My Memoirs---Grade School Years

The above is a picture of the elementary school where I went to.  It  belongs to my high school classmate, Ricardo Francisco who posted  it on my facebook timeline (Thanks to him!).  Rick went to a different school. 

Seeing the photo brought back to my mind some video clips of me in my grade school years... Just like every little girl, I was wearing then a blue skirt,  white blouse and blue tie, my right hand raised across my heart, my head upright and my eyes gazing at the the Philippine flag of  white, blue, red and yellow colours.  The flag was beautiful to look at when it was blown by the wind, which made me sing by heart the Philippine national anthem, along with all the others in our general assembly

Bayang magiliw....

Perlas ng Silanganan

Alab ng puso sa dibdib moý buhay...

and recite Panatang Makabayan more ardently..

Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas...

Ito ang bayan kong sinilangan 

Hmm. I forgot now..

In a small classroom of a little over than 40 pupils, I was among the recipient of the free penciI, pad paper and black bag given out to every pupil in the school when Antonio J. villegas was the Mayor of Manila. From hindsight, this must be one of Villegas campaign strategies to get my parents 'vote.  I also remember Imelda Marcos giving out to us school kids Nutriban, which to my recollection was really nutritious (siksik sa bitamina!) and delicious bread.  

According to my parents Villegas had been a good mayor.  So it is not my intention to defame him by mentioning his name here.  I remembered I liked him, too, as young as I was, because I really enjoyed using the stout pencil..By the same token,  I also did not have a grudge towards Imelda Marcos then, simply because I wasn't aware that she was accumulating over the years tons of shoes using my parents' money.

Was I happy in school? I would say I was and I wasn't.  I was--because I want to learn. I wasn't --because I was asthmatic and also, because I was technically friendless. 

I did not do my first grade in F.G. Calderon,  but did it instead in a Seventh Day Adventist School at Lerma, where I  barely achieved a perfect Monday thru Friday attendance  week after week because of asthma attacks.  So my attendance was alternating present and absent pattern. That is,  if I went to school on a Monday, I would definitely be absent the following day because of an asthma attack at night time.   At the end of school year, I got 77%. My parents couldn't be upset with my teacher Miss Lydia Tordecilla.  Ate, my eldest sister, annoyingly and laughingly said Pasang awa. (which meant I just passed out of pity from the teacher)!

I could cry ---but in silence.   I liked studying but it did not turn out I was cut for it. Without having for my friend my cousin Esther Villacastin, who also had asthma like me, and got 78%,I could not have been happy in school.

On my second grade, my parents transferred me to F.G. Calderon.    Above  is my second grade class picture  posted by Editha Bacani to me on my facebook time line (thanks to her!). I could not remember why we were not wearing our school uniform.  Maybe because we would be having  a class picture taking.  I cropped the photo so I could see me better.  Ah...frowning face? Was I a Wednesday's child?  I don't know. My elder sister who was also my friend, Mina, fixed my hair and dressed me up.  I still remember how she did this hairstyle, she must have cut my fringe too.  Ah...what a nice sister! She told me to smile as soon as the camera man finished counting three but here I was--sambakol ang mukha.  Ano ba ang problema mo Lilian?  I could not recall what was wrong with me. Should I not be happy, I have Linda for a friend in this class?  Furthermore, I was wearing my beautiful  orange striped dress which possibly was made by my mother who was a costurera..  And  if Mr. Zacharias, who was my science teacher, would ask me to do the weather report, I'd be happy to say the sky was clear.  From hindsight, maybe i was upset because I could not see favourite cloud formation cirrus.  The cumulus and the stratus clouds similarly were nowhere in sight. Or maybe I was wondering why  our slim and beautiful teacher Ms Andrade told our class we should not  sit down after eating, but just lie down to keep our tummy flat.. Hmm... I been thinking to myself up to this day, why would she say that to us who were just kids.

Even if it wouldn't show in the photo, Mina also cut my fingernails. Hence, possibly that day, my row leader would report to class we were all spic and span, no one with dirty fingernails and that we all had handkerchief, which to my recollection mine to be white in colour with my name embroidered on it by Ate.

On my third grade, my parents transferred me again to Lerma SDA School. I did not know why, but from hindsight, maybe their business picked up so I was back to this private school where the system, if I could say it, was individualised instruction as the class was very small.  Here, I had a friend called Lilia Estrella.  I liked her a lot because hers and my name were similar.  One time however, I got so mad at her, I walked out of class  and climbed that steep road leading away from our school to the main highway, leaving on her desk however, an angry note.  After clearing the air, I walked back to school and as soon as I entered class, Mrs. Lilia Batralo asked me to solve some arithmetic problems on the board.  Well, I did just fine! (to my recollection, ie as basic arithmetic was easy). From hindsight, I am still wondering why I was able to sneak out from the school ground and not noticed by any teacher and also why nobody looked for me. 

My parents transferred me again to F.G. Calderon on my fourth grade.  Not again!  Why? I did  not want to leave my teacher and friend whose names were Lilia! I was too obliging then, I did not ask this then to my parents.  Who wouldn't?  I was young and I could not definitely question my parents! Moreover,  I did not even know then in my nine -year -old mind, that I should.  From hindsight, I think their business was down and they could not possibly afford to pay tuition fees in a private school  for my other siblings Nimrod, Daisy and also myself. 

My teacher's name on my fourth grade was Mrs. Roque whom I liked because in my recollection she liked me, too. She always alluded to my quietness in class and at the same time, my achievement.  A quiet achiever!

Mrs. Roque liked my writing exercies and penmanship that she always pinned my work in the bulletin.  Romualdo Marquez, who similarly had a good penmanship, always admired my handwriting.  He always said looking at my pinned work Äng gara!

I finished grade four with a First Honour Award. Consequently, I was moved to section 1 during my grades 5 and 6, where I did not graduate with any honours.  Edgardo Isidro, who was our valedectorian and Catalina de la Cruz, our salutotorian were obviously smarter than me. 

One beautiful thing, that happened because I was in the top section, however, was this: with the rest of our class which must have been shortlisted, I went to a live TV show called Oras ng Ligaya where I saw in person the famous soprano, Sylvia la Torre,  who's CD album I always play for my Mum.

And by the same fond memories, I remember our class singing with other pupils, I think, the song The Sound of Music in one big event in the school. Cathy, did the solo part.  It was fine with me, of course, I did not want to be Maria.  I was not cut to look after seven children.