Missing Dole, missing Kalsangi

Thursday, January 08, 2009 Spicy Trekker 4 Comments

I suddenly missed Kalsangi, where I took 1st-2nd grade in Dole Phils School, an Int'l school exclusively for the children of Dole employees. Feel ko non like nsa U.S. ako kc ang lamig & we're all being fetched by a big yellow school bus everyday. As in "bus". We have like permanent seats. Walang mangangagaw! 2nd to the front kmi ni Nicole & her bestfriend Jane. Pero favorite ng lahat yung pinaka-likod. Kasi before reaching school, we have to pass a road of DOLE pineapples. Tuwing may humps, mapapatalon from their seats sa likod..tapos mauuntog!

All of our books were from the US, hard bound & glossy. Kya lng we have to return at the end of the yr. We had Social Studies but they're teaching American culture. Wla kaming Filipino history subject. Filipino book ko non...sobrang tagpi-tagpi parang ayaw kmi ipag-aral ng Filipino. Adviser ko nung Gr.2 si Ms.Ling and section namin 2-Ling =) Advance English/Reading class ako no. After Flag Ceremony, we'd have our pencil cases in our pockets and we'd run directly to the Gr.3 classroom where we'd felt proud to leave our Gr.2 classmates. Hehe...

May black beetle sandbox sa Kinder area & lagi kumakapit sa socks ko. Andami horror "lamang lupa" happenings dun and it is proven w/ pictures!

Then Nicole had 2 American classmates. The girl, Laura, was eating paper! Haha...faintest memory ko yon. PE namin -swimming and we would walk to the clubhouse (100 steps) in our bathing suits & towels! Under the Fire Tree (my fave tree w/ heart-shaped seeds) we had baseball w/ a pekeng bat. My partner, Neil na crush ko non, our PE teacher made us model dancers for our dance. And sa harap kami non. Hehe... pinapalo ko sya ng ruler at walis non pg science time.

Kalsangi is a wonderful place. It's mostly cold and foggy during the day but it also has its sunny times at 2:30pm where uwian na namin! Nicole & her classmates would go to MACADEMIA trees and steal! Haha..When I joined, malas..dumating si Ms.Huertas..huli! Kaya nagpapadulas nlng kmi sa mga dried tree leaves ni Joanne, Nerizza & Hanika.

There's this day where everyone grills hotdogs, steaks, sausages in a BIG grill. During our family day, I remember having to hop on a Carabao ride and tumae pa ung carabao while we rid. Ewww but fun! I & a random American partner competed in an apple-nose-to-nose hold game. That's what I like to call it.

Our family stayed in the Kalsangi clubhouse (guesthouse) for a month before we transferred to Kaunlaran Subdivision. Free school, school bus, dad's ride to work, free housing, water & electricity because my daddy was a Superintendent then. Executives/Upper Mgt. were lucky because they stayed at the Kalsangi area. We stayed there for two years and it felt like four years of happy childhood memories. Such a wonderful place. The best childhood times I've had.

****All pictures below are not mine. I don't even know the people from the pix. I sourced them from various sites. Tnx to tanyajane24, jalcantara, ivan?, giovanniphotos etc. ****