Category Archives: america

The CW’s 90210

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Rating: ★★★★
Category: Other

I remember the first series, Beverly Hills 90210, when I was around 4-5 years old. Too young yes but I remembered it was initially aired in ABS-CBN. The same goes to the more mature and obviously not age-appropriate 2nd series, Melrose Place. I don’t even know why I even watched the two but the good thing is that I remembered their theme songs (which I have now).

The new 90210 is the fourth series of the franchise (the third would be the short-lived Models Inc.) and unlike the first three, it is now being aired on relatively new network, The CW (after the production company, Spelling Productions, was acquired by CBS/Paramount which controls 50% of the CW) instead of original network Fox.

The show is about the Wilson Family, who moved from Kansas to Beverly Hills, CA because, patriarch Harry Wilson (Rob Estes of ‘Melrose Place’) because he accepted job offer to become West Beverly High School’s principal plus he had to take care of his ailing alcoholic mother, Tabitha (Jessica Walter of Arrested Development) who’s a former 70’s Hollywood actress. Coming with him is ever-reliable photographer-wife Debbie (Lori Wilson) and their two kids, Annie (Shenae Grimes of Degrassi: The New Generation) and adopted brother Dixon (Tristan Wilds).

Completing the ensembles is the popular high school girl Naomi (Annalyn DiCord), lacrosse jock Ethan (Dustin Milligan), high school teacher Ryan (Ryan Eggold) and reliable pal Navid (Michael Steger).

With new characters comes returning characters from the first series, guidance councilor Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth of ‘What I Like About You’), theater actress Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty of ‘Charmed’), Peach Pit owner Nat (Joe E. Tata), and Kelly’s alcoholic mother Jackie Taylor (Ann Gillepsie).

The show’s connection to the old 90210 is the character played by Jessica Stroup, Erin “Silver” Silver. She is Kelly Taylor’s half-sister and a ‘Gossip Girl”-type blogger who is beset with problems from home.
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Review Proper:

Judging from the first 5 episodes that i watched online, I’d say that the new 90210 is very consistent on keeping itself a separate story but at the same time trying to let old viewers of the first series to know what happened between the 8-year gap since BH90210 ended.

However, there’s the tendency for the show to focus too much on the old characters’ continuing storyline (Brenda and Kelly rekindling their friendship, and Kelly having to raise her son alone without his father, Dylan [from the first series]). Hopefully that storyline would be given a proper conclusion as the series progresses in the coming years.

Focusing now on the series’ main plot, it is highly obvious that the new series is repeating past BH90210 events in the form of adoptive siblings Annie and Dixon (the so-called “New Brenda and Brandon”). Annie is an aspiring actress who tried her luck at the school’s upcoming musical while goody-good boy Dixon is simpleton who is just as naive as his sister. He was hired as a waiter of the Peach Pit whose owner, Nat, remarked that he reminds him of a certain “Brandon”.

My only complaint to this show as well as other US youth dramas in general is its use of non-age approproate actors who usually are way too old to portray characters in their teens. One such is the character Naomi who is portrayed by a 20-year old actress. In the pilot, Naomi was initially 15 years old who’s about to turn 16 and my first impression of her was “She’s so effin’ old to be freaking 16!!”.

As to how the show was described, it is indeed more sexy and provocative (in short ‘GGish’ but a bit more OCish to some), a complete contrast to the initially innocent theme of the old 90210. However, despite these factors, the show maintains its being a family drama (because of the presence of parents Harry and Debbie Wilson) and teen-issue-oriented series. I’m hoping that this tandem of such would continue well (depending on its performance in the ratings should the CW renew it long enough for the show to fully develop) as well as not being too cliched like past shows.

I sure hope that the new 90210 would eventually become one of the best classic teen shows that are able to define a generation, just as how the old 90210 did as well as shows like Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill (which has yet to end as of now).

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J.I.A.: No Other Indian restaurant like HAANDI

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   It’s been awhile since I made my last post under JIA. Well anyway, it came across my mind about this great restaurant which really made a mark on me and my family when we were in Falls Church. It’s an Indian restaurant, yes, but it is more than that. It is Haandi.

  Haandi is located between he GNC drug store and (If I could recall it right) is the Vietnamese-oowned barber shop, a walking distance away from the main entrance of Giant supermarket, just before you cross over to Staples (a National Bookstore of sorts).

