My Kalayaan Residence Hall (KRH) Story

Tired from work, kitchendome activities, etcetera, etcetera, I kept postponing my plan to make this post. However, Odette Padilla’s request for THEN and NOW photos with info, the kick-off video she posted, the chat group exchanges becoming longer, reply messages of Nini and other active KRH chat group members' reactions to all queries on upcoming reunion events aroused the desire that has been lying dormant for a year.  And so finally, here it is. Oh my, exactly a week to go! I better hurry!

I confess Odette's kick-off video post was successful in making me look back to my KRH days. Writing this  meant reviewing the college photos in my album, turning each page to get a  glimpse of my stay in KRH, one of the newest coed dormitories in the campus then.

Staying in the dorm while studying in the university was an entirely new experience for me. It was, indeed! My parents never imagined how I would probably survive the ordeal, being an only child. I didn't even know how to cook and I had to stay away from them, far from our hometown in Negros Occidental for the first time! My uncle did warn them against sending their only child to a university whose students are known for staging rallies and boycotts, inciting rebellion, insurgencies... care to name more?

Would you like to come with me as I relive memories of my first year in the university? One year in Kalayaan Residence Hall. See them here, kept in the pages of my photo album---

Let’s browse through this together...


Click video
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Welcome to the University of the Philippines Diliman!

The University campus

Do you still have your own copy of this handbook?
This contains basic info about the University a freshman needs and has enough provision for us to write on a semestral basis all our subjects with the corresponding number of units, name of professors, schedule of classes and grades.
I have completed the info but deliberately decided not to include that portion here.
I'm pretty sure you all would understand why
😃😃😃 

77-15134
That’s my student number. 

Do you still remember yours?
It's okay if you don't. You can go over your files to find out.
That is, if you still have it. It doesn’t seem to matter anyway.
😀😊😀

Well, I’m sure many of you never knew or even noticed me in KRH. The quiet, promdi (a Filipino term used by urban people as an insult or joke referring to a person who grew up in the province and goes to the city), shy, skinny, chinky-eyed girl in Room G-336. The same person whose pigeon box shared with some other female dorm residents with surnames starting with letters R-S-T??? (I couldn't remember now) always overflowed with mails from parents and penpals. I remember somebody telling me after I have introduced my name, “Ah, ikaw yung maraming letters palagi?! (Ah, you are the one receiving many letters always?!)” It was because I received mails almost everyday, two or three times a week from my parents. I wonder if the same pigeon holes still exist at the ground floor entrance of each wing.

I used to be a frequent client at the UP Diliman Post Office, either mailing my letters or claiming registered mails containing my monthly allowance sent through postal money order, a very convenient scheme as my father used to work in our town's Post Office.

The Kalayaan Residence Hall (KRH)
The University had 11 residence halls, one of which is a coed dormitory for freshmen. The dormitories are provided with basic furnishings such as beds, mattresses, mirrors, lockers and study tables. KRH has common bathrooms and toilets.

Unlike other residence halls, KRH operated on a single-fee plan. This means that a dorm resident pays for both board and lodging.

Kalayaan Residence Hall, my home away from home in 1977. You are a witness to the very first step of my independence. I placed a red mark on my room up there on the 3rd floor. Room G-336, overlooking the dormitory facade along Roces Street. 
I took this shot from across the street, right at the Kalayaan Jeepney Stop.

Here it is now. 

My search for an appropriate THEN and NOW photos and info in response to Odette's request prompted me to think of an appropriate THEN photo to send. I wanted one that would give a typical picture of me in Kalayaan Residence Hall. I thought of sending this one...

...with me wearing my favorite checkered bell-bottom pants 

Before leaving home for college, how I wished my mother would buy me maong pants that was fast becoming a fad among teenagers in those days. But maong pants cost a fortune back then. So I had to be content with  the new pair of yellow, green and black checkered bell-bottom pants she brought home for me. Zipper on one side!!! 😊😀😊

Now, I couldn’t keep myself from smiling as I look at the photo above. At first, I thought it was a perfect idea to send it as my THEN photo to Odette, but it's blurred and I couldn't seem to find other shots with better resolution. Waaahhh, look at the photos below! I just realized after all these years I barely have clear shots of myself at all. Mostly out of focus 😭😭😭

Oh, wait, the pic below is much better than the previous ones!
Except for the marks, it is better than nothing.
Okay then, I have something to send to Odette! Success!

