St. Francis of Assisi School  − 1 June, 1987

I went to my second school in 2nd grade. Everyone spoke a different dialect. Everyone understood me but not vice versa. It was easy for me to adapt though. My new classmates were nice and friendly, and so was our teacher Ms. Sanchez (whose favorite number was 18 for letter "R"-- I think it was her boyfriend's initial), and I soon figured out Cebuano on my own. So they all spoke to me in Cebuano and I answered them back in Tagalog. (I never spoke in their dialect for fear of sounding like my parents-- funny and unnatural).

My first crush ever was a boy named Chito. How he came to be so went like this: I just decided to crush on someone one day, so I picked two guys to choose from, Chito and a boy named James. (James soon left us, and this world, when the ship his family was on sank. I think this was my first encounter with death and dying. His body was lost, so it was only his sister's coffin I saw when they held a Mass at the church near our school on her funeral day). It was decided then-- Chito. We joined the same games during recess and after school (he and his friend Gian Carlo were always after me whenever we play a game like 'cops and robbers', and I was oh so fine with that!). During the 3rd and 4th grade, however, he was moved to an all-boys class. It was a good thing though, that we both went to school in the afternoons, so I still see him around and get to play with him sometimes.

During the 3rd grade, boys started to like girls the ways girls ought to be liked and they showed their affections usually by sending candies through a "messenger" as to remain anonymous. And girls, well, girls acted like they were disgusted and would pass the sweets to their friends (remember, this was the stage when the boyfriend/girlfriend thing can be the ickiest thing in the world, and yet secretly we were already harboring mushy feelings toward the opposite gender). I don't remember receiving candies during the 3rd grade, but I think, I did on the 4th. I also remember a time when I overheard the smartest boy in our class, Mark, talk with his friends about a certain "PHD 923". I thought PHD 923 sounded familiar. It sure was, it's was our car's plate number! Now, can anybody can tell me what this meant? I didn't like to assume so I dismissed the most probable explanation to their behaviour.

I shared my birthday for 3 years with 2 other girls. I stayed in this school for 3 years, from 2nd to 4th grade. I was always in the afternoon classes. The girls wore pink uniform, while the boys wore blue. We all had the same P. E. sneakers). I like buying two pesos worth of Fruitella, strawberry flavor, every recess. Piano lessons after school. I was a quiet girl and so every year, I bagged the Best in Conduct award. It's all good memories. St. Francis is just a small school, but to my memory, this was, and still is, the best school I have ever attended.