  When I first came here in one Sunday noon (of 2001), the first thing I notice was the beautiful smell spread across the restaurant, with walls painted with beautiful Indian artwork. Turn-off I guess was the songs they’re playing.

   It’s not the Bollywood music kind that they’re playing across the place but the more traditional one. It made me remember of one of my childhood nightmares whenever I hear traditional Indian music. It started when I was 9, I used to watch an Indian show that airing on an Indian channel on cable TV. The show is called Sri Ganesh, which is about Indian gods and goddesses (parang Greek mythology). At first, it kind of amuse me because of the actors wearing funny costumes but as overtime, it started to scare me, seeing Vishnu having an elephant nose, Shiva with many arms and hands, and a child being buried alive (I was 9, I never understod things then).

    Back to the Haandi thing, the first meal that I ate there, I can still recall, is the Murg Masala. It’s like a chicken curry added with Indian spices and everything. I immediately got hooked on this particular type of meal and so does my little brother. Kuya liked the Tandoori, or was it Ate. And since we’re in the States, we had free refills on sodas at no extra cost (although, after 9/11, a lot of fancy restos were cutting back in expenses so the free refill was no longer continued in most of the places we’ve visited including Haandi).

    Having lunch in Haandi after Mass became an almost fixture for all of us. After hearing Mass at St. James Catholic Church, we would walk along West Broad Street all the way across the several streets including Park Avenue, the Asian grocery store, Applebees, and the Taekwondo club there, just so we could eat at that particular restaurant. The waiters there have also gotten used to our presence up to the point that they could almost remember what we are about to order. Guess what, in most Sundays, we’re usually the first customers of the day (I’m so happy!).

   Other than eating my plate of Murg, I also enjoyed eating their traditional Indian bread, whcih as I write, forgot its name. Before leaving the place, I had this need to eat their signature pistachio ice cream for dessert. Theirs is one of the best there is!

  It’s kinda sad that we never actually stayed in Falls Church permanently, but it’s happy to hear that the people there really misses us,a s what was told to us by my mom who stayed in the US longer until 2004.

  So if ever there would come a chance for me to go back tp the US, the first place hat I would visit would be none other than the best Indian restaurant there is in Falls Church, HAANDI.

 

Murg Masala, anyone?

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Walkout

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Rating: ★★★★★
Category: Movies
Genre: Drama

This is a telesine made by HBO Films for which it is based on a true story about the March 1968 Chicano (Mexican American) student movement or now historically known as the “East L.A. Walkouts”.

The movie started when many of the Chicanos, who are longtime residents of Eastern Los Angeles since the 18th century, demanded equal treatment on the educational field. The problem lies that the schools in East LA are unable to get access to goverment services even if they are under one unified city school district.

Many view this as a form of racial discrimination for the schools on wealthy and white-populated West LA were the ones with such access. It took one Half-Filipina Chicana Paula Crisostomo (played by Alex Vega), to stage a walkout which became the start of the East LA Walkouts. Not only was at Lincoln High School, where Paula attends, staged such action but so did the other schools in the east.

What I really like about this mvie that even if you didn’t watched the movie from the start, you get to know the main plot immediately soon after you get to see kids walking out of their schools and shouting “CHICANO!” and “VIVA LA RAZA!”.

Unlike other 1960s-based movies, you don’t get the feeling that its too retro, but at the same time you do. Why? Maybe because, beyond all that retro hair, clothing, music and everything, we get to see the experience ourselves as if it’s happening right at present. I did, I thought it was set sometime in the present, it was only later when I saw Paula’s friends with long late 60s hair and everything.

Other than the emorional sympathy that you may feel as you watch many students running for their lives before being caught up by the police and get beaten by batons, you can see how Paula aspires to become successful in her life, reaching what her father could not do when he was her daughter’s age.

Later ko na lang nalaman na half-Pinay si Paula sa ina niya. Nalaman ko na Nanay niya ang Pilipino kasi halata naman tatay niya lang ang nagsaSpanish. Other than that, her mom is realy the encouraging and driving force for her daughter to accomplish such feat.

What I really don’t like was how obvious racism and treason exist in the government and in the movement respectively. Turned out that Paula’s love interest was in cahoots with the higher authorities and had many of the Chicano youth movement’s leaders arrested. Good thing that Paula didn’t gave in, especially that her papi finally gave her very supporting words. She, with hundred or maybe even thousand of people protesting in front of the LAPD precinct, pointed out to the traitor that no one can stop them for realizing the goal, and they will never bow down even if it’ll took a lot of batons to down them all.

