I was born Jean Austin D. Rodriguez to a loving father and mother named Dante and Emma Rosanna. July 1 was the day I came here, I am not from another planet nor from the past nor from the future. I have a younger sister, my cousins call her Danie but I call her Denise. We once lived in Ambrocia Subdivision for 14 years with my cousins, uncle and aunties (father side). There I learned a lot of things, from reading ABC, adding numbers, riding a bicycle to fixing a wooden chair. We always play with our younger cousins everyday and we even hiked to the rice field from our subdivision to a nearby dam. After we spent our vacation in Hong Kong, we transferred in Laguna BelAir (still in Santa Rosa, Laguna) and stayed there for another 8 years. I was still in high school when we lived there. Every morning, I have to wake up very early to avoid the heavy traffic caused by buses and tricycles from the Technopark to Balibago. One miss and I'm done.

When I was five years old, I was ready to go to school and was very excited when my Mom brought the books and other school stuffs. The first words I read were "Come father!" but pronounced it - "Come fat-her". Not bad, isn't it? The first days of my schooling was fun. For one week my mom will take me to school and then hired a service. With a classmate and "kababata" we rode every day from bahay (home) to school then school to bahay. I remember one day when I was in kinder, our service did not came on time to fetch us, I cried not knowing where will I be, who will fetch me and everything! My, until now, I wonder why he did not show up that day. Kindergarten was very fun, I made good friends that up to now, "magkakasama pa rin kami" (we're still together). Not every day in my "kid life" was exciting. One time, when I was in my grandmother's house, I was playing with my sister and cousins when suddenly I stumbled and fell to the ground. I broke my left arm. It was terrible that I did not know what to do, I was only six years old that time. The next day was our educational trip. Man, I am very sorry for that.

High School was the best part of being a student. It was a lot easier than any stage of student life. For two years, I was a chess varsity player for Saint Rose School. But when I got to 4th year, I was selected to play for the basketball team. That was the best team ever formed by the school. We won every game from the all-private schools tournament up to the district meet. Practice and teamwork were the main key to our success. But I left the team after the success on the district meet to focus on my studies. That time I was also a representative of the school for the provincial scouts board-of-review. I was an Eagle Scout back then, the highest rank in scouting. It was awarded to me February 1998 during the 50th Laguna Council Anniversary Jamboree. But before this, with my fellow eagle scouts, were in Clarkfield, Pampanga for the 11th National Jamboree. I was an active scout on my high school days (and also in elementary). Everytime there is a scouting activity - district, provincial or regional, the school will send us to participate. One of my best experiences in scouting was when I joined the ASEAN Jamboree held in Los Baños, Laguna. We celebrated the New Year of 1994 with fellow scouts from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Korea. There were also scouts from Australia. I am happy that I got involved in such a wonderful experience like Scouting. It thought me a lot of things. And I am living these things until now. Like the scoutmaster told me - "Once a scout, always a scout." In 2000, I graduated high school as the class valedictorian with other awards for the hard-fought academic and non-academic contests.

Sorry to cut it short... Just wait for my article about my college life.

If you want to know more about what is happening after college, please visit my web blog.