Surviving the unexpected

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Back in 2006, the bus that I was on got robbed by ten to fifteen armed men.

Just last night, I almost drowned for wanting to STUDY on a Saturday.

It was not raining when I left my apartment for school. I arrived in the histology lab at around 9 am and only a handful of my classmates were there as many of them were in the gross lab. Class 2013A eventually grew in number as time passed. Since the histology lab had all its windows closed, I was not aware that rain was pouring ridiculously hard outside. One by one, I noticed that my classmates were coming inside the lab drenched from head to toe. It seemed obvious that the rain was getting heavier and I dared not ask since I was consumed with my slides.

At around 12 noon, Ivie and I decided to go home since (1) we were finished with the histology slides and (2) because we wanted to eat and then go home straight. As we were rolled the ends of our pants up, a classmate warned us that the water was already knee deep and that even the parking lots of the school and the hospital were getting flooded.

Afraid to get wet, we decided to just eat in the hospital cafe located in the basement floor of the medical and school building. The cafe was just several feet away from the parking lot and from the wall that separates UERM from Pasig River. Some of our classmates were already eating and were seated near the door. As we were lined up, a man in front of us shouted that the wall had collapsed. Almost immediately, all the people stood up and ran towards the door. The frenzy of seeing several cars being hurled at each other by the strong current was enough for everyone to panic. Of course, during times like this, one should not panic but even I was alarmed because the cold and murky water was rising fast. As I reached the door, the water was already at my thigh. I was helping an old woman walk towards the stairs when it suddenly hit me that I did not know how to swim. I felt chills running up my spine when I saw that we were still 6 to 7 meters away from safety and that I could not do anything for the old woman to quicken her pace. After much unnecessary pushing from the people behind us, I saw Christian held out his hand for me and with one big pull, I was safe.

Ivie and Fionna were waiting for us to go up the stairs. Everyone hurried up the third floor to watch in horror how the river consumed the school with  her leptospirosis infested water.

We spent the night at the hospital in the PBL rooms. Honestly, I was not hungry at all but realized the need to stuff my stomach for fuel so I gladly ate whatever crackers the kind doctors and interns gave us to feed on. I could not sleep the entire night. Though the rain had ceased to pour, I cannot erase the thought that when I would wake up, there is a huge possibility that the water may have risen to the 3rd floor. And if that happened, I would really, really freeze in my tracks. But of course, nothing of that sort happened and I was glad that when I woke up, the water had subsided.

We got home safe, me and my classmates. We traversed the street together and parted ways, ironically, happy: happy that none of us got hurt and happy that we got through the ordeal as a whole.

I only pray that those who need help the most will exactly get what they need. And may I also implore the admin people of UERM to fix the break water and to make sure that it is STRONG and TALL ENOUGH to withstand situations like this.

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