"I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial." - Thomas Jefferson
EBB'S-TALK: Our blog this week is about mini-reunions from Chicago to the Philippines. I will let Puri, Tessie M., Eloi, Gerry, and Cora do the talking. For the mean time, I am taking a break, so I can have more time to think and plan as my husband & I start moving. Many enjoyed those avalanche of e-mails from our e-grp. The others can suggest what topics you like. Enjoy our latest blog!
CHICAGO REUNION: Pinoys in Greek Town, Chicago at a Garden Luncheon in Athena Restaurant. Taken before feasting on Gyros and Porkloin kabobs, etc. on Aug 19,2009
1st photo L-R Dr.Tessie Lonzame Marzan, Renita Abary de Gorostiza, Puri Capistrano Laconico and Dr Elouisa Dizon Farrales
1st photo L-R Dr.Tessie Lonzame Marzan, Renita Abary de Gorostiza, Puri Capistrano Laconico and Dr Elouisa Dizon Farrales PURI'S PERSPECTIVE: MY KIND OF TOWN: I can hear Sinatra's croon which put a smile on my face. Al Capone territory once upon a time, known as windy city not due to bad weather but because their Mayor of long ago was bragging about a Colombia World's Fair that was going to be held in Chicago and other participants found him hambugero at mahangin kaya Windy City. But their current Mayor Daley now has a lot to really brag about. In the last decade, tall buildings rose and his redevelopment program makes Chicago a "must see" destination, I was awed ! So many gorgeous bldgs, the Legacy, Millenium, Aqua, Regatta, Lancaster,etc. Now why am I talking about the city instead of our memorable reunion........Well last Wednesday Aug. 19th Tessie and Romy Marzan picked Renita Abary de Gorostiza in Evanston then got me at the 90 story Trump Tower where I stayed at my sister's 52nd floor unit. It was floor to ceiling glass, I felt like I was on the plane day and night, with the clouds meandering between the magnificent skyline before me. Right away I recognized Tessie with her smiling eyes but wouldn't have guessed the other person was Renita in the car. I remember her with long ponytail and now she sports a very short hairdo like Sari's. We were supposed to meet up with Eloi and Jun Farrales at Greek Island but the night before they had a dry run and Eloi thought the restaurant next door called Athena was a better place and it was. It had a garden setting, so we dined Al Fresco. We had a table beneath a Jacaranda tree facing a wall of waterfalls with geraniums and day lilies. There was a light breeze, it felt like being in the Mediterranean in good company. The main attraction was not the menu but the Yearbook that Eloi brought which we all passed around along with a box of chocolate macadamia nuts. I was indeed in good company, amid doctors and a nurse. Renita is a nurse. Tessie a retired Doc and Eloi a soon to retire Doc too. It felt like the time elapsed of some 50 years did not diminish the bond of our old friendships. We are all looking forward to Feb 20 next year.
Sari, I met your cousin Nati Bernardino- Fuentes at my sister Nati's place. She said she is a grandaughter of Pio Valenzuela so I told her that you and Lovely Romulo must be her cousins. and guess what, she has a house next door to Uod Fajardo in Limasawa St, MagallanesVillage. I told her to attend our reunion and she will. I spent a whole day yesterday with my brother's family in Mundelein and met his 18 month old apo for the first time. It was a short and sweet visit to My Kinda Town, Chicago Is... and I'm now back in San Jose.
2nd photo - Romy and Tessie Marzan
FROM TESSIE MARZAN:Hi Everyone,
All in all, a nice week so far; met up w/ Renita, Puri , Eloy & Jun. Romy & Jun got to know each other a bit so they should be able to hang out in ' Pinas. Had lunch at Athena in Chicago; looked over the yearbook Eloi brought along & able to connect some names & faces. Eloi also brought a box of chocolate covered nuts for dessert, Puri picked up the lunch tab, thanks guys. I would have recognized Puri & Eloi easily but not Renita; (more from Puri about our mini-reunion). Too bad Renita is not keen on getting a computer; she is missing out on a lot of fun. On a our way home after dropping off Renita, it rained which was quite welcomed. This Sat. our grand daughter will have her 4th B-day party; got some plants from the Garden Club so, the weekend will close on that note.
FROM TESSIE MARZAN- PART 4: Hello Dear Classmates, Again, hope everyone is as well as can be, here's the 5th & last segment of my bridge, up close & personal.
I am nostalgic for the crispy, fried, shredded, green papaya lumpia fr. the canteen & the yummy hamburger & marble cake fr. the F/N coffeshop. I had a late lunch there once, & Mrs. Acosta was so pissed off with us because we left trash on the tables; Ms. Calixto came down to see for herself. ( now you know why I had to borrow pamasahe sometimes fr. Leonides).
