Originally posted on my Tumblr, but posting it here just in case.
February 2, 2012, 4:40 PM.
I had just finished taking a test and an interview for a Research Analyst position at the Department of National Defense (DND) located inside Camp Aguinaldo, near the Santolan-Annapolis MRT Station. I was no stranger to the streets of Manila and the commuting culture that came with it, but as a neophyte in the Santolan area, it took me a little less than half an hour to find the bus stop and board a bus. I patiently stood in the polluted streets scanning for a bus which matched the following criteria:
The first thing I noticed about this particular BBL trans bus was that its glass door has been ostensibly cracked by a bullet. I've seen worse, like scotch-taped rear windows in cabs. Anyway, the next thing that I noticed was the lack of seats near the door. The bus was in motion and I had to expertly traverse through the empty aisle garbed in my prim and proper interview clothes and high heels. Stuff I don't usually wear.
So I was walking towards the back of the bus and to my left was a guy staring out the dusty window. I sat beside him since I've always preferred the two-seaters to the three-seaters. Plus he was kinda cute. The moment I sat down, I couldn't stop smiling. There was something non-threatening and reassuring in his calm countenance, his bushy beard, his long eyelashes, and his Nike bag and green tumbler. (It actually feels awkward spelling the whole word: tumbler.) I took out a P20 bill from my wallet and waited for the conductor to collect my payment.
The conductor came and I raised my old P20 bill to his face.
"East Ave." I said softly, in an attempt to sound demure and nonthreatening to my seatmate.
Too soft. I had to repeat. "East Ave."
He took my P20 bill and produced P8 worth of coins and 2 tickets: one labeled P11 and the other, P1. I put away my tickets and coins and continued to smile and steal side glances at the cute guy beside me. And I don't know if it was just my imagination but the bearded boy also seemed to steal side glances at me during the ride. I wanted to look at him the same time he looked at me, but I didn't, for reasons unknown even to me.
For lack of things to smile at, I decided to take my cellphone out and send an SMS to one of my good friends, Cathy, and tell her that there was a cute guy in the bus and I was texting her because I had to stop smiling at seemingly nothing. I don't know if he ever saw what I was typing. Half of me was hoping he did, while half of me was tilting the phone away so he wouldn't see.
3 minutes later, Cathy replied and asked me to describe the cute guy on the bus.
"Ganito," (Like this,) my smile broadened as I showed him both my teeth and my tickets. "Ang dami mong tickets!" (You have a lot of tickets!) I remarked as I saw small pieces of crumpled paper in his bag's pocket.
I faced the front and continued to smile to myself. We actually talked! OMG OMG OMG OMG we talked and I was dancing on the inside.
"Pwedeng malamang kung anong oras na?" (May I know what time it is?) He asked, continuing the already established small talk.
"4:59." I said as I showed him my black digital Timex watch. "Bakit?" I asked. "Nagmamadali ka?" (Why? Are you in a hurry?)
He had to go to church. Religious. He asked me if I was going to work. No, I wasn't. I was actually going home, I told him. I just had a job interview at DND a while ago. The results will be out by Monday.
"Good luck!" He sincerely wished.
"Thanks!" I said appreciatively.
"Nilalamig ako!" (I feel cold!) He told me pretending to shiver. Well, who wouldn't? The air-con was directly above him.
"E bakit mo tinanggal yung curtain?" I asked him why he removed the curtain that was jammed into the circular hole that was the air-con above our seats. He mumbled his answer and he noted that my stop was near.
Indeed it was. For lack of better things to talk about I asked him what his religion was. "Anong religion mo?"
"INC" He answered.
"Ah! Kayo yung sa may...yung parang malaking castle!" (Oh! You guys are the ones...like the big castle!) I said, forgetting everything including the name of Commonwealth Avenue at that moment.
"Oo." He affirmed and chuckled a bit.
"Pangarap ko nga makapunta run, eh." (It's my dream to go there.) I declared. Well, it was true. For years now, my brother and I have always been wanting to visit that huge Iglesia ni Cristo church at Commonwealth.
"Edi baba ka rin mamaya!" (Then go down later, too.) He joked.
I watched the windows move the buildings back or maybe it was the other way around or none at all. I saw the Jollibee at V.Luna corner East Avenue. I didn't want to go down, but I had to. For once in my life, I actually wished for terrible traffic so I didn't have to alight yet. I abruptly ended the promising conversation and looked into his eyes as I bade him a wistful goodbye.
