Continuing from where I left off...
52. The very first birthday I recall was when I was 5 years old. It was a Wednesday and it was so much fun,there was cake,ice cream balloons...and gifts...that I began to think every Wednesday was my birthday. So the following week I waited expectantly for Wednesday because it was going to be my birthday again...so I was a bit disappointed when there was no celebration. The concept of birthday had to be explained to me of course.
53. I developed primary complex when I was in Grade 1. I didn't know then that I was sick because Mom never explained it to me. All of a sudden I found myself not going to school,which was OK by me but also puzzling...because by that time I was enjoying school & I was at the top of my class. For about 2 weeks or so, I stayed home...quarantined I guess, until I got well. What I recall about that time was I watched a lot of TV, and got hooked reading Youngster magazine. This was one of the publications that the Sisters of St. Paul sold door to door. It contained a comic strip about Xartan (a play on Tarzan), a boy who was brought up by wolves,who eventually grew up and took over the leadership of a wolf pack. Part of my bonus being a sick boy was that I got to eat Mom's cooking first before she packed these in the lunch pails which were brought to school by our driver. She would watch Nora Daza's cooking show on TV,taking down notes of the recipe,then head off to Acme to buy ingredients,then cook the dish for lunch. One of these dishes I recall vividly was Kaldereta de Baka, because Mommy really cooked it to perfection. It was also the first time I tasted olives and found out they were yucky..(for a 6 year old!)
54. In spite of my prolonged absence because of my primary complex, I still ended up 1st honor of my section under Mr. Dormiendo. I was told later by mommy that as an incentive, we would just pay about 50% of my tuition for the following year. While I really didn't understand what this meant, I strived to get top honors mainly because it made Mom and Dad happy, and I got some small reward (e.g. a toy, or a model plane) as a reward for my efforts.
Interesting footnote: Mr. Dormiendo would again be one of my teachers when I was in Grade 5. By then though, I wasn't so interested in academics as I was with baseball & other sports, so my grades suffered. At the end of the year I only got a bronze medal! Mr. Dormiendo remarked that as I grew older it seemed I became more of an underachiever...because i only got a bronze medal!
The following year, when I was in Grade 6, I got my mojo back, and topped my class and got gold! but there's a story behind this.
55. While on the subject of teachers, I still can recall my teachers in charge during my elementary days: Dormiendo, Lalas (gr.2), Zapanta (Gr.3), Balagtas (Gr.4), Hicban (Gr.5), Balagtas again (Gr.6) and Gonzales aka Timbuktu (Gr.7)
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