Life in the Boarding School

As I wrote this, so many memories came to my mind as I reminished the time when I was in CLAA. 
CLAA will always have a special place in my heart because of all the experiences that moulded me. Writing a whole book may not cover all my experiences. Here are some highlights of the things I've learned from my experiences in CLAA. 

1. Discipline
You had to go to bed at 10 pm and wake up by 5 am every day. Lights will be off by 10pm
We had to wake up at 5 am  and be ready for morning devotion. We had to fall in line in our designated bathrooms and have our buckets ready as the water supply is very limited. Oh!  we experienced taking a bath in a water pump. Punctuality is a must in Flag ceremony. If we're late for 1 time then you will be tasked to pull out 5 makahiya roots. 
We were taught independence especially in doing chores such as cleaning, doing laundry, and organizing. Life in a boarding school is not easy. But we were taught responsibility. 

2. Simple Life 
The 90s girl didn’t know what a selfie was, but we sure knew the allure of Johnson's baby powder, red chicklet as lip tint and  rolled cassava leaves for hair curling. 

We were the last kids of the 20th century—literally, and proverbially—but we had no idea what was in store for us as we hit the technological world that would be our adulthood.So that time,  We just read books that we borrowed from the library. We studied as a group. 

Mt.Pinatubo erupted at that time as well. So Pampanga was submerged in lahar on rainy days. On our way back to CLAA, I seem to recall that we passed a flooded lahar. 

3. Our social lives were really meaningful. 

We knew all the students in the school. We spent time chit chatting, hanging out for a day leave  with our friends and roommates on Friday afternoon.  We  watched evening tv series "Marimar"in a faculty house. 

As for the food we were the kids who had experienced eating at the old round cafeteria. The vegetarian food tasted good but sometimes we were very delighted  to be served non vegetarian on Friday afternoon with our roommates sitting on the grass and talked about our day.
Here you could play sports that are not familiar. CLAANIANS were good in Soft Ball. 
One experienced that I woudn't forget was when we went hiking to the falls. Yes, behind the valley there was an astonishing falls. I am not sure if students are still allowed to go there now. 

4. Hard work pays off 
I remember the time when I got a low grade in Math. I even asked my  Math teacher as I cried to check if she didn't make any error. She told me it was correct and couldn't changed after all. I was determined to work harder. I asked my classmates to help me on how to easily understand the formula to solve the problem. So the next term I got a high score in my quizzes and exam. We were encouraged to study hard. 

5. My spiritual  life grows
CLAA is really the school that trains for service. Aside from academics we were trained to be leaders. I learned how to be a song leader, how to conduct a choir, lead a Sabbath School, lead an A.Y Program, Vesper,Midweek Sunrise and Sundown worship. I learned a lot of gospel songs in CLAA.