I turned away from him, stood up and braved the bodies lined up on the aisle and told the conductors that I was going down. I disembarked the bus and my smile was wider than ever. I wanted to wait for the PUB to pass by the corner of the street and wave goodbye to it and the boy riding away, but I didn't. I wanted to see his face one last time, but I didn't. I walked away and walked towards the Anonas-bound jeep now accepting passengers.
And now here I am 90 minutes after that 15-minute bus ride and that 5-minute conversation wishing that I had at least gotten your name. I would very much like to continue talking and also ask about entry of Roman Catholic tourists to the awesome castle of the Iglesia ni Cristo. And/or more. I don't know.
And for my non-Filipino readers, here's a picture of the huge castle-church of the INC faith:
And for my Filipino readers, hi. I think I'm trying to find this boy. Hahaha. I don't know. And yeah, I'm sharing my story; it's the first time I've talked to someone on the bus here in Manila. (Because I seem to be a conversation magnet for old ladies in the buses of Japan.)
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February 8, 2012, 12:00 AM edit:
I'm not trying to romanticize this encounter in any way, but I guess the reason why I've actually taken time to write about this experience is because deep inside me, I know that this bearded boy and I are tangent lines, fated to intersect only at one point in time and to go our separate directions after. And that is the masochistic beauty of it all. I know it's just a one-time thing, and this is why I am making such a big fuss about it. Chicken or egg. One time, hence (pun intended) the big fuss. Big fuss therefore just one-time thing.
Let's face it. Without a name and with only a deteriorating image of his face in my head and a really small detail to go on (INC Commonwealth), what are the chances that we would meet again? And in case we do meet again, what now? This is me just being cynical. It's been almost a week and this blog entry hasn't really reached you. Was I expecting you to find me overnight? Yes. Yes, I honestly was.
But wouldn't it be really fun to run into each other again or what? We'd be like, "Hey! You're that person from the bus!" And then we could blog about how awesome an experience it was to see a stranger again. Or we could just forget about it. Or something.
I've been watching too much movies (On the Line to be specific) and reading too much blogs (A Winning Smile and Love Takes an FX Ride to be exact). More often than not, art imitates life and not the other way around. We can't all have a movie script ending. But then again, it depends on one's definition of a movie script ending. Open-ended movies annoy the most unimaginative audiences because their minds cannot accept the ending. They want something more obvious, something that they can easily build on.
So here's my movie script ending. Open-ended for your discontentment. You'll have to imagine what's next. Would the Boy and I meet again? How? When? Where? Why? Why not?
Or maybe I could just write about it again. We'll see.
February 2, 2012, 4:40 PM.
I had just finished taking a test and an interview for a Research Analyst position at the Department of National Defense (DND) located inside Camp Aguinaldo, near the Santolan-Annapolis MRT Station. I was no stranger to the streets of Manila and the commuting culture that came with it, but as a neophyte in the Santolan area, it took me a little less than half an hour to find the bus stop and board a bus. I patiently stood in the polluted streets scanning for a bus which matched the following criteria:
- Was air-conditioned,
- Didn't have passengers standing on the aisle, and most importantly,
- Was bound for SM Fairview.
So I was walking towards the back of the bus and to my left was a guy staring out the dusty window. I sat beside him since I've always preferred the two-seaters to the three-seaters. Plus he was kinda cute. The moment I sat down, I couldn't stop smiling. There was something non-threatening and reassuring in his calm countenance, his bushy beard, his long eyelashes, and his Nike bag and green tumbler. (It actually feels awkward spelling the whole word: tumbler.) I took out a P20 bill from my wallet and waited for the conductor to collect my payment.
The conductor came and I raised my old P20 bill to his face.
"East Ave." I said softly, in an attempt to sound demure and nonthreatening to my seatmate.
Too soft. I had to repeat. "East Ave."
He took my P20 bill and produced P8 worth of coins and 2 tickets: one labeled P11 and the other, P1. I put away my tickets and coins and continued to smile and steal side glances at the cute guy beside me. And I don't know if it was just my imagination but the bearded boy also seemed to steal side glances at me during the ride. I wanted to look at him the same time he looked at me, but I didn't, for reasons unknown even to me.
For lack of things to smile at, I decided to take my cellphone out and send an SMS to one of my good friends, Cathy, and tell her that there was a cute guy in the bus and I was texting her because I had to stop smiling at seemingly nothing. I don't know if he ever saw what I was typing. Half of me was hoping he did, while half of me was tilting the phone away so he wouldn't see.
3 minutes later, Cathy replied and asked me to describe the cute guy on the bus.