Too bad, I didn’t finish the movie but like I said before, if you don’t watched the movie at the start, you’ll known what was going on. The same even if you don’t watched it till the end, you’ll know by now what will be the outcome of it.

The movie was well-directed, balancing the different subplots (family, boyfriend, in-group conflict) with the main movie plot. Great acting to the actors and successfully convincing to anyone who watched this movie!

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J.I.A. (James In America): Rainbow Class Part 1 [My Palatak Entry]

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Rainbow Class Part 1

By Jaime Luis S. Habitan

 

 

            May 18th, 2001 was the day I sat foot on a public school, the day I sat foot to an American school, and the day that I spent being a fourth grader once more.

 

            My parents brought my little brother, Jorge, and I to a FairfaxCountySchool office to have our documents finally approved and later had us enrolled to this called HaycockElementary School. Being a foreigner living in the Land of Milk and Honey, it’s a good thing that I’ll be able to meet up with a fellow Pinoy expat, Abe Guinigundo who is a grade higher than me (today he’s studying in Ateneo De Manila University but we still remained in contact with each other).

 

             We arrived at the school right on time before classes could start. A lady from the faculty talked to my parents. She showed us some papers and told them we were already assigned to our classrooms. I still wondered why we were to repeat (at least for the rest of the school year there)   since I already finished fourth grade and so does Jorge who finished 2nd grade. We went off first to Jorge’s classroom and we left him there (we later found out that he was on the wrong classroom so he was assigned to another one).  Then the lady brought me to a classroom on the other side of the school.  The classroom was empty because my soon-to-be classmates were on the other room studying for an upcoming Social Studies test. There was the class advisor and her name was Mrs. Shoemaker.

 

            Yah, I know it’s a funny name but she’s really nice if you get to know her better. She showed around the classroom and I was really impressed on how their classroom looks like. The whole classroom is decorated to all kinds of art stuff. It made the classroom more colorful. By that time, my parents already left and my teacher gave me a short tour of the school.

 

            Soon, the class came back inside the classroom and Mrs. Shoemaker formally introduced me to them. That time, I’m not really used on speaking English as much as I speak Tagalog. So when I began to introduce myself, my English was a bit whacked. I was very nervous but they accepted me anyway.

 

            The first friend I had there was a guy named Will Evans. He’s really cool and smart. He has a twin brother named Andrew and whenever they’re together, you can’t tell which is which. They usually have color-coded sweaters to tell them apart, or wear distinct clothes so you can tell who’s the who. I also made friends with classmates April Purdy, Clementine Milton, and a whole lot more. I found out that there also foreigners who go here, like Clementine who is a South African, Amani Radzi who is a Malaysian, Jungmin Park who is a Korean, Marius Staschen who is a German and Artium Aravelli who is a Russian. It’s a classroom of students from different races and religions which makes this class very colorful much like a rainbow.

 

           Many are very excited to talk to me. There were some shouting that there’s a new student, which is me. During lunch, they were asking me sorts of questions like “What’s your name (I’m James Habitan)”, “Where are you from? (I’m from the Philippines)”, and “What’s that place? (It’s country found in Asia)”. I tell you, the whole class is really into me.

 

            After lunch was recess, Will and the other guys invited me to a game of soccer, a game I was to play only for the first time. I shortly backed out since the ball made a strike on my you-know-what!

 

            There’s a lot of things that happened that day but I have to tell you in general what had been like during those two months as a fourth grader. 

 

Since I’m a foreigner who is bilingual in Filipino and English, I was required to be in the E.S.L. program with Mr. Branscomb as my ESL. Other ESL students who are with me always are Amani, Marius and Artium. Whenever we have English class, I and other guys would always go to the ESL room to meet up with Mr. Branscomb (there was a time that while on the way I accidentally spoke to Amani in Filipino). There, he would correct us with our fluency, giving us the right way of saying this and that. Perhaps the most memorable one was when he thought me the right way to pronounce the “th”-words.

