Hello, my fellow bloggers on the blockchain! I think I'll make a a little bit funny post today about my home city. I will not mention its name because you might think unfavorably of it after reading this post. Don't get me wrong, I like my city because it is home and the socio-economic conditions of my family had made us settled here.
The web is over-packed with good articles and video blogs about the positive things about my home city. So I won't dwell on that. Instead, I will post about what I don't like about it after living here for most of my life. Remember, this is my own damn opinion and not my fellow Filipinos' views. They might beg to disagree if they have some vested interests in the city.
Please do not take this post seriously if you are an inhabitant of my home city. I have injected it with a bit of humor so I won't get in hot soup water or whatever.
So here it is, the top 5 things (IMHO) I hate about my home city.
5. The Urban City Heat
Yeah, the city becomes a jungle hellhole of low quality concrete reflecting the tropical sun during summer or sunny days. If your home is not air-conditioned or if you don't work in an office, you might curse your fate that you were not born as a rich Filipino. Bearing the heat is a super-human feat. Thank heavens, we transferred to the upper hilly outskirts of the city where the air is cooler.
In these times of the Pandemic, that heat is a blessing in diguise. Apparently, the Coronavirus doesn't like to exist in hot areas.
4. The Girls Are Not as Lovely and Charming as the Girls of My Birth City
A shallow reason. But hear me out. I can definitely vouch that the girls here are not as lovely and charming as rumored to be by the local media. Filipinos love to loiter around shopping malls and those are the places you need to determine on the percentage of good-looking girls in a Filipino city.
I can definitely vouch that my birth city (name witheld to avoid conflict with home city) has the higher percentage of lovely girls than my home city. Think I am screwing around with your head??? Take a stroll in the shopping malls of both cities during the peak hours when the Pandemic is over.
A city where, historically, the Spanish colonizers have settled in and where their descendants flourished tend to have more good-looking women.
Not convinced? Most pretty Filipina celebrities have claimed to have their roots in my birth city.
3. Strategic Location Makes It a Target
My home city is more than 2 hours drive away from southern provinces teeming with separatist Islamic insurgents. The Marawi siege of 2017 have made us uneasy with the state of our provincial security. If someday those rebels feel that the government can't give them what they want, you can be sure they will make trouble again. Same story with Islamic insurgents around the world; give them your hand and they'll want the whole arm.
A military airbase is located very near here. It is rumored to be used as a storage depot for or to support deployments of US forces when countering China in the West Philippine Sea. It is gonna be a great target for Chinese missiles if war ever comes.
2. The Local Cuisine Isn't That Great
The local cuisine here is mostly pork-based or ginger-based so there isn't much variety. Most of the people who can cook well here were either trained or came from the Northern or Central parts of the country.
I made this conclusion when a few years ago our lady neighbors made some sticky rice balls in coco milk, a very popular Filipino dessert. Their local version made my stomach turned. It tasted like marshmallows dipped in flu medicine syrup for kids. Even the local dogs won't touch it.
I wasn't born here so I can definitely claim the vegetable dishes made here are inferior in taste compared to the regional cooking style of my mother and her relatives.
People love their pork dishes here too much that the city has the highest rates of cardiovascular diseases compared with other Filipino cities.
1. People Tend To Respect You More Here if You're Well Off
People here are generally good. What bothered me is that they tend to give you more deference or respect if you are somebody rich or got a car or higher than economic status than they are. They are genetically status-conscious.
I got bullied by a richer classmate in high school. Thanks for the memories, classmate!
A girl I once had a crush on a girl who scoffed at me for going to school on a sidecar bike. She only got eyes for a schoolmate who got wheels.
During the early 1990s, my family have undergone financial hardships. You suddenly realize who your friends really are.
I was not almost attended to by a doctor in 2017 when he couldn't understand I could pay in crypto.
So that's it. I ranted what I never liked about my home city. So what are your dislikes about your own city? I would like to know yours in the comments.