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   This semester I took geography 1 honestly because they say it’s a “sure pass” subject. During the first few weeks, I was really not that intrigued by the course itself, I just got excited when my friends told me that there was going to be a field trip, but when I knew that there was no field trip, I almost lost my interest in the whole course/subject. But as the semester gone by, lessons were being discussed, my “gana” so to speak went back, because lessons were really applicable in real life. The approach of the professor was really effective to me. Even though there is a quiz at least once a week, I started to think that the subject became interesting and fun. Blogs in my Geography 1 class is the most fun for me to do, because  it just not reflect on what we learned in class discussions, but we also get to share what we might know or what we think about that specific topic. So this last blog is about what we generally learned in the past semester.

   On a personal level I came up with ideas regarding the word “PARADISE”. Paradise is also part of imaginative geography, paradise has no single or eternal meaning. For me this subject taught me that there are no single and eternal meaning,(well unless if we’re talking about marriage or so to speak, marriage should be eternal), everything is imagined geography. When I say everything is imagined geography, everything is decided or up to the people’s perspective or point-of-view. We are faced with roads/paths to choose from. The roads that we encounter presents as a problem and solution, it is up to us what and how we choose to solve the problem, like I said it depends on the perspective of oneself. So for me paradise is also dependent to the person’s perspective. 

   I also came up with two types of paradise, natural and man-made paradise. Natural meaning waterfalls, mountain, etc. man made referring to of course man made resources, like pools, buildings, etc. Also houses even rooms with wifi can be considered paradise, again it’s up to the person’s perspective. For me houses are paradise simply because it’s where I live. I can do anything there, I can sleep, eat, watch, relax, in my case there are almost infinte ways to do something at home. Again wifi for me is considered a paradise because nowadays, people especially in urban areas need wifi for work, school work and for connection. “We are living in a digital book” as said in the movie Captain America-The Winter Soldier. 

   This course enlightened me in the conditions of the earth, from as big as globalization, to as small as a personal bubble, I learned things I never thought I would learn, things that were a misconception during the course  of my college life. I also learned different cultures in different countries by the pictures shown to us in class by our professor. 

   Before I end this post, I would like to share what lessons struck me the most as shown in the pictures above. Almost all pictures are recyccled pictures from my last two blogs.

��A Road to Paradise”

   Everyone has a personal bubble, a bubble pertaining to space, but some people like jeepney conductors and jeepney drivers just don’t respect that, that’s why commuting in the Philippines  is becoming a hassle. Some people are rushing to get to their destination on time, that’s why some people “sabit”at the back of the jeep even though it’s dangerous. Jeeps have routes, Some jeeps are in province which take the rural route and city jeeps that of course take urban routes. But for me at the end of every route/destination there is a place so called “paradise”. It may be natural or man-made, still it’s relaxing to the  person’s point-of-view. At the end of the day after the sunset there is a tomorrow waiting for us to imagine, a better city/place/province and of coursea better tomorrow. 

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It was a long road on how the Philippines is shaped today. Indeed urbanization took place in our country, but is it in a good way or in a bad way? If i were to answer that question, I can say that urbanization has both good and bad effect in our country. The good effect of urbanization, for me is that it helps us be technologically advanced, and helps us catch up with other countries in terms of technological advance. This is where I believe the word “tech savvy”came to place. Now the bad effect of urbanization is that agriculture and provincial cultures are slowly declining. Naturally produced crops without the use of chemicals is very abundant nowadays. Rural lands are being converted into urban places, like malls, restaurants etc.

  The first two picture above is Katipunan Avenue and Katipunan Extension. It’s broad daylight and as you can see and there’s no sign of any traffic building up, NO SIGN OF TRAFFIC. Which is very, very, very unusual for for this place. usually at around 6:30-7:00 am traffic cars are at a full stop due to the traffic then at 8:00 am traffic subsides, at 9:00-12:00 traffic builds up again and will subside usually at night. That’s the normal traffic at Katipunan everyday. but from mid-March to early June traffic is not a problem. Why? Mostly due to the students going to Ateneo and Mirriam college. There are potentially more than 8,000 students going to school everyday. But I’m not writing this bog because of the traffic, my point is, as said by my Geography 1 professor, “There are more than 13,000,000 million people in Metro Manila at morning, at night there are only 10,000,000 million people who are in Manila. Where did the 3,000,000 people go? Let me point out students for example, not all of them live in Metro Manila, some still live in provinces. The result of urbanization in Metro Manila is that there are plenty of job opportunities that can be found here in Metro Manila, however not all people can be accommodated by these job occupation. Some people even move in in Metro Manila hoping that they can land a job. Not everyone is lucky to find a job here in Metro Manila, there is still the sense of competition. Those who cannot find jobs, live with a scarce source of income, in time they are forced to live in squatter settlements and become informal settlers. Now these informal settlers become a problem to the government, because the lands they establish their houses is not legally theirs. Instead of the government using it wisely, for the betterment of the country, these informal settlers are using it for their personal use.

