In a couple of weeks, 2016 is almost over. Today seemed like a great time to look back into some of the memories of my younger years.
Nerdy yet Fun High School
There weren’t much to do when I was in my teens. I was the typical girl who went to school, studied her lessons, followed the rules, and stayed at home. I was only an active, playful, young girl in my elementary days. So, I tried to find some interesting activities when I was in high school. This was the period when I met a lot of friends who gave color to my usually predictable days.
For four years, I was with a group of friends who were all brilliant, funny, clever, and unique in their own ways. We shared a lot of time reading books, sharing stories, finishing group assignments, answering exams, and presenting skits/reports in front of the class. Those memories helped build lasting relationships and opened opportunities to learn about our own personalities. Even though everyone looked nerdy and grade conscious (being in the top section), we still knew how to enjoy a break. Some of the activities in the years we stayed in the school (2005-2009) were simple yet fun and interesting *but, I think many would not be able to relate with this now* 😛
1. After School in the Computer Shop (ComShop)
The internet wasn’t that accessible for high school students like us at home. Sometimes the struggle was more on the dial-up concerns (maybe some younger ones won’t understand this) :/. Urgent group projects required research and presentations, so the class went to nearby computer shops to complete all these. Here, students and other individuals enjoy “fast” internet with the luxury of sharing a PC with friends.
During those days, when the research/project was done, there was Friendster (yup! That ancient social networking site). Years before Facebook became the “thing”, young students enjoyed this simple networking site. It offered numerous chances to personalize each individual profile page. There were preset designs and loads of other web page coding to make the page more colorful, more you. Besides, there was supposed to be a time when all of us felt like making some cutesy, pretty , and even out-of-this world masterpieces. 😉
2. Personalized Group/Friendship Memorabilia
There were so many different options to choose from. It somehow depended on the trend. But basically, it could be anything!
Some gave bracelets, pins, watches, hairpins, notebooks, and much more. The important thing was that it was customized. Having the group’s name, your class section, special nicknames, and others. It was another form of cutesy afflictions but with a more creative and friendly nature.
3. Break time games
The secret games during breaks, after school, or when the teacher’s absent. 😛 We were in high school but everyone still had that child in them. Even nerdy, special science section students knew how to have fun!
It was a time to play with our closest friends or even the entire class. It could be jackstones, scrabble, other board games, Chinese garter/ten-twenty (10-20), and even card games. Though the last one were merely for fun (strictly no gambling!) like 1,2,3-pass, unggoy-ungguyan, and others that I still couldn’t remember up to this day. I never learned the rules of those games by heart even if I tried playing them over and over.
4. Off-school class and group practices
High school wasn’t just for academics, there were a lot of extra-curricular activities as well. Even in our regular classes, there were a number of activities: presentations, skits, and reporting. All of which required picking a place to practice, research, but mostly to chat, laugh, and eat after school hours. 😉
Other than those, we participated in cheer dance competitions (extremely tiring yet fun), inter-year dance interpretation contests, oral interpretations and sabayang pagbigkas, sports fests, field demonstrations, and much more. These all made the four years interesting, engaging, and full of memories.
5. Movie Marathon
Movies made get-togethers worth extra after school hours. My batchmates enjoyed a great variety of films. We rented VCDs and DVDs from rental shops. Those were still a thing then, but now most people have their favorite films in external drives or soft copies.
The moments we shared were full of laughter, teasing, snacks, and many wonderful stories. It was fun spending time with friends especially after the periodical exams. The greatest problem for this activity was picking the place to stay. Many parents would probably hate the idea. But through this, we came to have an extended family of our own.
Those were only a fraction of the memories I had when I was still in my teens. How about you, what’s the most memorable experience you had during those years?
Yakapin 