My sister pointed me to that small building at the Southeast corner of the campus. On slippers, and with that very cool net bag on my back, I walked anxiously towards an entirely unknown territory, out of the comfort of my home and away from my parents’ safeguard. Every kid is a stranger and not one of them looked familiar. They were all playing, running around, and seemed to already know each other well. And then, few meters away, fear knocked my senses out and could no longer take another step.
It was a child's fear of unfamiliar people. Perhaps, I could now understand why my little child would just freeze every time someone new to her would visit the house. She would just end up scanning their faces with only her eyeballs moving; all other muscles would freeze, even the eyelids would slow down its blinking mechanisms. Unfortunately, she got all of these overdeveloped cautiousness from her father.
There was, however, this greater fear lurking within me: the fear of being laughed at for going to school that day and not able to attend classes. It was a far greater fear. I ran back to my sister for more directions. On the second attempt, I was finally able to make a landing inside one of the classrooms. That was my D-Day at Anahawan Central School, where I would spend the next 6 years of my life.
D-Day plus 24 years, I had the chance to visit the institution that shaped most of my childhood years. This time, there were already 3 of me. It was not school days yet but we were lucky that gates were open.
Aside from the beaches, the foods, the friendliness of the people, I would say that Anahawan Central School is one the most beautiful attractions I could find in town. For some it could be for its physical appearance: the flower gardens, the trees,
the old but radiant-looking buildings, or perhaps it could be a view of the church bell tower that peeks over the school’s main building's roofs,
or it could be the view of the Anahawan Mountain overlooking the whole town.
For me, however, what makes it beautiful are the things that it hides. Every corner, every building and classroom, every grass and flower, every tree, every stairs and pathways, and everything that exists within its walls and premises hides memories that never fail to bring a smile.
When classes started on that first day at school I found out that almost all my classmates in Grade I came from the same barangay, with the exemptions of few "sa-ags" like me. No wonder why they all seem so familiar with each other even on the first day. Our teacher, Ma’am Naning Urbiztondo, was from Dijo (San Vicente) and the parents from her area probably preferred to enroll their kids to a teacher who is familiar to them.
Later on that year, the kids became unstoppable. In front there was an old building, which was relatively still in good condition. We literally tore that building down into scraps of woods and rusty metals. We took one piece at a time, one floor slab and window pieces from time to time. By the end of the school year, the building was already a complete mess from the ceiling down. Today, I could no longer see any signs of that building behind this tree.
There is, however, an interesting herbal garden in its place. Something that I would like to have some time in the future.
In Grade II I had all the play times in the world. Under Ma’am Siony Singco, we end classes every school day at 2 PM while the rest of the campus still have classes until around 4 or 4:30PM. The school is only a few minutes’ walk from our house but we would usually take the further route home. Along the rocky shores of Poblacion, we had fun throwing stones at kas-kas (a thin species of crab that clings to rocks) on the way home.
My first real class boycott was not during my college years in UP, but when I was Grade III in ACS.
I could not remember how it all started or for what cause but it was probably some sort of a gender prejudice issue because the class was then divided between the naughty boys and the nice girls. All the naughty boys were out in the garden and would not want to go inside the class. I could remember Ma’am Charing Cantones at the door shouting at us, presumably, convincing us to get inside. We were all too scared not one of us would dare go near her. I could not remember how the standoff ended but I think it lasted for at least a few minutes. Maybe Malacañang intervened or perhaps Department of Education issued a Back-to-Class Order, I am not sure. I believe the one thing I can be sure of is that the mutineers were sentenced with one "kunot" each.
Sir Totoy Cinco taught us mostly Mathematics in Grade IV. For the rest of our subjects, he has this unique methodology of teaching. He would have us copy each subject’s textbooks into our notebooks. We could not entirely understand what we were doing that time but I guess we were simply obedient kids. Some of us would even sneak some books into our bags so we can continue the “copying” at home during weekend. It was somewhat weird, but believe me, it was effective! “Copying” is a more effective way of absorbing knowledge than merely reading the book.
However, I guess I got the method so wrongly in college. I had all the textbooks copied and yet I still had hard time passing each subject. Just a sort of advice to all the students out there, the “copying” method is not as effective when you are using the Xerox machine.
The 90s has been considered as the golden age of Pinoy Hip-Hop, though I was not very familiar with that term until a few years later. We were so fund of rap songs in Grade V. We had classmates who could even memorize most of the lyrics of Andrew E's "Binibirocha" and always seem to be updated with the latest dance moves. MC Hammer's song was probably one of the most misheard lyrics as far as I can remember. Honestly, at first I thought his song's title was "injustice" and his name was read "Mac Hammer". :)
Our class was just so lucky we had Ma’am Mareng Grafe who was always supportive of almost every extra-curricular activity that we would like, even until today, whenever there's a get-together among batch mates.
Boys are not exempted from “burda” lessons in Home Economics class under Ma’am Arlene Torotoro. You would hear many parents criticizing why boys are learning "burda" in school.
Science class was also held in a different classroom (now the PTA Bldg), under Sir Pino.
One more class was held in a meek “garden” house at the back of the ACS main building, T.H.E. under Sir Escalera.
The following year was a bit more serious. We were already in our most senior year in elementary and our teachers were either among the most experienced teachers in campus or among the bests. Ma’am Marlyn Armonia was our section teacher while Sir Pio Juanich's classes were specialized to Science and Math subjects. If I recall it correctly, we again had the T.H.E. and H.E. classes under Sir Escalera and Ma’am Arlene Torotoro, respectively.
There had been more expectations from parents and teachers. More responsibilities had been assigned like taking care of garden plots, classroom chores, and closing the classroom after class hours. It was also the first time we had real access to a real school library. At Grade VI, I was first able to read Tagalog fairy tales like "Ibong Adarna."
This time we are now at the coolest classroom in campus; cool because we are now at the very center of the of the main building of ACS.
Nevertheless, we were still kids; and play was still our most favorite activity of all. We now have the winning baseball and sipa (double) teams among all schools in Hinundayan District; but only to be beaten by the Hinunangan and Silago players, who were trained by coaches with more exposures to such kind of competitions.
It was one good hour of recollection. All the gigabytes in my computer would never be enough if I have to put together everything I could recall about my ACS years.
In 24 years, Anahawan Central School have had its mild version of evolution. Not much have changed, but it does look much better than how it was the last time I saw it. Now they have some interesting features like the Math Park, the Makabayan Park, and that Herbal Garden - more creative and fun ways of learning for the children of Anahawan. Everything looked so fine despite the fact that we visited her before the start of classes.
This article is primarily dedicated to all the teachers of Anahawan Central School, past and present; to all my teachers in ACS, some already in heaven, I would like to take this opportunity to say "thank you", what I am today is partly a result of what I learned from you yesterday; to all the teachers out there, my salute to all of you for having one of the most respectable professions on earth - nurturers of our nation's hope.
