In 1966, I started teaching at the Rizal Academy. For 2 years, I experienced being at the OTHER end of the classroom. What goes around comes around. What I did to some of my teachers in high school came back to me, with a VENGEANCE! I learned how many ways a student could cheat during an exams. I learned that the very quiet student does not necessarily mean he is paying attention to you even if he/she is LOOKING at you all the time. You could go beserk by many students who would rat on their classmates. During a Science subject I asked the students to draw a simple human body, copying it from a science text book..One student stood up and announced.."Sir, Marcelo ( not his real name ) placed a penis in his drawing!" Of course, there is no genitalia in the original.Another one was drawing something and when I went to look, he tried to hide it. Somebody grabbed the drawing and passed it to me. When I checked it, it was a drawing of a monkey.Below it was written: Mr. Costes. Of course I did not flunk the student.He was intelligent, full of pranks and he does not like me because I told him most of the time to stop talking while I was talking in class...
Students would try to avoid you in the hallway. If they have no choice, they would just nod at you saying "Good Morning /Afternoon Sir.."I don't know if they really mean that!
After 2 years of these, I decided to quit. I filed an application to the Divine Word College in Urdaneta, the same time as Mrs. Loreto Mizal. She had also planned to quit teaching at Rizal. Like me, she had already enough BS. And I do not mean Bachelor of Science. After 1 week, she was accepted. I was not. So I thought of going back to University.
"Again??" exclaimed my Mom. But Moms are Moms. They would always say yes to their children. . On May 1968, ten years after the first time I enrolled at the UST, I went back to the same school. This time, I enrolled at the College of Fine Arts. I was a good artist then. I made quite some money making drawings for my aunt in Laoac who was an Elementary School teacher. My Mom would go to Laoac ( to visit her Mom ) and then she would bring home a job order from her sister. I earned my snack money then and I enjoyed doing what I did. So I had a sideline while I was teaching at Rizal.
All of my subjects are art classes..Creative Art, Drawing from Life, Commercial art, etc. One art class was held outdoors. For 3 hours, you would select a subject: a shrub, a billboard, etc. and sketch it with pencil for 3 hours on a drawing pad. Me? I selected a stone face atop the UST Main Building. I think it was lion or a gargoyle. Anyway, after a week news spread around that I was the best student in that subject and my sketches showed it. My drawings got 95 or 98%..In another subject, this time inside a classroom that looked like an art gallery, we were asked to sketch a model standing in front of the class. No, it was not a nude model. It was one of our classmates usually a girl. The session lasted for 3 hours and we used a cartolina or board paper. The teacher graded us at the end of the 3 hour work. I usually got the 2nd highest grade. The professor just looked at the works and he marked a grade on the artwork. No explainations why. But you have to accept it at face value because art evaluation is a very personal thing. He based his grade on how good you made your drawing ( lines, shadings ) not on how accurate the face or the figure of the model is..
For 4 months, I enjoyed myself..I found out that if you are the best student in a class, the girl students ( who were not good artists ) would start hanging around you. There was one called Lavinia. When we were outdoors, she would be staring at me most of the time from a distance. She would be sketching too, but I know it was not me. She was a mestiza, with brown hair and a pretty face to match. I thought she was weird for looking at me the way she did. Even my classmates noticed that too. They would crack: "Bata mo ba si Lavinia?..Bat ganyan ang tingin sa 'yo?" I said No.I already made quite some male friends too. ..
One time, I approached her, started a chat and she responded very nicely..Then one day, she was gone. She dropped out of class and she never came back. I guess art was not her cup of tea.
A week later, I came upon a copy of the University Newsletter. On the student activities section, I saw her photo. She was to perform in a production of the musical OKLAHOMA! at one of the College Auditoriums and she was playing the role of Laurie, the main female character. One of my classmates said: "O andiyan pala ang bata mo eh!"
A few weeks before the semester ended, I received a telegram from my Mom. She told me to come home because Mrs. Mizal was leaving her post at the DWA in Urdaneta, and she recommended me to Fr. Harwardt SVD, one of the school administrators. And I had no choice. It was a JOB, and I have not been making any money lately! It was a bummer indeed. Life really is full of surprises. Again it hit me when I least expected it..
So I bade goodbye to my new found friends in the UST College of Fine Arts. I wanted to watch OKLAHOMA! but it was to be shown at a much later date. I won't be able to make it because I had to go back to Asingan in a couple of days..
Indeed one can not run away from Fate,Destiny or Kismet or whatever you might call it..Again I tried to change careers. I enjoyed creating art. But I had to go back to teaching---and to Asingan that rainy afternoon of October 1968. I guess one can not run away from destiny. On June 1969, I would be meeting in DWA Miguelita Hufana a pretty teacher who would one day become Mrs. Miguelita H. Costes.--#
( to be continued)
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