Who recited ------ My First Cigarette? ------ ; Alleli Vengua - talent extraordinaire ----- ; Lita, Hortense & Betsy - a trio of lovely cousins.
Trying to take a look at Paraluman, Amalia Fuentes, the sister of Shirley Gorospe.
Visited the student clinic once, was given aspirin for fever, chewed it since I did not know how to swallow pills at the time (ang pait).
I went to PWU only because a paternal aunt, Juana, was enrolled at the College of Pharmacy---serendipity indeed!. At the time, South Superhighway was not in existence yet; so every day I got up early, took the Jeepney to Alabang, then, the Binan or LTB or BTCO bus thru Zapote, Las Pinas, Paranaque, Baclaran, Pasay,Taft Ave, & finally PWU. -- a looooong tedious trip! At times, I took the train fr. Sucat to Paco, then a jeepney to PWU or most often up to Padre Faura only, then a short walk to school. This was a much shorter way but the trains were notoriously unreliable.On the way home, I waited for the bus in front of the College of Music, so during my interminable waiting time; the students practising their scales kept me company. Because of differing schedules with my aunt, I was most of the time by myself --- a lonesome traveller. During the times we had to attend mandatory after school activities, I had to make those visits to the Principal's office to be excused. (remember? they used to monitor the gates so we can't leave). Otherwise, masyado akong gagabihin sa daan; another reason, na hindi ako nakapaglakwatsa. My sisters and you had it really easy. Because of what I endured -- going to & from school, I could easily have hated it. But I am thankful that instead, I appreciated it, stored so many trivial & seemingly inconsequential things & these same things are now treasured memories. What's most rewarding is --- I met you all.
Thanks a lot for strolling wth me.
ASIDES: Are we done mining the May- Dec. issue or nagdi-dig pa tayo?. Romy is just a few months older; so far we have grown really accustomed to each other's face - warts, wrinkles, quirks and all; we'll just hang on, too late--- to return or exchange---nawala na ang recibo.
Puri---what a lovely write up on Hana & familly.
We know now that 3 of us have lost their beloved spouses---- Hana & Lilia most recently; hopefully, they will be joyful again. Renita lost her spouse sometime ago, she had moved on.
The list of our classmates whom we have no info is really long, how about brainstorming on how we can shorten this list; Agent Sari needs our help.
Sari, I met your cousin Nati Bernardino- Fuentes at my sister Nati's place. She said she is a grandaughter of Pio Valenzuela so I told her that you and Lovely Romulo must be her cousins. and guess what, she has a house next door to Uod Fajardo in Limasawa St, MagallanesVillage. I told her to attend our reunion and she will. I spent a whole day yesterday with my brother's family in Mundelein and met his 18 month old apo for the first time. It was a short and sweet visit to My Kinda Town, Chicago Is... and I'm now back in San Jose.
2nd photo - Romy and Tessie MarzanFROM TESSIE MARZAN:Hi Everyone,
All in all, a nice week so far; met up w/ Renita, Puri , Eloy & Jun. Romy & Jun got to know each other a bit so they should be able to hang out in ' Pinas. Had lunch at Athena in Chicago; looked over the yearbook Eloi brought along & able to connect some names & faces. Eloi also brought a box of chocolate covered nuts for dessert, Puri picked up the lunch tab, thanks guys. I would have recognized Puri & Eloi easily but not Renita; (more from Puri about our mini-reunion). Too bad Renita is not keen on getting a computer; she is missing out on a lot of fun. On a our way home after dropping off Renita, it rained which was quite welcomed. This Sat. our grand daughter will have her 4th B-day party; got some plants from the Garden Club so, the weekend will close on that note.
FROM TESSIE MARZAN- PART 4: Hello Dear Classmates, Again, hope everyone is as well as can be, here's the 5th & last segment of my bridge, up close & personal.
I am nostalgic for the crispy, fried, shredded, green papaya lumpia fr. the canteen & the yummy hamburger & marble cake fr. the F/N coffeshop. I had a late lunch there once, & Mrs. Acosta was so pissed off with us because we left trash on the tables; Ms. Calixto came down to see for herself. ( now you know why I had to borrow pamasahe sometimes fr. Leonides).
Who recited ------ My First Cigarette? ------ ; Alleli Vengua - talent extraordinaire ----- ; Lita, Hortense & Betsy - a trio of lovely cousins.
Trying to take a look at Paraluman, Amalia Fuentes, the sister of Shirley Gorospe.
Visited the student clinic once, was given aspirin for fever, chewed it since I did not know how to swallow pills at the time (ang pait).
