Happy Valentine

HAPPY VALENTINE

Happy Valentine to all!

Valentine's Day is all about creating your Valentine's Day cards and giving it to your teachers and your mom. That's what it was all about when I was in school.

So, I'm going to show you how our teachers taught us how to create Valentine's Day cards in school on Valentine's Day.

HOW TO CREATE HAPPY VALENTINE DAY'S CARD

1. Get a piece of white bond paper about 11 1/2 and 8 inches long.
2. Fold the paper in half and use a pencil to make sure it is tightly folded.
3. Fold the paper again in half and use a pencil to make sure it is tightly folded.
4. Get a second piece of paper and fold it in half.
5. Get a scissor and cut along the crease of this second paper a shape that is half a heart.
6. Unfold the shape of the half a heart paper along its crease to reveal a full heart.
7. Get a red crayon and color the edges of the full heart.
8. Place the full heart on top of the first paper.
9. While holding the full heart steadily on the first paper, use your fingers to spread the red color to the first paper in an outward fashion until you have completed the full heart.
10. Open the folded first paper and write inside it with your red crayon "Happy Valentine's Day!"
11. Now give it to your mother or your teacher because that's what a Valentine's Day card is for!

Want to see a picture of how this Valentine card might look like? Okay, but first create the card because part of having fun is discovering for yourself. Then go to this website: http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com/ideas/7223/create-fall-leaves-with-chalk-pastels-early-childhood-art-activity/.

Our elementary school teachers always had us making Valentine's Day cards on Valentine's Day since they knew that all Philippine public schools pupils were all poor and couldn't afford Valentine's Day cards. We didn't even have a student store.

PATEROS CATHOLIC SCHOOL

In Catholic parochial schools, where I spent my high school years, students were expected to be rich enough. So we have a student store and a student cafeteria where we have to buy our own food or bring our own lunch there.

So, no, we don't have to make our own Valentine's Day cards. We buy them in the student store, including our books and school uniform, our student ID, our JROTC shirt and trouser uniforms along with the military cap, and our senior bus excursion trip which took three buses to take us to many Filipino historic sites and establishments, including a visit to a university medical school laboratory where we walked freely along the aisles of many open cadavers used by students to study medicine.

The only thing that was free was our senior JROTC field bivouac training where two huge military trucks took us for a ride into the mountains and had us crossing a small river stream through two ropes fastened on both ends, among other fun things. And for lunch, they fed us military C-rations. All these fun were provided for free by the government.

Private high school days can be so much fun, much better than public schools, but your parents have to pay for lots of stuff.

The only thing you don't have to pay are all the awards, medals, and diplomas they give. And they gave me quite a few. Second in Academics, 3 certificates. First in Academics, 1 certificate. First in Religion, 2 certificates. A bronze Most Behaved Boy medal during graduation. My high school diploma. And my JROTC diploma with the rank of Sergeant on it.

I had my aunt pinned the bronze medal on me high on the stage in front of the entire graduating class because my parents were already abroad in America. All the rowdy boys were whistling and yelling as she pinned the medal because she was sort of pretty. But the monsignor and the school principal were both on the stage and hushed them all.

There were two of us competing for that medal for that school year, and I won because my Religion teacher during my freshman year fought for me to have it. (I was sort of a teacher's pet to her. My third grade teacher also liked me so she had me in the front row and gave me full custody of the board eraser.)

I guess you could say a lot of people loved me in my high school years.

So Happy Valentine to all, wherever you may be. And until we meet again, here on earth or in Heaven, I give you all my thanks for being there for me and a warm-hearted hug.

Happy Valentine Philippines! Happy Valentine USA! Happy Valentine World!

John Sindayen

PS: I would also like to send a Happy Valentine to the U.S. Army and the U.S. government who rescued me and saved me a few years ago. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Happy Valentine to my third grade teacher who made me feel I'm special!
Happy Valentine to my fifth and sixth grades Music teacher who made me love singing!
Happy Valentine to my freshman Religion teacher for believing in me!