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although i hate to commute, and i have to commute to work daily, i try to enjoy the scenery before me to ease the stress. you see, i work two cities away and during the 45 minute commute, i get to rekindle my first love, the beach.
on my way home yesterday, i was thoroughly enjoying the very long, very far, and very visible coast line with the tide super low… I guess it was about a kilometer or more off the shore line, i saw the this old man walking towards the bend and wondered to myself if he really consider swimming, bathing. that was until i saw what he carried with him. it was a clear bottle filled with kinason…. for dinner.
some of us complain about not having enough and there was this guy. he looked like he was in his 70’s, who swam, walked the shores, and bent many times over to bring food to the table. Talk about priorities…
I hate it when the person beside me has baho ug ilok (nauseating armpits?!?! hahaha). Well, it’s really just basic hygiene. I guess not everyone is blessed with sweet smelling skin and it’s kind of a gargantuan task if you commute to work but I don’t have ilok that smells…
It was actually funny when it happened. There were four ladies that boarded the jeepney together. All of them were apparantly friends. Their smell marked their territory well. Hahaha 
I write this to appeal to the commuting public… especially the ladies with really long hair. Please tie back your hair when you are on the jeep!!!
I was ‘anxcited’ on the first morning I took the jeepney to work, from home. Unfortunately, the ‘anxcitement’ turned to irritation when the little miss who sat beside (read infront for non-commuters) me had really long hair that moved with the wind right smack into my face. DARN IT!!! But it was my first time and I thought to myself I am just over reacting… BUT NO… the irritation turned to horror when I looked closer and saw she actually had nits!!! You know, those things that louse lay all over so they become lice when they hatch!!! Ugh! It was horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
So ladies, please, tie back your hair.
On the first day I rode the jeepney, it was to go home. I was anxious, like all other first times in my life. It was actually that event which prompted me to blog about my jeepney adventures.
When I was younger, coins were a nuisance. I hated the bulge, the weight, and the smell of coins. Plus, I was stupid enough to think coin purses were things that belonged to Grandma’s. When I got to college, although I was away from home and had to learn to budget, coins were usually relegated to some nook that would magically eat up the coin ( I never got to figure out where they all went). THey did save me on certain Sundays when I would find my atm depleted of value and I had to bend over and look under my bed for any lost coins. I would usually find enough money to buy myself a Sandwich. Now that I am a mom, I set them aside for piggybank moments with my kids, in an effort to teach them good money saving habits early on. Haha
Well, that first time I rode home on a jeepney, one of the passengers lost a piso. One single piso coin. I really thought nothing of it. After all, it was just piso, and the jeepney floors were probably filthy from the hundreds of passengers it had taken around during the day. It was just piso. Or so I thought. You know what was amazing about that experience? The rest of the passengers in that jeepney helped the manong who lost it. THey helped him look for the piso. And there I was, looking about wondering what the fuss was all about. The value of a piso is really subjective. Until that day it was just a worthless coin to me… WHat a shame I am!!! If I had lost a piso everyday of my life, that would have been 10,288 by the end of this year.
Changed jobs a little over a week ago. Used to take 8 minutes on the average to bring myself to work. WIth the new job, it went up to about 45 minutes. Before I decided to take the job I kept on asking myself if the pay and the future it would bring were worth the time wasted. Who knows?!?
I guess what is most life changing about the shift is the fact that I now have to commute. No, I wasn’t born a princess but we’ve always lived comfortable enough to not commute on a regular basis. I remember as a child when we did commute, maybe once or twice when I was in kindergarten, I barfed all over when I stepped off the jeepney. The stops, the smell, the sounds… it was too nauseating for me. As I grew older, the commutes were limited to ‘adventures’ with a cousin who would sneak me out of the house to visit one of the stores the family owned in the downtown area along manalili street. When I went to college in Manila, it was the occasionally 5 kilometer ride to Dela Strada (probably rode one about 5 times in the four years I was there.) When I got back to Cebu, it was the one time I felt my environmental heart called me to be responsible and take public commute. It sucked. The air wasn’t even breathable!!! And to make matters worst, I was supporting the livelihood of people killing Mother Earth. One time was enough. So I just drove my dad’s car. Been driving it ever since up until a few weeks ago. Something about the alternator.
Anyway, you get the picture. I don’t consider myself a commuter and riding jeepneys scare the hell out of me. Or should I say, used to? It’s the 10th day on the job and I’ve commuted 8 of the 10 days. It’s not so bad. Well, I’d chose to drive any day but then that would mean P500/day gas allowance versus a P50/day jeepney fare. Not a difficult choice to make… So… this page will essentially be about the lessons, the mysteries, the insights of one spoiled mother who finally decided to liberate herself… ug nisakay sa jeepney.
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