   The third picture shows a Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ). lets just use jeep for short. Jeeps are used for public transportation, here in the Philippines. Historically jeeps are brought by the Americans as a tool for war. then modernization came to place, it’s now used for public transportation. Jeeps can be found everywhere, each having different routes. This PUJ is also a factor in the Philippines’ urbanization process. Jeeps also come in somehow cheap prices, now minimum fare goes to 7.50php. It can be convenient to commuters like me, but the problem is the driver over crowds the vehicle, its like your going to get sandwiched when your inside the jeep. Others aren’t litterally sitting in the seats inside because there is no more space, but the driver insisted that there is still space for one to fit. It is normal in a jeep for your personal space to be invaded, your bubble. Now some passengers when the vehicle is full, they stay outside and hang, called “Sabit”. Supposedly its not allowed anymore, but Filipinos are sometimes hard-headed, does not follow rules. In the picture above, I’ve experienced that type of jeepney, where it’s full of passengers, and there is at least 4 people that sabit, it was suffocating, air entering inside the jeep was thick, it was hard to breathe. And it was joined by the scents of other people, who were sweaty, those who were under the sun the whole morning etc. In other words Halo-Halo yung amoy, nakakahilo.

  The fourth and fifth pictures refer to Manila and Sofitel. In terms of view, the view was spectacular you often see a urban place filled with buildings competing who has the highest height. In Manila it’s a different story. You can see the Manila bay when you look out your window a refreshing and a new look perhaps. At the fifth picture, the one with the pool,  you can see blinks of lights near the horizon. Those are boats/ships that are involved in business, like crude oil, etc. So you can see even at the ocean you can find globalization, development is taking place.

  There are still rural areas left in the Philippines, the ones that the government won’t destroy. like the picture above displays a breath-taking view of a mountain in Cogeo. The price you pay to see that is worth 10 cents. Nope just kidding the name of the place is 10 cents to heaven. for me i consider this a sacred space, not because of religious ways, but because you don’t often see places like this everyday anymore. In my hometown Antipolo, there were many trees places like this to visit, but then Antipolo was converted into a city and trees were cut down and been replaced with malls.

  As the sun goes down, a day has passed. Urbanization developed. People from rural areas are migrating to urban areas. How will it affect the country in the next 10 years?

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Correction its not immaculate conception, its Our lady of peace and good voyage

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       The famous catch phrase "TAYO NA SA ANTIPOLO" is my hometown. As early as two years old my family and I moved to Antipolo City. Then Antipolo was a relaxed, slow paced province and not yet modernized. Some roads were not yet cemented, there were no malls, and restaurants. But there was the Antipolo Cathedral, home of the Immaculate Conception. There was one incident when I was about six or seven years old, the statue of the Immaculate Conception was stolen, but of course it was retrieved from the burglars. Anyway again back then Antipolo was not even considered as a city, it was still considered as  a province back then. Then buildings were built, technology advanced restaurants, malls were built, the town got busier. Later on Antipolo became a city.

         I consider the first picture above as a landmark because, first of all it is the signage and the boarder of Antipolo. Secondly, since we moved in the signage was already built/standing. it was never removed until today, but renovated. The second picture above displays the majestic Hinulugang Taktak . It is  one of the  famous landmarks in Antipolo. Again during my toddler and kid years the falls was beautiful, it was clean, and the air surrounding it is fresh. There is a tennis court not besie but near the falls, that when you play you can see the falls itself. everytime me and my family plays there we were always relaxed. The   third picture above is an actual picture, taken by me of the Sumulong highway. The highway is not a cultural landmark, but it is, for me a "chill" road in antipolo because when you pass by the highway, it is surrounded by trees, big trees, very soothing to drive, but now the trees are being cut down and are being converted into residential homes.

          The last picture above is an image of the historical Antipolo Cathedral. I can't say much about this place because believe it or not I only went there to attend mass about two or three times, because the cathedral is very crowded when there is an ongoing mass. But as mentioned earlier, it is the home of the Immaculate Conception. During Christmas season many people coming from Marikina, Masinag and other cities come up the cathedral to attend mass, or what is known the "Alay Lakad".

           Antipolo is considered the "Pilgrimage City of the Philippines". Antipolo also provides adequate over-looking view of Metro Manila. Many tourists visit Antipolo because of its air-cooled climate, but not as cool as Baguio. A festival celebrated in Antipolo is the SUMAKAH festival. SUMAKAH meaning suman, mangga, kasoy and Hamaka. Hamaka is the word used for transportation in the old days. It is celebrated every first of May. This festival is to promote the special products of Antipolo. Another festival celebrated in Antipolo is the Tipulo festival, again it promotes the special products of Antipolo.

           Antipolenos are culturaly cheap. Including me to be exact. But not all Antipolenos are cheap, just to be clear. for me a 25 peso burger is expensive because from where I live I can buy a hamburger at around 18-20 pesos and the patty is not small. I don't know exactly why some antipolenos are cheap, but in my case I just really want to avoid spending and spending money. We are also culturally hospitable, especially in the month of May because of the fiestas celebrated.

            I can say that technology massively changed Antipolo. It changed Antipolo in a way that the town got busier, some agricultural lands are being transformed into residential and commercial areas. Malls were built. Traffic developed, and it became worse and worse. And now it is one of the many problems of the local government.

            It will be boring for me to say "there's no place like home" no home is family, home is where I grew up, home is what shaped me into who I am today. and home makes me laid back, happy, and ecstatic. So again "TAYO NA SA ANTIPOLO".