He enters the room with his usual polo tucked in his pants, his faded cap on, his phone hanging in his neck by a blue lanyard. A cup of coffee on his hand, and a chalk or two on the other. The room shifts to a deafening silence from a loud noise. He asks for a book from one of those who are sitting in the front row. The entire class would then be silent, only responding to Yes sir's from his time to time "Am I making sense?". He would then leave the class for a few minutes, perhaps to refill his cup of coffe, with amath problem for us to answer. The room will be of deep sighs of relief as soon as he is out of earshot.
Yes, that's how the hour and a half of our Tuesday and Thursday noons go. But between those, we not only learn synthetic divisions and algebraic expressions and polynomials and rational expressions; we learn more than what Leithold and Vance have written in the pages of their books.
I would answer 'Rimando' to the upperclassmen who ask me who my Math11 prof is. They would give me a sly smile that seems to say been-there-done-that. And it doesn't end there, they would tell me a plethora of stories of terror and cruelty and wickedness, that would of course make me dread our Math11 meetings.
Yes, those told rumors were eventually witnessed by my very eyes. But there were some details that the rumors had left out, some details that would have made a huge difference if told, but unfortunately weren't.
"College is only four years, but learning is a lifetime", his words would ring back in my head as I recall him in our previous class. What I see is a clear picture of a man who teaches his subject well, but teaches life's lessons better. I see in my vision a father, a husband, and a precious teacher, rare in quality.
Professor Rey Rimnado-- he epitomizes the amalgam of cruelty and tenderness, of terror and humor, and of wisdom and intelligence-- an unusual mixture that produces a rare kind <3
