Ispent most of my Childhood days in Guadalupe Elementary School. This public school is as old as the acacia trees that shade the parents waiting for their kids outside. My dad and his parents went to this school. And not to mention the rest of our clan who remain clustered until this very day. My younger cousins and other relatives still go to this school.
Guadalupe Elementary School is HOME, as far as I’m concerned. It is the very institution which formed and cemented my ideals, principles and drives in life. It is where I first scraped my knees, sh*t in my pants, got praised, got dissed.
The school was very HUGE then. Now, I don’t think it is. People say that when you’re a small kid, anything taller than ten feet is automatically HUGE.
When I went back to the school last week to attend Osman’s meeting, every bit of memory came flooding back. Was I a good student then? Did I make a lot of friends? How did I get this huge scar on my knees?
And as I went in, I remember spending all the money I have on very silly things sold outside the school – ‘telescope shows’, spiders, maya birds, goldfish, tops, fruit and vegetable seeds, yoyos and not to forget a wide range of chichiryas like chicharon, fishballs, squidballs, ‘dirty icecream’, puto, budbud, and the oh-so-refreshing choco scramble.
It’s nice to look back at such petty but very important things – those very short shorts and knee-high socks, that Rizal-cut, those nasty black stains on my pre-grade 1 teeth and most of all, the games that I lost and won.
his is the ‘main building of Guadalupe Elementary School. During my time, this building housed the TOP classes of each level, the offices of the Guidance Councilor, the Principal and the Supervisor and the Library.
Of course, no public school is without its own Joe. I remember hiding under the statue’s shade as I watched a classmate stand under the heat of the sun for a violation which irked a school teacher. Hahaha.
y classmates and I spent most of our time playing here. When the energy level was quite low, we sat down and guessed the brand of vehicles passing outside. The winner got to hit the other’s head. LOL