Couldn't help mentioning that these were all taken using my very first 56X Kodak Instamatic camera. I was proud to have bought it out of my own savings. I requested my high school friend to buy it for me at a promo price of PhP 88 when she spent summer vacation in Manila.

Spot the difference now 

Of course, it's no longer a Kodak Instamatic camera I used here.

Make new friends 

Spent time for photo ops with KRH ladies one bright, sunny morning. 

With Mary Verdure (Inday) Biron, Lilibeth Cunanan and Marselle

We took turns clicking the camera to take these shots. 

Look at what the typhoons did to some of my photos. Well, I'm forever grateful to my parents for securing all my photo albums. Only the corners of the pages got drenched in flood water.

Nice pose with Marselle and Ayrin Calachan at Sanggumay Residence Hall located

 in front of KRH on the other side of the street. This is one of my favorite shots ever! 😀😁😄

And this one below too! Credits to Marselle for taking a nice shot 📷 of the Sanggumay pavement!
I preferred not to crop the original pic 😀😀😀😁✌✌✌

Remembering faces of friends and dormmates from my slumbook

Reading all these puts a smile on my face

Wanna take a peek at what's inside? No secrets, I promise, just memories of people who passed my way and left a mark, somehow...

Meet my roommate, Weena Poblete, took up BS Zoology (if my memory still serves me right) as a Pre-Med course. Weena would go home to Cavite every Friday. That made Friday and weekends my favorite days of the week. Sssshhhh.... I'm an only child, remember, who was not used to having a roommate. That's why KRH was a perfect transition to the succeeding year where I stayed in another dormitory (Molave Residence Hall) and eventually got used to and enjoyed the company of three roommates. 

With Marselle Custodio-Lozano, my friendly neighbor at Room G-338 and frequent companion to the mess hall and in attending KRH parties.
Thanks to Facebook, we got reconnected!

This is Lucille Magay-Principe. Since we didn't have a picture together in KRH, I stalked her FB timeline to get one. I like the doodle of my face she made in my slumbook. Looks pretty much like hers too! Oh, well, Lucille, I was  able to approach you, right? I believe I'm good at befriending people...
even the unapproachables! 😀😁😃

Click to view
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The KRH Open House

An Open House is when the dormitory is made open for public viewing of rooms and its facilities. Friends, family and visitors are welcome inside the dorm.

Welcome to our room ---G-336!

Me and my roommate, Weena

Since the dorm was open to public during the Open House, I went out of my own room to visit other residents' rooms. When I returned, I was surprised to find these written on my door. Male dorm mates dropped by my room! 😂😅😊😓😜 Hmmm... it was a pity I didn't get to see them.

Prepared my room and some food for visitors during the Open House

I invited classmates and friends to come.

Visited the room of Ayrin Calachan with Dora Sorongon and mutual classmates.

With Grace Morales, Sophia Arteta, Fe Guevarra, Alice Hautea, Luz Tabernero and Ate Weng

And now, this is what you call "neighboring" or going to another resident's room for some reasons---
to study? a friendly visit? or for photo ops?

Neighboring for photo ops at nighttime

with Deborah Arce, Mercel Maslog, Nora Quirante at Marselle Custodio-Lozano's room

Isn't it curfew time, girls?

Party, party, party!

KRH residents' Acquaintance Party

Me with Miren Cuenca, Marselle Custodio-Lozano and Mercel Maslog
watching dorm mates as they danced on the floor.

Valentine's Party?

Oh, how I hated parties! I didn't have plans of attending this one but my dorm friends and neighbors succeeded at dragging me with them. I really wasn't comfortable attending the party for the following reasons: One, I was a very shy person. Two, I didn't have many friends or even acquaintances. Three, I was so afraid of becoming a wall flower.

Surprisingly, during the party, I got myself into a mess. When a guy asked me for a dance, I thought it was improper and discourteous of me to decline. I asked a friend to hold my camera while I was at the dance floor. To my surprise, the one holding my camera cunningly took a picture of us during the dance. To get even, I also took a picture of them, when this same guy asked her for a dance. Do you know him?

Oooopppsss... wait, there's more. A few days later, I heard a knock on my door. Guess what--- another female resident who had a crush on this tall, fair (and handsome?) guy asked for a copy of this photo!!! Oh, tell me I was wrong in granting her request, but I wasn't able to resist her plea. Well, until now, I still refuse to believe that I was an accessory to that crime 😂😩😂

I turned 17 at KRH 

Diez y siete na si Ibyang

My parents sent me this telegram birthday card.

Other birthday greetings I received.

