HIGH SCHOOL LIFE - The Vignettes

It took too long in coming, but here it is -

With so many things that happened in high school, I thought that the best way to reminisce is by sharing vignettes.

I became a student of the Science-Oriented High School (SOHS) quite by accident. While a graduating elementary student in 1975 of the Bicol University Pilot Elementary School (BUPES), my class advisor then (Mr. Matocinos), spurred the class to take the entrance tests to the Philippine Science High School which was then, as now, billed as the premier secondary school for bright, young students. I never did qualify but Mr. Matocinos never lost hope. He urged us to check this new Science high school in Legazpi. So take the tests we did. If I remember right, I ended up fourth in the list of successful examinees.

MY FIRST DAY IN SCHOOL AND I WAS IN SHORTS!
I distinctly remember going to school for the first day, in shorts! Que horror! I looked around and I was the only one in shorts. I wore shorts since I wore them during my elementary school days and poor, naive me never did realize that becoming a high school student was some sort of a rite of passage. But thank heavens for small mercies! It appears that it did not bother anyone else, and no one even seems to remember. Well, except me.

I MADE CHERRIE PIE CRY
Cherry Pie Salandanan, she of alabaster skin Nicole Kidman is known for, and she of the really curled and frizzy hair, cried in one of our classes with the venerable Ms. Aida E. Bongon (our freshman class advisor and Communications Arts English teacher for four eyars) and I got blamed for making her cry. I don't even remember now what it was that made her cry but that I made her cry or that I was blamed for it, has been with me all these years.

Cherry Pie and I eventually became good friends mainly because she and I love to read. I would swap my older brother's Penthouse with her Harold Robbins.

DENNIS RAPOSA CALLED ME HIS BEST FRIEND
Dennis Raposa is the kind of person whose reputation precedes him. He came from St. Agnes' Academy, one of the most prestigious in our province, and maybe even in the whole Bicol region. He looked good then as now though a bit on the frail side. I think he topped the entrance exams too. (I think Gerardo Estevez was second, with Virgilio Perdigon coming before me in the list.) Dennis was the type of person who comes on strong, personality-wise. He was the kind who would stand out and eventually be the so-called campus personality. And he told me early on, he classified me as a best friend!

Early on in our freshman year, our weird PE (Physical Education) teacher (who wore truly striking color-coordinated ensembles to class, sometimes even in monochromatic colors), once subjected the whole high school population (our school population then was so small, all of us, from freshmen to seniors, would share the same PE hour) to a quick quiz. So out did our one-fourth size papers come and listened intently to the ridiculous (on hindsight) questions we were asked to answer. True-or-False questions like Niagara, which you are supposed to answer with False, just as if you wanted to say Falls. Or which pant leg do you get into first when you are about to wear your pants? (Right leg or left leg - it doesn't matter really.) And of course, one of the questions was, list down the names of 3 co-students, and rank them first, second, and third as far as the level of your best friendship with them are. After the test, Dennis told me, he ranked me first - making me his best friend of the highest order! We somehow drifted apart during high school, prompting Miss Bongon to refer to us as "ertswhile friends."

DENNIS INJURES HIMSELF
At a jamboree for Boy Scouts, Dennis injured himself at the campsite. It was such a big deal in school. We were asked to write Dennis get-well soon cards and letters. Dennis himself wrote an account of his experiences at the OR. Dennis has indeed become a campus figure.

OUR SMALL CLASS/ES
The freshman batch started with three classes with sections known as B, A and C - in that order. We never really got to know how these section names were arrived at but all the brightest students were in the B-section, including me! Go figure! We ended up graduating in high school just with one class and there were no more than 50 of us in the class. I ended up fourth (again) in the Class of 1979!

MOPPET BUENVIAJE'S HALAYANG UBE
One of our classes was the equivalent of Home Economics. Based on long-standing scholastic tradition, HE has always been for the girls. But our school let us join the girls in cooking class. It was taught by the owner of one of the cafeterias on campus. One of the earliest recipes we cooked was for the traditional Filipino dessert, halayang ube (sweetened purple yam that was almost like a thick jelly in consistency). Somehow, Moppet Buenviaje managed to convert the recipe to taste like it was ice cream. Moppet may have forgotten this episode but I haven't.