I went to PWU only because a paternal aunt, Juana, was enrolled at the College of Pharmacy---serendipity indeed!. At the time, South Superhighway was not in existence yet; so every day I got up early, took the Jeepney to Alabang, then, the Binan or LTB or BTCO bus thru Zapote, Las Pinas, Paranaque, Baclaran, Pasay,Taft Ave, & finally PWU. -- a looooong tedious trip! At times, I took the train fr. Sucat to Paco, then a jeepney to PWU or most often up to Padre Faura only, then a short walk to school. This was a much shorter way but the trains were notoriously unreliable.On the way home, I waited for the bus in front of the College of Music, so during my interminable waiting time; the students practising their scales kept me company. Because of differing schedules with my aunt, I was most of the time by myself --- a lonesome traveller. During the times we had to attend mandatory after school activities, I had to make those visits to the Principal's office to be excused. (remember? they used to monitor the gates so we can't leave). Otherwise, masyado akong gagabihin sa daan; another reason, na hindi ako nakapaglakwatsa. My sisters and you had it really easy. Because of what I endured -- going to & from school, I could easily have hated it. But I am thankful that instead, I appreciated it, stored so many trivial & seemingly inconsequential things & these same things are now treasured memories. What's most rewarding is --- I met you all.
Thanks a lot for strolling wth me.
ASIDES: Are we done mining the May- Dec. issue or nagdi-dig pa tayo?. Romy is just a few months older; so far we have grown really accustomed to each other's face - warts, wrinkles, quirks and all; we'll just hang on, too late--- to return or exchange---nawala na ang recibo.
Puri---what a lovely write up on Hana & familly.
We know now that 3 of us have lost their beloved spouses---- Hana & Lilia most recently; hopefully, they will be joyful again. Renita lost her spouse sometime ago, she had moved on.
The list of our classmates whom we have no info is really long, how about brainstorming on how we can shorten this list; Agent Sari needs our help.
3rd photo - Eloi and Jun Farrales(right side)FROM ELOI: Our Chicago date with Puri, Renita, Tessie L and hubby and me and my hubby was such an exciting one. I arrived in Chicago 2 days before Puri arrived and decided to check out the place first. I saw that next door from the Greek Isles was a nice outdoor place where there is a waterfall, trees and ambience so I told Tessie and that is where we met. I was so eager that I was on the way to the restaurant an hour early when Tessie called and said that Renita thought we were meeting the following day so they will be late . I did some errands and I was late . When I got there ,they were already seated but I did recognize Puri And Tessie at once. Renita is the one who changed the most, She had real short hair and did not have the same smile that I remember. We reminisced about the way it used to be, about the paths that our lives took and about our short term plans. Renita and Tessie both went to UST and they were talking about common teachers and events at UST. Renita had 2 tragic life experiences, being a widow 13 years ago and losing a 21 year old son. He died of bangungot . Its amazing coincidences that Puri knew the same people from Ateneo that my husband went to school with, has been to or knew most of the places we have been working at in California in the past 3 years,( Atascadero,Wasco. Avenal, Tehachapi). Puri was fast in picking the tab for all our meals. She definitely has a millionaire's personality. All in all, this was a date I will remember, the weather,the place was perfect. It was like being in the Mediterranean. Most of all the people were unforgettable. *************************************************************************************
PHILIPPINE REUNION BY GERRY: Just came back from dinner meeting with 20 jubilarians, out of which 8 belongs to our class: Celia Arreza Espiritu, Cora Fausto Gatchalian, Lani Villa-Real Enriquez, Sylvia Estrella Caniza, Carmen Exconde Genuino, Precy Cervantes Gatmaitan, Lita Ramos Katigbak, Gerry. 
CHIT-CHAT FROM CORA: PURI AND PWU CLASS 1960 -We just had an alumni dinner this evening.Over 20 people attended. Presided by Gerry and Celia.In our batch the following were there: 1.Celia, Gerry, Lita - officers of the alumni association 2.Precy Cervantes Gatmaitan 3. Lani Villa Real 4. Sylvia Estrella 5. myself (Cora Fausto Gatchalian) Bubbles, Linda Cano, etc. In addition - Tuta heklen was there as a jubilarian, Amelou Benitez,and other jubilarian college graduates. I took some photos but- sorry na lang kayo- hindi ako marunong mag uploade from the camera. Just wait for photos from gerry.Cheers!!!Cora
CHIT-CHAT FROM CORA: PURI AND PWU CLASS 1960 -We just had an alumni dinner this evening.Over 20 people attended. Presided by Gerry and Celia.In our batch the following were there: 1.Celia, Gerry, Lita - officers of the alumni association 2.Precy Cervantes Gatmaitan 3. Lani Villa Real 4. Sylvia Estrella 5. myself (Cora Fausto Gatchalian) Bubbles, Linda Cano, etc. In addition - Tuta heklen was there as a jubilarian, Amelou Benitez,and other jubilarian college graduates. I took some photos but- sorry na lang kayo- hindi ako marunong mag uploade from the camera. Just wait for photos from gerry.Cheers!!!Cora
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