Memoirs of a Promdi Collegiala (1991-1995)

Memoirs of a Promdi Collegiala (1991-1995)
February 4th, 2008

How can I forget my very first year in St. Scholastica’s College? In June 1991, Mt. Pinatubo erupted and showered ashes all over Manila. Everyday in the tabloids and TV, there were news of college girls being kidnapped and gang raped, then found dead. When it was typhoon season, it will rain and flood in Leon Guinto and San Antonio, Makati where I lived. There were snatchers, hold-uppers, and sex perverts around the St. Scho block, and in the jeeps that I would take to and from school. There were young boys from Benilde and La Salle with St. Scho girls smoking cigarettes, and kissing and petting outside our campus. There were lesbians and gays doing the same thing. There were fumes and pollution in the busy streets full of cars, jeeps and busses. There were stinky garbage and manholes I have to watch out while walking and scary beggars following me on the side of the roads. IT WAS A TOTAL CULTURE SHOCK FOR ME. I knew right away that I will miss my simple life promdi province.

So I tried getting used to the “city” life eventually. As a promdi, going to the malls are the most fun experience for me. With my cousins or new found friends, we’d go to Rustan’s, Landmark and Greenbelt on weekends just to stroll around. I loved the smell of the air conditioning when I come inside. I liked looking at display windows. I liked riding the escalators and elevators. I couldn’t really afford to shop in the nice stores as I didn’t have enough money. In the mall, my favorite store was National Bookstore. I could hang out here and check out books the whole day. We’d go watch movies after window shopping. I liked Filipino drama a lot. I already made sure I have tissue with me as I expect to get carried away by sad scenes. After the movie, and if I have enough money, I’d go eat at McDonalds or Jolibee. Sometimes, all I could afford was a piece of Dunkin Donut. A few times, I’d go shopping in Divisoria or Baclaran with my Ate Donna. That was really fun. For P100 or $200, I’d have some really nice outfit and purse.

Here’s my ultimate promdi moment that I will never forget. I went shopping in SM Megamall & Robinson’s area by myself one Saturday afternoon. I was in a major crossing road at EDSA. There were lots of busses and jeeps, and pedestrians on all sides of the streets. I ended up at the wrong side and didn’t walk fast enough to the pedestrian lane, so I just crossed the highway and I almost got hit and run by these busses. I ended up in the middle lane holding on to a post and the railing and busses passed me right at my back. Looking down was another road full of cars and busses. If you are familiar in this crossing road, you knew that there was a “traffic announcer” hiding somewhere with a microphone who would yell at people to go or not to go in any side of the road. The “traffic announcer” was saying loudly, “Hoy Miss na nakapula, wag kang tatalon dyan! Wag kang magpapakamatay! Sayang ang ganda mo!” (Hey, Ms. Beautiful, don’t jump! Don’t kill your self. Don’t waste your life!) Little did I know, he was yelling at me in public and I didn’t know where this voice was coming from. People looked at me laughing until I could cross safely to the other side of the road. Well, that was NOT YET the most humiliating moment of my life. I crossed again to the next street and somehow I ended up in a No Jaywalking side of the road as I was following some people. Long story short, I was picked up by a policeman with a bunch of jaywalkers in tow in a police car and brought to their police station in Mandaluyong. Guess what? I was put in jail for an hour and had to sing “Bayang Magiliw” (Lupang Hinirang, our National Anthem) in front of people because I had no $200 to bail myself out. That was the most humiliating promdi moment of my life!!. Malay ko baga kung ano yaang Jay Walking na yan. Wala namang ganyan sa Marinduque. (I didn’t know what Jay walking means as we don’t have that in our province). I can’t believe at what just happened to me. I told this traffic and jail encounter story to my Tita Moonette while crying and laughing at the same time. She almost peed in her pants laughing. But she never believed this story.

After many more colorful good and bad experiences, I finally graduated college on time in March 1995. I didn’t get raped or kidnapped or killed. I didn’t get pregnant. I didn’t run away with a boyfriend, and didn’t have one at all. I didn’t do drugs. I didn’t drown in the flood. I didn’t get hit and run by cars and busses in the streets. I didn’t stay very long in jail. Yet nobody believed me on this experience. I’m just glad that I survived! And was proud that I was able to manage my life on my own in Manila. My mom and dad were the proudest parents in the world when I graduated. My dad finally gave me my full independence after graduation. He said I can do now whatever I wanted to do with my life.