Anie Writes

Dear Students I Have Taught Last School Year: An Open Letter

Dear students I have taught last school year,

It’s hard to believe that school year 2015-2016 flown by all too quickly and has truly come to an end. Here I am currently occupied with planning for another school year and in between evaluating textbooks and teaching demos scheduled in the past weeks got me thinking about all of you.

Teaching you guys has been a rich experience for me. I revel in seeing you grow, both as learners and individuals. And while I may not be your favorite teacher, or the best there is this side of HFLC, I hope {pray really}, that you learn something from all the lessons and advice I have tried so hard to share with you over our ten months together. Know that the seemingly high expectations I have from you is more than just a standard but a process, if you may, that allowed me to stir up that creative magic in you. I never wanted to quantify you in a number but the system thinks it’s important to. I know its unlike anything you’ve ever encounter but I saw first hand the personal growth you guys made while under these academic pressures and that tells me more about your potentials than any quizzes, tests and examinations ever could. You’ve tackled this school year with perseverance and when the going gets tough, you guys continued trying your ding dang best. I can't be any more proud of you than I am today.

To all of you who will be returning to HFLC for another year of learning and exploration, I can’t wait to see you in my class! My excitement for school year 2016-2017 surpasses whatever thrill a new episode of Game of Thrones can ever offer me. I can’t wait to welcome you not just with plain excitement but also with a promise to learn as much as I can about you so we can create the most feasible use of the learning time we will have. I will commit myself in running those extra miles for you yet again and will light my flame from yours, assuring to hand it back to you when you need it most. I will be that teacher and MORE. *pinky swear*

And to those of you moving to bigger schools, it will take a lot of getting use to walking around the hallways and teaching my class without seeing your rowdy but beautiful faces. No longer will you regularly have my seemingly iron-fisted, no-nonsense voice for unsolicited guidance, keeping you on track, Miss Anie’ style! What a relief that is to some of you, I know, but should you ever need a good jolt to help you get back to your senses, know that I’ll certainly be available to you whenever I can be. I trust you will utilize the skills you’ve honed during your stay at HFLC and require of yourself the discipline all your teachers here have required of you. It’s been one heck of a ride fighting like hell for all of you and may you also find it in you to fight like hell for yourself as well. I shall miss you all dearly for sure!

Lastly, I want to thank all of you for your smiles, for your zeal and character. Thank you for allowing me to see your hearts, your minds and your regard for everything that surrounds you. I have gained new set of eyes because of this and I will strive to wield this vision in mentoring those who will step into my classroom. As you continue your quest as learners in the academia, bear in mind that I will always fiercely have faith in your potential for greatness. I want to pat you at the back for being who you are. Now, bestow the world with something significant by showing us who you will become.

All my affection,

Miss Anie

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, by Anie Ordillo

In Ahh Life, Personal

Three Decades and a Year

“Hold still!” my sister said, almost irritatingly.

I’m not one to hold still especially if things are left unexplained but my sister sounded so serious and I, for the life of me, did what she said as a strand of hair was gingerly plucked out from my head.

“Here” she said, grabbing my hand to firmly place a short gray strand of hair on my palm.

“Awww” I said in the most adoringly way I can muster, as if I was gazing at the wonder of a newborn baby.

Whether this gray strand of hair is stress-induced or brought on by the result of genetics, I absolutely feel nothing less than regal. Throw in crow’s feet and sagging underarms in the next couple of years; I can still say becoming older will never be a tale of woe in my book. Ever. Because being a grown woman is damn magnificent! At thirty-one, this holds true to me. Every year, I would wait for my birthday to roll around only to celebrate it the way I know best – reflecting on the past year, realizing I did learn something and yes, I am on my way to getting wiser. I’d take that, in addition to solitude, over drinking and merry-making, any day.

Officially a thirty-something today, which I find both overwhelming and empowering, I feel like I’ve stepped into a new realm of adulthood bringing with me, competence and fortitude as well as battle scars from the past year that allows me to see the possibilities even in the midst of uncertainties. This decade of life brought me to a new level of understanding myself and finally learned to appreciate the person I’ve grown into.

Sure, there will be days I would still feel like crap and taking what life hands me seems to be the only thing that I can do. But, most days though, I’m glad I have this newfound confidence that enables me to make conscious efforts in changing the things within my grasps and courageously accept those that are beyond my control. I only have one life to live after all, and to be able to claw out exactly how I want it to be, is a gift.

And if you’re one of those people whose first impulse is to go “tsk!” because I’m 31, not married, childless and unaccomplished based on your shallow standards – save your deep-seated concerns and worries for the orphans/world hunger/terrorism, will you? I am more than alright because, here, right now, is when life has truly taken off for me and I'm overjoyed to know that my best years are exactly where they should be – right in front of me.

Later that evening, I took my short strand of gray hair and slipped it carefully in between the pages of one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Gray hair, they say, is a crown of glory, and when mine becomes visible enough, you'll see me wear it with pride.

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, by Anie Ordillo

In Ahh Life, Personal

Thirty Today: Kissing My Twenties Au Revoir

Alternate Titles For This Blog Post:

What About 30 Is So Scary?

In My Head I’m Already Fifty

We’ll All Get Old, Deal With It

Aversion To Ending Your Twenties Is So Overrated

Thirty Is The Real Adulthood, Kids!

People Will Start Taking You More Seriously At Thirty

‘Ain't afraid of the walls, I'm a break 'em down’ – a line from the song ‘RuleThe World’ by Walk Off The Earth that pretty much sums up how I feel about turning thirty. While nothing magical really happens when you turn thirty, I couldn’t help but slipped into a contemplative mode for hitting such a major milestone.

