BEGINNING AGAIN IN THE NEW WORLD

Tagnipa, which was currently being changed to El Salvador at this time, was far more modern than Gatub or Kumalarang. The town was ran by the Salvadors and thickly populated by the Ayudtuds, though the spelling of the name was Ayudtod. My father's mother's last name was Salvador and my relatives were everywhere in the place. Cagayan de Oro was one of the largest cities in Mindano, if not the largest, and it is only 45 minutes away. Where we would be living was in Tambaling 1 and it was even more close to Cagayan. From Cagayan de Oro to Iligan City were densely populated towns of Opol, Molugan, El Salvador (Tagnipa), Alubijid, Laguindingan, Initao, Naawan, Manticao, and then Lugait. Next to Lugait was Iligan City. I was thrown into a modern surrounding and wasn't sure what was going to happen with me. Especially with the sea around, it's a place that was totally far different than Gatub.

My beginning days would be spent with my mother taking me around to get introduced to the relatives, and first stop was at Igmidio Salvador's house and business center. Igmidio was a town first councilor, and everything with him was big. He was physically tall and wide, and his house was really oversized. He was simply one of the richest man in El Salvador. His warehouse was able to hold about 12 trucks, and his main business was copra. He had around twenty men that worked for him who drove his trucks and deliver the copra to Cagayan de Oro. He was my father's first cousin. My mother introduced me as Boy and bragged that I was going to be the professional one in the family. I smiled bashfully without saying a word. Igmidio, who I addressed as Uncle, was just nodding his head. His wife was more jovial.

My mother saw to it that I would first get registered for school, since it was now only August and so I still would be in the first year in high school here as a transfer. There was only one private high school in El Salvador, the St. Joseph High, and my cousin, Mario Ayudtud, who was the son of my father's older Brother, Bonifacio, was a teacher. We wasted no time to go to the registrar and when my mother mentioned about Mario being my cousin, I got accepted. Father Pacquing, an Italian priest was the director of the school, he personally accepted me.

In the days to follow, before I would begin school, I familiarized my self with the new surroundings. My father and mother decided to go ahead and stay at the house near the beach in order to make salt out of the sea water and sell the salt in the market place of El Salvador. They had to get a spot in the market place. All around, as far as my eyes could see, were coconut trees, and then the vast ocean. Not too far from the house was a swamp and I saw people caught crabs. It did not take long to learn what there was to do for me. I would gather the coconuts that fell on the ground and sell them, and catch crabs in the swamp for food. I also learned quickly how to go into the sea to catch fish and sea shells when the sea was in low tide. Then, I had to help my father gather firewood for his salt making. I did take responsibility to take care of my younger siblings and saw to it that they got protected from the snakes around and from getting drowned in the sea. I was the oldest among four children left at home in the care of my mother and father.

The first day that I set foot in St. Joseph High School was the beginning of my change of direction. The world is open for me to explore, as the open sea which seems to taunt me to go ahead and swim into the horizon. I was no longer the young Juanito, uninformed, naive, and careless. I interacted in the class and created an impression to my classmates that I was intelligent. My teacher in-charge was Miss Mabanta and accepted me with all of her arms as a new comer. Being a cousin of Mario Ayudtud, the fourth Year dean and the commandant of the Philippine Military Training, pulled me into the crowd of the Who's Who.

The following days in school were about an exposure of my keeness in Math. Our Math teacher explained a solution to algebra problem and I recognized her erroneous formula. I spoke in a rather loud voice, "Miss Lopez, your explanation is not right!" Miss Lopez could not believe I challenged her. She asked me to come to the board and explain the correct solution. I wrote the numbers and did a different formula and my classmates were blown away. Miss Lopez conceded that she was wrong. And since that time news spread around that I was a gifted young man in Math. So, when an election for the officers of the school organ took place during my second year, I was voted as the great Mathematician and I won the auditor office. Although, I only had one notebook and I crammed in it all my subjects, when the final exam took place I hit the top three places. I was good in focus and borrowed the notes from my classmates and delivered perfect scores in the examination. Needless to say, my cousin Mario took pride in me. He elevated to become top commander of the military training, though I was only in my second year in High School.