 

There was also this system I discovered on how students learn their subjects. In major academics like Math, Science and English, each class (and sometimes half of them) would move to the next class to study major topics of that particular subject. By that time too, I found out that there were no quarterly examinations held since it is not required by the American public school system. They only have this year-end test called the SOL or Standard of Learning test. It serves as a final exam to many that’s why we were given notes and reviewers to be well prepared.

 

Mingling with the other kids was really that easy, you just have to be nice to them. Here, there are no bullies (those caught bullying are sanctioned with penalties, much like in Saint James except that they enforce it well), no vulgar words to be heard, nor talks about “guns, goons, and gold”, if you know what I mean.

 

June 12 of that year, just a few days before the end of the school year, the teachers hold their annual volleyball showdown to see who the best of the best are. BY that time, I really had a great time here in Haycock. I never expected that there’s a lot more here than one would expect, especially for me.

 

To be continued…

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J.I.A. (James In America): How I Remembered 9/11 [My Palatak Entry]

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How I Remembered 9/11

 

By Jaime Luis S. Habitan

 

            September 11th may be remembered as the day that changed the course of history. Four airplanes, three sites, one tragedy. That’s how people described that day that no one ever expected it to happen unless it’s only found in the movies. But let me tell you how I experienced 9/11 from my own pint of view.

 

            It was , my mom woke me up and I have to take a shower. The TV is on and my mom’s watching FOX 5 morning news. I was very excited since tomorrow will be the day that our class was to have a field trip to the International Children’s Festival in McLean, Virginia. Ate Jade and Kuya Evan already left since classes in their schools starts earlier than ours. Breakfast was ready and I had a bowl of cereal filled with milk coming from a bottle. I still can’t get over that time on seeing bottled milk kasi I’ve been used to seeing milk I milk cartons except on those miniature ones I see in school (but that’s a different story).

 

            It was and my little brother and I have to leave to get to the bus stop on time. We live in an apartment in Falls Reach Drive but it looks more like a hotel. Falls Reach is complete with other apartment buildings and a neighboring complex that are filled with suites. By the time we got to the bus stop, we met up with our bus mates. Many are from different ethnic backgrounds, but I got used on seeing different people since we got here in Virginia a few months back.

 

            Among my bus mates are two guys from my class. They’re Andy and Jon. Andy lives in the apartment building in front of ours while Jon lives in one of the suites in the other complex. We got along pretty and sometimes I go to their pads to do our homework together, most especially at Jon’s since were both Asians, we had a lot in common, but enough about that.

 

            A few minutes before the strike of nine, we arrived at HaycockElementary School. Awe were sent to the cafeteria where all the other students meet up with their friends and talk a lot of things. When I’m lucky, get a seat on my classmates table since it’s like a “get your own, it’s mine” game. When you got nowhere to sit down, manigas ka diyan! Those who haven’t eat breakfast have an opportunity to catch up since the cafeteria offers styrofoam bowls with cereal and a small carton of milk (plain, chocolate or anywhere in between are your choices).

 

 

            By 9, I went straight to my classroom. My teacher, Mrs. Bachison, had already prepared some activities for us to do while waiting for the morning announcements. Five students volunteer every day to make announcements of the news. Our principal, Mr. Jay McLean, always have the last word starting after the recitation of the American Pledge of Allegiance (which I chose not to recite since I’m a Filipino citizen) followed by a moment of silence. By , classes officially start.

            I didn’t care at first when the secretary from the Principal’s office called one of my classmates that his parents are sending him home. Later that morning, a couple of my classmates were also called from the office for the same thing. By lunchtime, a quarter of the whole class was gone. I didn’t realize that the kids from the other sections of the fifth grade were being sent home too.

 

            It began to bother me when almost more than a dozen more from my class were sent home. By dismissal time, they were a handful of us left in the classroom from more than around 30 that morning. I thought was very wrong but I couldn’t guess what it is. We got back to the apartment along with little brother Jorge and as I open our door using my keys, I was surprised to see that Ate and Kuya looked shocked and speechless on what they saw on TV. I was almost surprised that my mom was home early. I took a look on the TV to see what’s going on and I was terrified! An airplane crashed into a building and it was engulfed with a thick black smoke. The video being shown was caught on tape by a tourist. Minutes later, a second airplane crashed into another building sitting next to the burning building. No later after that, both of them collapsed in a matter of seconds. From this collapse came out a big grey smoke full of debris (on later videos, that thick smoke began spreading like wildfire and bystanders who there at that time began running for their lives as the smoke began to engulf everything on its path).

