Malate Catholic School

Visiting Malate Catholic School (MCS) was one of the highlights from my trip. It was ultra nostalgic. It was the Elementary (Grade) School I attended in Manila from first through fifth grade before I migrated to the US in 1997.

One of my core memories growing up in the Philippines is commuting to MCS with my Dad during my last two to three years of living there. The bus ride to MCS was about one hour from Las Piñas where we used to live. I always took the opportunity to nap on the bus since we had to be up so early at 5am everyday. Class started at 7:30am so we had to be out of the house by 6am. My dad was an admin at a law office in Remedios, 5-15 minutes from the school. He would take the taxi or jeepney to work after our bus ride and from there I would go to school.

My dad just told me recently that he used to get upset because my unform would be so dirty when he picked me up. That's because I would play an intense game of tag on the campus halls with my classmates during lunch break. I mean what else do you expect from a 9 year old?