When I'm in the Philippines I walk a lot, both in Makati as well as in Cebu. I enjoy walking in fact, and make it a point to walk to church or some other point of destination, just to get the exercise.
I've noticed however that my Filipina friends hardly walk. I am not sure they get very much exercise at all. I've seen them struggle to walk a few blocks. It doesn't seem to be part of the culture to exercise. Even for short distances they have their drivers take them, or they take a taxi - and I'm talking about 4-5 blocks.
My mother liked to dance and walk; when she was young, she even played basketball. I think some of that rubbed off on us her children because we used to make some effort to take daily walks.
I've traveled with some Filipina friends and I've noticed that they get tired quickly. They are generally slender but they lack stamina. I know several who already need canes!
I wonder if the younger generation of Filipinas exercise more than my generation.
About Me
- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
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- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
Carol Kimbrough writes: One of the "perks" of visiting the Philippines for me is it forces me to walk - a lot! My cousins do not own cars so we take public transportation to go anywhere. I don't mind because it is much faster to take the LRT or MRT instead of a taxi or jeepney. But I do end up walking up and down the stairs to the train platform because almost always, the escalators do not work. Gee, I wonder how the wheelchair-bound get to the trains? But my point is, forced walking has been beneficial to my health and stamina; I'd lose an average of 15 pounds in a month whenever I go home. It's the exercise plus the gallons of water weight I lose sweating. Sadly I stop walking once I get back to the US and climb on to my Toyota Highlander. Maybe I should go home more often.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Cecilia
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