#112: "Rural Life VS. Urban Life"_ "Which is Which?"

Greetings everyone! The question is, "Which is which?" I would say that both is feasible depending on your way of life. There are those who are blinded by the limelights in the urban places because of what they saw on TV or through the social media. Some gambled to look for a greener pasture so they say. Some would like to try their luck in the city and escape the hard life in the rural areas. There are those who ended up as failures but they're ashamed to return home and be bullied. In our country, I have witnessed women who gambled in going to the city to be hired as domestic helpers to find out later that they were scammed and ended up I'm red houses! Some got lucky to have found good employers, and some married their employers! It's true guys! I have witnessed the life of my former house helper who used to wash our clothes. Well, bearing 5 kids is not that easy so I turned to them. They themselves look for these kinds of jobs as their way of living. With intention to help her mother, her daughter decided to take her chances in Manila who were Japanese couple. She was lucky to have found good employer and they even helped her to go with them in Japan where she got married to a Japanese which changed their lives. She began sending money to her mother to have their house renovated and she often send them household stuffs including dresses and everything nice. They've put up a bakery so that they will have something to rely on as the need arises.

But not all things happen this way. Some ended with bad people. One neighbor ended up being beaten and maltreated to the extent of not letting her eat on time and she's not allowed to go out. They would lock the door when they go out or they would lock her inside the bathroom without anything to eat. But luck is still on her side when a visitor went to the apartment and saw the plight of this helper who managed to slip a paper to the visitor, asking to call the police as she was in danger. She was saved and her employers were sent to jail. Despite of all these happenings, there are those who still want to go to the big cities!

It's natural to have ambition in life and that's normal, right? More often than not, we wanted to escape the poverty in the province. Others wanted to change location bringing along their families and still ended in rural areas to start anew.

I've had my share of this experience when we escaped from the atrocities of war in Mindanao. It was during the uprising when my uncle was killed by unidentified killer and we have to leave our homes. My first cousin and her husband happen to have their graduate studies where they asked me if I wanted to go with them to help them take care of their 3 young kids and I readily agreed. On weekends we would go to Luneta Park and bring food while we spread our picnic mat and foodies. The kids love to run around the park. I was already 18 yrs old during that time. I noticed that the park were always filled with people just lying down beside the bench or over a thick cartoon so I asked my cousin why they're still staying there when we're already packing our things to go home. She said that they're the homeless people and some were beggars! Actually, you cannot see beggars in our place during that time. The Muslims are proud people in Marawi. Most of them were merchants and they don't tolerate beggars. When I went to the drinking fountain to fetch water, a lady asked for alms. I gave her some coins and began to ask her questions. She said that she came from the province and they lived in the squatters area and it was demolished. Her husband died in a clash during that incident, making them homeless. I told her to go home but she only shook her head because they've sold their house in the province thinking that they will have a better life in the city. Now they have nowhere to go! My cousin scolded me and and warned not to approach these kind of people because many of them are swindlers.So that's it! Life is not easy in the city if you have no resources! Whereas in our place, we never ran out of food because there's food everywhere! You only need to climb a papaya tree or any of the fruit-bearing trees like avocado, guava, star apple, pomelo, sour fruits, etc, and your stomach is full! In the city, you need to buy everything including water! Honestly, I never liked to drink water in those bottles because it tastes different compared to our natural water at home!
When it's your first time in the city guys, you will see the big difference! Well, there's always a first time, right? In our province way back then, it's okay for us to travel by foot nobody would laugh at you but in Manila, you need to ride a jeep or bus to reach your point of destination and you need to hurry or run to catch a ride. In the province, they would laugh at you if you do that! In addition, you can walk as you please, but in the city, you should take heed of the traffic lights or else you're dead or if you got caught not walking along the pedestrian lane then you're busted! The police will gladly take you to the police station and give you lecturing!

There was a situation when we went to the mall and took the escalator. After shopping, we took the elevator. I was amazed that I didn't know that my cousin went out already! I was left alone and I didn't know what to do. Luckily, somebody entered and I silently observed what he was doing. So that was it! My cousin was already worried where I've gone that she was about to page my name at the "lost and found" booth. Lol! I was lucky there were no gadgets during that time or else I would have had many bashers on social media!

After summer, I chose to be left behind # the couple went home to the province to teach again. I took a two-year course which is Secretarial Science because I wanted to do office work instead of teaching though it only took me one semester to finish shorthand and typing subject since I am already done with the basic subjects when I was in college.In short, I have worked in Manila where I met my boyfriend who was already waiting for his schedule abroad and we got married after two years. We went home to their province which later became our home together with our kids.

There's a great difference of the life we've had before and now. Kids are more wise but it's still better to take extra precautions when you're living in the Urban area because you don't even know who your neighbors are. Unlike in your own town when you almost know everybody by their family names alone! Many professionals work in the city for higher wages too.

At the end of the day, we still go back to our hometown to pay homage because there's no place like home!

This is my entry #112 for "Rural Life vs. Urban Life" Challenge. Thank you @JustinParke and to my dear readers for dropping by my page.

@sarimanok