Field Trip, Yehey !
September 27, 2008
[Note from YLB: For those who have younger children: This may not mean anything, but I thought I might share with beloved batchmates anyway. In a visit back home, I showed off my 15-year old dalagita (who painstakingly learned a few Mandarin phrases just in case Dao Ming Su / Van Ness Wu answered her letters) to her wide-eyed grandparents, and told them she had good grades and spoke good English (frustrations ng ama), and gently nudged Nicole into a conversation with them. Imagine my surprise when from her hesitant lips sprung halting phrases and sentences not unlike a struggling pre-teener. After the reunion, I asked her, Nicole, u speak better than average and you even write well. What happened with Nana and Lolo? The mother, who I hadnt met for quite awhile, offered an explanation: With friends and everyday situations she's OK. But in unfamiliar situations she switches into the language she's most comfy with, which of course is Tagalog, then translates that into English. This all happens in her mind, and since Tagalog literally translated into English sometimes produces funny results, like Yoda like sentences ("into the Dark side, he has gone..."), predicate - subject sequences, etc. The implication is, not only does the extra mental step slow her down, she sounds funny pa. Ganuuun? Moral lesson , I think, is to encourage kids to think in both Tagalog and English (and Chinese, for the ambitious ones). And trust the mother to be a language slash developmental slash child psychology specialist.. . sigh, the price of being away.]
Dear Batchmates:
Ever notice that the sunniest days usually fall on Sundays? & notwithstanding Karen C's song, iz it just me or do i remember correctly that if its a rainy or dreary day, u can bet that its a Monday or the end of a long holiday?
Anyway, I remember the very first field trip we had in elementary (1) because I prayed hard to Jesus the previous night that no matter what, it was going to be a PERFECT day next day (Thursday most probably) and (2) the fact that i suffered an upset stomach and didnt make the trip, stayed wasted in the school clinic and, with the help of Divine Providence, still enjoyed the afternoon trip. Evidently the batch then was so big that Secs. A B and C did the trips in the a.m., while D E and F did it in the afternoon. Guess which Loyal Batchmate got to know Ms Sunga and Ms Gicaro as a consequence 
?
But enough about personal details. When you are set to enjoy the "outing of your (previously unremarkable) life" going to unheard-of, WAY COOL places like the Manila Zoo, Nayong Pilipino and Fort Santiago, with humans your age and size (was that cool or what?), not even a mild case of indigestion is enough to pull you down. It did feel weird to see these places with batchmates I was still not going to be familiar with till HS, (teeveejoy, as inmate of the Sunga dungeon, you must have been there?) but all the same my sponge mind and senses took in everything.. . the trip, the actual sights, the "education" but...
Even before the actual field trip, there were hurdles to overcome:
PLS SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE, BELOVED PARENT. Who can forget the grainy newsprint letter to parents with the press-release like explanation of the obligatory field trip (yehey! it even had the official "educational field trip" title) with of course, the mystical "detachable" permission slip at the bottom... now for our magical mystery tour to commence, all we need is your "X" on the dotted line, beloved benefactor, i mean, PARENT. I confess it was here when I started to first consider the possibilities of forging beloved parents' signatures.. . I was going to be on the field trip no matter what eh. As background, i have an impressive collection of childhood ailments: sinusitis, asthma, allergies, sensitive diet (you wouldnt know it with my appetite), product of 2 diabetic bloodlines, clumsy enough to trip on my own feet, etc. Just to venture to the sari-sari store to buy Storck or Choc-nut, I needed permission from Mom. Which was why a signed permission slip was worth 10 times its weight in gold.
THE BAON BRINGER, ONE DAY ONLY. This was the era of "movie" lunch boxes, remember? Scooby Doo, Sigmund & The Sea Monsters, 6 Million Dollar Man Lunch Boxes, (gosh there was even a Hot Wheels Lunch box... so the lucky classmate had a lunchbox plus a toy...) all to die for, were being brought out for exhibition during field trips, payabangan talaga. Ako naman, makapagdala lang ng baon, wrinkly hot dogs stuffed between soggy pandesal buns, kahit sa plastik bag pwede na... The lunch boxes were a sight to behold though. And as long as I didnt get hungry... there was also the obligatory mini-thermos bottle that contained tepid orange juice. So cold tinapay and warm juice was the perfect baon for field trippers who didnt care and were as happy as pie.
WAIT FOR ME YAYA. Hope this isnt TMI (too much information) , as Queen Hedy likes to say, but I was very anal about my yaya: Everyday right after dismissal, till i was in Grade 3 or 4, if I didnt see my Yaya right in front of the area between the old canteen and the vendo machine, i would be very patient for the next 10 secs before launching into a hysterical fit of tears and sweat... so it was quite crucial for me that Yaya know the field trip day was special and had a special fetching time after we filled ourselves with pasyal memories.
Sorry to say, after all these preparations, the actual field trip was almost anti-climatic :
Seeing those elephants near the entrance of the Manila Zoo wasnt very practical, as the stench of their excreta and other refuse would give me a queasy stomach the rest of the visit. Lions and tigers were usually lethargic, tired of people gawking and them and waiting for the occasional roar. The giraffes were everything they were hyped up to be, necks stretched to the heavens and so docile (but evidently not always: if you saw stag giraffes ramming horns in Discovery Channel, me violent streak din pala sila), and of course the simians that, like their human punk rock counterparts waited for the obnoxious bystander to spit at or throw banana peels at... that was a good show 
Years later, I was dismayed to find out that the same animals we had appreciated had been underfed and neglected by an understaffed Zoo to the point that these creatures were dying off. What a waste.
