Just
a note that my little camera has gone to camera heaven and thus, my photo
opportunities will now be severely restricted.
Still, I will try to provide pics with each segment.
School resumed this past week as the Christmas recess came
to an end. I will be the first to admit
(along with many other parents) that the children returning to classes was a
blessing as well as a curse. The
blessing was the house became quiet for a few hours each day, allowing me time
to write, which had not been the case in recent months. The curse was the return to the 5:30 a.m.
wakeup calls. The children, as well as
me, had gotten used to going to bed at 10:00 p.m. and waking up at seven or
even eight in the morning, but it had all come to an end. Another problem was the fact that there were
going to be Saturday classes for the rest of the school year. It appeared that there had been too many days
out of school during the first semester and now it was time to make up for
it. I had to acknowledge the fact that
earth tremors and tropical storms stopped or at the least ended the school day
early. When Typhoon Pablo passed south
of the island, classes were canceled for three days (even though it hardly
rained and there were insignificant winds associated with the system).
On taking the children to school that morning, I noticed the
school grounds were eerily quiet. I
peeked through the open gate and saw no students traversing the large grass
field in front of the classrooms. Within
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| Himamaylan Central School on a busier day |
the hour, the two boys had returned home. They were the only student’s to show
up in their respective classrooms. Thus,
the teachers had them do some general cleaning (no janitor’s at most Philippine
schools) and then they were dismissed for the day. In the case of Clarisse, five students showed
up besides her. They did a smattering of
school work and then were sent home at lunch for the rest of the day. As for Saturday, only the six grade students
were required to attend and out of forty-one students, only eleven appeared. Again, a little school work, a couple exams
and then the small group was released at noon.
It troubled me that there was no enforcement of school attendance. It upset me further that the school had been
without electricity for over a month because the electric bill had not been
paid. This equated to the students
having to suffer in sweltering classrooms without the benefit of lights, much
less electric fans. In the United
States, it would not have been tolerated.
But this was the Philippines and I was confident that nothing would be
done about it.
Personally, I think my children are receiving an adequate
education under the present circumstances, but am debating whether to send them
to a private high school to finish out their education.
On Friday I took the two oldest children to Kabankalan to
buy MORE school supplies. Fortunately,
the trike drive was uneventful….although we saw an overturned sugar cane truck
at the curve just outside of that city.
It seems that at least one truck misses that particular curve and
crashes into the buildings that are located there. Last year, the highway department constructed
a concrete barrier to protect the wood/bamboo structures, but it seem that all
it did was allow the tipped over truck to slide, on its side, along the barricade
until it came to the end and then the vehicle slammed into an unprotected
business. In the states when there is an accident or
truck broken down on the road, there are those little reflective triangular
signs posted behind the vehicle. The sugar cane truck had closed my lane and
the only warning was a tire (laid on its side) with a couple pieces of sugar
cane stuck out of its hub. Then since
it was a blind curve, you took the chance of, when driving around it, hoping
that someone else didn’t come barreling at you from the opposite
direction.
In Kabankalan, the traffic had settled down from the
previous week and one could actually drive with a certain amount of safety, but
as with all driving in the Philippines, you were never safe. I had never felt so vulnerable until I
arrived in the PI. In the states your
biggest fear was dying from old age, but in the PI, I had come to the
conclusion that a truck or bus may get me before then.
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| It's small but it gets the job done |
affair, whereas a grill in the Philippines is quite small. Since Gaisano’s mall didn’t have what we
needed, we ventured over to Unitop. I
recall when K-Mart (Big K now) would have so much merchandise that you
could
barely fit down the aisles (some Wal-Marts were that way too). It is still like that in the
Philippines. Now I have to consider that
two Filipinos could probably fit down the rows quite nicely, but given my SIZE,
it is not an option…..especially when they are stocking their already
overloaded shelves.
Returning to Gaisano’s, I told the trio to go upstairs and
shop for the school supplies and I would stay downstairs and wait….you couldn’t
carry any shopping bags into the store.
They have four escalators in the complex….of which only three are
operating. For the longest time, none of
them worked, but were finally repaired one at a time.
I stood in the main walkway in front of a line of tables
with Christmas items STILL on sale at “Drastically Reduced Prices!” To my left and right were the escalators
going to/coming down from the second floor.
To the right of the “UP” automated stairway was a set of three large
mirrors. I could gather no reason for
that other than it allowed people to look at themselves? At first, those reflective objects had not
attracted my attention, but slowly I began to observe the customers as they
used that electronic human conveyor.
When it first came to my consideration was a young couple
who were riding upward. He was on the
mirror side and as they ascended past those mirrors, she leaned back a bit to
brush back her long hair and smooth the makeup on her face. The entire time, her suitor seemed to be
blind to the touching up. As the moving
stairway passed the inspection opportunity, the young woman snuggled tightly to
his left arm content that she had passed her own personal inspection. As the number of customers continued their
trek to the upper level, I discovered that the males rarely looked into the
mirrors; leaving me with the impression that they were either oblivious to
those reflective panes or their personal appearance wasn’t that important. Also,
groups of young women, mothers with kids, along with single young women did the
same thing – apart from the children, the rest pretty much ignored those
mirrors. However, if it was a
boyfriend/girlfriend; more often the girl stood a step behind to make sure she
looked good in the mirror and if there were any adjustments to be made, she
didn’t want her boyfriend to notice. Interestingly though, there was another group
who was also concerned with their appearance.
Amazingly it was middle aged females.
Infrequently I would see one touch up her hair or pull down the back of her
t-shirt as they rode their way upward.
After what felt like a very long time of waiting, the three returned with
the needed school supplies and what made me feel like a papa was when Toy Toy
and Clarisse both came up to me and gave me the biggest hugs. So, I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts and bought a eighteen
Bavarian Creams to go. I know, if you
want sweets, just suck up to papa.
Last night as the kids were retiring for another night of
slumber in expectation of a new day in scholastic learning, I observed Toy Toy
sitting in bed with his hands folded. It
warmed my heart to see, even at the age of eleven, a child saying prayers (if
even silently to himself) before retiring.
Somehow, seeing that restored my faith in our future generation, but
more so in knowing that I had done the right thing at taking these children and
providing them with dreams of a future which had never existed before.
ah the joys of parenthood ...
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