something something had to be submitted to the
Registrar’s office.

My name was foreign sounding so that every time my teacher called my name in the roll, the class was thinking if if I were a foreigner. There were many pupils in the class whose last names were Smith, Johnson and etc. They were disappointed to see an olive skinned girl with a pigtail sitting at the back, after I was officially admitted in the sixth grade.

They were speaking a dialect which I could not understand. The girls would not talk to me. As if we were always in a retreat which was a requirement in that Catholic school. No talk.

During a school celebration, everyone was required to participate. No selected dancers to form a group. The whole class was the group including other sections. The costume for the dance was expensive. It was a Maria Clara. My mom could have sewn it for me but the PE teacher said that we were going to have it made by a seamstress she commissioned to do all the costumes for the dances. My mom said that she smelled a big commission. I did not understand what she meant. The teacher said that we can wear the costume with just a little alteration for our graduation dress. It was made from white lace and silk fabrics. Who would wear a llong or abbreviated Maria Clara in a graduation? I was wrong, there were many.

Grade 5- i danced the BANGA

photocredit: fiesta gallery

Grade 5- I danced the BANGA.

First day of school, I was at the gate one hour before it opened. I could have reprimanded the school guards why they came late.

Every school day, I would wake at 4:30, prepare my breakfast and school lunch (remember when I talk about lunch boxes) and leave home before 6:00. The school was several blocks away. My class is 7:00. My mom was bothered why I was always early leaving home. My twin brothers insinuated that I might be seeing someone. Hahaha.
So one day they tailed me. It was at that time when I chance to meet my male classmate with a yaya also going to school.

My brothers reported to my mom about the boy. Yucks. I felt that he was a mama’s boy. He’s still brought to school by a yaya at grade 5. Sheesh.

So I changed my schedule. I timed my walking to about 15 minutes. I left the house 25 minutes before the time.

One day, I was already half-way going to school when I realized I forgot my assignment. I hesitated going back because I would be late for my class but I could not also afford not to submit my assignment, that would be a zero. So, I turned 360 degrees going home.

By the time, I reached the school, the gate was already closed. The policy of the school was for the teacher to get the tardy student from the school lobby.

My teacher reprimanded me for being late. It ruined her record of 100 per cent no tardy students.

Like Scarlett O' Hara in Gone with the Wind when she promised herself that she would not be hungry anymore, I made a resolve that I wll never be late again.I made a schedule with time allocations for each activity. It was a crude Gantt chart. I started being OC when it comes to keeping up with schedules. Later in my life, it was the source of many stresses.

This was also the year when I had my monthly visitor. My mom was not prepared to give me a talk about it. She thought that I was too young to give me a prologue about the birds and the bees and she never expected it would come early for me. That day, I thought I was suffering from incontinence. I could not get up from my desk. I felt wet all over and it's red. It was blood. Am I dying? Am I bleeding to death?

Grade 4 - I danced THE KURACHA

Dear insansapinas


Grade 4
My brothers and I were transferred to the same school. I danced the kuratsa

And they danced the maglalatik.

I don’t know why it was difficult to transfer schools in the Philippines. Here in the States, they accept transferees anytime.

Because I was a transferee, I was put in section 2. Only those who finished their grade 3 in that school were assigned in section 1.

I was also made to sit in row 4. Row 4 was supposed to be for low learners. *heh*.
After being there for a month, I slowly moved from one row to another until I was seated
at the back of row 1. yeoh.

During parents’ meeting, my teacher informed my mother that I was bright (ahem) but I had inferiority complex. I seldom raised my hand for recitation. But I was always called in front of the class to set a role model for neatness. Thanks to my mom.

We had a bulletin board where papers of pupils who had good penmanship were posted for a week. So I practised writing. That was when I learned how to recycle. I used the old notebooks of my brothers. I wrote, I want to be a nun. *heh* That was the cause of endless teasing of my older brothers.
I also practised drawing.

Grade 3- I`danced the ITIK-ITIK

Dear insansapinas,


Grade 3

I was a late enrollee again and I danced the ITIK-ITIK.