 

The two buildings were the North and SouthTowers. They made up the World trade Center, New York City’s tallest building until that fateful day. I thought it was already bad enough until learned something for the worst! Two other airplanes crashed in two separate sites, one at an open filed in Pennsylvania (a few states away from New York) and another at the Pentagon in Arlington County which lies west in Fairfax County where we live! People panic, and ambulances came running out from nowhere and officials don’t know what to do. I don’t what to do and I’m not sure what’s with all the details.

 

Mom was sent home, along with other employees, by the World Bank’s main office in DC, not tom mention all other workers in other establishments were sent home. I later found out that it was a terrorist attack. Most programs on TV were held off for the meantime to give way for the ongoing coverage what could be the worst man-made human disaster in history. Hijackers took over four planes which, according to officials, to be used as large bombs and their main target was the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. Though they succeeded on hitting the Pentagon and New York’s tallest building, the cost of human lives lost were tragically great. Thousands died from the airplanes with many more from those who were at the Pentagon and at the site from where the two towers of the WorldTradeCenter once stood (now called Ground Zero).

 

Life will never be the same for many of my newfound American friends as many from my school, possibly others have lost their loved ones on those planes, on those buildings. I mean, many people died on that day, not only Americans but people from other nationalities including Filipinos. What kind of savage would try to do that? Why must he use hundreds or possibly thousands of innocent lives to do his evil bidding? These are all the questions people are asking to themselves even up to this day.

 

September 11, 2001 should not be the day people should mourn the death of so many people but the day that people must unite and work hard to make the world a safer place to live. That day shall be forever engraved in my memories of America for this when people from all walks in life united and worked together to save as many lives as they could. We should not let history repeat itself. It is in our hands that the world should head for the good and not for the bad.

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J.I.A. (James In America): May 18, 2001 Friday

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    Oh gulat na kayo ‘no? Naalala ko pa rin ang araw na iyon kasi ang remembrance ko para malala ang petsa ay dahil linggo ng eleksyon iyopn eh. May 14 ng Lunes ay mid-term elections kaya heto pa rin still remembering the good ol’ times.

    O sige, stick with the program na ako. Ang araw na ito ang nagbukas ng pinto sa akin sa bago kong mundo, sa baong tirahan at sa bagong pagkakataon na maari kong gawin. Nasa Amerika na kami ng mga kapatid kasama ang mga magulang ko at ng lola ko. Nung May katorse pa pumasok sina Ate’t Kuya sa eskwelahan na H.W. Longfelow Middle School. Unfortunately, kahit nung nasa SJA sila ay incoming 3rd year at 2nd year high school sila respectively,  bumaba ng ilang taon kasi ayon sa US standards, ang ga kagaya nina Ate ay dapat pumapasok pa lang sa middle school kaya si Kuya nasa 7th Grade at si Ate sa 8th Grade.

    Ako, pina-spend uli ako ng Grade 4 kasi May na, isang buwan bago matapoas ang current school year 2000-2001.

    PInakilala ako sa vice principas ng eskwelahan (Haycock Elementary School) na si Mrs. Docery. Mabait siya at tinulungan kami ng bunso ko na mabigyan ng quick tour ng school. Kaso, kailanagan muna namin maging tahimik kasi nagrereview ang buong student body para sa nalalapit nilang SOL Test (Standards of Learning). Eventually, pinakilala na ako sa m,giging homeroom teacher ko sa inassign saking section sa 4th Grade. Pangalan ng bago kong guro ay si Mrs. Shoemaker, malaking babae na may orange na buhok. Bahala na raw siya sakin sabi ng parents ko kaya iniwan na nila ako.

    PInagpatuloy niya ang quick tour sa’kin, ang clinic, ang mga fountains na nakadikit sa mga pader, ang super liit na comlab, at siyempre ang kalooban ng bago kong magiging silid-aralan. Kainis nga at wala akong dala masyadong mga gamit, naiwan ko pa ang bagong bili sa’king binder na may mga lamang papel na pin-uncher na may tatlong butas. Wala pa nga akong dalang lapis, sobrang kahihiyan ang naramdaman ko pero ok lang. Wala naman akong paki kasi dumating na ang mga magiging mga kamag-aral ko sa nalalabing buwan ng 4th quarter. Nagulat na sila nang makita ako. Nagsilapitan ang karamihan sa’kin.

