Wednesday, March 22, 2006

"sucks to be the new gal"


coming home from the thousand islands in the PI w/ my cousins.

Year 1997, my arm is sore from all the immunizations shots I got yesterday. My Tita had to take me to get them before I can start attending Costa Mesa High. I was already a sophomore back in Pampanga High. We don't have junior high in the PI. After 6th Grade, you go straight to 1st year college and you graduate high school at age 16. I had to take aptitude tests to see "what grade I fall in" They came back with results and they gave me the option - I can either be in eight grade or freshman. I chose freshman - in my head I thought I was going backwards. Why am i going back to 1st year when I was already a sophomore?! But its alright it turns out I'm one of the young uns to graduate highschool at age 17.

It was a little nerve racking, I was not used to speaking English - at least with an american accent. Much else speak it 24/7. My family even tried speaking english only at home my first year in the states so I can get used to it. I just giggle and laugh when I speak english to my family b'coz I wasn't used to it. Its interesting learning the english words. utot=fart or my lola called it flatulenece but who says I have to flatulate? u know u say "I have to fart or pass gass", kulangot=booger, wedgie=when you're underwear gets stuck in your buttock cheeks.


my sister and I w/ my uncle, aunt & cousins

The first year if you had a bubble above my head, you could literally see me writing out my sentences in Tagalog and converting and translating them to English. By the end of highschool, English came to me more naturally that I didn't need to do the translation thing. Its funny - I wonder when I started to dream in English coz when I was younger everything was in tagalog. By senior year, I was a chatterbox. Everyone said "we thought u were quiet, shy but we were wrong" oh well - I just told them i had to get used to english. Its funny coz I remember on my drivers ed class my freshman year (the teacher spat while he talked-sucks if you sit up front), this "cholita" girl was talking to me. Being the "foreign kid" or the "girl from the Philippines" she was all how did you learn english and i told her that Filipinos learn english ever since kindergarten its like our 3rd language. And she's all "that's bad" and seriously this happened. I'm like innocently "why?" and she started laughing and she's all I meant that's good u know cool - like bad as in bad ass. At the time I didnt' get it but I just shrugged and took mental notes. And of course I got saying "sick" from Gregory Lontok in college.


Sailing w/ Boracay's fastest sailboat - Cutty Shark

It's crazy how there's so many nationalities here. My first week in school every asian kid I saw I thought was filipino. I was always asking them "are you filipino?" hoping they are and they can speak a little bit of tagalog and that maybe I'll make friends, and I'll feel more comfortable and I'll belong. But no they always answered something else. Seriously there was like 5 or 6 filipinos in my highschool and most of them were "white washed" The dominant asian race in my school was vietnamese since costa mesa is so close to garden grove that a lot of them went to my highschool. Shoots even the vietnamese girls forgot I was filipino sometimes when I hung out w/ them they will turn to me and start going off in vietnamese and realize I'm not one of them. Time moves on and I can finally distinguish who's korean, japanese, vietnamese, chinese, etc. etc.


Jim needs another tanduay w/ pineapple & sprite - sorta like a mai tai :)

I just remember the first week of school was tough. I didn't know anybody. As usual, cliques were already formed and hung out during lunch in their specific areas. I was smart enough to figure out to not sit down and eat my lunch - b'coz I'd rather be dead than be seen being a loner sitting all by herself. So the first couple of days I walked and walked around campus - and our school is not that big so pretty much I could be circling 3 or 4 times but I found a quiet corner away from the "quad" where I can quickly scarf down my lunch that my lola packed me. The third day was horrible. I got desperate that I went to the furthest pay phone on campus by the parking lot and called lola during lunch. She answers the phone. I'm like "lola, talk to me for a little bit while I eat my lunch at the payphone." she talks for a while but pretty soon she's like "i'm cooking something gotta go" so I hang up. pack the rest of my lunch and wait for the bell to ring. What saved me that first week - MY DISCOVERY OF THE LIBRARY - hurray! Now I just eat my lunch - I go to the library and I checked out some of the magazines and maybe read a book on a table or in the corner. At least I was away from prying eyes and I can just pretend i was doing homework or whatever.


Jim hanging out by the boat in Boracay - love the turqoise water.

I finally made friends so things got easier in highschool. Never got too close to one group too long though. Well one thing I couldn't really socialize and go out w/ them outside of school. It was kind of neat "floating" from one group to another. Most of my good friends were acquired in college.

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