A friend and I wanted to travel to China a few years ago. It was my first out of the country trip, and I was very excited. She left all the details to me and I happily booked the tickets, applied for our visas, drew up our itinerary, and most important of all, arranged our stay with various hosts. Her task was to bring her mobile phone and make sure it would work in Shanghai.Read more

In our community, there is a large pharmacy that is part of a national chain. It is always full of customers, as they carry most medicines at a cheaper price. I was in there one day to buy something for my cough, and while I was waiting in line, I couldn't help but overhear a woman who was ahead of me. She had a baby in her arms, a toddler clinging to her skirt, and two more young children playing around her.Read more

I am one of those people who fall asleep very easily. I can sleep anywhere, anytime, especially if I am in a moving vehicle. It has caused me some inconveniences, when I wake up too late and realize that I have bypassed my stop. It hasn't put me in danger, though, until that one time when I was on my way home at 2 in the morning. If it were not for a concerned passenger, my safety would have been put at risk.Read more

I was tasked to process the registration papers of our company at the securities commission. I lived far, and I was oftentimes pressed for time given my other responsibilities. Once I had to do two more tasks before finally declaring the job finished; I had to have the papers received, and then pay for it at the cashier.Read more

I was at the grocery the other day when I heard a loud wail in the aisle next to mine. I went over to take a look and saw that it was a very small child, 2 years old at the most, loudly and tearfully showing her displeasure at her mother's refusal to buy her a colorful and plastic toy.Read more

Hospitals can be a fertile ground for doing a random act of kindness. A friend of mine witnessed this firsthand when she was confined at a government hospital for high fever. While waiting for a private room to be available, she was temporarily placed in the charity ward. The ward was full, and at some point, it was even overflowing. She couldn't wait to get out of there.Read more

I have lost three mobile phones to pickpockets and snatchers over the years. Mobile phones are stolen a lot because they can be sold quite easily. After the loss of the third one, I had decided to put a lanyard on my phone and tie it to my waistband.Read more

I live alone and often go out of town for my work. Whenever I have to go on a trip, I leave my three full-grown cats and five kittens outside the house so they can forage for their food. If I have to leave town for more than a day, though, I make arrangements for someone to care for them.Read more

When supertyphoon Ketsana hit the Philippines last year, I was one of the dozen passengers stuck in a bus in the middle of the superhighway. I had been on my way back to Manila from Batangas City when the storm broke. The bus driver pushed on despite the rising floods along the road, pressured as he was by his passengers who had been receiving calls one after another from their loved ones back home who were already on the roofs of their houses, watching helplessly as the floodwaters rose higher and higher around them.Read more

Five years ago, I was in a jeepney (a public utility vehicle in the Philippines with a fixed route and seats up to 18 passengers) on my way home from school. A very pregnant woman who seemed to be in labor hailed the jeepney and laboriously got on. She was alone, obviously in a lot of pain, and carried a small bag with her belongings. She found her seat on the jeepney, and all the passengers could see the efforts it took her just to get on the vehicle.Read more