Mohon, Cebu vs. Park Forest, IL

I lived most of my life in the Philippines. I was born and raised in Lawaan, Talisay, Cebu; however, I spent most of my teenage and adult years in Mohon, Talisay, Cebu. When I turned 24, I got married and moved to Park Forest, IL. Mohon and Park Forest were both cities in which I have resided. They both are great places to live and are so much alike, but they also differed in a number of aspects. First, they were both residential cities. Second, they both relied on transportation, and third, the sizes of the streets affected the safety of the people who lived in Mohon and Park Forest.

There are several similarities between Mohon and Park Forest. One is they are both residential cities with houses next to each other; however, the proximity of the houses affected the relationship of the people within Mohon. You see, most of the residents in Mohon lived very close to each other especially to their relatives. Because of this, everyone knew every person’s business. For example, everyone knew who was dating whom. If the rest of the relatives or neighbors didn’t approve of the person, then the couple couldn’t continue dating. Furthermore, if the neighbors or relatives wishes weren’t followed, they would hear about the disapproval for the rest of their lives.

On the other hand, living right next to each other wasn’t that bad all the time. Because they knew each other, they constantly helped each other too. For instance, everyone was always willing to watch the kids when the mother needed to go to the market to get something. They didn’t have to pay the babysitter.

In Park Forest, conversely, houses might be close, but everyone lived their own lives. Occasionally, I would see our neighbors cleaning their yards, and I usually went up to them and said “hi.” The conversations were limited to polite topics like the weather or work. Most of the questions were answerable with a yes or no and the topic of the discussion was nothing personal. For this reason, I felt that my neighbors didn’t care about my private life, and I had privacy. I could do whatever I liked to do without worrying about being controlled, rejected, or objected to in every decision I made even if our houses were right next to each other.

Another interesting similarity that Mohon and Park Forest had was they both relied on transportation to get to places; however, Mohon relied more on public transportation while Park Forest relied on private transportation. Most residents in Mohon didn’t own a car, so they relied on a tricycle, a form of public transportation which could take people on short distances such as to the market or nearby cities. The tricycle had three wheels with two seats in the front, two in the back, two behind the driver, and a roof made of plastic that kept the passengers from getting too hot during the summer season and getting wet during the rainy season. It could carry seven people including the driver. Because it didn’t have any seatbelts, the tricycle wasn’t the safest form of transportation, but most people depended on it to take them places. Furthermore, the driver only charged a few cents, so it was more affordable than paying hundreds and hundreds of pesos if one used a taxicab. On long distances trips, however, they had jeepneys that could take more or less 20 people and buses for two to three days trips to the province that carried over 50 passengers.

On the contrary, most households in Park Forest owned at least one car. Because I didn’t have to wait to catch the bus to go places, I considered this very convenient. Although there were people that relied on the bus to take them places, they were not heavily dependent with public transportation unlike in Mohon. The busses in Park Forest followed a daily strict schedule, whereas, one could catch tricycles, jeepneys or buses at any time of the day in Mohon.

The last similarity that Mohon and Park Forest had was they both haD streets, but they were different in sizes. Mohon had very narrow side streets that were only good for people. Most people didn’t own a car, so it was understandable that side streets were only accessible by people. In the same way, the major streets were narrow with only one lane each way. There were no walk or bike paths on the side of the streets for pedestrians and bikers; consequently, I think that was why there were so many accidents over there. It was because of the carelessness of the drivers who wanted to pass another driver on the right. On the very narrow streets they would often hit a bystander. So, it was very dangerous for pedestrians or bikers to be on the road among tricycles, jeepneys and buses. Also, Mohon didn’t have any road signs, most especially the big huge stop sign, but they had stoplights of course.

In contrast, Park Forest roads had one or two lanes on the side streets and two to three lanes on the main streets. The streets were spacious making it easier to pass if one had to. The right lanes were for the slow moving cars, while the middle and left lanes were for fast moving cars. The right lanes were also considered as the turning lane. There were a lot of road signs in Park Forest including the stop sign, yield sign and other road signs. The pedestrians and the bikers had their own paths, so it helped eliminate road accidents involving pedestrians and bikers. Since the streets were spacious and signed accordingly, it helped make both the driver and the pedestrians aware of the street they were on.

Mohon and Park Forest were places that will always be a part of my life. Both places had their positive and negative aspects which helped me appreciate the differences and variety that occurs in life. After all these experiences, living in Mohon and Park Forest made me realize that wherever I would live in the future, I would always learn to adopt, adjust, and appreciate the things that were around me.