I know, the song is Buses and Trains, but since I don’t normally take the “train”, I changed it to jeepney. If you’re from the Philippines, I’m sure you already know what it is. But if you’re not, here’s an example of one:
Anyway, I wanted to write about commuting today. You see, here’s the thing. I can’t drive. And when I say can’t, I mean, I can’t. It’s not that I don’t, or won’t. It’s that I can’t. I’m very uncoordinated, I’m bad at directions, I easily panic, and when people shout profanities at me or honk their horns, I tend to take it very seriously and I cry. Hence, I don’t think I’ll ever learn how to, or actually drive. And so, I have learned to love public transportation. And I guess it’s not that bad if you’re in a developed country and the buses come on time and traffic isn’t a big problem, but in the Philippines, well, public transportation is a bit difficult.
The signs are unclear, the routes strange, there are no specific times or stops for buses and jeepneys, and the capacity of the vehicles are questionable. But like I said, I’ve learned to love it. I guess one reason would be because, there are many different things to see/discover when you’re commuting. Really, it’s quite entertaining.
I already wrote about a time that I sat next to a box with a rooster in it. Now, I get to show you a picture of a man who was holding an actual rooster inside a jeepney. He was sitting next to me, and I just had to take a picture. Unfortunately, I had to be very discreet, and I used my cellphone, so it’s not a very clear picture. But anyway, here it is:
And then later that afternoon, I got to ride a bus which used, get this, my grade school/high school uniform as its curtains! I know, it’s so degrading, right?! That they used our school uniform as their curtains.
So, in a way I’m thankful that our school has changed its uniform around 4 years ago. But still, I do have fond memories of this red checkered pattern.
Oh well. Like I said, at least it was an interesting experience.






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