Days in Paco

i’ve spent my elementary and high school days in the country’s biggest parochial school (is it still?)-paco catholic school. i can still remember the name of my kindergarten teacher (ms. buenaobra) who helped me fix myself when i accidentally you know what mess kindergarten children do, hehehe.

though we have girl schoolmates, the boys hold classes separately from the girls. i only had female classmates when i was in fifth grade, and being part of that class was the coolest in our batch! i met my three best friends in that class (my kindergarten classmate who eventually went on campus tour and is now fixing luxury cars in yao ming’s land, my second to fourth grade classmate who loves to live in a place far far away until now, and my first time classmate who’s trip challenged me a lot).

everyday, from day one in paco, i see and smell the market place. i see people selling various products, ranging from fishballs to toys to vegetables to wet and dry fish to meat products to sago and gulaman to flowers and candles. there are also a lot of bullies around who steal and try to take advantage of weak people. i learned to be streetsmart. i learned to build relationships with them. i learned to ask how they were. i learned to listen to their stories. i learned where they are coming from. i also understood my dad’s story.

my parents grew in anak bayan, which is near paco. my dad used to be a vendor in paco, who by the way sleeps with his merchandise in the sidewalk, to support his and his siblings studies. he valued education more than anything else. his story taught me to value the things i learned in and outside of school.

i learned so many things in paco. i learned that i was blessed even if i only have a few, because a classmate doesn’t have any. i learned to conquer myself after being challenged by my peers, and discovered that i can if i wanted to.

i also did not so good things in paco like having two classmates fight in sixth grade, vandalize in my sophomore year, condone a drug addict classmate, etc etc etc.

how about love life? well, that’s another story. pray that i have some more time next time to write. hehehe.