The Wrath Of Ondoy and Pepeng

The people of Luzon experienced two typhoon within two weeks. Much has been said about how they devastated Luzon, which is felt until now. A lot of relief and rehabilitation is still being done until now. Some towns are still flooded. Rivers and lakes overflowed. Dams spilled off water to avoid damage to the dams, causing more damages to the people. Flood water increased, houses are washed out, businesses lost their goods and machines…

Some people say this is just one of the effects of climate change. I beg to disagree! The amount of rainfall that Ondoy poured may be too much to handle in one day. But could have there been more trees on our forest… could the rivers been cleared of residents and was not turned into a trash bin, the water could have flowed better. Thus, no flash floods will occur.

My friend's house washed out by the flood

Who is to be blamed then? The government officials? The people themselves? EVERYBODY is to blamed. People abused the mountains and the rivers. They throw their garbage in rivers and sewage systems. They burn trees on mountains for their livelihood. The government officials allow the mountains and farmlands to be converted into subdivisions. All of us has the responsibility to take care of our environment.

Mother Nature is sending us a message. We only have a single planet we can live. I hope we take care of them, not only for ourselves but also for the next children and their children.

Stranded!

Last  Saturday evening, my husband received an SMS message from her niece telling him that it was her son’s baptism-con-birthday the following day. She only learned of our new number that day so she was unable to inform us ahead of time.

The next morning, we went to MOA to buy some books and school supplies and, of course, gift for the birthday boy. I already have in mind what things I am going to buy and where to get them so I know shopping will not take us more than an hour. However, the clerk at the gift-wrapping service at Toy Kingdom was sooooo slow it took him half an hour to wrap one simple box. Yes, it may be large but it should not take him that long! I should know because I have wrapped a gift that big before and it only took me 10 minutes!

It was already 12PM when we went out of MOA. It was raining when we hit the road. But it got harder when reached Manila area. We even need to make a U-turn when we got to A. Bonifacio Avenue just near the North Cemetery gate. Water is all over the road and it is flowing like river. Retreat! We looked for another route going to North Luzon Expressway (NLEx). We took Espana Blvd., then straight to Quezon Avenue. Though there was water along Araneta Ave., cars can pass through it. From Quezon Ave. we made a turn going to West Ave. hitting EDSA then NLEX. Reaching the Valenzuela area, rain almost stopped, and not even a drop when we reached Bulacan. That was 2:30PM. A should-be hour drive took us 2.5 hours due to the rain!

Though there was drizzle in Bulacan, it was not even enough to get you wet so we forgot all about the rain in Manila as we enjoy the chats with relatives we have not seen for quite some time now. We saw the kids were also enjoying the party so we have to wait for them to tell us when to go home; otherwise, they will be cranky inside the car.

We left Bulacan before 5PM. Before reaching Tabang exit, I asked my husband to stop at one of the plant and garden shops. I want to see if they have the herbs I am planning to buy in Tagaytay. Unfortunately, they don’t have herbs. They only sell ornamental plants which I am not really interested with. I just purchased 2 small trees of calamansi for 50 pesos each, and a pot where I will plant the calamansi.

By 5:30PM, we are almost at the Malinta exit when we observed the temperature gauge going up. Car overheated just in time we reached the emergency bay. We wondered why because we added water when we gassed up, and it was also raining so who would expect the car to heat up? Just the same, we waited for the engine to cool down while waiting for the traffic to go lighter and the rain to stop. But as we waited, rain became harder and traffic became heavier. It took half an hour for the truck beside us to move forward for only a few meters! Whoa! I couldn’ t believe it. After adding water on radiator and seeing that cars are moving slowly, we decided to go on with the trip home as it was getting late as well. Unfortunately, we were only able to move about a hundred meters because we see that car temperature is going up again. So we have to stop by the shoulder on the road. We saw a wide shoulder area where other cars are parked. This is where we got stuck for almost the entire evening. The advantageous part was the other drivers and travelers who also parked beside us were friendly and helpful. It was through one of the drivers who checked the fan belt making us realize that it was broken. I felt the Filipino “Bayanihan” spirit alive once again. We had a temporary fix hoping that we could go out of the expressway, at the least.

Around 11:30PM, traffic started to lighten up. We started to drive home again. As soon as we passed by Balintawak tollgate, the car heated up again. This time, battery also got discharged. The tollgate personnel were courteous at first. They pushed the car to the side of the road, asked us what the problem was but they NEVER offered help aside from calling the towing service. We knew it! One of them even had the nerve to turn his back on us while we were still talking to him! Bitch! We told them we will try to fix it first but they were insistent and arrogant! I felt my blood rushed through my head. I tried to keep my cool though.

At exactly 1AM, the towing service arrived and pulled the car to the nearest-and-only-opened repair shop at that time. The towing service personnel were truly helpful and courteous. They referred us a repair shop so we do not have to wait until the morning to get the car running. They even pushed the car inside the repair shop so that it will be parked properly. Applause to them! The mechanic and his wife were also friendly. They even offered their place for the kids to have a comfortable sleep.Good thing he has a replacement part available, the car was fixed in two hours. We arrived home at exactly 5AM. Whew! What an exhausting evening!

A Lesson From a Child

Saturday is market day so I went to market yesterday along with Joma, my 5-year old son. While riding the motorbike with my son, he started a conversation that went like this:

Joma: Mommy, why does the clouds move along with us? It seems to go with us everywhere we go.

Mommy: The clouds are very big so you see the same cloud anywhere you go.

Joma: Are they following us? Why are they following us?

Mommy: They are not following us.

Joma: No. They are following us! It is the same set of clouds I saw earlier before we left the house.

I simply sighed with his remark. I can’t give any logical answer anymore. I wanted to use the Newton’s Law of Motion and Acceleration for him to stop bugging me with his questions! I can’t find the right explanation that will satisfy me because I also have the same question when I was his age.

That night, I asked God to give me more patience with Joma’s never ending questions of hows and whys. I need His guidance so that I can explain the answers to my son’s questions in a level that he will understand.

Earlier today, while going to church, he repeated the same question about the clouds. All of a sudden, words came out of my mouth. I explained that God is watching us from up above and that His angels are on the clouds following us, guiding us and protecting us upon God’s order. He nodded his head and became quiet. What a relief!

I do not know where I got the answer but I know it was the Holy Spirit who guided me to the explanation that will temporarily silence my son’s inquisitive mind. It was His answer to my prayer. Thank you, Lord!

At the Break of Dawn

I have been practicing to wake up at 4AM for the past week to prepare myself for the start of the school next week. Lo and behold, I was able to get up from my sleep at the second alarm today. Congratulations to me!

At around 5:30AM, I noticed the sun is starting to come out. I thought of taking pictures of the rising sun so immediately grabbed my camera and ran to the roof deck of the three-storey apartment building we live in. I took as many pictures as I can to capture the moment.

Although it was drizzling when I took the last set of pictures, I was pretty satisfied with the outcome. I am looking forward to get a better set on my next attempt…using a digital camera with higher specifications… hopefully.