From our cooking class, I remember learning that it is best to use day-old bread for sandwiches. It appears that day-old bread are firmer than fresher ones. But I like freshly-baked bread so this lesson was never really imbibed.

LUNCH AT THE CAFETERIA'S ROOFTOP
When we were freshmen, campus food was served at a place called Automat where we got served food on aluminum trays. Later, the building where the Automat was, was expanded and converted into classrooms. We were not growing that much in population but we were simply "squatters" at one of the three major buildings in campus (labeled Science building, with the two others referred to as the Administration and Library buildings - gee, I hope I still got them right) and we had to vacate the classrooms we used to occupy to give way to college students.

Two new cafeterias sprouted at either side of the middle of the three major buildings - the Library building, so called because, you guessed it, it housed the university's library). The cafeterias were kind of open although they had roofing. And we somehow found a way to go up the roof of the cafeteria nearest our building and eat our lunch of sandwiches and fruit juices there.

As an incoming freshman, I used to pack lunch from home but I eventually found myself buying from the cafeteria like my other classmates. It seemed like it was the cooler thing to do.

From this cafeteria, I learned that sandwiches can come in many tastes and flavors. When I used to think that sandwiches meant spreading Lady's Choice sandwich spread on each side of two slices of bread and putting them together and wrapping them in paper napkins, the cafeteria opened my eyes to more varieties such as corned beef mixed with Lady's Choice sandwhich spread, tuna with mayonnaise, cheese with crushed pineapple (my favorite), boiled eggs with Lady's Choice sandwich spread, on top of the more familiar and popular ham-and-eggs and hamburgers.

CECILE'S HAWAIIAN COSTUME AND DANCE AND ALAN'S CLOWN
We were all pleasantly surprised that during one of our interactive, role-playing classroom activities, Cecile Bobadilla came out onstage (we used to have presentations in class, as well as in other venues such as the Daragang Magayon Hall which was the topmost floor of the Library building), wearing a genuine Hawaiian costume of skirt and bikini top. I remember hearing that Cecile was so anxious about appearing almost naked from the waist up but being the real trouper that she was, she went ahead with the role-playing.

I'm not sure if it was the same activity but Alan Crisol ame out onstage wearing a clown's costume and interpreted the song "Send in the Clowns" so effectively that we were all so touched by his performance.

OUR TRIBUTE
Our artistic inclinations and creative pursuits never were limited to the classrooms. I remember our class putting up a program we entitled "Our Tribute". It was supposed to be a fund-generating activity cum tribute to parents and teachers by way of showing our talents. I remember being part of a dance group that performed with funny results. I think Gerry Estevez played on his violin. Then there was this girl (a junior at that time), who had a monologue that ran on and on and on. Seemingly unscripted. She was so full of angst, she cried herself hoarse. It was rumored she was indeed a deeply-troubled girl who slashed her wrists in attempted suicides for a number of times already. She wasn't acting onstage, on hidsight. Never knew what happened to her though.

THE SENIORS
Just as there were freshmen campus figures, so were there senior campus figures. At one of the school-wide activities (methinks it was some sort of a retreat) where the whole school population was present, Dennis and I were playing with paper airplanes. One of them struck a senior campus figure who, despite the fact that we felt we were in her good graces, haughtily turned to us with the diva-esque dialog of "Next time, choose your victim!"

ART AND HIS TABLE TENNIS
Art Lorete stood out at first because he appeared eccentric (but it was just our stupid labels because he turned out be something else). He spent so much time playing table tennis, he sometimes came to class late. In hindsight, Art was just so absorbed and focused.

MRS. PACARDO
Our Social Studies classes were such a hoot and a riot because of Mrs. Pacardo. I must say that she was a teacher ahead of the times. She was the one who introduced us to more meaningful and more lively methods of learning. She was the one who urged us to tackle role-playing in class, as well as other methods such as brainstorming, panel discussions, research and interviews. She would let us formulate the issues/problems, draw up our own hypotheses and come up with our own conclusions/generalizations after making our presentations. And no one can hold a candle (well, maybe Ms. Lana) to her fashion sense. She once came to class wearing a jumpsuit in canary yellow. The material was quite see through and she was wearing string bikin under! I thought she was stylish but a lot of my male classmates had other things to say about her get up. In hindsight, nobody seemed scandalized.

