"Let the old things be done, and for something new to come"
-JRM
Hola there! This back to school post will gonna be me telling you a story of my first day of school in the big city of Manila and how all of it went by.
Everything started when my mother found a possible job in Marikina with a help of her friend. From that she decided for us to transfer in Manila. With us I mean just me and my mother since we cannot afford all the expenses if all the family would go. Our plan is to stay their temporarily and maybe a year or half yet it took us longer than we expected.
When I felt the Manila breeze I instantly felt the enmity with all those polluted air, with the sizzling hot sun and dang with those crowded places and definitely hate those long agonizing traffic. Imagine It’s just my first day and I already despite my new place already so think about it why would I be excited to go to my new school?
So without no expectations and excitement for my new school I obligely enrolled with my mother in Parang high school in Marikina. (pic)
I got transferred in Parang High School in the middle of the year. Like every other human being I also get nervous to all the new things and people around me. The thing that I was most anxious is my speaking language I mean people in Manila speaks tagalog and I’m a bisaya that speaks bisaya dialect and the pronunciation of the both language is very different. So on my very first class I got all wobble inside and have an uncontrollable shaky hands.
However with those shaky hands I gently hide it in the pocket of my skirt and confidently spoke in English to my assigned adviser. People in Manila is not the same in our place where they use English often and made it their second language. So it’s quite rare for them to exchange normal conversation in straight fluent English.
Me and my adviser were walking towards my assigned room while I’m inquiring him about the school. When we entered the room my adviser announced my presence and as usual I introduced myself. Afterwards my warm welcoming classmates politely helped me to find a seat. The second I sat in my chair a bunch of my classmates suddenly surrounded me and just throw me some questions like where exactly do I live, if I am half American since I speak English and if I would be permanently stay in manila and I was shocked o those reactions and attention they’re giving.
They’re new people, I don’t know them and I admit I am scared on their reactions if I speak tagalog with a slight of my bisaya pronunciation. I have thoughts like they would definitely laugh at me, my difference, my weirdness and would bully me. Those thoughts block my confidence to speak up I got quiet for awhile and didn’t answer them. But when I started to answer I answered them in English. I converse to them using English language. I used the way where I’m more comfortable to express myself and just talk to them like they’re my close friends. My confidence got boost, my shyness, anxiousness and fear vanished. Instantly I found some new friends they helped me in things that I don’t know about school, guide me and give a tour of the school and I just happily ate with them at lunch time. Their I became a transferee girl that people see as a friendly new student with those bright smiles and high confidence without a glimpse of fear at being a new student in a new big school.
I know it’s not easy to make new friends in a new place all you have to do is relax kicked out those thoughts on getting bullied and just focused on meeting new people. You may not like it on the first time but you just have to make an effort to know things better and look at it in a brighter side and everything would fall into the right places. And that’s how my first day of school went by in my new school. Adios
“May your blog post don’t have any wrong grammars”
Roxy signing out