A Long One For My Comrades In Strata

Alright!

After putting this off for the past two weeks, I finally got down to sit and write a little. Let me start by saying that the past few weeks have been hmm very interesting. Last January 11, I went back to school to get enrolled, and become a responsible student again. I was told to come back on the 14th for encoding, and on that fateful afternoon, I found out that I cannot find my needed stubjects in the morning. All they had available was from 1800 onwards. The night school, CDP as we Benildeans call it, is where the professional people go for classes. It was all good til I realized….

…that I have to leave Wephone.

That wasn’t quite a shock though - I was actually quite mentally prepared to go gung-ho on work just to get back to school.

So I went back to Ortigas for the PM shift. With EAF in hand, I immediately arranged for my resignation. After a ton of crap that was my discussion with the higher ups, and the intervention of my much beloved HTC, I was allowed to go on terminal leave. See, I was supposed to go on forced leave on the week preceding, and I thought it was awesome that I would still get my salary while working it up outside.

Sad to say, that part of the agreement didn’t hold up, and when I visited on the Friday after that, I was told that my last day is on January 29 instead of February 15. My terminal leave has been shredded. But that didn’t matter - what mattered was I was already back in school taking my classes. The catch was I had to report for a half-day’s work for five days til my last day.

I JUST DIDN’T CARE.

Because of my friend Gelai’s suggestion, I went to apply at Sitel, spent two days bored stiff in a chair with some occasional activities to be done. Despite coming in with i-didn’t-have-breakfast syndrome for the first day, and getting interviewed at 2300 the next day, which was a little of a major hassle, I got accepted for training.

I’ll start on February 8 at Sitel.

~

For the past three years, I’ve been working in Wephone. Back then, it used to be known as Edunara Inc. Back in April 2007, right after going to Polilio, Johanne and myself went to apply there for a ’summer job’. Little did we know of all the life-changing experiences we’d have there.

I’d really, really miss that place.

I know, the place is a little crummy. But the factor that made me stay there for a long time, is without a doubt - the people. I had friends who I was stuck with. Of course, people came and went, but it was still that revolving door of people that made me cry, learn, humbled and of course, happy. It is they who I will miss the most. Most of the people from my time in Edunara [known amusingly as ‘Jurassic’ or ‘Dinosaurs’] have gone away, leaving just a handful of us old, battle-worn EIAs. I can safely say though that I kept way from the people before because I had this single intention of just working to earn - I thought I didn’t need friends. But then, one by one, I became close to them, shared my stories with them and I learned of theirs.

Of course, some friendships didn’t last and I am always sorry for the wrongs I may have done to these people. But on a happier note, most of them accepted me, and though most didn’t understand me as a select few have, they still treated me with kindness and respect, and recognized me for the good things I can do, because I am admittedly pasaway.

~

And it was not just the people who I worked with, of course there are some that I would always remember among my students. Some were just forced to take ESL, but the most of the lot were enthusiastic about learning. I would miss my student Nina, who’s been with me since I was still a greenhorn, and all my other students who have been very much instrumental in making me enjoy my otherwise routine job.

photo by : Mick Alsan Perez

So it is with a heavy heart that I have to pack up and leave. Then again, they say that good byes are just for now, but friends are always forever.

~
kamsahamnida

[reposted from my Multiply]