OUR SPEECH CLASSES
We were one of the few schools who could afford to send students to speech laboratories, complete with air-conditioned rooms and headphones. Our speech teacher was also excellent. I don't recall his name now but I learned a lot from him, specially how not to be intimidated in expressing yourself. He encouraged us through his speech lessons how to think about the words and phrases (including sayings) that come our way. One I remember distinctly was how he urged us to speak about what it meant by "Clothes don't make a man, but they tell you what he is." From him I learned how to pronounce the silent sounds in chassis. Later, when the university went on an accreditation program, he was one of the evaluators who mingled deliberately with students to get their pulse on issues. But I didn't know it then that he was an evaluator. But he asked me and a group of students which of the universities in the province (of Albay) we believe is the best. We naively then told him that of course, the best is our school. He followed up with the question: Where are going after high school? All of us chose a university in Manila. (What is with us probinsyano (guy from the province)? All of us want to study in the city - which means, the city of Manila?). Our speech teacher simply asked again, rhetorically this time: "I thought your school is the best?"

More to come in succeeding blog entries...

HIGH SCHOOL LIFE - The Photographs

High school classmate and friend Cecil, encouraged me once to write about our life in high school. Truth to tell, the idea has long been simmering in my head. I have always wanted to do it with high school photographs uploaded as well though. I had difficulty sourcing the photographs until I realized some photographs have been uploaded to our high school class Yahoo group. So once again, I'm taking liberties at posting photographs from other sources.

The high school photograph I love the most: Dennis, Thiele, myself and Cecil. Except for Dennis and myself, Thiele, Cecil and I never called each other best friends but best friends we still turned out to be, up to now. Ms. Bongon (our high school adviser, once labeled Dennis and I as "erstwhile friends"). I'm unsure what year this photograph was taken but it was at the beach near our school. The Aquinas University Legazpi campus where the Science-Oriented High School (yep, that's how my high school was officially referred to, in fact, up to now) was located, was by the Albay Gulf. In fact, the campus is also bordered by the legendary Yawa River. Being near these bodies of water had their charm but when the floods came, the same bodies of water were a bane to the campus.

Strictly speaking, this is not our graduation photograph. This shot was taken after the Baccalaureate Mass held in the morning of graduation day. The practice was a quaint one for Dominican-run schools. But it was something we all dressed up for nonetheless. That's me in the middle of the photograph, in my barong Tagalog (native garb for men) no less.


This is also not our official graduation photo. (I think we didn't have one!) This was taken infront of the Library building where the top most floor was an auditorium where we had our graduation ceremony. Yes, we wore the traditional graduation togas! But where am in this photograph? It's so unclear, I can't even identify myself!

AT THE FOUR SEASONS

Dennis and I were at The Four Seasons Hotel (Riyadh at the Kingdom Centre) last week as Dennis supervised (successfully I must say) logistics and other arrangements for meetings with the company's big bosses (from the Europe & South region, the Regional Unit Middle East and the Saudi Arabia and Bahrain leadership). Preparations were hectic and on the meeting days themselves, almost everything went seamlessly and flawlessly, much to the executives' delight.

Here are some of the shots while the meetings were going-on or were about to begin:

Dennis with Omar (KAM STC Liaison) by the welcome banner.

Dennis in his career-boy suit by the same banner.

Dennis infront of the elegant meeting table at the equally elegant Berlin Room of The Four Seasons Hotel.

Dennis clowning it up by the Berlin Room's foyer/entrance.

Dennis and I at the Berlin Room's foyer, and with Manny, the hotel's main man for our event.

Me posing at the Berlin Room back room with this zebra-striped chair I so fell in love with.
If only I could take it home with me, as Manny has crudely suggested...

The Berlin Room's accents were too elegant to pass up and pose in/with.

Photographs by C. Servillas.

UP

I greatly thank Jose Wendell Capili [of away from canberra] for inspiring me to write this entry, with all the nostalgia-inducing photographs he posted on his blog about UP.

Mr. Capili, I took the liberty of posting some of the photographs from your blog, and adding my own stories/memories your photos evoked from me.

How did I become a UP student?

