August 22-23, 2022

Photo from Unsplash

Monday, marks the day of my first ever face-to-face classes during pandemic. And after 2-3 years, the gov't now permitted schools to participate in face-to-face classes, and the school I'm in now allowed all students to participate!

Of course, I was very excited to meet new faces after 2-3 years of staying at home, but I was also a bit nervous on what will happen next when I'm there.

There are alot of things I think of and question myself this:

• What I have to do when I'm there?

• Where should I go when classes starts?

• Should I be scared of going to class while COVID is around?

• etc.

I got so many questions in my mind, but I can only answer it when it's time...

I'm so sorry for not able to provide much photos in this journal. Even though I carried my phone for the entire week. I didn't able to take pictures because we have to stay at the room even if there's no classes for some days.

First Day of School

First day, first time going to school today.

We woke up with the earliest time to wake, 4:30am! That's the earliest time I woke up to go to school!

It's still dark but can't be lazy. It's my first time going to the school after 2-3 years and I don't want to be late!

We took 1 ½ hours to prepare. The water so cold but I have to wash myself after 2 days of not taking baths.

We prepared our breakfast early, and then father helped us go to school by giving us a ride with motorcycle. My sister also a student in the school.

Let me tell you that the school we're in is not within the municipal where we lived, we have to take a 30+ minutes ride to get there. From municipal to another municipal.

I want to think in advance to where I want to go when I'm now senior high, where my preferred strand is (which is HUMSS), and decided to go with my sister because the strand I'm looking for is in there

And we arrived before 7pm. But as soon as we arrived, I didn't expect with what was going on.

Sooo many students were waiting at the gate to be opened. It's like traffic but people are the ones that causes the traffic.

So we stand by at the parking area waiting for the "traffic" to go. And after few minutes, we're finally in.

Huge school it is. Very huge.

My sister knows where she's going because her teacher is just the same as her last school year (and yes she participated in pilot testing of face-to-face classes).

But me, I don't know. Though I know what section I'm in, but don't know what room where I have to go...

We searched the building where all Grade 10 sections are in, and none of them are my section.

At I think 7:30am(?), we gathered around at the school grounds/oval for the orientation.

The principal make such long speech, then she introduced the staffs on the school (teaching and non-teaching personnel).

And after that, I went looking for the classroom. And that's where I met 2 of my classmates, Julia Mae and Mirasol (both are girls). They were looking for the room as well!

(I'll cover their names because they might be uncomfortable when I put their names/nicknames here and published in public. Some agree that I'll put their names here.)

After scouting the entire school, we found our room, but not entirely "ours".

The room is from the Grade 7, but the teacher of the class allowed us to use it at the afternoon, which is will be our schedule.

It's only just a technical students orientation, nothing fancy yet.

At 11:30am, we can now go. Before we go home, we stopped by at the nearest 7-11 store, bought some ice cream, then returned home at 12pm.

Second Day

At second day, we took a bus, and I thought that we would have to spend ₱33 per head (₱66 in total for me and my sister, we paid an ave. of ₱50/$1 per ride, ₱100/$2 back and forth), but we got blessed after seeing our tickets that we have to pay ₱25 each, we saved few pesos from that. Phew.

Same as yesterday, still not having class, so we took some time to talk with my seatmates, and even roamed around the school.

This time, our schedule is 12pm t0 6pm. Yeah really late. We have M-W-H and T-Th schedule, 5 subjects in M-W-H, while 3 subjects in T-Th.

We got to go home early, and rested well.

Third Day

From the last 2 days, its now different. We finally have some time to introduce ourselves in Filipino. I counted how many classmates I have, and it's total of 52 students (including me).

We have Math that day as well, and if you know me, I hated it and loved it at the same time.

We have pre-assessment for the first time in Math. And it's about sequences and arithmetic sequences.

And thank God, I got a passing score, got 16, and I'm the only person who has the passing score among all of us. This is where the fascination begins.

I got called for being "smart" even the pre-assessment is just a pre-test and just basic algebra.

Some subjects were not discussed. So it's just our time for breaks.

Fourth Day

This day, is my first time being late, well not technically late for like 30 minutes.

I'm late for our TLE class for 4-10 minutes, but good thing it started just about time.

Our teacher is a he. And his characteristics is very much my preferred teacher. He's funny, and very good in teaching.

He preferred to students who does more in Performance Task than Written Works. He may also give a grade of 100 whenever he saw us do more in Performance Task.

Then we have Science and English, respectively.

In MWH schedule, we have 1 hour and 20 minutes per subject, while TTh schedule is 2 hours per subject.

The day went well.

Fifth Day

This day is my first time going to school, all by myself.

My sister don't have classes yet, so she decided to be absent for the day. And I'm all alone. :)

In times like this, alot of instances where kidnapping is somewhat common. So, I'm getting paranoid for the whole day...

I was 30 minutes early. And it is rainy that time, so cold would be the problem.

All subjects/class now have discussions. All were written in my paper, and there's activities as well, soooo been busy that time.

At 5:30 I rushed to the pharmacies to buy medicines.

My father was sick that time. So mom told me to buy medicines in the pharmacy.

My plan to return early is somewhat crushed, and this is where worries are hitting me, one at a time.

At 6pm, all jeepneys are now gone, all I have to ride is a bus.

Only me and my friend Vincent were waiting for a bus.

We spent 30 minutes to wait for a single bus... And thank God we finally able to get on the bus.

I was still in "paranoid mode", thinking someone is following me or trying to get me. I don't know what's really in to me.

At 7pm, I arrived at home, and ran towards it without realising, I was with my aunt the whole time... I didn't even know she's in the bus as well...

I ran back home dafe and quiet, but paranoid...

End of Journal

And that's is for today, hope you like my 6-7 minutes read article. :)

I still have in store, but busy in school so uh yeah XD. Almost Christmas and I'm waiting for it to happen.

See ya guys, till next time!

-Stanley