    Tapos, pinatayo ako ng Mrs. Shoemaker para magpakilala ako sa kanila. Medyo nahihiya ako’t kinakabahan. Nagsasalita nga lang ako nanginginig na ang mga binti ko pati na rin ang pananalita ko. Hindi kasi ako sanay na mag-Ingles na ganoong kadalas. Kung magpakilala nga ako parang kinekuwento ko na buong buhay ko kaso sobrang nahihiya kasi ako kasi ngayon lang ako kumausap gamit ang wikang hindi namana talaga ako komportableng gamitin. Iyun nga lang, naulit iyon nung bumalik ako sa Pilipinas at naakapag-aral sa SJA. Pinaupo ako sa dulo, ang mga katabi ko sa upuan ko ay mga naging friend ko, si Will, si April, at si Artium. Medyo halo nga kami dito ng lahi, may Hudyo, may Ruso, may Koreano, at pati Malaysian.

    Maaga pa rin naman at katatapos pa lang ng unang klase, ang sumunod na kasi eh, kung nalala ko pa eh PE na. Ang teacher ko sa PE ay si Mrs. Krenzberger. Ang pinalaro lang samin ay isang ball game na kung tawagin ay “SIberian” kaso di ko sure nga kung ito ang tawag kasi parang walang pinagiba sa touchball kasi layuinin nito ay hati sa dalawng grupo, pareho magbabatuhan ng bola sa kabilang grupo.

    Ang nakakatuwa, saya nilang makita ako, as in super excited! Sigaw sila ng sigaw na “We have a new student!!” Paulit ulit ito.  Suwerte ko nga kasi special day iyon, may one time experience kami na maglaro ng bowling sa labas ng school grounds. May isang saskyan na may built-in na bowling alley. First time ko rin naman, pinauna na rin ako. 1st try, bio pero nd is a charm, ‘ika nga. nakatumba ako ng halos buong set.

    Sumunod ay tanghalian na, pinapunta na kami sa canteen (o cafeteria). Bawat isa ay nakalinya at may hawak na tray. Ang linyang iyon ay papunta sa kusina kung saan self-service ang pagkuha namin sa mga kakainin namin.Problema nga lang, pagpasok ko, ang mga kasamahan k ay may mga student money cards na maihahambing sa mga totoong credit cards. Wala akong gaon pero ksince first day ko nga naman, libre muna sakin. Gulat ako sa mga nakita ko! Merong mga nakahandang mga milk cartons, na may lamang gatas! Can you bvelieve it, totoo pala ang ga ito, di pala kungwarian ang mga nakikita natinsa TV. Siyempre, ang kinuha ko ay yung chocolate na gatas. Then, isang pre-made PBJ sandwich ang kunha ko pati mga assortment ng mga pagkain na mula sa lahat ng limang food groups!

    Siyempre, inofferan ako ng upuan. Mga katabi ko sina Eliot, Will, APril, Rachel, Clementine, Artium at marami pang mga onlookers. Siyemperds, kinakbahan ako. Mga tanong nila ay “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?”, “Where in the place is the Philippines?”.
ANo kaya no, kung Amerikano ako at new student pa sa Pilipinas, anong klaseng treatment kaya ang mararanasan ko? As of this writing, naalala ko tuloy si Raymond Anderson nung 2nd Year. Kung anong harassment ang ginawa nina Marriz sa kanya, kawawa naman iyon. Kung magturo sila ng Tagalog, di tagalog ang tinuturo kungdi panay mura! Nasaan na ba ang Pinoy hospitality diyan? Haay.

    Balik sa kwento ko, trenta minutos lang ang lunch time na nakalaon sa 2 section ng grade four at di siya sabaya sa 2 pang section at ng ibang grade level. Buti nga lang nakita ko ung Pinoy friend ko sa school na si Abe Guniguindo nasa Grade 5. Di kaagad kami pinaalis pero pinaupo kami sa sahig malapit sa upuan. Orderly dapat at 2 maayos na linya ang dapat makikita. Inisip ko tuloy ano na next. Sabi nina William, recess na! “Recess?!” Kakakain ko nga l;ang, mag-rerecess na? Siyempre, iba ang indset ko ukol sa “Recess” at hindi ang tipo na recess na nararanasan sa SJA. Ang iniisip ko na recess that time ay lalabas at maglalaro kaso, praktikal ba iyon kung bagong kain ka. Sayang nga lang at di ako nakapagtanong kung bakit.

    recess nga, medyo ang soccer field sa tabi ay medyo mabato, di advisable na gamitin kaya inanyaya na lang ako maglaro ng soccer sa blacktop. Di nga lang ako tumagal ng 5 minutes kasi, tinamaan ako kaagad ng soccer ball deretso sa mukha ko. Salamat na lang, di basag ang salamin na suot ko, or worse: pati mukha ko baka mabasag.