He has a beard. Is chubby. Long lashes. Cute. Haha feeling ko naglalandian kami kahit hindi. Haha (I think we're flirting with each other even if we're really not.)Enter surprise inspection time. A second conductor entered the bus inspecting people's tickets. When he came near our seats, I readied my tickets and my seatmate asked, "ano bang hitsura ng tickets?" (What did the tickets look like?)
I faced the front and continued to smile to myself. We actually talked! OMG OMG OMG OMG we talked and I was dancing on the inside.
"Pwedeng malamang kung anong oras na?" (May I know what time it is?) He asked, continuing the already established small talk.
"4:59." I said as I showed him my black digital Timex watch. "Bakit?" I asked. "Nagmamadali ka?" (Why? Are you in a hurry?)
He had to go to church. Religious. He asked me if I was going to work. No, I wasn't. I was actually going home, I told him. I just had a job interview at DND a while ago. The results will be out by Monday.
"Good luck!" He sincerely wished.
"Thanks!" I said appreciatively.
"Nilalamig ako!" (I feel cold!) He told me pretending to shiver. Well, who wouldn't? The air-con was directly above him.
"E bakit mo tinanggal yung curtain?" I asked him why he removed the curtain that was jammed into the circular hole that was the air-con above our seats. He mumbled his answer and he noted that my stop was near.
Indeed it was. For lack of better things to talk about I asked him what his religion was. "Anong religion mo?"
"INC" He answered.
"Ah! Kayo yung sa may...yung parang malaking castle!" (Oh! You guys are the ones...like the big castle!) I said, forgetting everything including the name of Commonwealth Avenue at that moment.
"Oo." He affirmed and chuckled a bit.
"Pangarap ko nga makapunta run, eh." (It's my dream to go there.) I declared. Well, it was true. For years now, my brother and I have always been wanting to visit that huge Iglesia ni Cristo church at Commonwealth.
"Edi baba ka rin mamaya!" (Then go down later, too.) He joked.
I watched the windows move the buildings back or maybe it was the other way around or none at all. I saw the Jollibee at V.Luna corner East Avenue. I didn't want to go down, but I had to. For once in my life, I actually wished for terrible traffic so I didn't have to alight yet. I abruptly ended the promising conversation and looked into his eyes as I bade him a wistful goodbye.
I turned away from him, stood up and braved the bodies lined up on the aisle and told the conductors that I was going down. I disembarked the bus and my smile was wider than ever. I wanted to wait for the PUB to pass by the corner of the street and wave goodbye to it and the boy riding away, but I didn't. I wanted to see his face one last time, but I didn't. I walked away and walked towards the Anonas-bound jeep now accepting passengers.
And now here I am 90 minutes after that 15-minute bus ride and that 5-minute conversation wishing that I had at least gotten your name. I would very much like to continue talking and also ask about entry of Roman Catholic tourists to the awesome castle of the Iglesia ni Cristo. And/or more. I don't know.
And for my non-Filipino readers, here's a picture of the huge castle-church of the INC faith:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 8, 2012, 12:00 AM edit:
I'm not trying to romanticize this encounter in any way, but I guess the reason why I've actually taken time to write about this experience is because deep inside me, I know that this bearded boy and I are tangent lines, fated to intersect only at one point in time and to go our separate directions after. And that is the masochistic beauty of it all. I know it's just a one-time thing, and this is why I am making such a big fuss about it. Chicken or egg. One time, hence (pun intended) the big fuss. Big fuss therefore just one-time thing.
Let's face it. Without a name and with only a deteriorating image of his face in my head and a really small detail to go on (INC Commonwealth), what are the chances that we would meet again? And in case we do meet again, what now? This is me just being cynical. It's been almost a week and this blog entry hasn't really reached you. Was I expecting you to find me overnight? Yes. Yes, I honestly was.
But wouldn't it be really fun to run into each other again or what? We'd be like, "Hey! You're that person from the bus!" And then we could blog about how awesome an experience it was to see a stranger again. Or we could just forget about it. Or something.
I've been watching too much movies (On the Line to be specific) and reading too much blogs (A Winning Smile and Love Takes an FX Ride to be exact). More often than not, art imitates life and not the other way around. We can't all have a movie script ending. But then again, it depends on one's definition of a movie script ending. Open-ended movies annoy the most unimaginative audiences because their minds cannot accept the ending. They want something more obvious, something that they can easily build on.
So here's my movie script ending. Open-ended for your discontentment. You'll have to imagine what's next. Would the Boy and I meet again? How? When? Where? Why? Why not?
Or maybe I could just write about it again. We'll see.
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