those were the good old days
my sister and i went to miriam today. we weren’t planning to go there. we were just in the neighborhood and all of a sudden thought why not go to miriam because we had nothing else to do. we decided to enter the la vista gate because we already passed the katipunan gate. the guard at the high school gate didn’t let us in. we went to the next gate (csc gate). and told the guard we were going to get a car sticker. what the heck. what a lame reason. haha. anyway, so we got in. as we were walking to the high school building, i can’t help but say ‘oh my gosh’ every second. my sister had to tell me to shut up but i really can’t. a lot of things have changed. i’m so amazed. and all i could say was ‘oh my gosh.’ when we got to the high school building, we saw mr. pino at the chapel. he didn’t remember us, as always. haha. of all the times i saw him outside school, he always asks my name. and i thought he should remember me. i was his student during his first year of teaching and he always calls me to read something from the bible. we saw other teachers too. my old health teacher, who was also my sister’s health sister. but i wasn’t that close to her because she was our teacher for like two quarters only (she was only substituting for our original health teacher who was on maternity leave. she knows my sister more. so we were talking and talking when all of a sudden, she asks how come my sister and i are very close to each other considering that we were from different batches. she thought that we were friends. my sister told her we were sisters. we were laughing so hard. she didn’t realize it because we don’t look alike.
next, we saw our english teacher, sir fermin. he’s now the assistant principal for academic affairs. my sister and i were so surprised to learn that. it’s only been a few years and he’s now an assistant principal. unbelievable. we’re so happy for him. he told me he read the article i wrote before and even "preserved" (this was his term) it. and when his friends read my essay, he always tells them i was his student. haha. he also said it was "fantastic." haha. this made me laugh so hard. so he inquired if i have any plans to teach. i told him my usual reply to other people who also ask, "maybe in a few years." he was surprised to learn that i’m already taking my masters at this age. i was surprised he’s taking his doctorate right now. he’s still also very young.
speaking of teaching, they told us that one of my batchmates is back in miriam teaching t.h.e. unbelievable. i never saw that in her.
we also saw one of our social studies teacher. she remembers me but thought that i was a batch lower than my sister, not remembering that i was the batch during her first year of teaching.
other changes in miriam: there’s a new building designed to keep the building cool and maximize ventilation, mr. tiangco and mr. pagulayan moved to the states (separately of course, their wives are nurses), there’s a new principal, there are now a 100++ teachers (there are now 2 faculty rooms to accommodate the teachers), mr. gorospe is now the head of AV, ms. lacson now has straight hair, and there are now food stalls at the sports com.
all of the teachers we’ve talked to also said that the students now are very different from the students before. as early as 1st year, they already know how to drink and smoke. many students now have ‘conduct cases’, they’re not that courteous anymore (they don’t greet teachers and the school had to include a courtesy module for homeroom class), and the level of achievement is very different now (they all think it’s due to internet, games, etc.)
it was really good to see the place again. made me appreciate the good old days.
