This article is something I thought of when we received a news of my cousin's upcoming wedding.
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Anyway, everything I will be writing are my own observations and experiences. Feel free to add more or share some of your thoughts after reading.
Some information
The cousin who will get married soon is only a year older than me. I will be 21 years old this December 2021 (but please pretend I'm 18 years old forever HAHA). On the otherhand she already had her birthday so she is 22 years old right now.
If you think about it, 22 is not a bad time to get married right? I think that was the usual age for marriage before the K-12 happened.
But in the city right now, 22 is kinda young to get married for most people. My older sister is 25 years old and she is feeling old as she learns more of her younger cousins are getting married.
So here are some differences that I saw from life at the province compared to city life.
Education
In the province, higher education is harder to achieve. It is viewed as optional and not necessary. They see it as something you can take if you have the money or opt out of if you do not like it.
I know that this is not always the case since I have blockmates who came from far places but chose to go to college even if it is hard. It was just something I noticed from most of the people I interacted from our province.
On the other hand, in the city going to college is like an automatic assumption to make. It is treated like a stepping stone before finally going out into the real world.
I know that there are some who do not go to college for various reasons even if they live in the city. But in the city you will see a lot more people who place great importance in achieving higher education.
Daily activities
In the province, time moves so fast but I do not feel tired. It feels like all I do is eat. It might have to do with the fact that my family mostly go there on vacation time but from what they told me it is not much different from their normal life.
They have coffee as the daylight breaks in, and then have another breakfast a few hours later. The when noon comes it will be lunch time, a few hours after that is time for snacks. You will rest for a bit then after a while it is time to eat dinner.
The pace in their activities is just chill and leaves a lot of room for rest and conversations.
Contrary to the city life where it is filled with bustling activities. Even during dusk and dawn, there will be people out doing their own thing.
It always feels like you have to constantly move to match the pace of the life in the city or else you will be left behind by the tides of other activities that are always coming.
Rest is left for day offs and even the hours outside of work are spent with more things to do instead of purely for recuperating energy for tomorrow.
Entertainment
In the province there are night market most of the times. There are different games there where you can place bets or win prices.
But the mall is small according to my cousins. We do not go there because it will be boring from what they said and they are not eager to accompany us anyway. The mall is also far, that you have to own a car to get there if you do not want to spend a lot on transportation fee.
So most of the entertainment is done with the company of other people like playing Bingo, Pusoy Dos or Tong its. If you have a Netflix you will probably spent most days inside watching movies like what we mostly do there.
In the province, you will have more free time than you might know what to do with. When I was there it felt like I was mostly walking around just so I would not be too bored.
The city life provides more for the entertainment department. There are various malls to choose from. Each of them equipped with a lot of stores that will cater to what you want to do. There are various facilities as well like karaoke, bars and clubs, as well as coffee shops for leisure time.
In the city, you will never run out of things to do. But you will most likely have a problem of when to do those things.
Relationships and marriage
Here is where I noticed the most difference.
People at the province still mostly believe that it is a man's duty to provide for a woman. Most women stops working once they get married.
"Ganun sa probinsya, ginagastusan talaga mga babae. Hindi tulad dito kapag gusto mag asawa basta na lang magsasama." (That is how it is in province. Men always make sure to spend money for women. Unlike here, if a couple wants to get married, they can kust live together.)
That is what my mother told me when I asked when is the wedding. She said that both families are still "nagbubulungan". From what she told me it is a meeting of some sorts where they discuss about the wedding and the likes.
For relationships, people at the province are more conservative. They do not usually sleep at their partner's place and if they did, they will be sleeping in separate rooms. They also do not show much public display of affection even if they are legal in both sides of the family.
Also, I see women who have boyfriends but still have suitors too. It seems like the courtship only ever stops after the marriage. Then the suitors will finally back out.
In the city, it is hard to find lasting relationships since most people focus on their careers. A lot of people are just looking for a fun time without the commitment.
The relationships usually fades out faster.
It is also noticeable that in the city life, it is more common to see woman spend money on dates too instead of it being solely the responsibility of the man.
Doing intimate things are more common too even if one is not really legal to each other's families. There is usually just a lot of PDA going on in the city.
Marriage in the city is not really treated as a must before living with each other. I have seen some city-grown cousins lived with their partners without marriage. They would have kids then split up, and soon they will be living with others again.
Closing words
I am not saying that one life is better than the other. I am merely expressing my observations with no concern in trying to judge it according to some kind of standards.
I know that people have different choices in their lives. I am not judging these differences. I am just fascinated by them and wanted to share my observations.
As long as you are happy and you are not hurting anyone, then everything is cool. There is no right or wrong way to live.
What might work for others might now work for you. So let us just focus on living our best lives.
Thank you for reading my article!
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There are differences in our lives. In particular, there are many differences between urban life and rural life. The boys and girls of the village are a little more realistic. But the children of the city are emotional. Moreover, everything is seen as big in the city but not in the village. The children of the village get married earlier