Onli in da Pilipins

"Where were you last Monday?" Looks like we'll be hearing that question for quite some time. It will probably take about a month before we stop listening to tales about how one spent 12 hours on the road, how one got stranded at the office, or waded through the floods, or checked into some hotel, motel, or what-have-you.

The Philippines. A few hours of medium to heavy rains and the streets are flooded. Traffic, a daily occurrence for Metro Manilans, turns into mega-traffic. The South Luzon Super CrawlWay (Why they insist on calling it ExpressWay is beyond me!) becomes a virtual parking lot. All throughout the experience, the Pinoy is able to keep his sense of humor. Over the radio, a guy stuck in Malabon (one of the perenially-flooded areas in the country) was asked how he was. His answer: "Mabuti naman ho. Maraming tubig dito." (Translation: I'm doing okay. There's lots of water here.) What's wrong with this guy? Isn't it about time to get angry?

Stuck in an office, away from family, random thoughts go through my head. Thoughts which are not the least bit sunny or cheerful like that of the guy on the radio. " Which country can I migrate to?" "If any of the presidentiables can promise me no traffic and no floods during his/her term and actually do it, I'll vote for him/her any time." One thing I learned from the experience, positive thinking is not that easy when stuck in an office on a rainy, traffic-filled day.

Well, the floods have subsided but traffic remains. I am not as angry anymore so I now say there's still no place like the Philippines, no matter how crazy the situation here can be sometimes. There really is no place like home, even if at times, you feel like screaming your head off... As for PAGASA, the term to me, is just the name of an eagle...