I grew up with the nuns. When I was Grade 5, boys were not allowed to
mingle with the girls. The boys transferred to San Sebastian College which
is across Saint Rita College. Boys and girls grew up hating each other. It
shouldn't happen that way. It's painful to pass by San Sebastian and being
berated. Sex education was never a part of our curriculum. There was zero
teenage pregnancy. This wasn't even heard of. If ever it happened, the
young girl would be sent to Timbuktu.
There was a time when a brother of one of the nuns visited. He stayed
inside the compound. All the girls had their eyes on him. The teenage
girls were seeking someone to love, so they started to have crushes on other
girls. There were rivalries but at graduation, everybody just laugh at
themselves and ask "Why did I do that?" I've only seen one lesbian though.
I was ignorant about
lesbian. All I knew was that lesbians were some kind of tomboys who like to
wear boys clothes.
My School had a cloister were novices lived. Hundreds of them line up every
morning to go to the chapel. They all wore white habits, immaculate and
well-starched. They were all very young, pretty and had angelic air about
them. They would sing psalms so soothing and heavenly. I didn't hear any
wrong note sung.
Home Economics was well emphasized. There were big rooms with rows of
sewing machines, another room for pressing clothes which looked more like a
laundromat where clothes were washed by hands. Starches were being boiled
24/7. All clothes were starched and pressed meticulously. There was a mock
room where we were taught how to dress up a bed like what the nurses do at
the hospitals.
Our gala uniformss
Updated January 5, 2008,
4:37 PM
From age
12 to age 15, I was involved in Cell
Technique Training Course. I go to different
public schools in Manila and teach Religion. I
preferred to teach the kindergarten because they
are still in the formative years.
receiving my certificate
graduating
from Cell Technique Training Course
Edith
Lilia
Friedes
Carmelita
Cell Technique Training
Course
Since
Grade III, I've been 2nd in class. Carmelita was always the first. On our
Third year in High
School, Friedes transferred from another school. Friedes was so pretty and
always smiling. Her father
was a printer and always help in printing the school paper and other school
activities. Before we
graduated, the nuns gave Friedes the salutatorian honor which should be
mine.
Most of my classmate knew about the grim news before I did. When I showed
up in school, everybody
look at me with some kind of emotion that I cannot understand. When I
looked at the board, I found my
name dropped to First Honorable Mention. Everybody told me that I could
complain to the Board of
Education. All day, I can't eat and I was crying.
My father decided to let the whole thing slide. He said he didn't want to
make any fuss.
My High School Graduation
Reverend
Mother pinning my
medal.
My dad
pinning my medal.
My dad
dressed up
for my High School
graduation