This whole growing up thing is comely incredible even for someone who’s already grown. I think it’s beautiful and nothing, not even that extra little wrinkle that comes with aging will ever freak me out. To me, this shift into a new decade is more than just about looks. It’s not so much about accomplishments either because when it comes right down to what truly matters, nothing beats personal growth. Thirty is not a seamless age but it’s a fantastic time. There’s an outpour of self-realizations, noting all of the lessons, trials, triumphs and breakthroughs I’ve accumulated from the past decade as surge of confidence and appreciation knocks you and changes everything.

Now newly thirty, what seems scary to me before, it isn’t anymore. I still haven’t figured everything out entirely, but I’m a heck of a lot closer than I was at twenty. I think about all the things I thought were a good idea in my twenties and just cringed so hard with embarrassment, like, ‘why, Anie, why?!’ Yet the foolishness, frustrations as well as the constant challenges, all helped define a character, a skill, confidence and patience. I didn’t exactly wake up with a head full of sage wisdom but there’s an intense sense of focus and clarity now. The wandering stops, the restlessness is over, opportunities passed, mistakes are made, the rest are bs and along the way, you learn to trust yourself more, discerned your calling and see that time is truly limited. Though I don’t have forever, I certainly still have the present to allow me to take a path I haven’t yet taken, a better path that I’m still in good shape to try to take as I finally put the beautiful, the reckless, naivety of my twenties to rest. After all, I’m thirty now. I WILL live like it.

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, by Anie Ordillo

In Pixiecut Adventures,

Haircut Epiphanies and the What-Nots

I stood upright in front of a full-length mirror with an overwhelming feeling that was both strange and unfamiliar I hardly recognize the face as my own. It was the longest time I've ever gazed at myself without flinching. I ran my hand through the silky undercut stubble of my pixie hair once more and disorientation seemed to finally wear off. With a round hairbrush, I combed back my hair on top to reveal the razored section in all its stubbly glory. I looked at it for several more minutes, staring at my reflection from different angles before I allow myself to trust my own judgment of what I'm seeing. And with some hesitance, I admit, I love the way I look. Never mind the high cheekbones, weak jawline, enormous head and nose that seemingly covers 75% of my face because the insufferable voice of Amy March in my head saying, “Your one beauty!” was finally silenced. I am enamored with this version of me who looks bolder, sort of hardcore and daring than I’ve ever been, almost a perfect pixie cut synthesis of Scarlett Johansson and Pink if I may say so myself. {Cue feels} {Insert face with stuck-out tongue and tightly-closed eyes emoji}

After almost five years of rocking a pixie cut, I considered growing my hair long again but that was until a dear friend sparked the idea to go pixie ala-Scarlett Johansson {Oscars 2015}. Being open to trying new {wholesome} things and so willing to add a little variety into my life, I thought, why the heck not! And so I did and now, I don’t even know if I’ll ever want long hair again. There’s a sort of transformative power that comes from this do as it matches my insides way better. They say there’s some kind of epiphany that happens when you get a new haircut, if that is the case then mine would be: my one claim to prettiness doesn’t solely rely on my hair anymore and how I look does not necessarily change who I am and what's inside.

Last week, I went to get my undercut re-buzzed, this time by a barber, using 2 guard haircut length. I run my hand through the stubble of my pixie hair again and thought, next time, I’ll surely go for #1.

P.S. I'M STILL STRAIGHT :P

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, by Anie Ordillo

In Heck Yeah Teaching,

A Fond Adieu

“Miss Anie! Miss Anie!” exclaimed the several students approaching me all at once, folders and pens in their hands.

I gave them ‘the look’ and without further prompting, the kids formed a line and one by one, clearance forms were being handed to me. I cramped my fingers up, clenched a pen and in slanted cursive, I signed my initials, N.G.O, that looked everything less than a scribble.

Last day of school always takes me back to the beginning of the academic year and wave of nostalgia sweeps over me without delay. Emotions, pure and almost naïve, were all too distinct and though the classic INTP in me safely packed it away, it was there and it was strong.

I look back at the stressful moments this school year with great fondness and thought about the many ‘firsts’ I had the opportunity to do while in a non-teaching post, one that toughened my skin as an individual and allowed me to grow as an educator. It was a challenging ride no doubt, but it was also something I truly relished. Already, my mind is thinking about the next academic year, getting thrilled at the thought of new learning and new plans but somewhere along that great anticipation, there’s a hint of sadness because just like every single year, last day of school also involves a lot of goodbyes.

There’s an assumption that teachers can’t seem to wait to kick their students out the door fast enough as soon as March rolls around so we can finally plunge into our two months off for summer and hit the beach. If people only knew.

Of course we are ready to let our students go but not because we want to get rid of them. We are ready to let them go because we know that they are more than ready to meet the next challenge ahead of them. This goes out to our dear graduates who are set to move to bigger schools next academic year and those who will embark on a quest called college. We stood behind a podium on Friday to called out their names, watched them receive their diplomas and walked out of our lives. It hurts to see one chapter ends but at the same time, it is exciting to see a new one starts because it should. I’d be worried if it didn’t. I just hope that somewhere, deep inside, they will carry the things they learned in HFLC when they were put in an environment in which they have to practice respect, obedience, solidarity, perseverance, excellence, kindness, among others. I pray that all those moments we insisted on empathy, commitment, teamwork and passion would forever be engraved in their hearts. And if they can pass the very same values to the next person who comes along in their life someday, what an awesome thing would that be.

Tenth Graders, Class of 2014-2016

The school will miss all of them. More surprisingly, I WILL SURELY MISS ALL OF THEM.

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, by Anie Ordillo

Dear Students I Have Taught Last School Year: An Open Letter

Three Decades and a Year

Thirty Today: Kissing My Twenties Au Revoir

Haircut Epiphanies and the What-Nots

A Fond Adieu

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