"A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE" |
The junior year during
1974-1975 presented us with very interesting subjects from Biology to Geometry. It
was in Mrs. Juliana Monzon's Biology class that I first saw a human cell under a
microscope - a piece of skin that I scraped from inside my mouth. I wonder if the
baby fetus in a formaldehyde jar in the Biology laboratory is still there. I don't
recall it being discussed during lab sessions; it was more of a prop to give the room a
"laboratory-look". Mrs. Monzon's only daughter, Nellie, also belongs to
the Class of 1976. We had a good dose of history under Mrs. Caridad Saulog and Mrs.
Visitacion Teodones where we learned about the United States, its original thirteen
colonies, Napoleon, Charlemagne and the rise and fall of empires. The very capable
and likable Ms. Lolita Bilugan taught English. Her command of the language, diction
and intonation were superb. This memoir is a manifestation of her influence on
me. One time during her class, she mentioned the phrase, "Chivalry is
dead", and quipped that I did not Classes were held in a very orderly fashion, with seating assignments for everyone. We were always arranged alphabetically, either with the boys and girls on separate halves of the room, or with boys and girls mixed together. I showed my best behavior when I was seated with the girls, to make a good impression on them. I had to restrain myself from talking too much or moving too much in my seat - not an easy task but necessary because of the circumstance. On these occasions when seating was mixed, I was always sandwiched between the ever-quiet Susan Diaz and Nina Gabriel, who amazed me with her ability to write both right- and left-handed. I admired their neat handwritings so much that even during written examinations, I would occasionally glance at what they were writing and in the process, "accidentally" peek at some answers! Mentioning Susan brought to mind her good friend, the also-quiet Nilda Cremat. They were always together that to me, they will always be partners, in the same context as Ernie and Bert, or Batman and Robin. Nilda and I were classmates all throughout high school but hardly spoke with each other - honestly, I don't remember if we ever did! International
politicians during our junior year included Golda Meir of Israel and Valery Giscard
d'Estaing of France. I forgot how it came about but one of the boys in our class
started to be called (or may have called himself) "Giscard", it was short-lived
though, but he would assume another nickname that he still uses to this day,
"Buddy". It was in 1974 when President Richard Nixon resigned because of
the Watergate affair, he would be later pardoned by his vice-president and successor,
Gerald Ford. The Philippines was in the early years of martial law High school was the period of transition into adolescence. Boys started to have deep voices and facial hairs. Girls had their own distinct signs that I would rather not discuss here. Being a teenager also meant starting to take notice of the opposite gender. It was a rite of passage to have "crushes", to strain your neck staring at a "crush" passing by or simply to admire another of the opposite sex. Girls would be giggling and whispering among themselves when a good-looking boy would pass by. The same was true with the boys. I'm sure that in one way or another, some of us have had similar experiences. These events, memorable for some and forgettable for others, surely helped shape us in what we had become today.
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understand
it. I just gave her a smile of ignorance but she was right, I really did not get it!
I have to admit that at the time, my knowledge of English vocabulary and phrases
was still limited. I realized that I was spending too much time on Hiwaga, Aliwan,
Love Story, Wakasan and all my other
favorite
"komiks". To improve myself, I started to read more English-language
newspapers instead of those Tagalog tabloids with their scantily clad women in the front
page, eye-catching headlines and sensational crime stories. Whenever I would stop by
Sabater's newsstand by the "munisipyo", I would read Disney, DC and Marvel
Comics to check on my favorite superheroes. However, weekends were devoted to my
favorite "komiks". Advanced Algebra was handled by Mrs. Carmelita Gain
who sometimes rode with us in Mang Kuring's jeepney (hindi sabit, ha!). If you were
to ask somebody from our class what subject gave him/her the hardest time, the most likely
answer will be Ms. Yolanda Algoso's Geometry class. Don't get me wrong, but Ms.
Algoso was a great math teacher. I was so desperate that halfway through the school
year, I was just hoping to pass her subject - any final grade 75 or over was
acceptable! Some of us just struggled with the subject, and for those who were in
the running to graduate with honors, it caused a disappointment. If I remember it
right, one of the rules to qualify as an honor graduate was not to have any grade below 80
in any of the grading periods. Years later, some of these students who struggled
with Geometry would become engineers or chemists, which meant taking and passing higher
mathematics like Calculus and Differential Equations. It proved that they finally
figured out how two triangles can be congruent! A year earlier, on my second year,
my most embarrassing moment in high school came in another math class. It happened
in Elementary Algebra under Mrs. Amparo Darvin. She had a problem on the board and
asked if anybody can solve it. I swear to this day that I had the problem solved in
my head, so I proudly raised my hand. She called me, but when I went to the board
and held the chalk, my mind went blank! I just froze in front, didn't know how to
start the solution, and then I heard the whole class behind me laughing. Well, I
don't blame them, if somebody else was out there looking like an idiot, I'd laugh
too! Anyway, it was either Tib Camagong or Liberato Virata who stood up and showed
the solution, the same one I had all along in my head. I wasn't proud of that
moment, but hey, I tried. Those two guys would eventually graduate with honors.
and war was going on in Mindanao against a Muslim secessionist
movement. The government was at war in another front with the communist New People's
Army or NPA, whose leader, Bernabe Buscayno aka Kumander Dante was in the most wanted
list. He would be captured a few years later.
Songs always remind us of certain events or periods in our lives.
Some of the big hits on our junior year were "Eres Tu" by I-don't-remember-who,
Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You", "The Lord's Prayer"
recorded by a real-life nun and Cliff de Young's "My Sweet Lady", a better
version than John Denver's original. Getting nostalgic yet? Here's some
more. How about "Rock The Boat" by The Hues Corporation, "When Will I
See You Again" by Three Degrees and "You Make Me Feel Brand New" by The
Stylistics? The Hotdogs and Cinderella had their usual Manila Sound hits.
There you go! That should tickle your memories and bring 
you
back to around '74 or '75. At about the same time, "Zuma" still carried
the snake around his neck, and "Bakekang" gave birth to a beautiful baby girl
named "Kristal", fathered by a drunk Caucasian. I was still reading about
them on weekends in a neighborhood "sari-sari" store while having an afternoon
merienda of "arroz caldo", "tokwa't baboy" and "gulaman at
sago", drinking "Sarsi" if there was no "halo-halo", and waiting
for my turn in a game of "bilyar". Some grownups would always challenge me
to play for money but my "nanay" would have beaten me up if I did! If I
had extra change, I would always play some of those songs in an old jukebox in the store
corner. Movies? Lino Brocka's Maynila: Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag that starred a
bald Bembol Rocco, the original Jaws, The Towering Inferno and Earthquake with its
"Sensurround" sound, were just a few of them. On television, The Six
Million Dollar Man was making its successful run with Farrah Fawcett's ex, Lee Majors, as
the bionic hero. I still enjoyed reruns of Combat with the late Vic Morrow, and The
Wild, Wild, West with Robert Conrad. Local afternoon shows included Student Canteen
with Eddie Ilarde. Ate Guy had her "Makulay Na Daigdig ni Nora", and the
variety show "Superstar", which aired on Sunday nights.