Well, I could have used that advice on the sixth grade. I came to the U.S. at the end of August of that year, and I really had no idea what American kids were like. I barely spoke at my first school in Queens and then had to start over in a new school when we moved to Jersey City in December. I found out the class would be exchanging gifts for Christmas, and I was at a loss at what to get.
One day at home, someone gave me their xmax present early. I don't remember the circumstances as to why I opened it right away when I got it. I think I had asked my mom for advice regarding my Secret Santa at school, and she had this brilliant idea: Why not just re-gift this present? Of course, the term re-gift was not yet coined at the time, and the idea of simply passing a present along didn't seem wrong or indecorous.
So I opened the gift. It was a box of underwears. I don't remember the brand or who gave it. Some distant relative I had never met in the Philippines is my guess. I re wrapped it, put my classmate's name on it, and brought it to school.
When the day came, the laughter and snickering took me by surprise. I thought it was a practical thing. I mean, after all, doesn't everybody use underwear? Lesson learned. Don't give a box of briefs to a boy you barely know in a new school in the sixth grade. Suffice it to say, I didn't make any lifelong friends in that school.
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