I used to be a teacher. Enjoyed the fulfillment of imparting knowledge to my students. Been able to handle high school and college classes. Diverse subjects like Physical Education, English, Mathematics, Management, and Accounting were handled by yours truly.

When I was younger, I felt the calling to this field. I enjoyed playing as a teacher. Instructing and giving assignments to my playmates are my favorites. Though I am a shy person, when I play the role, it boosts my confidence and set aside my inferiority.

While in college, some of my professors often asked me to conduct special classes or you can call it tutorials. I just obeyed and taught my classmates who are interested to learn more. At first, I was unsure to accept the task because I felt inadequate and inferior. Plus the fact that I am scared to be looked down and scorned by fellow students. But as days passed by, my audience grew bigger and my classmates were thankful enough to appreciate my effort and told me that they learned thru my instruction and approach. I was happy to know that I didn't taught in vain and reaped positive results. My classmates said that they were able to understand the lessons (especially in Accounting).

After graduation, my brother enrolled me in a graduate school in Rizal province. I took a few units for Masters in Public Administration. I met different people with different occupations and college degrees. My journey to become a teacher continued and even planned to take up additional units in Education but didn't materialize. But even if I lacked formal education requirements, I was given a chance to become a reliever of a vacationing professor in the same school in Rizal after 3 years. With no expertise or specialization, I was assigned to facilitate all year levels with different subject matters. I even tagged myself as "international" because I taught first year English, first year Mathematics, second year English, second year Social Studies, third year Management, and fourth year Accounting.

I survived college instruction and then was called to become a Physical education teacher from first year to fourth year class. The job was hard and became my last teaching stint in a formal school setting. My throat is not suited to talk for hours in a large room with bountiful students.

To continue my craft, I accepted one-on-one tutorials to elementary students. Until I found myself deviating from the profession to different career paths like marketing, inventory, customer service, etc.

Recently, I bumped to a former classmate of mine in college who happened to finish education units that entitled her to take and pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers. In her quest to land a teaching job, she applied to different schools (private and government). She waited to be called for demonstration and interviews and asked for my help in creating presentations and technical teaching strategies based on my experience because she lacked the actual training and just attended school to complete her 18 Education units. I helped her with the PowerPoint presentations and gave her tips to have her students' attention and involvement. We meet every now and then after she consults some teacher friends and former professors to make her future demonstration more effective.

Even if I didn't pursue the teaching path I tracked before, I am happy to share my experiences and talents to a budding and very eager mentor-to-be. I am still willing to impart knowledge to those who wanted to learn, though it will not be in a classroom setup, but in other forms.
We seldom go out and bond as a group. My siblings and I live in different locations. Having our own families and priorities made it difficult to schedule meet ups. Fortunately last Friday, our kids got a chance to go out, dine together and celebrate my nephew's birthday. It was so fun because their lolo and lola joined their grandchildren. Since it was Jaja's birthday, he requested to dine at Jollibee (a local fast food chain popular to kids here in the Philippines). The usual kiddie meal was ordered for the 3 young ones, chicken bucket meal and burger steak for the older ones.



While eating, we talk about adventures and escapades that we just had. My nieces, nephews and son seemed to enjoy the moment and requested another stop to a coffe shop near the area. My father and mother agreed to go to "The Beanery" and have coffee (with snacks of course).



A one-hour dinner plan turned out to be a four-hour eating spree. Before going home, we set to repeat the bond next month for my mother's birthday in a different restaurant. Happiness filled our hearts as we went home. We even enjoyed the walk from the town plaza to our house which took us 10 minutes. It was almost midnight and we are the only ones crossing the road. The air was cold and breezy, our laughter blended with the atmosphere. Never felt good for a long time and been very thankful that I spent time with my family even for a few hours.

After that, went back to reality and rushed to my laptop, logged in and worked to complete my tasks for the week. Time well-spent indeed.