Daily Olympians

Maybe you have heard of Yelena Isinbayeva, Laure Manaudou, Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Usain Bolt, and Liu Xiang. These people might be the best in their fields, but hey, check our local athletes first before you go international. (They are sprinters, pole vaulters, and swimmers. I don't know why, but lately I love watching track and field, and swimming, aside from sports USUALLY shown in the television.) Come on. They're no match to our daily Olympians here in the Philippines. Leg power, endurance, arm and shoulder strength, agility, and a responsive mind are the qualities needed to survive the daily contest here in the country. Hand-eye coordination, not so much, but the endurance and patience must be overflowing to still manage to survive.

What the heck am I talking about?

This is all about the commuting life here in Metro Manila. I have nothing to say about how people commute in the other places, because the only place outside Metro Manila I have tried commuting was in Iloilo. (Yes, wherein 4 passengers ride the motorcycle which they call there "single." Up to 3 passengers sit behind the driver as you try to survive the potholes and the dirtroad. It's a great adventure if you ask me, very risky and dangerous. It's like Moto-X for regular people!)

I haven't been the greatest fan of the MRT (Metro Rail Transit which runs along EDSA). If you're looking for someone to do a nega-paper (negative paper, if there is such) about the MRT, I would be one of the people you could tap to write about it. I could rant all day about the MRT but I would not deny its functionality and the help it has given all of the commuting Filipinos out there. It may be like hell riding the MRT specially during the rush hour (aka death) but without it, commuting along EDSA is death in itself already.

Whenever the situation arises and I have to go to Makati for client meetings or to TriNoMa for I-am-looking-for-clothes-or-CDs, I have no choice but to ride the MRT. My sister opts to hail a cab instead, but she's working already and has the money to ride the cab, while I'm breathing and clawing my way with students' budget. I have no choice left but to whine and still ride the train. Anyway, I stay in the "women, old people, and the disabled people's area" near the front end of the train. However, there's competition in there by itself. Some say that the pushing in the women's area is far worse than in the men's, but if you don't want your butt to be touched (as they say) in ways, push yourself inside the women's area instead. When you're entering the train, the pushing becomes worse, then when you want to leave already, push again. It is a place where, "Excuse me," "Makikiraan lang po," and other cautious words are useless. It's an avenue for exercising your physical prowess. Not bad for daily trainings. You're doing your part with how you were born, where your mom pushed you to the world, now you have to push your way to survive in this world. Hmm.

MRT sliding doors open in both sides unlike in the LRT-2 (Aurora Boulevard route) wherein the other side only opens in the Santolan station. So one must always be aware of the next station. This is a problem to people like me, who's not used to riding the MRT. The train cabs do not have maps that indicate the stations.

Anyway, whenever I try to ride the jeepney, I don't speak at all. I have tried it numerous times wherein I just knock on the ceiling or use a coin to tap the handlebars when I want to alight the jeepney. I don't know if I could treat it as a social experiment, I love the Joker so much I do social experiments on my own. Yet comparing mine to his, possibility of explosions, I am no match. When the driver isn't able to hear my knocking or tapping, other passengers say, "Para raw," even though I didn't utter a word. I play the role of the deaf-mutes who ride public transportation such as the jeepney. So far so good.


MORAL: There are numerous ways of going anywhere. However, with the impending doom brought to us by the rise of fuel prices, sometimes, public transportation is the way to survive. Yeah you have much money to spare, but the idea of the environment and global warming kicks in. Can we just have more bike lanes? I really want to ride the bike to school, although what I'm thinking of is kind of a really (really, did I say really already?) far cry.