Nayong Pilipino, though its closed and forgotten now, will always remind me of two things: their Filipiana room, where barongs and ternos material (jusi) were woven with traditional looms; the igorot statues and carvings (brought to life by Cesar Montano in Machete years later), and the faux / imitation Mayon Volcano which inspired me to want to visit the real thing someday... as fate would have had it, my mother came from nearby Masbate which was only a few hours away from Albay, where the (once) perfect cone was.
Other than the above, the closest thing to Filipiniana that we were able to appreciate, while in elementary, was our visit to the National Museum (near the old Congress Bldg in Manila) I think , which unfortunately by then didnt have a very good selection of artifacts for either culture or history, but then again, who was I to make a good evaluation, just a snot nosed 2nd grader.
Of course, Fort Santiago reminded me of Old Manila in Spanish times which was what the tourist attraction was supposed to do: show where Jose Rizal was incarcerated and where he spent his last few days on earth before his appointment with immortality. I liked the old steam / coalfired engine train that was on display near the entrance. No matter how modern Metro Manila would become, part of it would always be in my childhood, with Fort Santiago among those places.
Not as dramatic, but certainly innovative in its presentation of history were the dioramas of Ayala Museum that held our attention for at least an hour as its small figures and scenery were duplicated in a size barely larger than a shoebox. The educational value of such a visit was guarantee that we would revisit the Museum, as we did so at least once in succeeding schoolyears.
Forever etched in my Judenite mind would be: the bus trips would be the singular occasion where the advisor (Ms Ylagan, Ms David, Ms Cruz) would not give a hoot whether we shouted ourselves into a coma or otherwise made raucous noise that would shame the most cacophonous DLSU-Ateneo / Toyota-Crispa match. Was it just my imagination also, but in those days were the streets cleaner as well?
The next day, we would try to outdo each other with tales of how awesome the field trip was, or how funny anyone looked almost getting lost, missing the bus, etc. And woe to any miserable classmate who had the misfortune of missing the field trip: his/her ears would be filled with tales of what was missed, for the rest of the schoolyear.
So many more other places we visited, like the Manila Aquarium, Planetarium, a few factories and unless Im mistaken, a Coca-cola plant (probably the one near Nagtahan Bridge), but which I leave batchmates to comment on, if any.
Thanks for the memories !
PS. Juan Tamad in Birdland. Not to make too much of where I am now, but just yesterday I saw ducks crossing the street, in slight disbelief. For a second I even thought they were toys or decoys 
. Ive also been spotting seagulls of all sizes near the road, and incredibly, a penguin was recovered straying too far inland, evidently it was disoriented on its way back home. Definitely something different for this former citizen of Ycaza Street.
COMMENTS From Peggy Yu September 27, 2008 Wow, Noel...it never ceases to amaze me how much you remember! Did we do all that in Grade 1? I recall a few others although I think they were in other grades -- a cereal factory, a textile factory (hmmm, either we were each given a silkworm pupae or ummmm, I [and a few others, you know who you are] managed to pick one up, ahem, innocently), Malacanang Palace (could have been a girl scout outing and no, I do not remember seeing the infamous shoe collection), Central Bank.
Also, one thing I remember is that our class picture always seems to be taken during a field trip!
As you stated...Thanks for the memories!
Peggyyu
P.S. For something not related to this at all -- R.I.P. Paul Newman, what a class act. The Sting remains one of my favorite movies of all time and the soundtrack theme song is now playing in an infinite loop in my head. Two of my nieces had been campers at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.
From Noel Bautista September 27, 2008 PUPA PINCHER Hi there Peggy Patches 1! Thanks for the reply, no we went to those places throughout our stay in SJCS, just cant sort it out in my ADHD addled mind which was when and where, although the 1st grade, as you read, was Im sure set aside for the Zoo, the Fort, and the Nayon, place names which are better used now for bars and "liquid lunches" rather than the actual thing.  Its quite interesting that you mentioned that the class pics were taken there at the field trip sites, would you have retained any? Just to figure out when we went to a particular place? You've been quite generous in your praise, but you are the one with remarkable memory Peggy Patches 1 ! At the back of my mind, I do seem to recall a textile factory but i had no supporting memories like the actual factory name, details, etc. But you even recalled someone swiping a cocoon ! That's remarkable. Catherine Vi spotted you in one of the facebook pics, asked who u were and I dutifully identified you (was sure you wouldnt mind)... she's a bit reluctant to venture out of her facebook domain, isnt even aware of the batch website. She sez hi (the pic, by the way, was the one with Young Shi and I think teeveeJoy Tan, where the 3 of you are all wearing dark colored clothing). Thanks again for responding, I'd like to say that I post kilometric emails for the batch, to increase interest participation, etc... but the real reason is less selfless.... I love to reminisce, and like to write even more. Thanks for the memories, batchmate. PS REgards to Kelvin and your chessplaying nephew. If he went to Oregon State, isnt that a long way from where u are right now?
|