It almost always starts with the UPCAT or the University of the Philippines College Admissions Test. In a way, my Grade Six, and eventually, my whole high school life, prepared me for it. I got trained in responding to all those multiple choice type of questions, including all those verbal and non-verbal analogy type ones, with all the diagnostic and other tests (including the now-defunct National College Entrance Examinations or NCEE) that I took as a graduating elementary student and as a high school student. I must say that my favorite sections of those tests were the word power and grammar/mechanics parts.

Not only must one pass the UPCAT; one must also be keen about the items/boxes one ticks off, regarding the courses one hopes to take. UP has the so-called quota and non-quota courses, thereby distinguishing courses where a lot of students tend to enrol in/flock to, from other courses deemed unpopular among incoming students.

I happened to tick Pre-Dentistry which was a non-quota course and ended up one of among 5,000 accepted by the university from among 20,000 or even more nationwide, who took the tests. It was supposed to be a two-year preparatory course for Dental Medicine but I finished it in three years when I dropped some really difficult Chemistry and Zoology courses and partly due to my difficulties in funding my education which led me to doing resident assistantship in UP's freshmen dormitory.

I took the requisite tests to move to Dentistry proper at UP in Manila but I did not make the cut. In my desire to graduate from UP, I was left with no option but to shift to another course. My remaining choices were either I become an English major or a social worker.

Five years after taking the UPCAT, I earned an AB degree in English, major in English literature. Unlike when I graduated from my elementary and high school, I never got any academic awards in college. Just as well; I was just glad and quite proud I am now a UP alumnus.

From UP's "gates", the road leads to the Quezon Hall, which is also the administration building and where the famous UP Oblation is located - it's at the front of the building. On the other side of the building is an open amphitheater of some sort where our graduation ceremonies in 1984 were held. I think they still do it there till now.

UP's campus in Diliman is beautiful, if only for its main roads lined with fire trees. These trees are a sight to behold specially when their modified leaves and flowers in red and in orange are in bloom and look like they set the trees on fire! During my time, because we did not have cars, we used to go around the campus (on these fire-tree lined roads) and move from building to building, using the Ikot jeepneys. It used to be P1.50 per ikot.

The UP Infirmary was famous/infamous for the time when students would undergo medical physical examinations as part of freshman orientation activities. For this exercise, incoming freshmen were asked to strip to their underwear, line up before several doctors who each would poke, search, look, sniff, etc. at you. The exercise eventually became a hot issue about human rights and rights to privacy so that it was discontinued after a few years. But during its heyday, it was excellent fodder for articles and cartoons at the UP's student publication, The Philippine Collegian.

Home to me at UP was the Kalayaan Residence Hall (KRH) for freshmen. Then, it was the newest dormitory for students. As a freshman resident, I shared the room with Glenn Ello, a Batangueno pre-med student. As a Resident Assistant (beginning my second semester as a freshman), I had a room to myself, until I graduated five year later.

KRH was a stone's throw away from DiliMall - a pun on Cubao's Ali Mall and actually, officially called the UP Shopping Center. It's home to the now-legendary Rodic's and all sorts of stores including a bookstore (G. Miranda), barber shop, tailoring shop, grocery store, other eateries, shop for posters and gifts, etc.

Lots and lots of memories are there for me of my stay in UP. Photographs like Mr. Capili's are just what I need to go back to those memories.

Photographs: Jose Wendell Capili

A LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

If there is one thing truly lamentable during my stay here in Saudi Arabia, it is the apparent lack of the true spirit of professional customer service among the ranks of people supposed to provide you that. [For sure, Saudi Arabia's customer service industry has no monopoly of this lack but I am going to be writing from experience.]

Last night (June 9), I was scheduled for a 7:00 pm massage therapy at one of the five-star hotels here (and part of a global chain of hotels). I was driven to the hotel a good half hour before the appointed time but due to traffic at checkpoints, I arrived a few minutes after 7:00 pm, and told by the Receptionist that my slot was given to someone else who has already paid for it. Besides, the Receptionist added, it will only be for 15 minutes.

I will be attended to as soon as the therapist is again available.

I would have let this slide were it not for the fact that this was the second time this happened in a little over 7 days. In both instances, it involved the same Receptionist who appeared not to be worried about any inconveniences customers may suffer due to his undue regard for prior appointments. Mouthing the same favorite expression of "Mafi mushkila (No problem)" just because I will be attended to anyway after about 15 minutes, he thought he could get away with it.

