Almost 10 years have passed since leaving UP High ... and half of it was spent studying Physical Therapy in De La Salle University (Dasmarinas, Cavite) ... I immediately missed having good and genuine friends who are not pretentious in any form, shape, or way; friends whom you can just hang out with and have a good time in the simplest of ways without having to spend hundreds of pesos in return (I don't mean the GRO type ha ... although it might be true too� hahaha)! Friends who can make you laugh on the very littlest things until 'gi-hutoy' naka!!! Those are the things that I surely missed as I started my new voyage in life.

Luckily though, some of those good friends were studying in Manila (Averell, Margie, Sharon, Eliza among others) as well ... Keeping in touch with someone from UP Cebu really helped get me thru those long semesters! I couldn't wait till summer, sembreak, or the holidays would come coz then, I'd arrange to go back to Cebu and meet up, hang out with the gang/barkada even if it was only for a week at times (sembreak and holidays). My desire to be able to spend more time in Cebu drove me to excel in my studies and be exempted from the finals so I can leave earlier! I guess having a good educational foundation from UP didn't hurt at all too, that along with the skills that we developed while studying home economics (remember all those innovative ways we discovered to somehow get someone else's answer into our own test papers?!) ... I forgot who that teacher's name was!! I think it started with a 'G' ... was it Gallego?!?

JUNE '94

Anyways, all that hard work paid off and I was able to enter PT proper (3rd year) as the top three of our batch (400+ students ... only 200 of which got accepted to third year); PT proper was no laughing matter though, as other PTs in our batch can attest to ... I found myself failing in subjects left and right and only with good fortune was I able to pull it off at the end of the 1st semester. I was very proud then to be one of only 30 students (out of 200!!!) who didn't have a final failing grade. That was a defining moment for me coz had I failed then, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be where I am right now, knowing that you can do what you set your mind in to!!! So, I persevered and finally graduated in 1997 ... Not anywhere near the top at all, but glad that I was graduating college ... after 5 long and agonizing years!!!

MAY '97

I eventually went back to Cebu to review and study for the Philippine PT Board Exams ... Again, with the help of our batch mates, namely Boyet and Kiamoy, who stayed up late at night (for one reason or another), I was able to remember/review enough study material to pass the exam. By then Boyet had convinced me to start volunteer work as a PT in SIH (Southern Islands) where I consequently would work (by Jan '98) with my future wife, Nenette, whom I met briefly before while we were studying for the board exam (she was still going out with someone else then). That time we were both single and available ... got along good and eventually hooked up after two months. Three months later she was leaving for the US ... She had been arranging her papers before we met! So I stopped delaying and postponing my own departure and after another 6 long and agonizing months (it felt like I was going thru college all over again) of long distance relationship, we were finally reunited here in NJ by Christmas of '98!

DEC '98

I was staying at my aunt's house in NJ when I first arrived in the US and Nenette was staying with her aunt in CA. After approximately 2 weeks of 'inter-state' long distance relationship, I was able to convince Nenette to look for PT work here in NJ (she had already been standing-by for 6 mos being promised work by her former agency with nothing to show for it!!!) instead. After the holidays, we were busy looking for a job for Nenette, while I was busy studying again to take the US PT Board exam. After another 2 months (around February), Nenette was able to start a per diem job in a hospital and I was able to take the Board exam. But, my arrival in the US as a PT was ill-timed. The PT world was in the midst of recession ... PTs were being laid off, pay cuts are rampant, and jobs are hard to find!!! It took me another 3 months after taking the test (1 month waiting for the exam results and 2 mos. constant interviews and applying) before I finally got my big break. I was offered a job by a company based in PA who was starting to infiltrate NJ ... translation --> the workplace is near PA, way out there in northwest NJ. I had a measly pay (I still do ...) but he was the only one willing to sponsor my visa! AND, he offered Nenette a full time job too! So, needless to say, we took the job offer and moved almost 2 hrs away from our relatives in Toms River, and an hour away from friends and NYC! But, we persevered!

DEC '99

After another year of seeing each other I finally mustered up the courage to propose ... good thing she didn't RUN (sorry lets ... I couldn't help it)! We got married by a judge a month later on January '2000 with only our friends (Boyet&family) able to attend the short ceremony (it was no longer than 8 mins.!!!).

So, here we are now more than a year a half later, still married and having a good time ... So far without kids (maybe that's the reason why ... then again maybe not)! We're coming home in less than 2 months to have our church wedding back in Cebu ... This time with our family and friends together! And although we can't invite each and every one of you to the wedding, we sure would love to get together with everyone who's still there to catch up on things as we may not be able to come back for the reunion next year!!! So until then ... Go U.P.!!!
Note: World Trade Center in the background. Please continue praying!

John Eric Jumao-as