FEEDBACKS

hi Vic

You're sure busy with the journal...I enjoy reading it ..keep up the good job.  I like the pictures of  Emma, Mia, Dillon and Chloe.

Regards.
Vicky

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Thank you, Vicky!

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After two years in College, I opted to take a year long leave and to stay in Asingan. I was so unhappy and homesick while in Manila. The prospect of taking a whole year relief from school work seemed appealing at the time. That two- month long school vacation ( April and May 1960 ) I joined the Catechitical League organized by the incumbent Parish Priest of Asingan, Fr. Lazaro de Guzman. For a whole month, we went to church every afternoon to take a crash course on basic teaching skills plus a grasp of what we will be teaching which is Catechism.Angelito Domaoan and Philip Martin were with me in this activity. The lectures took place from 3-5 pm; but at 1:00 pm, many young people were already in the church yard playing soft ball or volley ball or just simply talking. For them, it was a relief from humdrum housework. Many were the Asingan youth who can not afford to go to College. For those interested, they could also join the choir, which I did. After a month of lectures, the Father felt confident we can to the job as Catechists.There were about 30 plus of us, including the ones from the barrios.

Starting the following school year June-March, we went to teach Catechism in the North and South Central schools. At the South Central School, I handled the class of Vicky Fernandez and Tessie Cruz. If I remember right, we went to their class twice a week for the whole year. Vicky was the friendly and attentive type of pupil, Tessie Cruz, her bosom buddy was the quiet type. The purpose for the Catechism teaching and study is to prepare them for the General Communion which would take just before the graduation from their academics.

Vicky and Tessie eventually joined the church Catechists and the choir since one of them was Juanita Orpiano who was also from Dupac ( Vicky's folks are from Dupac ). Everything went well. We survived the ordeal of preparing breakfast for their Communion Day. We woke up at 3:00 am to helped out cook breakfast for almost a 100 kids (that included Vicky and Tessie). We brewed coffee in big containers; cooked scrambled eggs in woks, and hundreds of pan de sal were ordered from the Villar Bakery. During the Mass that morning, the church was wall-to-wall with kids. As a token of his gratitude, Fr. de Guzman not long after treated his catechists and friends to an excursion to Baguio City.

The year of vacation came to a close and I had to prepare myself again for College. Then I also heard that Vicky and her family were to leave for California. On one of the last days of that week before I went back to Manila I went to see Vicky to ask if she was really leaving for good. I saw her playing ball with a group of kids from the marketside. If I am not mistaken, she was still in her green Girl Scout uniform. "Yes, it is true," she said. It was a kind of bummer, because again I felt left alone. Friends and classmates left for abroad and there I was, still stuck in Asingan.----#