I had to make a ruckus. I asked him why he does this but he simply tried to explain that it was just for 15 minutes and that the service has been paid for by the new customer/intruder! I demanded to speak to the manager but the Receptionist of course refused to listen to my demand. I called up the hotel operator and was promptly connected to the Health Club. The call of course was picked up by the Receptionist I wanted to complain about and so I hang up and harrangued the hotel operator again. This time, he connected me to the Duty Manager. I narrated the incident to the Duty Manager and he agreed that the Receptionist's behavior in mixing up the schedule and in his lack of propriety in attending to the consequences, is not acceptable. We therefore agreed that I will send the hotel a letter regarding my experiences and the hotel will take appropriate action.

It would have ended there but after the therapy and after paying for the service, the Receptionist had the gall to say to the therapist that I was angry at the therapist (and not at the Receptionist!) - thereby clearly demonstrating how the Receptionist completely missed the whole point!

Which brings me to another petty but equally high blood pressure-inducing incident at noon of the same day.

After buying food for lunch at a mall that my colleagues and I frequent, I hoped to sit down at one of the benches by the mall's gate, to wait for Dennis to pick me up to get back to the office. I have not sat down a minute when this mall security guard asked me (in Arabic, which I barely understood were it not for a passerby who somehow translated things to me) that I was not supposed to sit at the bench because it was for women. I stood up from the bench and silently fumed since there were no women around at that time and I remember seeing other mall security guards sitting on those benches at other times that I was at the mall (also for food; which means almost always at the same noon time).

The mall security guard was not pacified that I stood up. He also made me know that I was not supposed to stand around the benches as well and that if I must wait, I must do it outside of the mall's gate where the sun was shining brightly and hotly at 46 degrees Celsius! For sure, he told the same thing to another guy (who was obviously a family driver) who dutifully agreed with the guard's wishes. In fairness to the guard, as soon as I tried to argue (in English but without a doubt that I was antagonistic) he backed down a bit and even said "Sorry" a few times.

I made a ruckus again! I mean, why wouldn't I? It was not right to let me wait outside in the hot sun, when he himself was inside the mall. He was another male like I was, if being male was a problem around females. There were no females anyway during the time and even if there were, what problems would there be if they were seated and I was standing up away from them while waiting for a car?

To cool off and stay away from the obnoxious mall guard and the ridiculousness of it all, I called up (Dennis) that I will instead wait at another gate. Lo and behold, that gate had the guard seated at the benches by the gate, with other males (family driver types) to boot! And there were ladies in the same area as well.

Oh well.

NEPHEWS AND NIECES AND NEPHEWS/NIECES KIDS

This is a photograph of my nephews and nieces, and some of my older nephews/nieces' kids. I'm proud of them all if only because they all are lookers! I hope they all grow up to be as good-hearted as they are as good-looking!

They gathered together for a reunion of sorts in Cavite. Three nephews/nieces from the USA, Japan and Saudi (who are siblings), decided to take a break in the Philippines together. Thus, the opportunity to meet and hopefully bond, was there. It's rare for my brothers and sisters to come together, much less my nephews and nieces and their own children (who are now my grandkids).

Well, I'm old enough to be a grandparent! Just turned double four last Thursday (June 7). It was a simple celebration this year. The families at our villa (the Rosarios and the Esguerras) joined Dennis and I for lunch at the newly-opened Tony Roma's where we feasted on barbecued beef ribs. Dinner was another simple one with a new-found friend at Season's Restaurant which has an on-going Japanese Cuisine festival (with an authentic Japanese chef flown in; although our local favorite , Tokyo Restaurant, also boasts of an authentic Japanese chef who also co-owns the place and who knows Tagalog to boot, because most of his staff are Filipinos).

I am greatly grateful for the gifts I got this year: an embroidered card with a touching message about how I must be thankful for my life, a denim, top-of-the-line wallet, a really exotic-smelling perfume and a to die-for pair of painted sneakers! Of course, I am also eternally grateful for all the warm messages of love and prayers that found my way from my always well-meaning and thoughtful family and friends.

So what's not to like about adding another year to my life, even when I stopped counting my age at 28?

IDs

We received our new corporate IDs today. I would have wanted to keep the old one as a souvenir but I would not get my new one until I surrender my old one. So I thought, I would post the old one on the blog (and include the new one to boot), for posterity.