Grade 6

I must have done something wrong in Grade 5, still don't know what it was though, because Popsie and I were removed from our section and moved to Section 2. The nuns told my mom something about my not studying anymore so they had to move me. Actually, I was furious at the nuns cause they started giving letter grades (since Grade 4) which I hated. I liked the number grades. I was such a grade hog, probably still am, but don't tell my kids. I was sad at first because I was leaving behind Liaa and Annabelle in Section 5. Well if the nuns thought I would get gooder in Section 2, well maybe not. Popsie and I hung out with eleven girls, let's see if I remember them all: Nana Eusebio, Nadine Adad, Jojo Ledesma, Finina Reyes, Sandy Harper, Lynn Pellicer, Mara Villasor, oops, that's all I remember for sure (Rina Mac? Baba Araneta?) These were by then the tougher, "cooler" girls that Popsie and I were ever friends with. (Not that I knew what "cool" meant back then, it probably wasn't even part of our vocabulary yet.) Some of them maybe even had boyfriends already (my lips are sealed.) I remember Nadine saying more than once, "Let's have a bull session." I had to ask someone what that meant. Popsie and I would just sit in the circle and be quiet, after all, we had nothing and no one to complain about. Popsie and I were the gigglers, that I remember someone said they should kick us out of the group cause we were so "childish." They never did, and we loved them all anyway even if we were saling pusa, and to this day, we're still the happy gigglers. I also learned to play kick ball and war ball really well in Grade 6. Well if hang around those girls, then I better learn to play well. Someone even had the nickname "Bakal Boobs" cause she could catch any hard flung warball and not flinch. Good for us both, I don't remember who Bakal Boobs was, but I sure remember the nickname.

Speaking of boobs. Grade 6 was when many of us started to wear a bra...whether we deserved to or not. Many of us were just gaya-gaya and nagged our moms to take us to Rustan's to buy our first training bra, cause your best friend had one. Then of course, in the middle of the day, when you got an itchy attack, you would take it off and stuff it in your skirt pocket. So Grade 6 was the year you would see white straps peeking out of the sides of our skirts (in later years to be replaced by the ubiquitous Denman brush.)

We had Mrs. Tengonciang that year, and everyone was afraid of her, except me, but I never told anyone I wasn't. She was my mom's classmate in high school and my mom tipped me off that she sounded strict but she was really nice, so I wasn't afraid of her. Plus, I loved her class which was social studies. I cannot remember who our mistress of class was. I do know our art teacher was Mrs. Antonio, and we even had a special art bahay kubo near our cluster that we used for art class. Our P.E. teacher was Miss Guzman, one of our groovier teachers back then. We had sewing with Miss Saturnino, yet another groovy teacher. We got to use sewing machines and had to make a sundress out of katsa. I think only Gina Joaquin made a decent looking sundress. We also got to sew while listening to Terminal and Mandy by Barry Manilow. Can't beat that.

I think this is also the year that Peachie Gonzalez came back to Assumption (from St. Paul?) By this time, she was so poised, had really nice neat hair, and was no longer malikot. Beside her, we all looked madungis, especially in Antipolo where we got muddy, climbed trees and ran up and down hills! We also loved to sit on the steps of the middle of the clusters, which was pebble wash-out. That middle space was also open so the rain and sunshine came right in! When I think of it now, how lucky we were to have experienced being in a school like that. I described Antipolo to some of the parents in my kids' class: that it was in the mountains, with lots of trees and we had these hexagon shaped clusters and even our desks were trapezoid shaped that we could form into bigger hexagons, and that there were no real walls between classrooms, just sliding corkboard panels that you could open and close to make bigger and smaller spaces! Antipolo was far ahead of its time. A classroom that looks like that in present day New York would still be cutting edge! By the end of my description, the other parents were salivating. If only our kids could have such a space for learning!

After the experience of the Angara bus service in Grade 5, many parents decided to buy vans and club wagons and haul groups of kids to Antipolo. Eileen Alikpala was our van girl. I'll bet you have really strong arms still Eileen, since you sat by the door and opened and closed it countless times for all of us! In her van were the Honorios: Vivian, Nikki and Nini, my sister and I, Tinette and Suzette Bartolome, Bambi and Barbie Bartolome, Rissa Pineda, Angel Innocentes, Lally Hidalgo, Cecilia Martinez, and Sylvia and Cynthia Santos-Ocampo. I want to say Mrs. Huab (may she rest in peace) and daughter Nifleda were in that van too, but can it be? That's a lot of people, but maybe the van was huge and we were all sooo small back then? Anyway, that was the San Juan - Greenhills van! We had lots of fun, especially since Eileen's driver was named Mang Andres. Of course, we called him Mang Andres, but Tita Digas just called him Andres. Try saying that name to yourself, and you will understand why we would start giggling in the van when she called him. And I'll bet it was Vivian who pointed that out to all of us. The Honorios also had this thing where they got dizzy if they did not sit in front, so they all sat in front. Nini Honorio was Grade 1, and did not want to let go of her yaya, so for a few weeks, "Aya" went to school with her and Nini sat on her lap in the van. There was near riot when Mang Andres and his fellow drivers who waited in school all day for our departure (it was too wasteful of gas to go back and forth to Metro Manila for hatid sundo so all drivers and yayas stayed in Antipolo all day) started bringing chickens to make sabong. Miss Vivian Honorio is deathly afraid of chickens. End of story. No more sabong for Mang Andres.

Of course, I should end with yet another Peachie G. memory: in Grade 6, she LOVED Donny Osmond and the color purple. And I have to admit, I also had a Donny Osmond lunch box.