We moved to the big city (aka Manila for you) and there were paperwork for my transfer. It was a private school. My uniform was white with two big pleats running across from my shoulders to the hemline. Then there was a belt and a small necktie. It was not a clipped necktie, mind you. I had to learn the twist-and-turn and pull tricks to put it on.

My mom saw to it that I came to class very neat and clean-looking with my black shoes-dust free or my white sneakers for PE, smudge free. My hair was neatly combed with a barrette or with a small ribbon which I always removed upon entering the school grounds. My male classmates would tease me that I got a small helicopter on my hair.

She was not surprised when I was picked by the principal to lead the flag ceremony of the school…that was to stand there, mouth the first line of the Pambansang Awit, conduct the singing and lead the recitation the Panatang Makabayan afterwards. I stood ten feet tall from the stool where they made me stand to be seen by the people at the back. I agonized for a week memorizing the PA and PM. My mom was elated. She could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Her daughter who did not love school was beginning to stand out.

Months after, I was bringing extra clothes ( pair of short pants and shirt) going to school. My partner-in-crime classmate lived near the school. In the afternoon, most of our classes were the non-academic, PE and Vocational or Home Economics. So we changed from the uniforms to civilian clothes. We scaled the back fence of the school so we didn't have to get past the guard. My brother busted me in my "little crime". Ouch, grounded.

For the school program (why do they always have that yearly), I was made to join the "itik-itik" group.
My partner was my rival in the honor roll. Yes Virginia, I was running for honor in that school for a change. I always carried with me extra apple for the teacher. hehehe. I had no complaint.

My mother sewed me a beautiful costume which was made of red fabric with black stripes. I liked it.
The family were there. When I got home, my twin brothers would mimic the walking of the duck, complete with the quack, quack sound whenever they had the chance and my parents were not looking.

GRADE 1 AND GRADE 2 - ANG KULIT KO

photofromthe internet

If there is already an internet and a blog when I was in my grades, these are what I am going to blog.

Grade 1-
I was a late enrollee and I danced the tinikling.
My mother had to think of a new name for me. I won’t use my birth
And Christian name. It was my paternal grandma’s name. I did not know that it was an Italian because it is a name of a saint. Ah basta. So she changed it. It sounded French. A name of a French actress daw. I only came to know who she was when I came to US and had seen her old movie in the American
Movie Classics. Too bad, before I graduated in college, I had reverted back to my old name.

Dance: We had a program where we were going to present, a native dance. My teacher who I suspected did not like me partnered me to a short and "napabayaan-sa-kusina(plump) boy. Yeah, Virginia, even at the very young age, I wanted someone who’s not physically challenged. Blame it on movies and books where Prince charming is supposed to be good looking and komiks which “bida” (leading character) must be the Adonis type. Worse was when my older brothers who picked me up after class and watched the practice while waiting would tease me by imitating the movements; one was supposed to be me and the other was my partner. My brother who mimicked my partner would flex his knees to show that my dance partner was short and puffed his face to show that he needed a little restraint from eating junk food.

DOON PO SA AMIN SA BARRIO FIESTA NG TIERRA MARIA

Dear insansapinas,
May bagong pakulo ang Reyna Elena ng Santacruzan. Barrio Fiesta sa Tierra Maria -ang Pagbabalik ng Agilang Baliw ang tawag niya dito.

Tindi ng galit ng British na ito sa mga Pilipino. Wala na yatang ginawa araw-araw kung hindi gumawa ng blog. Wala namang nagbabasa kung hindi siya. Tssk tsssk.



Nagkatuwaan ang mga blogistang Pinoy na imbitahin ang isang British na bigot na walang ginawa kung hindi laitin ang mga Pinoy dahil daw siyang isang gansang lalangoy-langoy
at nangingitlog ng ginto at ang mga Pinoy ay gustong nakawin sa kaniya ng gintong yaon na nagkakalaga lang naman lang siguro ng walang 5 euro. HANEP. Kaawa sa pinsan.

Nakita na ba ninyo ang mga retrato, tingnan inyo dito.

Barrio Fiesta UK-Tierra Maria

The Schizo
Ellumbranator

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