Cinnamon… Salt… Vinegar… Paprika… Cumin… Surely, all of these spices can be found in your grandmother’s kitchen cabinets. These are what make your favorite dishes, well— your favorite! But who could’ve thought that these spices can also describe the almost indescribable feeling of an incoming high school student amidst a pandemic?
At first, I couldn’t help but ponder the idea of entering high school. All I could feel were excitement and joy, proudly boasting to every folk I encounter about this huge upcoming journey in my life. It seemed like God had put too much cinnamon in my dish of life as everything was going smooth like butter! I couldn’t wait to attend high school classes because it was my first time ever enrolling in a large school since I live in a small town in my province. Gosh! Looking back, I figured I was an inch close to getting diabetes because of how sweet life was. Just kidding! Though, being able to shine at my utmost brightness while doing what I so loved was the sweetest thing I could’ve ever thought of at those times. Yes, I was a pretty naïve teenager.
When I was finally emotionally, mentally, and physically prepared for the next chapter of my life, then came the COVID-19 global pandemic, erasing all of the plans I had enlisted on my bucket list. Life then tasted so salty. It was never the same since the pandemic, I learned so much lessons but lost so much more opportunities. All of my ‘first times’ in my high school campus life were blown away by the wind of fate. But looking back, I realized that I should actually be thankful for this mishap. Naïve little me, thinking that I was really ready for high school but spoiler alert— I wasn’t! Believe me or not, this global pandemic is what molded me to who I am today. Funny how I was so annoyed about something that helped me unravel the inner warrior in me.
After the pandemic came, everything became much more challenging than they ever were before. Well, the pandemic itself is a challenge. If you told me, 3 years ago, that I’d be starting one of the most important eras of my life home alone with only a pen and paper, I would’ve laughed in your face. You might think modular learning is a piece of cake because we would just be at home, answering whatever we want, whenever we want but the fact that we had to do it alone was harder than actually answering the tasks. As an only child, I experienced the cons of not having anyone to talk to mostly during quarantine. I was always home alone since my parents were always working but until now, I still am. Let’s just say everything went sour like vinegar after elementary school.
There are 4 stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance— and I was at acceptance. As I was about to swallow everything that’s been going on, DepEd decided to spice things up by starting the face-to-face classes again. My heart was so happy that it felt like butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach! Even though I’m not a big fan of paprika or anything spicy at all, I’m still very thankful that the gods of the universe heard my prayers and gave me a pinch of just the right amount of paprika into my life that added some bits of perks into my life. I was more challenged when the face-to-face classes started, not the stressful and bad kind of challenge though— it’s the kind of challenge that I know will lift me up and make me soar high like a phoenix. I thought I was never going to experience high school ‘first times’ but I was absolutely wrong. “Good things take time,” they said, but I never really believed in patience being the passport to gaining the best things in life. Well, I guess not until the great paprika incident.
Everything was going so well. I joined the school paper club, I started being a radio-broadcasting trainee, good grades came my way and so did good health, I even learned to commute by myself! I felt so independent. It was all fun and games until I realized that the school year was about to end soon. I was so dissatisfied because I genuinely didn’t have enough time to get to know my classmates, tour the campus, explore my new interests, and many more. I never really knew if the chef cooking my life story added too much or just enough cumin. I mean it was kind of bitter for them to do that but I’m starting to think it was meant to be that way. We all kind of needed a rest from the pressure of being high school students.
You’re probably wondering how I was able to express the experience of entering high school amidst a pandemic using only just kitchen spices. My whole experience of being an incoming high school student in the middle of a pandemic was a long roller coaster ride of emotions. Wait, emotions? Yes, emotions— feelings that create different tastes like spices, the life ingredients that shaped me and spiced me up to be ready as I venture on my journey. That’s how you know that these spices are more than JUST spices.
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