Umayaw na ako sa paglalaro pero nangako naman ako na makikipaglaro ako sa kanila ng soccer kapag handa na ako. Lumibot ako sa buong playground at nasiyahan kasi kumpleto sila sa mga pasilidad. Di siya kagaya sa playground sa dating school ko na halos wasak na pero ginagamit pa rin. 30 minutes ang recess pero parang isang oras sdahil sa sobrang saya ko.

    for the rest of that period, nagswing lang ako, saya kasi ibang klaseng swing ang naransan ko. Matangkad ang structure, matibay ang chain at hindi kahoy ang upuan kungdi rubber. Ang playground area, bukod sa blacktop na reserve for basketball and the like, ay binubuo rin ng sangkatutak na wood chips. Di ko mapaliwanag pero lupa siya na kinoberan ng wood chips. Mga sixty -plus degrees celsius nung araw na iyon, ang suot ko ay t-shirt, maong pants at sweater na pambalot sakin kapag palabas ng bahay. Kapag hindi naman, tinatanggal ko ito whenever I’m inside (konyotik naman tong panunulat ko).

Last two periods na, ang una ay Social Studies. Siyempre, wala akong ka-ayde-idea sa mga lesson nila sa Social. Ang tinuturo sa mga 4th grades d2 ang kasaysayan ng Commonwealth of Virginia at ang geography nito. Doon ko nalaman na mga higit sa limang rehiyon ang humahati sa VA. Ito ay ayon sa klima, physical resources at demograhic differences.

Ang huli naman ay ang ayaw kong subject kailanman, MATH! AAHGGGG! Bale, surprised ako kasi past lesson na para sakin ang lesson nila nug time na iyon. Dividing long division Using Decimals. Bale, iba ang method nila, ang decimals, binabag nila at ginagawa nilang mga fractions. Kungwari 1 over 2 is 0.5, sa kanilang hindi decimal method ang ginagamit kungdi fraction method, deretso na kaagad one half ang ilalagay nila. Well, naninibago ako kaya halos mali ang nasasagot ko sa decimal method ako, sila hindi.

    3:20 na ng hapon. Uwian na, excited na ako sa mga mangyayari pagpasok ko na sa susunod na lunes. Kaso, di kaagad puede umuwi kasi by order siya. Meaning una ay ang Walkers o ang maglalakd lang pauwi, tapos Kiss and Ride, yung mga susunduin ng ga magulang nila sa parking lot and then yung mga saskay sa mga school bus. Excited nga ako sa school bus, buti nga naaalala ko na bus no. 1 ang naassign samin, kasi ang lugar namin, malapit sa ginagamit nilang ruta. Tumakbo ao palabas para hanapin si Jorge kaso pinigilan ako ng mga student patrol at nagsasabing bawal tumakbo. Nagpaliwanang ako na kailangan ko lang hanapin yung bunso ko para makaskay na kami sa bus. Eventually, nagkita kaming dalawa at magkatabi kami ng upo. Busmate rin namin si Abe (na nasa Ateneo na nag-aaral ngayon).

Ang saya ng pakiramdam ko nung panahong iyon. Simula na kasi ito ng bagong pakikipagsapalaran for me. Bagong tao, bagong maiiwasa, bagong pakikisamahan, bagong aatupagin at marami pang iba. Doon ko lang naramdaman ang pakiramdam kung paano pala maging isang estudyante sa Amerika. Ganoon pala ang feeling. Start na rin iyon ng magiging pangmatagalan na samahan sa mga naging malalapit ko nang kaibigan na friends ko na rin sa FACEBOOK.

Sa Haycock ko na rin naransan ang huling beses na matawagan ako sa palayaw ko na James imbes na Jaime. Nalilito nga sila sa pangalan ko eh kaya nag-stick na lang sila sa James. Di ba, saya?

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