For my 17th, I bought myself a chocolate cake which I shared with my dormmates, Mercel, Nora, Ayrin and Jacqueline (Jake) Veloria.

The KRH House Council

Do you remember who you voted for? Do you remember whose team won?

Congratulations to President Joel Gamo!!!
👏👏👏👏👏

Pikana-asta Mika
The term (scrambled words for Pinakamataas Kami) refers to the name of our floor, the 3rd floor of the girls' wing. 

Posing with Ate Kring and Ate Weng, our 3rd floor advisers/counselors. 

The KRH Newsletter

I read an invitation for residents to submit articles to be featured in the KRH Newsletter, a project of the KRH House Council. I secretly submitted a poem I wrote in high school using the pen name, The Lost Horizon (after the title of an old movie I was able to watch for the first time at the UP College of Mass Communications).

Please forgive me but I no longer have a list of the Editorial Staff.

After the publication of my first article, I was motivated to submit another one for its second and last issue with the prescribed theme on farewells, memories of KRH and the like. Below are clippings of the article I wrote. Once again, I hid under the pen name, The Lost Horizon, but the Editor-in-Chief (one of the twins, was it Debbie or Margie Co, sorry but I could remember no more) was so persistent at uncovering my identity, I finally yielded to her charming appeal.

I presume you might find this difficult to read as we now belong to the YOLDS generation, 

so let me re-write the article.
👇👇👇

RETROSPECTION

Gazing at my calendar reminds me that only three more weeks are left for me here in Kalayaan. The passage of time has been so swift that before I know it I'll be sailing back home again. Strange that thoughts of leaving hurts, though they bring back memories of the past eight months. 

Oh, how I'll miss the view and the intermingling scenes I have been so used to witness through my window: the passing of Ikot jeepneys and buses, the residents on their way to the dining hall and school, people coming to visit relatives and friends, and romantic atmosphere created by the silhouettes of the Kalayaan lovers, as they sat on the pavement below. All these were always clearly visible through my window. 

I couldn't recall why I took a photo of this very part of the window from my room 

where I used to view what's down below. 

Hmmm... could this be an attempt on my part to capture someone through the space?

My room was overlooking the street in front of KRH. That's where I used to see dormmates leaving for their classes and coming back, going to the Mess Hall, people visiting and Kalayaan pairs dating along the pavement. 😀😁😃😄

Memories, memories, memories...

- the ghastly moments during blackouts or when there was no water to drink or brush our teeth with

- the banging of doors as residents entered and left their rooms

- the shattering voices of those who, even after 9:00 pm still made noise, insufferable enough to have sent me crazy

- the over-friendly neighbors who stayed in my room until late at night  to study

- the cluttering of bakya along the corridor

- repeated ringings of the intercom and the voices of people calling for the same persons over and over again

- the awakening knocks on doors

- the many tiresome journeys to the dining hall.

Kalayaan, are these all you have to send me home? Ahhh... there were the smiling and ever-friendly faces of the residents, the enjoyable hours brought by the Open House and the excitement and thrill of the seemingly unforgettable parties--- both jeprox and formal (the most memorable for me was the very last). 

How about the memory of that guy in the other wing? The way his gazes seemed to melt me, the way his eyes made my heart beat rapidly in ecstasy and my knees tremble, causing me many sleepless nights and losses of appetite. 

Funny and true how easy I forgot my Math 11 but not all these "dasalasanansens". My thanks to everybody who has made my stay here very memorable and worth thinking of--- today, tomorrow and always. ~

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Here are clippings from the final issue of the newsletter I was able to compile and feature in my album.

This farewell article written by one KRH resident entitled, "A Thing called Parting" 

is the finale page of my photo album. 

Saying goodbye

Written on the board behind me in the photo below is a quotation:

“As we go our separate ways, 

I wonder how the notches and wedges we shall carve fit each other on that day…

one day when we meet again.” 

For the past year, I've been reading in Facebook about plans of UP Kalayaan Batch 1977 for a reunion. Apologies if I have remained to be a silent chat group member, just keeping myself updated of events by browsing through the thread of messages among KRH batch mates, some of whom I couldn't recognize and whose names don't sound familiar to me. As the reunion soon becomes a reality, I really wonder if the same notches and wedges carved 43 years ago would fit each other the day we meet again!  

Has the time come? That's for all of us to see, guys!!! 

This is my KRH story. Ikaw, anong kwentong KRH mo?

Do bring along yours to share this weekend, okay?

Come one, come all!